kenshin138 said:

Which makes it sound more like genre advice than anything else, which seems eminently more reasonableand perhaps less worrisome to Adam Francethan a "mission generator" that involves random rolls determining the nature of the mission involved.  Since this was an informative response, you probably just went beyond the NDA, kenshin138. 

Kage

I don't want to sound offensive, but... seriously, people. It's supposed to be a game about elite "black ops" super-soldiers kicking butt in the name of the Emperor. So how is it either surprising or inappropriate that the game employs a mission system for tracking objectives?

Errr... I think that you'll see the "resistance," insofar as it is resistance, is to the premise of an "adventure creator."  While not inherently bad (giving it the flavour of, say, Space Hulk), kenshin138 seems to have cleared it up, suggesting that it is very appropriate genre advice.  As it stood, the Designer's Diary began to sound like it was setting up Deathwatch to be some form of interim game that encouraged, say, the introduction of "mission cards," "Team Mode cards," etc.  Again, not inherently a bad thing but...

So, seriously, I think that everything should be taken with a pinch of salt.  It is, after all, a discussion board.  Please also note that most people seem to be looking forward to it, even those that aren't going to be using the system. 

Kage

I was just going to not really comment, but in the spirit of honesty I can say personally, at this time, I'm not particularly stoked about this game. I don't know enough really yet to say I won't buy it - I'm interested in the fluff for the DW itself for example, and I hope the Jericho Reach is better than it sounds in the DD and has some setting stuff I can use. However rules wise and the limited sounding nature of several aspects of the game, judging only of course on the DDs released to date, I'm totally underwhelmed by the whole thing.

Btw, I'm getting niggled by the fact the DDs only show members of 'the Paltry 6' Chapters. The DW is not limited to those Chapters, even if the game itself is. I don't see why some other Chapters couldn't be shown in the art. Small point, just saying is all.

Adam France said:

Because that would lead people to wondering why they can't play those Chapters.  Obviously FFG doesn't want that.  They are hoping that most people don't question the ridiculously limited Chapter choices, and putting pictures of other Chapters in the book would not be conducive to that.

First of all, wether the mission designer will be GM selected or random generated (or combination of the 2, the first thing I can see is a selection of Cards (probably in the DW GM ToolKit) for player reference.  Be nice if this sort of thing was included in the original game, but I imagine costs wouldn't allow it.

I recall a long time ago a series of Random Adventure Designers, and tbh they were actually quite good.  I am pretty sure it was for D&D, and expanded on the random tables at the back of the original AD&D DM's handbook!

The main issue I foresee with DW from what I have read is that there is a lot of details about combat and blowing shizzle up, and for some part of it, yes this is what we want, but it isn't all we want.

Certainly for 1-shot adventures this is going to be fun, and lends itself brilliantly to tournemant play.  TBH if this is all it will be, role out Space Hulk/Space Crusade/40K table-top.

What I would like to see is more on intrigue, politics and actual examples of roleplay opportunites that don't just involve blowing up xenos.

Maybe it's not possible though, bearing in mind the limited scope of the games brief.

Nope, as said before, the "missions" don't involve a random generator, so no need to worry about that. I'd also say that it's not so hard that "Mission Cards" would be at all necessary.

FatPob said:

I'm pretty certain the military focus doesn't preclude heavy roleplaying. The most RP-heavy campaign I have ever played was a military campaign where we were stuck between the base and various battlefields.

The way I understand it, DW doesn't do clean-cut missions in the vein of, "there are five Xenos to kill on an empty plain, you will parachute down into firing range, enjoy the kill". It's more like: "The Imperial Guard is holding off the Eldar forces. You will engage from the side and take out the Farseer before he activates the Unbelievably Complex Xeno Gizmo that would wipe all the humans out. The estimate number of Eldar forces is XY, and they have heavy equipment on their side. Plan this carefully."

From such a point, there's lot of things to do that don't involve shooting Xenos, and a lot of questions to make the problem more complex. Can you requisition the support of the Imperial Guard? What does their Commander think about this? Is any Inquisitor personally involved? Is your intel on the Gizmo's location accurate? Does the Gizmo really work as you presume? What if destroying it actually creates more problems?

That's just off the top of my head, and just about direct complications to the mission. Add the interpersonal relations of Marines from different Chapters to the mix, along with some politics at the HQ, and you have all the roleplaying possibilities you need. And yes, you'll be annihilating platoons of Xenos on your way. Combat doesn't hamper or interfere with the roleplaying.

Kage2020 said:

And btw  Military Mission is in RPG a variant of adventure, i run a few especially in Space Gothic where alll PCs where Members of the Kniigtly Militant Order of the faring Cross, a part of terran military.