GM Hector's Rogue Trader: The Warpstorm Trilogy (Inactive)

Game Master LordHector

I've finally had some time open up in my schedule and am interested in running a campaign here on the boards again. Anyone interested in playing, I'm looking for three or four players, five maximum. New players are welcome, both to PBP's, the Rogue Trader system, and/or the Warhammer 40,000 universe. I'd prefer players not familiar with the trilogy, and will be running a few introductory adventures to get some ranks under your belts before I kick off the trilogy proper.

I might be interested - I have passing familiarity with Warhammer (that is, WFRPG - the one from before FFG acquired the license), but have never dabbled in W40K. What sort of books would I be required to buy? What's the next step for me learning more about character options, etc.?

VERY interested. Every RT game I join seems to collapse and die and i'm keen to play one on these forums.

Morbus Iff- I imagine you'll need access to the Rogue Trader Core Rulebook for character gen (its a complex system and you'll need a full book or pdf).

I am quite interested as well.
I would need to pick up the book but that is no great hardship. I am familiar with the 40k universe so that would not pose a problem.

Am I correct in thinking that the player positions (classes?) in RT are: Rogue trader, Navigator, Arch-militant, Astropath and, Missionary?

I think that is implied by the Final Flight games website.

EDIT: After taking a walk round of some web resources including a character creation walkthrough, please consider me VERY interested. This looks like a blast! Off to see if my flgs has a copy.

*Waves to AK and PWO*

I'm intrigued also. Fully aware of the crapsack world that is 40k, and rulebook is currently 43% downloaded from DriveThroughRPG.

Would I be correct in assuming 'standard' character gen?

@DM Hector, would ye be allowing Orks (see Into the Storm) into this game?

PWO- There are 8.

Astropath Transcendent (Psyker)
Arch-Militant (Combat Specialist)
Rogue Trader (Glorious Leader)
Missionary (Devoted Cleric)
Explorator (Techpriest Exemplar)
Seneschal (Roles hard to describe, something of a jack-of-all-trades/right hand man)
Void-Master (Ship specialist)
Navigator (Mutant who guides the ship through the warp)

If recruitment is opening up, i'll be vying for the position of Seneschal.

In case of rolled Characteristics:

Hmmm - That'll do :)

Think i'll wait to see if DM is opening up recruitment before I roll.

Heh - doing it just as much for the 'learn by doing' aspect of putting the character together and throwing around the various career options than anything else :)

Wow! Wasn't expecting such a fast reaction. And that's 5. I'm half tempted to close recruitment and just go to discussion to help you guys make characters. As far as the books, really be doing perfectly fine with just the core rulebook. It's an rp heavy system, and combat is much faster (and deadlier) than in PF. You're not losing anything by not having all the supplements. As far as Ork goes, I don't know. I'll have to think hard about that one.

Wow! Wasn't expecting such a fast reaction. And that's 5. I'm half tempted to close recruitment and just go to discussion to help you guys make characters. As far as the books, really be doing perfectly fine with just the core rulebook. It's an rp heavy system, and combat is much faster (and deadlier) than in PF. You're not losing anything by not having all the supplements. As far as Ork goes, I don't know. I'll have to think hard about that one.

No problem about the Ork.

Any guidelines on character generation other than those stated in the corebook?

Can I possibly use Into the Storm for character creation? It expands the character gen process and adds a lot of really cool options on the origin path.

WS: 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (8, 8) + 25 = 41
BS: 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (7, 5) + 25 = 37
Str: 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (4, 9) + 25 = 38
Tough: 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (3, 9) + 25 = 37
Agi: 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (10, 5) + 25 = 40
Int: 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (3, 4) + 25 = 32
Per: 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (8, 5) + 25 = 38
Will: 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (9, 7) + 25 = 41
Fellow: 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (10, 6) + 25 = 41

Reroll Int: 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (4, 6) + 25 = 35

Base WS- 41
Base BS- 37
Base S- 38
Base T- 37
Base Ag- 40
Base Int- 35
Base Per- 38
Base Will- 41
Base Fellow- 41

