Deep within the generatorium-crypts below Footfall's void shield projectors, two hooded figures meet in the steam-filled tunnels.
"You'll be sure not to let on where you got this?" one figure says, as he glances fugitively from side to side. "If my masters learn what I..."
"Your masters are far away, my friend," the other responds. "Give them to me."
The first hands over a data slate, and several sheafs of parchment. "I copied these, they were submitted with the report."
"Good, good," the individual replies, already reading the hurried scrawl. "Now go, and enjoy your reward."
The first turns and flees down the passage. The other is so engrossed in the information contained on the data-slate, he does not notice him leave. Nor does he notice the single las-shot that echoes down the passageway a minute later.
Finally, he tucks away the data-slate and parchment, and smiles. Master Winterscale will be pleased...

Hello, Rogue Trader fans!

The history of the Imperium is full of half-truths, legends, and lies. Delving into the truth of matters is often difficult, and sometimes impossible. However, after much effort we have unearthed some of the secrets of the Koronus Expanse, a history of deeds and events both grand and nefarious. Now it falls on you to sort the facts from the fantasy.

Download it here, or on the support page.

A History of the Koronus Expanse, high-res (pdf, 30mb)
A History of the Koronus Expanse, web-quality (pdf, 1.6mb)

Rogue Trader is a roleplaying game set in dark gothic far future of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe. Players take on the roles of explorers aboard a Rogue Trader's ship, searching for profit and adventure while discovering new alien cultures and threats in the uncharted regions of space.

Resolved henceforth in the name of the Most Beneficent God-Emperor of Mankind, the High Lords of Terra grant Warrants of Trade to those brave souls listed here, and to all of their line, from this day unto the end of time....

The list of Officially Sanctioned Rogue Traders (pdf, 784kb), consisting of fans who personalized their copies of Rogue Trader Collector’s Edition, is now on the support page!

Rogue Trader is a roleplaying game set in dark gothic far future of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe. Players take on the roles of explorers aboard a Rogue Trader's ship, searching for profit and adventure while discovering new alien cultures and threats in the uncharted regions of space.

The time is here. The Emperor has entrusted you with the sacred duty to explore the galaxy and bring it under his protection and control, and your commission begins today.

Rogue Trader is now on sale at retailers and in our webstore!

In Rogue Trader, you take on the role of a Rogue Trader and his most trusted counsellors, empowered by an ancient warrant of trade to seek out profit and plunder amongst unexplored regions of space. Your ship will take you to new worlds and uncharted reaches of the void, where you will encounter rivals, pirates, aliens, and possibly even creatures of the warp. You will acquire and spend great wealth and riches, and fame or infamy will follow. You will discover ancient and forgotten mysteries and search out the unknown to find lost human worlds or never before seen celestial phenomena. You must survive the dangers of space, for beyond the threat of vacuum and deadly radiation lurk things Man was never meant to find.

Head over to the description page to see more information on this ground-breaking RPG, then see your friendly local game retailer or visit our webstore! If you have any questions about your Rogue Trader Collector's Edition purchase, please contact store@fantasyflightgames.com.

Rogue Trader is a roleplaying game set in dark gothic far future of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe. Players take on the roles of explorers aboard a Rogue Trader's ship, searching for profit and adventure while discovering new alien cultures and threats in the uncharted regions of space.

A battered trading vessel has just docked at the FFG warehouse, having braved the perils of the galaxy to deliver its precious cargo. The freighter’s crew faced untold dangers to spread the word of the Emperor to our offices, and very soon, the same sacred responsibility will fall to you.

Sam Stewart and Ross Watson celebrate the recent arrival of a shipment of Rogue Trader Collector's Edition

Fantasy Flight Games is pleased to announce that copies of Rogue Trader will soon be on their way to distributors!

Regular editions of the much-anticipated core rulebook will begin shipping to distributors next week, and Collector’s Edition copies are already being hand assembled and shipped out by FFG employees. But if you ordered a copy of Rogue Trader Collector’s Edition, please be patient. Due to the meticulous preparation process involved in personalizing these rare artefacts, we can only send out roughly fifty copies per day.

Prepare your crew, ready your weapons, and set a course for wealth and glory. Soon, you will claim your prize...

Rogue Trader is a roleplaying game set in dark gothic far future of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe. Players take on the roles of explorers aboard a Rogue Trader's ship, searching for profit and adventure while discovering new alien cultures and threats in the uncharted regions of space.

Hello, Rogue Trader fans!

This week I'm proud to present Rogue Trader writer Tim Huckelbery, and his musings on the Armoury Chapter. 

Hi there folks, I’m Tim Huckelbery and one of the sections I wrote for in the Rogue Trader core book was the Armoury section, which, luckily enough, is what we’re going to talk about in this Designer’s Diary. So settle in, pour yourself a few fingers of wobble, undo your holster’s thumb break (this place looks a little rough), and I’ll talk a little about my role in Rogue Trader weapons and gear section.

I got started working on the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay line way back in the initial Dark Heresy development days, when I handled the core rulebook's armoury section. That was my first gig writing for a roleplaying game, and I’ve been contributing to the line ever since.

I’ve always enjoyed the “techie” parts of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and I love trying to figure out how they could work in a semi-realistic manner with a minimum of resorting to “handwavium” (aka, waving your hands in the air and saying “well that’s how it works here, we’ll ignore all the laws of physics”). I normally to keep things inside the realm of solidly possibly technology—except, of course, this is a universe where painting a vehicle red will indeed make it go faster (at least for Orks). It’s a setting where along with the four basic fundamental physical forces like gravity or electromagnetism, you also have things like Faith and Warp Energies that can be just as powerful. Which means writing about the various weapons and gear involves an interesting mix of techno-speak and theology at times, and makes working on them a fun challenge.

So speaking of working—writing for the Armoury section for Rogue Trader was both easily familiar but sometimes difficult to do. Obviously we wanted to use many of the same weapons and equipment from the first game in this new book, especially as they are meant to be compatible together, but we didn’t want to simply reprint what we’d done before. So the task was to provide the 'staple' weapons of the 41st Millennium while keeping them new and interesting for Dark Heresy fans.

The result has many of the mainstay items of the Warhammer 40,000, but most have minor variants and twists to keep them fresh. We’ve also added quite a lot of new items, especially new bits of xenos technology. As the important crew on a Rogue Trader's vessel there will be lots of contact with aliens and many opportunities to trade/find/steal their devices! You’ll see eldar shuriken catapults, ork sluggas, kroot rifles, and other famous alien items, alongside the new and mysterious Crux Beam Guns, deadly Fractal Blades, and more.

As your characters are more powerful and have access to a wider variety of gear, we’ve also included higher end items like Digital Weapons and a broad variety of personal bionics so players can customize their bodies as well as their clothing. You’ll also find little bits like alternate firing modes for plasma weapons, and fun new things like groxwhips, shock gloves, warhammers (how could we not have them for this game!), and power mauls. Overall I think players will get some interesting gear to work with as they set out to explore the Koronus Expanse. It’s a dangerous place, and you’ll be wanting to be fully kitted out before embarking on your voyage.

You may have noticed there is a lot of “we” mentioned above. That’s because this book had a strong collaborative effort going from the start. From the beginning, all of the writers for Rogue Trader were brought together thanks to the wonders of the Internet. This allowed us to discuss topics, propose ideas, pass around drafts for critique, and in general all work together to make this the best possible book we could. I have to say this was the best part of working on the game—all of the wonderful ideas that bounced around (some of which bounced right out of this book, but may still turn up elsewhere), checking our worksite to see who had posted up what new things for review, and in general having a great bunch of people to collaborate with for the project. It was a great period of time with lots of late nights and scattered Warhammer 40,000 reference works (my work room floor was covered with old books and magazines for many months), but a really wonderful experience.

Rogue Trader is a roleplaying game set in dark gothic far future of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe. Players take on the roles of explorers aboard a Rogue Trader's ship, searching for profit and adventure while discovering new alien cultures and threats in the uncharted regions of space.

By Rogue Trader Developer Sam Stewart

Hello, Rogue Trader fans!

Today, I’d like to talk about the scope and scale of Rogue Trader, and the resources available to its players. In many ways, Rogue Trader offers an experience unlike most roleplaying games, and I’d like to take a few minutes to go over several of them.

A Question of Scale

One of the underlying tenets of the universe in the 41st Millennium is that everything is big, and I mean really big. On countless worlds across the infinite star systems in the galaxy, vast armies comprised of countless warriors wage eternal war. In the Imperium, cities can be vast structures that cover hundreds or thousands of square kilometers, and reach into the upper reaches of the atmosphere. The monolithic bureaucracy of the Imperial Administratum keeps track of so much information, a simple error of a decimal placement can doom entire sectors to slow starvation. And lets not forget the many thousands of crewmembers it takes to run a single spaceship.

