Rogue Trader: The Saga of the Demetrius Dynasty... (Inactive)

Game Master Alexander Kilcoyne

Hi Everybody,

There's a bit of a learning curve getting everything set up and proper, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. My character should be posted in the next hour or so...

T.D./aka Badmood

Hi buddy. Glad to see your almost good to go- hop in whenever your ready.

Remember to modify your stats for the origin paths, and make wound, insanity and fate point rolls here in the discussion thread.

Firstly, hello new thale :), I hope you last longer than your predecessors :p. And secondly, I eventually got around to spending my xp.

350 total to spend:
250 on increasing agi by a further +5
100 on scrutiny

The whole acquisition thing is completely new to me, I am just curious to know just how loose it is. Can I write out a post in which Havelock walks out into the port, look for a suitable person, state that he finds one, take him and Lion out for an extended sit-down dinner/negotiation, make Lions Commerce roll and the acquisition roll and then assuming it succeed add whatever he buys to his equipment list or ask that it be added to the Void Wolf's stores?
I mean, how much roleplaying freedom is there?

Declare the acquisition, make the roll and if you wish, a general approach and i'll describe it.

It depends on the acquisition though.

I am reluctant to make this take too long over PbP- this is partly why its abstracted to a PF and Commerce roll.

Before I roll I wanted to make sure I had the modifiers right.

So I want a single arm mounted shotgun pistol with inferno shells and a red dot sight.

I use the rarest component, which is the inferno shells (rare), for a -10. But since I require only one shot pistol I get a +30 negligible modifier, for a total of pf +20 I have to roll under?

Am I free to write a scene for the contact with Naviate Noblis?

Scene would be discussing a sit down to discuss commerce of the sale of Lasguns and troops.

The point of setting up a sit down is to try and bring my talents into play that add modifiers to formal occasions, dealing with nobles, and dealing with military.

Before I roll I wanted to make sure I had the modifiers right.

So I want a single arm mounted shotgun pistol with inferno shells and a red dot sight.

I use the rarest component, which is the inferno shells (rare), for a -10. But since I require only one shot pistol I get a +30 negligible modifier, for a total of pf +20 I have to roll under?

Did you include the availability modifier for the weapon and the sight?

Has everyone made their acquisitions? How many do we have left for purchases by the Dynasty? (I only made one, giving one up for the Dynasty). I'm eager to make planetfall on Orb!

Jerol Soeul wrote:

Before I roll I wanted to make sure I had the modifiers right.

So I want a single arm mounted shotgun pistol with inferno shells and a red dot sight.

I use the rarest component, which is the inferno shells (rare), for a -10. But since I require only one shot pistol I get a +30 negligible modifier, for a total of pf +20 I have to roll under?

Did you include the availability modifier for the weapon and the sight?

You modify it by the rarest component which was inferno shells.

Plenty of acquisitions left to make, Im a little swamped at the moment but i'll reply when I can.

I've got two questions I'd like to ask first; firstly, if you by a grenade launcher do you have to make a separate acquisition for grenades? They are a bit different from ordinary ammo after all; secondly, if you wanted to buy something for the combat part of the crew, how many does one have to plan for? I mean, the entire crew of a frigate is about 30000, but they can't all be combat ready right?

One- assume any normal ammo comes with a weapon acquired.

Two- Much, much more complex. Will remember to answer this when I get back tu updating!

I'll assume frag grenades since they seem to be the most common type.
Right, sorry to trouble you, don't mean to hold us up like this. I was just curious what it would take to get the crew melta bombs or something like that, it was mentioned before in the game thread I think.

Your not really holding us up, thats mostly me. Unis really kicking my ass lately but it should get easier for a while soon.

Take the time you need man, you've got several games running AND your own life to deal with, I know how that goes.

Thule Demetrius, can you make your roll for wounds and fate points etc. please :).

How can I learn a skill that is not on my skill list?

For example, I would like to learn how to use Flamer weapons (being a terrible shot) but it is not on my list of talents and skills as a Navigator.

I'm sure someone on the ship must be able to teach me the correct end to point at things and how to load the gun.