WS 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (3, 1) + 25 = 29
BS 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (7, 10) + 25 = 42
Str 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (3, 7) + 25 = 35
T 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (7, 4) + 25 = 36
Ag 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (9, 10) + 25 = 44
Int 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (9, 3) + 25 = 37
Per 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (5, 2) + 25 = 32
Will 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (6, 9) + 25 = 40
Fel 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (1, 10) + 25 = 36

Reroll WS 2d10 + 25 ⇒ (6, 2) + 25 = 33

Base Scores
WS 33
BS 42
Str 35
T 36
Ag 44
Int 37
Per 32
Will 40
Fell 36

I can go either Rogue Trader or Arch-militant with these scores.

You could go pretty much anything with those rolls.

I'll second the request to have Into the Storm as an option for character generation - there is indeed some cool stuff in there.

I'm leaning towards either an Explorator or a Navigator.

Into the Storm is the one book I don't have a copy of. Let me see if I can get my hands on one, but that should be fine.

Morbus (and anyone else not up to speed on 40k), basically Warhammer 40,000 takes place in a very distopian future. Your character probably wouldn't know much of this (or care for that matter), but the premise is that at some point in the future, mankind creates the gellar field which allows us to travel via space ship through the dimension known as the warp, a realm of infinite possibility comprised of raw emotion where time and space have no sway, and thus colonize a fair-sized chunk of the milky way galaxy. Around this time, mankind also began to notice the greater prominence of psykers (people whose minds could open into the warp to work their will on reality). However, due to misuse of psychic power and hostile aliens, humanity fell (similar to the real world fall of Rome) and warp storms covered large parts of the galaxy. This was known as the Age of Strife, and most of the technological advancements made earlier were lost during this time.

What was saved was done so because people stopped leaning how and why things worked the way they did, only that if they said the right words and hit the right buttons, the right thing would happen. Science became religion. During this time, a powerful man known only as the Emperor came to power on Earth, and when the warp storms around Earth subsided, he set out to reunite all the lost worlds of humanity. To do this, he created 20 genetically-enhanced superhuman primarchs. However, the gods of Chaos (manifestations of the most powerful emotions within the warp) weren't too fond of this idea and scattered the primarchs across the galaxy. So the Emperor used the gene data he had from the primarchs to create legions of slightly less-powerful, but still really awesome, space marines.

The Emperor then officially begins the Great Crusade, reuniting the scattered worlds of humanity as well as rediscovering the lost primarchs along the way. Once found, the Emperor would hand over command of the space marine legion to the primarch whose genes were used in its creation. Only two were never found. Towards the end of the Crusade, the Emperor handed over command to his favored son Horus while he returned to Earth for reasons unknown. Due to a number of reasons that don't really need to be gotten into here, Horus rallied his and eight other space marine legions and rebelled. He almost won, but in the final battle, the Emperor himself battled Horus, but couldn't bring himself to kill him. Horus had no such problems and mortally wounded the Emperor before he finally had enough and made Horus's head explode. Still badly wounded, the Emperor was plugged into the device he had been working on a a form of life support.

Fast forward 10,000 years and now the Imperium of Man rules its citizens with an iron fist and keeps them in line with tales of the (very real) threats to their lives: witches, daemons, hostile aliens, etc... The Emperor is a decaying corpse worshiped as a god whose psychic essence guides ships through the warp. Without this, the Astronomicon, there would be no direction and ships would too easily fall prey to the denizens of the warp, daemons. You, however, are a rogue trader (or, at least, work for one). You have a charter allowing you to operate trade outside the boundaries of Imperial Law (for the most part) as well as outside Imperial space.

Having given it a quick look-through, I see no problem whatsoever with allowing Into the Storm, excepting only the xeno species. They put too much strain on a a campaign and tend to focus too much attention on them by simple virtue of being (very) different.

Hector, thanks for all the quick responses.

