Interest check - Rogue Trader

[HairyHeretic]

“I claim this world in the name of the Emperor of Man and his Imperium. I bring justice and truth for the loyal; punishment and death for the guilty.”

In the grim darkness of the far future, the Imperium of Man encompasses more than a million worlds. However, only a fraction of the Imperium’s numberless citizens will ever leave the surface of their individual home planets. Rogue Traders are among those precious few who stand on the threshold of unlimited opportunity and possess the freedom to chart the course of their own destiny.

The role of the Rogue Trader in the Imperium is to go beyond the borders of Imperial space to seek out new worlds to exploit, lost human civilizations to rediscover and return to the Imperial Creed, and rare resources to harvest. His authority to accomplish these feats comes from a rare and ancient warrant of trade, which has been handed down through his family for generations. The Rogue Trader’s warrant gives him almost limitless freedom and makes him practically a law unto himself—a privilege that most Imperial citizens, high or low, can only dream of.

Vast fortunes await on the edges of the galaxy, if you can muster the courage to find and claim them. Renown and riches reward the bold, but the unwary find only anonymous deaths. A Rogue Trader who can wrest profits from a dangerous universe through luck, cunning, or sheer force of will enjoys something few humans in the 41st Millennium even know—a life of adventure and true freedom.

Such a course, however, is often fraught with peril. Foul aliens, pernicious raiders, and even other Rogue Traders stand in your way on the path to greatness. Your wits, luck, skill, and courage will be tested to their utmost limits. To survive is to face even greater challenges—and to wield even greater power.

The lure of the unknown draws you toward a wealth of possibilities:
• Explore the uncharted regions of the galaxy
• Buy and sell entire worlds
• Battle pirates for control of valuable trade routes
• Discover the ruins of an alien civilization, the first step on a path towards a legendary prize…



So, we've tried Dark Heresy games here a few times, and each time they've faltered and died. Maybe a Rogue Trader game might fare better.

Anyone interested in playing, or better yet running, one?

[Ptolemy]

Hmm.. I'm a bit confused. Isn't Rogue Trader the first addition of WH40k? How would we play that? :D Or will it be just the setting, and the playing itself will be freeform?

All in all, I'm interested.

[HairyHeretic]

Yeah, the 1st ed of 40k was Rogue Trader.

It's also the second of the 40k RPGs, the first being Dark Heresy (where you play agents of the Inquisition). In Rogue Trader you play a Rogue Trader and the upper echelons of their retinue. You have control of an entire ship, with thousands of expendible minions worthless slaves loyal crew, venturing out into the Dark ...

Destroy pirate fleets, fight treacherous xenos, find new worlds and bring them back into the shining light of the Emperor, explore dead worlds for long lost xenotechnology, and so on.

[Chaos]

I'd be interested in playing one, certainly. I was enjoying the DH game you ran a lot, before my life got in the way  :-(

Rogue Trader seems very interesting, though I don't own the rulebook yet.

[Ptolemy]

I don't own the rulebook either, so if this is a system game, I might just have to miss out.

[HairyHeretic]

I only got the rulebook a week or so ago, and haven't read much of it yet. It is a higher power level than Dark Heresy, though there is the ability to cross characters over. IIRC a character starting in Rogue Trader is about equivalent to a Level 6 or 7 Dark Heresy character.

If lack of rulebooks was a problem, we could likely go rules light or freeform on it.

[Raveled]

Mmm, I'd be interested.  Probably some sort of feral-worlder warrior/tracker.

[Ptolemy]

I only got the rulebook a week or so ago, and haven't read much of it yet. It is a higher power level than Dark Heresy, though there is the ability to cross characters over. IIRC a character starting in Rogue Trader is about equivalent to a Level 6 or 7 Dark Heresy character.

If lack of rulebooks was a problem, we could likely go rules light or freeform on it.

I would prefer freeform, but we could also play rules light.

[HairyHeretic]

The character classes in the book are:

Rogue Trader - In charge of the ship, thousands of crew and the expedition.
Arch Militant - Combat expert. Former IG vet, bounty hunter, bodguard.
Astropath - Psychic capable of communicating across the void
Exploator - Wandering techpriest
Missionary - Bringing the true faith of the God Emperor to the heathens, with the Imperial Creed in one hand and a flamer in the other
Navigator - Psycher who allows ships to get through the warp intact
Seneschal - Sage coucillor, master of coin and logistics, spy master
Void master - Ships officer

[Ptolemy]

Aren't Astropaths and Navigators blind?

I am quite interested in the role of Seneschal, though.

[Chaos]

I'm going to pick up the rules soon as I can get the money together... it looks like a great game.

I think I might go for a Navigator (as I recall, it's only Astropath's who're blind, and they have a psychic sense that makes up for that at short ranges).
Yeah, Navigator or Explorator, I think

[HairyHeretic]

Astropaths are, but they get a psychic ability that lets them see (at least out to a reasonable distance).

Navigators can see, and have the third eye (the warp eye) in their forehead which they have to keep covered up, as that looks into the warp directly, and has been known to be able to kill. Not sure if they're reflecting that old fluff in the new rules though.

[BenedictWolfe]

I might be interested in a freeform set up as part of a Rogue Trader crew.

[Raveled]

The character classes in the book are:

Rogue Trader - In charge of the ship, thousands of crew and the expedition.
Arch Militant - Combat expert. Former IG vet, bounty hunter, bodguard.
Astropath - Psychic capable of communicating across the void
Exploator - Wandering techpriest
Missionary - Bringing the true faith of the God Emperor to the heathens, with the Imperial Creed in one hand and a flamer in the other
Navigator - Psycher who allows ships to get through the warp intact
Seneschal - Sage coucillor, master of coin and logistics, spy master
Void master - Ships officer

So, arch militant, then.  Sounds fine to me.

[Ptolemy]

An interesting peculiarity. Only Lords seem interested in this. :)

[HairyHeretic]

I know we have some female 40k fans. The thread hasn't been up all that long yet.

[BenedictWolfe]

There goes about one girl for every 99 boys in the 40k fandom.

[Kayn]

Ain't that the truth? i would be more interested in free-form myself, but anything 40k is nice!

The Emperor Protects.

[Elven Sex Goddess]

Well Hairy,  I would be interested.  If this is going to be system, give me a few days to look over the core book on it.  So can get familiar and create a character.   Unless it is going to be free form.

[HairyHeretic]

Guess we could go for a show of hands here ...

Freeform - 2 (Asherah, Kayn)
Rules light (suggest a system if you want) - 1 (Hairy)
Rogue Trader system.

Editing post to keep track of preferences.

[Kayn]

*Points to his previous post.* But i would happily play either of the other options. They probably work better for groups anyway.

[Elven Sex Goddess]

Free form then

[HairyHeretic]

Personally i'm leaning towards rules light.

Here's what I have in mind. The stats are:
Weapon skill (melee)
Ballistic skill (shooting)
Strength
Toughness
Agility
Intelligence
Perception
Willpower
Fellowship
Fate

The average % score in these during character generation is 36, so I'm thinking a pool of 36 dice to divide amongst the stats. Use a system where you roll xd6s, and a 5+ is a successes. Fate is a floating pool of dice you can toss in when you need a boost.

An easy task gets you 1-3 additional dice, a hard one might lose you as many, depending on just how hard or easy it is.

I can use the Origin Path here
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/rogue-trader/support/PDF/rogue-trader-origin-path-web-quality.pdf
to modify someones stats by the life they've led. Basically you start at either the top or bottom of the chart, and move to the other side. You can go directly up, or one step left or right of that, and thats the path that brought you to where you are now. The choices made there could give different stats, skills, abilities etc.

Toughness x2 or Toughness +d6 would be the number of wounds you could take.
Number of skills and / or psychic abilities would be linked to intelligence.

How does that sound? Bear in mind this is mostly off the top of my head, so expect it to be rough.

[Kayn]

Well, it's hardly the worst idea I've ever heard!  :P

[Raveled]

It sounds interesting.  I've never played a system here, so I don't know how clunky such things are.  If it doesn't work, we can always segue into freeform, after all.