How can I learn a skill that is not on my skill list?

For example, I would like to learn how to use Flamer weapons (being a terrible shot) but it is not on my list of talents and skills as a Navigator.

I'm sure someone on the ship must be able to teach me the correct end to point at things and how to load the gun.

It worked pretty well for me without using the skill! Of course, that was just against lumbering mutants. If we come up against 'Nids or something else, they'll be jumping out of the way really quick.

Hi,

I hate to be the unreliable guy, but I have bitten off more than I can handle at the moment, and I have to bow out of the game (short-lived as my participation was). I probably shouldn't have even tried, but I wanted it to work and it looked like it could be a lot of fun.

So many things are stretching me thin - work issues, family-health problems (that just popped up this week), moving - I just can't commit the time or energy to get up to speed and maintain a steady presence. Thank you for letting me into the game, and I am so sorry it won't work out.

Badmood

Wow, you'd think we were LARPing Vampire and the RT position was the Prince of the City or as we like to refer to him, Mr Bullseye!

For the time being would you like Benetek step up and do duty as RT or try again for another player?

Perhaps the position is simply cursed... I think for now I will DMPC the Rogue Trader, although he'll be fairly backstage and passive.

Son of a...I acctually passed on taking the part because I wanted to give others a chance to be the leader...now I regret that. Ah well, game on anyway.

Son of a...I acctually passed on taking the part because I wanted to give others a chance to be the leader...now I regret that. Ah well, game on anyway.

Yeah, he's usually a pretty reliable guy, but a perfect storm of crap hit him last week. Not having a RT hasn't stopped us before, Once more into the breach, my friends!

Ah sorry, didn't mean to come of like that, I apologice.

Hi,

I hate to be the unreliable guy, but I have bitten off more than I can handle at the moment, and I have to bow out of the game (short-lived as my participation was). I probably shouldn't have even tried, but I wanted it to work and it looked like it could be a lot of fun.

So many things are stretching me thin - work issues, family-health problems (that just popped up this week), moving - I just can't commit the time or energy to get up to speed and maintain a steady presence. Thank you for letting me into the game, and I am so sorry it won't work out.

Badmood

Unlucky man, sorry to hear. Hope everything improves soon :). Also AK, yeah I think it is...perhaps it would be better for the world if the RT position was unmanned in this campaign lol.

Ah sorry, didn't mean to come of like that, I apologice.

I didn't take it that way, I understand your frustration.

However, I'll have some choice words with him in a few weeks we we get together for our regular RPG night!

Huzzah! We have a Division of Troops!

Whip them into shape Minerva!

Yup, one thing we can tick of the list, well done. Sadly Havelock wasn't able to get the Las guns, someone else will have to do that.
Might be an idea to check out the Assault las guns in eye of the storm, They Are average in rarity rather than common, but comes with a great ammo capacity, two clip slots and a built in mono melee attachment.
Great trade goods, or hand out to primitives to smooth negotiations.

Yup, one thing we can tick of the list, well done. Sadly Havelock wasn't able to get the Las guns, someone else will have to do that.

Might be an idea to check out the Assault las guns in eye of the storm, They Are average in rarity rather than common, but comes with a great ammo capacity, two clip slots and a built in mono melee attachment.
Great trade goods, or hand out to primitives to smooth negotiations.

I don't know if it would be a good idea to offer arms to the primitives, least they turn them back on us! Perhaps some other non-hazardous goods would be a better alternative. Plague-infested blankets?

Hmmm,.... I might have to rethink aspects og Minerva a little. Ah well, I was planning for her to get a little more independant gradually. Might have to speed that up. I'm sure that an RT who clearly has a serious Mutiple-personality-disorder might get her to re-evaluate her priorites!

So, we've got three acquisitions for the Dynasty. Here are my suggestions:

Do the mercs we hire come pre-armed? If so, what are they armed with? If it isn't too good, let's use a roll to try and find upgrades.

Trade goods for the primitive societies. Perhaps a commerce roll would help determine what goods would be useful in a trade. (Methinks tech would be out of the question because of the expertise needed to operate and maintain. What about high-grade metals, fuel, medicine?)

