Rogue trader, how is it?

[druid91]

Well I have finally branched away from something not saga or d&d.

So what am I getting myself into with rogue trader?

[hamishspence]

Characters in all the games using that system (Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader, Deathwatch) tend to be a little fragile- but Rogue Trader seems a little more fun.

Deathwatch tends to be a little narrowly focussed on fighting (since the characters are Marines) Dark Heresy has wargear cost a lot (so the characters tend to be scrimping and saving during the low levels) but in Rogue Trader, there's more variety of operation- and the characters aren't strapped for cash.

[king.com]

I would disagree with the "variety of operation comment". The big difference between Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader is simply that Rogue Trader characters have RESOURCES. They have the same set of options but rather than needing to physically do the set up work themselves, they can often simple draw upon their resources to do so. I think it requires a certain type of person to fully enjoy, someone who likes to scheme and come up with crazy plans on how to get money.

Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader have different methods of working through problems but either group can overcome them just the same, they just do so differently for different reasons. Its absolutely a load of fun though, particularly if your party can get over the little financial gains and actually understand this game isnt about stealing someones shotgun, its about achieving a manopoly on shotgun manufacturing within the sector so that twelve years from now, they have an industry in place for that big crusade the players are trying to start :smallbiggrin:.

[hamishspence]

"more variety" was primarily when compared to Deathwatch- Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader are probably much more similar in that respect.

[king.com]

"more variety" was primarily when compared to Deathwatch- Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader are probably much more similar in that respect.

Ah ok fair enough.

[Lappy9000]

The damage system seems very foreign if you've played D&D a lot, but makes for some exciting combat. Designing your ship is also fun, although the idea of you and your buddies being responsible for thousands of lives upon the vessel might cause the GM a bit of a headache :smallbiggrin:

[hamishspence]

With the Battlefleet Koronus expansion, there's a set of rules for armies- and waging large-scale war.

[Weasel of Doom]

It's bloody awesome, if you know the setting at least.

The scale is completely different to any other rpg I've played (one of the reasons I like it) so make sure you take advantage of how easy it is to increase the scale of your Acquisitions. Why roll for one stormbolter when you can roll for 30 and equip your bodyguard? Why buy just one cool vehicle when you can acquire a squadron? My explorator was going to try an acquire 5000 servoskulls (skulls hollowed out and equipped with (limited) AI, antigrav and laspistols) but the rogue trader was afraid I'd attempt a mutiny and refused to allow them on the ship.

You don't have to take advantage of the potentially huge scale and it can basically be D&D in space where the party does everything personally but I like the difference. In a handful of sessions my party has now got it's hands on 5 ships and a planetary system (with the potential for another three ships and a 2nd system). The last session consisted of negotiating alliances and playing power groups off against one another at a dinner party, hiring mercenaries, deploying our armies in defence around a city (including tank battalions) and fighting a frantic fleet action in space to reduce the number of orks landing on the planet.

Earlier adventures have involved developing and unleashing a zombie virus on our first planet so they'd accept our authority; and desperately setting off in pursuit of another ship through the warp only to arrive before we left the space station due to our tempermental warp engines, allowing us to set up an elaborate ambush ahead of the person we were chasing.

Oh and stack modifiers, succeeding with multiple degrees of success even when you roll in the 90s is a nice change from Dark Heresy where you're testing on 30 or 40

[hamishspence]

I've heart it described as "a bit like an evil version of Star Trek- or if you prefer, Mirror Universe Star Trek"

- seek out new life and new civilizations- and exploit or exterminate them.

[Leon]

If you have the Time to read it all i most heartily recommend it

Into the Maw: or How I Became Incredibly Wealthy (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?489083-Rogue-Trader-Into-the-Maw-or-How-I-Became-Incredibly-Wealthy[/url)

Reading that made me really want to play this game

[hamishspence]

I wonder if a good name for a Rogue Trader adventure would be:

"Raiders of the Lost Archaeotech"

[king.com]

I wonder if a good name for a Rogue Trader adventure would be:

"Raiders of the Lost Archaeotech"

Believe it or not but there are Indiana Jones style adventures....official supplements too.

[The Glyphstone]

If you have the Time to read it all i most heartily recommend it

Into the Maw: or How I Became Incredibly Wealthy (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?489083-Rogue-Trader-Into-the-Maw-or-How-I-Became-Incredibly-Wealthy[/url)

Reading that made me really want to play this game

Wow. It's like the Silverclawshift campaign archives, but distilled and dipped in liquid grimdark awesome turned up to 11.

[Tiki Snakes]

I've yet to play, but I can definately second how much fun generating your own ship can be. I think we ended up with a ship that was, itself, violently gun-ho about combat, crewed by a heavy metal death-cult. Real shame we never started the campaign.

[FelixG]

Tons of fun game: Start the RT game, then get told by the GM that our ship is waiting for us to retrieve it, we ask her what she means and she casually mentions it is over run by gene stealers and we are recovering it from a ship graveyard.

Best opening ever :smallbiggrin: