How to Make a Good DIY Chapter

[daelrog]

Hidy ho, LO!

As some of you have seen my Bestest Army eVeR thread, you already have a general idea of my opinion of a good deal of DIY chapters. They are over-the-top, unoriginal, and lackluster. However, I'm generally a half-glass-full kind of guy, or even a glass-all-full if possible. So, in light of actual progress, I'd like to ask veterans about how members can go about creating a solid, original DIY chapter that won't make people turn the other way and sigh.


I think we can go ahead a list some of the major Don'ts

-No Legions. Honestly, unless you are going to collect 10,000 marines it's not even worth discussing
-No fighting on Terra. You'd be a Legion.
-No All-Psykers. They would be Librarians, and you can't field a whole army of them (except in Apoc games, but still...)
-No mixing of founding legion gene-seeds
-No traitor gene-seed
-No blatant heretics who believe in modern Democracy
-No Xeno lovers
-No Sister of Battle marriages
-Are NOT better than the next chater
-No other issue here and there that directly goes against the very little GW has said such as second-founding Space Wolves, female marines (I personally have no issue with them, but for argument's sake, let's say nix to them), etc.


Hopefully this can become something organized, and will help people in creating a chapter. I'd like to hear people's thoughts on this. Examples of good chapters are appreciated, examples of bad chapters should be at a minimum (I don't want to attack specific people) Here are just a few things that make up a chaper, and can make or break them.

-Name
-Homeworld (or lack thereof)
-Colors
-Culture
-Strategy
-Important Characters
-History

[kevin vanrooyen]

There's already a small guide on this on this site.

Designing a Chapter | Librarium Online

The Emperor Protects

[daelrog]

Originally Posted by kevin vanrooyen

There's already a small guide on this on this site.

Designing a Chapter | Librarium Online

The Emperor Protects

I don't want to discredit what the author did, but it's vague. I think the site can do a more thorough job. Also, looking at the comments below, I don't think it really stuck with anyone (even after you overlook the people who are joking).

[kevin vanrooyen]

Ok i've got a few tips for this:

1) Remember where your chapter is; if their home planet is based to the galactic-north of armageddon they probobly won't have participated in the damocles gulf crusades. If they are based outside of the eye of terror they won't be tyranid hnters... There are galactic maps in all of the new codecies, the rulebook, numerous white dwarfs... use them.

2) 2 victories, 1 defeat; not every chapter is perfect, in fact none of them are. All suffer defeats at some point, setbacks and such. For every 3 battles you write about in your fluff (rounding up) make sure to include at least 1 loss. This doesn't mean that your force has to lose completely, but most often it will. The Crimson Fists for example won the battle for Rynns World but the war there was overall a loss. Their planet was overrun, fortress monsatary estroyed, chapter crippled...

3) Every capter has traitors; unless ypur chapter was founded yesterday, (which i don't think it was) there will have been some marines, squads, or possibly even entire companies turn to chaos. In the book "Grey Knight" by Ben Counter it was stated that the Grey Knights were the only chapter without any marines to have turned to chaos.

Don't worry if anything this will only make your chapter more interesting, look across books and movies, there is always a traitr to shake things up (well, sometimes there's the idiot but let's stick to my point). Lejah Cuu in the GG series, Anakin Skywalker in star wars...

The Emperor Protects

[Demon in White]

I've got something to add, from a thread I posted on where a guy wanted to call his chapter the 'Blackest Legion' and pretty much just make it a loyalist version of the Black Legion right down to the colour scheme:

-Don't plagiarize too much from current chapters/legions.

~ DiW

[daelrog]

Summary of Points

Remember, before you do anything, ask yourslf WHY you are doing something. If you live on a jungle world, WHY? If your marines have a nifty trait that makes them excel, WHY? All decisions should revolve around that word, and if you can't answer it, it is probably superfluous.


Culture/Traits
- Don't try to be exactly like a Chapter that already has been made. Be original because for every kind of chapter there already is, there are hundreds of other possibilities.


Home
- The Maelstrom, the Eye of Terror, at the head on the Tyranid Invasions, bordering the Tau expansion, Armaggeddon. Although all these places are great, realize that your Chapter should only be a part of what it is relatively near.

History
-Defeats are important. They build grudges, create scars, and allow a Chapter to grow. No one likes the undefeated Chapter.
- Don't forget about your victoires as well. Try not to mess with the big names like Gazghall and Abbaddon. Make more interesting arch-enemies (though realizae they won't be as influential)
- Traitors. Sources have said that only the Grey Knights are free of this. Just realize that even your Chapter has the potential for great evil, making their eternal sturggle both within and without.

Culture/Traits
- It should match your playstyle. After all, if you have close ties to Mars, be sure to include some armor, stealth-oriented armies should have infiltators and fast units. Codex chapters should have a good suppliment of tactical squads.
- Secrecy should be used only if necessary. Hostility towards other forces of the Imperium such as other Chapters and the Inquisition most often lead to bad results... for your guys.
- Flaw(s) should be a defining feature. Here's one for 99% of Marine Armies: Alien, "Welcome strangers! Here we have the cure for hunger and cancer, all for you!" Marine Captain, "Fire at will men!"





Contributors: kevin vanrooyen, Demon in White, Hive Fleet Ruina, Intrepid, Canew, Mr. Biscuits, Deadstar_MRC

[Hive Fleet Ruina]

History: Characters: Characters are the leaders of the chapter, but remember that the ordinary space marine is importent too! Having a character history where they kill of major characters such as Gazghall and Abaddon is a no no. If you insist, make up your own major invasion and major character.

Victories: As a few people have pointed out, every chapter have their loses. But no chapter has major victories single handed. So defeating a whole tyranid fleet with only your chapter is a no no, defeating a whole ork WAAAGH is also a no no, but defeating a whole tyranid fleet and ork WAAAAAGH with other chapters and imperial guard regiments is a yes yes.

PS: Ultramarines are just GW's special guys.

A good way to make your history is to base it on your real games. So one month worth of games might be a war over a system.

Home planet: This is importent as it defies how good you chapter is at orginising and governing a planet. This can also make the chapter interesting, such as not having a home planet as it was destroyed, or your home planet is a large fleet of ships ect.

I think that will help

[RJSuperfreaky]

This reminds me of a post I did several years ago, where I listed some of the "fluff fouls" that people commit when they make their own chapters. Yours is pretty complete, though.


Although I do notice that you avoid the "Female Space Marine" issue, which is probably for the best. I think my feelings on the matter are fairly clear.

[Demon in White]

Sisters of Battle are the closest thing there are to female Space Marines, and they aren't genetically enhanced in any way

Great guide, though, daelrog. This should be stickied.

~ DiW

[Intrepid]

Hostility towards the Inquisition is another good thing to avoid. On a related note, overly secretive Chapters tend not to have many friends--one should think carefully before declaring that their Chapter makes a point of never answering to anybody.