Rogue Trader - How do you Acquire?

[Hylas]

So I'm in a Rogue Trader game, we've done three sessions so far and it's everyone's, including the GM, first time playing. Personally I've done plenty of WFRP 2e before, so I was quick to pick up the rules, however I'm also expected to "always know the rules." However I don't actually own the book and have to get what I can from a Dark Heresy book that someone else has, and there's usually little time for me to read the actual Rogue Trader book, and it wasn't even brought to the last session. There is one important set of rules that I just can't get out of DH though...

How does one use the rules for wealth and acquisitions?

I'll try to piece together what I currently understand:
1) You can make a Commerce skill test to get a bonus or penalty to your profit factor.
2) You get bonuses and penalties based on the rarity, quality, and quantity of an item that you want.
3) You make a d100 roll based off your profit factor and all of the cumulative bonuses and penalties. A success means you can get the item.

Are these all of the rules? Do you need to make a test to see if an item is available? How long does it take to acquire something? How often can you acquire new items?

Thanks for any help you can give.

[Ranos]

Do you need to make a test to see if an item is available?

The acquisition test actually is mostly the roll to see if an item is available. A rogue trader can acquire more or less anything money can buy (and a few it can't), the difficult part is actually finding those things.



How long does it take to acquire something? How often can you acquire new items?

There's no guidelines to the time an acquisition takes as far as I know. As for how often, if you go by core, as often as you want, but if a specific acquisition fails you'll have to find a different source (move to a different planet, etc...) before you can try it again.

There are also some rules in Into The Storm that give penalties for doing a lot of acquisitions in a row. Essentially, by flashing your bling everywhere, you may attract unwanted attention.

[Hylas]

Cool, thanks for the help.

[Iku Rex]

The rules for this are on page 111-112 and 271-273.

First you need to find the item(s), then you can attempt to acquire.

1. a) Find item. Inquiry or Commerce Test with a bonus or penalty based on Table 5-1.

b) Time used. Table 5-2 and 5-3. A PC can reduce this time with a successful Commerce (+0) Test.

I think that by default you could have several minions searching for various items simultaneously, but then they should probably have to use their own skills. If a PC wants to handle things personally I'd make him work on one acquisition at a time.

2. Commerce. Page 273. A PC can make a Commerce Test (usually) compared to the other party's Commerce or Scrutiny. This could give a bonus or penalty on the next roll.

3. Acquisition Check. Modified based on Table 9-35 (page 272) and the Commerce Test (see above). You need to roll less than your Profit Factor.



The GM may interfere with this process depending on circumstances.

[Cheesegear]

A real Rogue Trader would just kill somebody and acquire their stuff. It's worked great for my group. :smallwink:

[Hylas]

A real Rogue Trader would just kill somebody and acquire their stuff. It's worked great for my group. :smallwink:

We've already caused a planetary civil war, a robot apocalypse, and destroyed countless ecosystems. We're still trying to get a hang of the "acquire" part.

@Rex thanks for the step-by-step instructions. I'll be sure to add them to my cheat sheet for the group.