What do any of us know about AI? Is there some gear we can acquire in port that would help us deal with this thing?

So, we've got three acquisitions for the Dynasty. Here are my suggestions:

Do the mercs we hire come pre-armed? If so, what are they armed with? If it isn't too good, let's use a roll to try and find upgrades.

Trade goods for the primitive societies. Perhaps a commerce roll would help determine what goods would be useful in a trade. (Methinks tech would be out of the question because of the expertise needed to operate and maintain. What about high-grade metals, fuel, medicine?)

What do any of us know about AI? Is there some gear we can acquire in port that would help us deal with this thing?

Just thought of another, translators, preferably mechanical. We don't even know if these people speak Gothic.

Good point, the other dynasty must have been able to communicate with them somehow, also, we do not know exactly HOW primitive they are, they may well have certain technology already, the slates talked about distributing las guns to them, we do not know if they mean they should or if they already have. Either way, we may be in for a match.

So, we've got three acquisitions for the Dynasty. Here are my suggestions:

Do the mercs we hire come pre-armed? If so, what are they armed with? If it isn't too good, let's use a roll to try and find upgrades.

Flak armour and las carbines.

Lion acquired Common quality troops, but is it possible to get better quality? I was just playing around with making a small company of Skitarii at some later acquisition date.

Okay, so let's think things through.

Back up plan if all else fails.

We load up on Disposable Handguns. These things are Ubiquitous and have a +70 modifier to get as a result.

We could buy enough to outfit and army -30 modifier and still have a +40 or a +50 modifier (if we choose to get the cheapest of the lot poor quality). Just make sure we package them with their own package of speckle to bedazzle the guns with rhinestones and such. Primitives love that sort of thing, hehe.

PF for acquisition is thus 46 +70 -30 +0 = 86 or 96 if we choose slightly less or worse quality.

That way we bring at least something even if it is merchant stink to us. It beats bow and arrows.

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I agree that I'm not really happy in going with lasguns with these people.

Reason 1 > The lasgun is a self contained system provided you don't cook it too often in a fire. There are no repeat sales like there are for ammo using weapons. Also, once a person has a lasgun, there is less of a need to sell them an 'upgraded' weapon.

Reason 2 > Unlike an ammo using weapon, it is hard to cut off the ammo supply in case the primitives choose to turn on you. If you control the bullets then you can in some way control the weapons.

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Alternative sales instead of weapons.

Night cloaks are Average Availability and very popular items among the hunting societies. They are a great boost to camouflage (+30 Concealment) and if you choose to not sell them then they can work great with our own troops to make a crack unit of night fighters.

Photo-Visors are Scarce but also a great tool for hunters, night fighters and army units working on primitive worlds.

Tranq is Abundant and easy to acquire. Sell it to the natives along with a pitch of getting in touch with their inner self and soon they'll be worshiping the God-Emperor. If you don't like Tranq then there are a series of easily obtainable drugs that can help primitive cultures reach a higher plane of existence.

Ploin Juice is Ubiquitous and a heavy intoxicant. It is perfect for giving out to groups when sales of planetary rights and Archanotech guns are involved. There are few doors that Ploin won't open if used in large enough quantities.

Wideawake is great for selling to guards that are pulling too many shifts and can't afford to fall asleep on the job. They sleep much more soundly after-wards and are listless for days afterwards making them easy to conquer. Only plentiful in supply but still easier to get in large quantities then most guns.

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Weapons other than lasguns.

There are plenty of good chainswords that are easy to get (usually average) and they are popular with woodsy types that use them as weapons and as field knives. If you fear giving out firearms then this is a great second choice.

If you want to really give out a weapon to impress but keep the best at home then I would suggest the Assault Stubber. It is not as big as the heavy stubber and doesn't have as great a rate of fire or range. It is popular for the look of the duel barrels and if you don't sell it to the primitives then are own troops would find it a great squad support weapon. With an Average availability it practically sells itself. Best yet, it uses lots of bullets which means plenty of ammo sales.