Another two questions-

Any free choice rows on the origin path?

Any preference towards having a RT or not?

By the way- everyone should bookmark this and note the changes, some may even affect your chargen. Its the RT errata.

Link

Thanks, DM Hector, for the inclusion of Into the Storm. For purposes of ship building, will you be allowing Battlefleet Koronus? I would like some torpedoes with my grand cruiser.

Present Roster

Me - Rogue Trader (going by the name of Silas Tyr not Sarvus Trask)
Alexander Kilcoyne - Seneschal
Mark Sweetman - undisclosed at this time.
Poor Wandering One - undisclosed at this time.
Morbus ff - undisclosed at this time.

If anyone needs something from Hostile Acquisitions let me know.

WH40K?? Squeeeee!

I see you are already happy with your 5, but if there is room for any more...I am in! I have the core dead tree style in addition to a couple Dark Heresy stuff. More importantly by far, I have a slew of pdfs from this line, so I am all set with info.

Keep me in mind as an alternate, please!! :-)

I'm pretty settled on a Navigator - current thoughts are Battlefleet -> ?Unnatural Origins? -> Duty Bound: Duty to the Throne -> Dark Voyage -> Prestige -> Navigator
Magisterial House and starting with Eyes as Dark as the Void and Void Watcher

I'll firm up my character and choices by Sunday night latest and get him posted here for review.

I'm new to Rogue Trader itself though, so if anyone has any helpful suggestions I'd be all ears :)

@pinvendor Go ahead and take my spot!

If it is closed then I understand, but I will mention I am very interested if there is a spot open.
I've got the same lousy track record as AK with RT.

Not too shabby a void master unless I am missing something. The info I could find was a little on the sparse side. My book won't be in for a bit.
Could someone slip me the word on how to figure fate points and wounds?

Also as I am a noob at this game could all you kind people take a look to be sure I haven't made any really bad mistakes?

@Morbus Iff: I appreciate the step down, but please play if you are interested. Since the GM hasn't weighed in, there's still a chance we could both be included.

Not a problem with Battlefleet Koronus. I'm pretty open to supplements so that you guys can build the characters the way you imagine them. With the Ork and Kroot it's really just with them being xenos it puts unnecessary strain on the campaign.

I'm okay with having some free choice rows, I'll let you guys know which ones. Whether you guys have a Rogue Trader or not is purely up to whether anyone wants to play one. If no one does, then he/she will probably be an NPC who handles the numerous duties of managing the ship and will fill much the same role as the PC's inquisitor in Dark Heresy.

Speaking of Dark Heresy, I'll let you guys know that this will be my first time running Rogue Trader. I'm pretty familiar with the majority of the system from running Dark Heresy at home. So be gentle as I'm still getting a handle on the differences between the two systems.

@BoggBear & Morbus: If you guys are both interested in playing, I can squeeze in you both in. I've had a group of seven in my games before, and it works fine. Combat is of a lesser concern in RT than in PF, especially in a PBP game, so I'm not too concerned with you guys overpowering the opposition. Combat's pretty deadly in the 40k RP's anyway. Also, in a PBP game, it's easier for me to give attention to the entire group without spotlighting on one or two players, so if you guys both really want to play, you're in. I'll take you both. (Plus having a larger group accommodates for the seemingly inevitable player drop-outs. Not that I want it to happen, but it does seem to happen and it's best to be prepared, right.)

So, with that having been said, any thoughts on what you guys might want to play? We have currently a Void Master, Rogue Trader, Navigator, and Seneschal.

Hey wait! What about me!! I was here!!! I guess I got overlooked...

Oh well, if Morbus chooses to play, then keep me in mind in case you need me.

EDIT: In case it mattered I was thinking Astropath or Exlorator

Sorry Pin! Forgot to put your name in there... my bad. You, Morbus, and Bogg are all in should you choose.

A group of seven would mean only one bridge crew npc. This would make it impossable for us to manipulate DM Hector into having to stage a dramatic emotional conversation with him/her self. Missing this would be a sacrafice but that is what the 40k games are all about no?

ps. If someone was really hoping for Void Master I can swap out. I basically rolled a die.

