Going Rogue – Part One
October 14, 2009 by Robert
Filed under Board Game Articles, Roleplaying Games
Rogue Trader is the new pen and paper RPG from Fantasy Flight, and it landed in DowntimeTown Towers a couple of weeks ago. Enough time for it to be read, digested, and brought to the table to allow the players to roll up some characters.
I thought it might be nice to keep you all involved in the process as we set out to play Rogue Trader. It might give those of you who are interested in the game a chance to see how it all works, and gain an insight into the new ideas it brings to the table. For those of you who have never played an RPG before, this will be a chance for you to see exactly what an RPG is.
Rogue Trader is set in the Warhammer 40K universe. For the uninitiated, imagine a far future world where everything has gone to shit. The Emperor is a corpse on a throne, surrounded by twisted administrators and political/religious/military bodies operating in His name. The known universe is embroiled in war. Neverending war. Only war.
In this universe, no man is free. Apart from the Rogue Trader. Operating under an ancient Warrant of Trade, the Rogue Trader and his crew have the God-Emperor’s blessing, enabling them to explore the uncharted areas of space in an attempt to establish new trade routes and make CRAZY MONEY.
And that’s where the players come in. The first thing that sets Rogue Trader apart from most of the other RPGs out there is the decision to place new players into the game in a position of power from the get-go. Rogue Trader Player Characters are well-trained, wealthy, own a starship and they oversee the fate of 20,000+ NPC crewmates. Think about that for a moment. No starting out with a shortsword and a pouch containing 10 gold coins here. In Rogue Trader you have a financial empire to control, crewmates to care for, and a ship to maintain and commandeer.
I will be Gamesmastering this foray into the grim far future. Let’s start our series of articles with a look at the first of our players:
PLAYER 1
The character creation process is very deep, and takes a bit of time. It took two sessions to have everybody rolled up, and the starship built and ready to undock. The process is a beautiful balance of luck and design, with players able to make up for any poor characteristic rolls by tailoring their character’s origin and backstory to compensate. When role-playing begins even during character creation, it’s clear something special is happening.
JOANNE
Joanne is the Rogue Trader. The Captain of the ship. Joanne was clear that she wanted her Rogue Trader to be an insufferable braggart with a decadent past. The origin path chart allows her to create a logical and consistent background for her character.
This is not Joanne's path. But an example of how the path works. Each choice on a track allows you to only choose the options directly below and adjacent.
Joanne first chose a Noble Born homeworld from the Home World track. Then, the option directly below, for a Vaunted Birthright. Each option gives your character certain bonuses and penalties. She follows through, right down to the bottom of the Origin Path, where she makes her choice of career – Rogue Trader. The Origin Path ensures that the character you create makes narrative sense. It is, as an example, impossible for someone born on a Death World to become a Rogue Trader. That career is simply “out of reach.”
Joanne’s choices tell us that her character was born into luxury, fell into decadence and drug-taking, and became embroiled in a blood feud that left her paranoid and unable to ignore any insult (the brilliant Brook No Insult trait, which means Joanne must make a Willpower check to restrain herself if someone besmirches her).
Joanne’s characteristics now.
Weapon Skill: 41
Ballistic Skill: 37
Strength: 33
Toughness: 35
Agility: 30
Intelligence: 33
Perception: 36
Will Power: 30
Fellowship: 52As you can see, Joanne felt that Fellowship, her ability to charm and deceive others, would be her most important characteristic as she plays the game. She’s the leader, the person who will be responsible for keeping morale high, and the person who will have the responsibility of conducting diplomatic exchanges.
(Note for new kids: In an RPG, Joanne will be expected to conduct roleplay conversations with the characters she meets, and when trying to win them round she will need to make a percentile roll on two ten-sided dice. A Fellowship of 52 means she has a high base chance of rolling under that figure, and making a success of her “check.”)
One more characteristic we must note for Joanne.
WOUNDS: 7
Your wound score measures the amount of damage you can take. Joanne feels happy enough with this low total. Happy enough to be a Rogue Trader who can’t take a beating, because she intends to be barking orders and surrounding herself with people who would take a bullet for her.
She chooses her skills, spends some starting XP to tinker with characteristics, and with her starting gear freebie, she buys a Lord Captain’s Baton – a ceremonial staff that will inform onlookers of her importance. Oh, and that she can use to hit people with. Oh, and her ship won’t be able to operate unless she places her baton into the command panel.
The Rogue Trader’s name? Livia. Named after this Livia who held the Roman Empire in the palm of her hand.
And with that, Livia the Rogue Trader prepares to take to the bridge of her Starship.
But who will be joining her on this adventure?
CONTINUED IN PART TWO
As soon as I read about the ship-construction part I thought “Traveller!”. Does it bear much resemblance? Or will I have to tune in for the next part to find out?
Traveller + 40k milieu…my DMing gland is quivering.
Nice story, can’t wait for the second part.
Are you also going to show us footage of the book and or your gaming group playing?
Fun times!
My copy is waiting at the comic shop right now, and I’ve been reading my ancient school-battered copy Ian Watson’s Inquisitor to get in the mood.
It’s good to hear the character creation is good, from the pre-release stuff I wasn’t sure. Is it similar to Dark Heresy (which, I never picked up)?
It’s like Star Trek, except you are encouraged to set fire to new life forms and new civilisations rather than bond with them. Oh, and guns settings range from kill to kill in a more messy fashion. And your “spaceship” is basically a steam-powered (alright plasma, but it might as well be steam) flying cathedral.
What puts me off a bit is the fact that the Rogue Trader PC has got him/herself a crew of over 9000 meat puppets who will essentially do whatever dangerous and unsavory task their boss requires of them. The other PCs in his “bridge crew” all have the rank and authority to command small armies of disposables. Where then, is the incentive for the PCs to do anything themselves? I like Dark Heresy because the characters have to get involved and have to get their hands dirty in close and personal battles with loony cultists, carnivourous aliens and the like. In Rogue Trader, they can have their gunners bombard planets from orbit with big laser cannons. Seems a bit detatched to me (not to mention a power gamer’s delight). I’ll have to give the book a flick through when my local Forbidden Planet gets a copy in stock.
Interesting points Graham, though I think it will be down to the GM to make sure that sort of detatchment doesn’t happen.
The bridge crew being accosted while in docks, and attack by an enemy vessel where the boarding party tries to storm the bridge, dinner with trade partners turning into a duel of honour.
Actually the more I think about it the more interesting it becomes, as you have scope to have situations ranging from a single player characters direct interaction, to the on the spot decision making of the whole group costing the lives of thousands of crew, and possibly the PCs themselves.
You are quite correct Nex, when you say it will be mainly up to the GM to keep players personally involved in what goes on in a Rogue Trader campaign – as is the case in any RPG. I think maybe it’s my preferance to view things from the point of view of the low-level grunt rather than the general (I’m also someone who will play first person shooters as opposed real time strategy computer games). I also like it when the players have to scrimp and save for many sessions to get their hands on any really decent equipment; as it somehow makes for a greater sense of accomplishment. In this new game, at character creation it’s going to be more of a case of “you want a bolt pistol? Hell, have seven! Would you like some power armour with that? No worries”. Again though, this is personal preferance speaking and therefore a subjective issue.
I also have bad memories of a Battletech campaign that I was involved in years ago that all went horribly wrong, primarily because the other players had themselves an army of big stompy war machines and it all went to their heads in the worst possible way. Of course; they all displayed a similar level of leadership ability and strategic insight to Arnold Rimmer in the Waxworld episode of Red Dwarf (“a daylight charge across the minefields! It’s the LAST thing they’ll expect!”). That too was mainly the GM’s fault of course, as he let them get away with way to much…
Certainly the higher level of power and influence that Rogue Trader characters possess will provide plenty of opportunity for roleplaying. I think that I’m probably going to end up getting this game: When I actually get my hands on a copy I expect the desire to buy something shiny, new and full of geek goodness will likely override any reservations I might have (which will give my wife cause to roll her eyes as per usual).