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Final thing is that while void suits are Plentiful, are ship seems to be lacking in there number. It might be good to try to get a few more for the ship for the next time we choose to go boarding ships in space or just have a bad day that opens sections of our ship.

Looks like someone has been using the grey matter, impressive reasoning there.

Since we don't know if they have weapons or not, I'd suggest going with the night cloaks, that way, if we acquire them, we can go for some cheap fire power next just in case.

Lion acquired Common quality troops, but is it possible to get better quality? I was just playing around with making a small company of Skitarii at some later acquisition date.

Yup, definitely possible to get higher quality troops.

By the way AK, did you ever find out how large the fighting crew of the Void Wolf was? I was just curious how large a quantity of weapons you would have to buy to outfit them all with better tools.

Might also want to divide them into various type of teams, like scouts, heavies and such.

sorry, a bit busy with work. I'll try to have another post with Lion on Sunday night.

I think Lion is going to spend his second acquisition roll on Ploin Juice.

Is clearing the guns of the cult an Endeavour or are we protecting the ship against the loss of PF by getting this cult out of the ship?

Unless I'm very much mistaken we have three acquisitions left to make, all handed over to the Dynasty, why don't we try to get a good mix from the list Lion made?
I'd say we go with trying to get our hands on the camo cloaks, the assault stubbers and photo visors, that way all the things can be used by our people if we don't end up selling them.
Who should try for what? Havelock can try for either, always willing to help.

The key question for those items is in the numbers to attempt to acquire.

The lower the number then the easier it is to acquire.

It also means that you have less to use.

Enough for a company (50 to 100) is a +0
Enough for a regiment (500 to 1000) is a -10

My suggestion would be to purchase on the regiment scale so if we get the item it is in enough of a quantity to use and sell.

Good point, ok, so, since Lion is trained in Commerce and have good contacts why doesn’t he try for the hardest item to acquire, that's the photo visors I think?
Havelock can try and get his hands on some camo claok, they aren't tech, but he should be able to figure something out. Maybe Praetia can go for guns? She is a bit warlike isn't she?

Maybe Praetia can go for guns? She is a bit warlike isn't she?

I'll take that in the spirit of the statement! If the translators are a necessary piece of equipment, I would rather have those. If they are unnecessary, I'll try for the stubbers.

Okay, let's see;

Visors are scarce +0, Number Regiment -10, craftsmanship poor +10. I'm going for the cheaper 'knock off' variety that kids can play with. It isn't mil grade but it works. You just got to prepared for it fogging up a bit at night. ;>

That will make the base Acquisition roll a 46 with modifier for Commerce.

Im off to london for a few days, so I wont be able to post untill thursday night. I'm stuck untill AK posts anyway, and he's pretty swamped with work at the moment still so I don't think it'll make much difference, thought I may as well say anyway! Good luck with all the acquisitions and such!

Last pick before we pull out of orbit. Praetia, do you want to do the honour of the rolls. I think Alex put a post in the main thread on languages which should answer the question on translators.

Last pick before we pull out of orbit. Praetia, do you want to do the honour of the rolls. I think Alex put a post in the main thread on languages which should answer the question on translators.

Kinda short on time today to reference the ruleset. Lion, if you could please make the purchase (your rolls always seem better anyway!)

Updated the Void Wolf with these items;

We've got a Division of Mercs with lasguns and flak armour. A Division is between 2,000 and 5,000.

We've go a Regiment of Assault Stubbers. A Regiment is between 500 and 1,000.

We've got a Regiment of Cammo Cloaks. Again 500 to 1,000.

We've got an Army of Ploin Juice. An Army is 10,000+

We've the Aquilla Magnificus (Praetia)

Stats for the Mercenaries with Lasguns and flak armour. Add to void wolf please :), it might become relevant.

WS 25
BS 35
S 30
T 30
Ag 30
Int 25
Per 25
WP 25
Fel 30

Wounds- 10
Skills: Awareness, Common Lore (War, Imperium), Climb, Intimidate, Barter
Talents: Basic Weapon Training (Las, SP)
Equipment: Flak Armour (AP4 all location, AP5 vs blast.)