@PWO: Ahhh, but as Mass Effect has proven, one can have plenty of dramatic emotional conversation with all manner of random people aboard a ship.

Most excellent! My plaintive crying was heard even here deep in the Void.

I need to re-read the Tech priest information, but I am currently leaning in that direction if it is available

Tech Priest is from Dark Heresy. The closest you'd be looking at for RT is the Explorator. Basically he's a Tech Priest on a mission from Mars to hang out with a rogue trader and hunt down archeotech and any parts of the STC he can find.

So what does Battlefleet/Into the Storm add and do I really need it or will the core book suffice?

Are we talking more like Pathfinder core vs. APG? Where it adds options but is well (ish) balanced and the Core is not overwhelmed. Or it is more like the way High Guard, Mercenary, Scouts et. al. radically changed original traveler to the point where it became imposable to really have characters created under the new and old systems in the same group.

The Core book will suffice. Battlefleet Koronus is bonus stuff for your ship: extra parts, weapons, etc... Into the Storm is basically the APG for Rogue Trader. It gives alternate career ranks, new talents, new gear, so on and so forth. Neither are necessary, nor will you be underpowered without them. Being as you all share a ship, only one person really needs Battlefleet to make use of it, and Into the Storm provides options that are just different in case you had a different idea in mind for your explorer. It's useful for those really into the fluff to be able to play very specific archetypes within the universe.

Perfect. I will stick with the vanilla for now.

Most excellent! My plaintive crying was heard even here deep in the Void.

I need to re-read the Tech priest information, but I am currently leaning in that direction if it is available

Explorators look rather awesome. Lots of toys. Servitors, bionics, robotic arms that spray incense and squirt the sacred blood of the machine.

You are pretty much an unholy cyborged blend of Indiana Jones and Scotty from what I was able to dig up.

Having decided on you seven (should you all decide to play), I'm going to close recruitment and move this discussion over to the OOC section to which here is the link.

Having decided on you seven (should you all decide to play), I'm going to close recruitment and move this discussion over to the OOC section to which here is the link.

Curses, too late to the party. Count me in if players have to bow out. I too, would like to play in a longer-running game.

@Nebelwerfer41: I wouldn't say we lost one, but one of our players' wives just had a little bundle of joy, and for obvious reasons he is not expected to be super active in posting. Hector may be willing to consider your involvement. I would recommend PMing him to inquire.

Mark will be back to posting within a week or three I am sure. Hes already got one child so he knows what hes in for :P.

With that said, I can vouch for Nebel. Reliable and great player in my old RT PbP.

Another point of interest is that the 'seventh' player either bowed out or never showed up, so I think that spot is still open more or less.

That is true, although I already kind of filled out the roster with the two NPC's. I'll keep you in mind if you still want in a little later, but they're kind of right in the middle of an endeavor atm. Alternatively, you could play one of the aforementioned NPC's, although I don't know about you, but I'd hate playing a character someone else made as opposed to one of my own.

@GM Hector, we sure could use a more active missionary to inspire the crew. A ship could have more than one, right?

@GM Hector, we sure could use a more active missionary to inspire the crew. A ship could have more than one, right?

Thanks for the offer Hector, if you get to a slow spot and wouldn't mind another player, let me know. You can email me at nebelwerfer41 at gmail dot com

Np Nebel.

And Silas, I was assuming that he was doing it behind the scenes. No need to report to the captain, "Yessir, all motivated, sir!"

That is true, although I already kind of filled out the roster with the two NPC's. I'll keep you in mind if you still want in a little later, but they're kind of right in the middle of an endeavor atm. Alternatively, you could play one of the aforementioned NPC's, although I don't know about you, but I'd hate playing a character someone else made as opposed to one of my own.

I would have no problem with swapping out our NPC astro or missionary with a real person. It wouldn't be the first retcon to hit the WH40K universe.