Into this universe step your characters, the Rogue Trader and his loyal cadre of trusted companions. Rogue Traders are supposed to be famous (or infamous) individuals, whose name is known on hundreds of worlds, and whose power and influence can be felt across entire sectors. Even a weaker Rogue Trader can rival an Imperial Planetary Governor in terms of power and wealth. 

In practical terms, this means players in Rogue Trader have access to some frankly unprecedented levels of resources. Lets take a quick look at some of them.

The Gear

A Rogue Trader and his companions have access to vast wealth, and with that comes access to powerful items and equipment. The Profit Factor mechanic means that instead of a Rogue Trader asking “should I buy one lasgun,” he’s asking “should I buy one thousand lasguns? Or maybe ten thousand? Or maybe that noble’s heirloom plasma pistol, instead?”

Characters in Rogue Trader can afford to possess only the best in arms and equipment. Power sword? Sure! Inferno pistol? I’ll take two, thank you! Best-craftsmanship power armour? Why not? This ability to buy all sorts of exiting items means characters can worry less about their gear, and more about heroic (or infamous) deeds and exciting adventures. Of course, it also means their GM can send them up against ever-more perilous encounters—or throw them into situations better solved by quick thinking than quick shooting.

The Ship

First amongst the Rogue Trader and his companions’ possessions is their starship. Even the smallest vessel available to a Rogue Trader has immensely powerful weapons and a crew of thousands who are subservient to the players’ characters. These can drastically change the way in which players resolve conflicts and solve problems. Players may bombard a planet in order to ‘persuade’ the local ruler to acquiesce to their requests, or forego exploring a dangerous ruin themselves by sending 100 of their crew instead.

In Rogue Trader, these are both perfectly valid tactics. After all, what’s the point of having minions if you don’t get to order them around, or commanding a city-sized starship if you don’t get to show off? If that’s the way the players want to play, the GM should be willing to embrace it. Of course, a Rogue Trader with a reputation for hiding on his ship is quickly going to lose respect and influence among his peers. Besides, most players aren’t going to want to sit idly by while faceless minions earn all the glory!

The Glory

Powerful weapons, huge starships, and legions of followers all give the players plenty of power. Therefore, it’s up the GM to make their adventures equally challenging, and the rewards correspondingly grand. A Rogue Trader wouldn’t be satisfied with killing a monster and looting its treasure trove. Instead, he would slay a monster himself, to show his crew ‘how it’s done.’ Then, he’d turn his minions loose on the entire planet to hunt down the rest of the indigenous life, then set up a vast mining operation to get at the vast admantium deposits under the surface.

Likewise, a Rogue Trader wouldn’t fight off a band of marauding Orks threatening a settlement. However, he might rally a fleet of fellow Rogue Traders to engage a mighty Ork WAAAGH! that threatens a hive world, destroying their ships in orbit, then meeting the greenskin’s Warboss on the battlefield in single combat. As a reward for his victory? Perhaps the world he saved would build a cruiser in his honor. Or maybe a simple planetary governorship would suffice.

Of course, one of the maxims of the 41st Millenium is that no matter how strong you are, you can always run into something stronger. That’s something players and GMs alike should keep in mind when they plot their first voyages into the dark depths of the Koronus Expanse.

Rogue Trader is a roleplaying game set in dark gothic far future of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe. Players take on the roles of explorers aboard a Rogue Trader's ship, searching for profit and adventure while discovering new alien cultures and threats in the uncharted regions of space.

By Rogue Trader Developer Sam Stewart

Hello, Rogue Trader Fans! Last week I talked about setting up an Endeavour, with the Rogue Trader Sarvus Trask and his valiant crew wresting a trade route to Mallanus Minoris from the clutches of the vile Ork Freebooterz. This week, let’s look closer at one of the battles between their ship—the Cerberus—and one of the Freebooterz warships—the ‘Eadsmasha!

First, let’s take a look at our opponents. The Cerberus is a Havoc-class merchant raider that is both Resolute (a Machine Spirit Oddity decreasing her speed but increasing her hull points) and Haunted (a Past History decreasing her crew’s Morale but increasing her Detection and ability to resist boarders). Even with her resolute tendencies, the ship is still fast, manoeuvrable, and well armed. Like all raiders, however, her armour is weaker and she has less hull integrity than other ships her size. For weapons, she’s carrying a long-range dorsal Sunsear Laser Battery and powerful prow Ryza-pattern Plasma Battery—both macrobatteries.

The ‘Eadsmasha! is an Onslaught-class Ork Freebooterz vessel. Its hull is classed as a frigate, and although it’s slower and less manoeuvrable than the Cerberus, the ‘Eadsmasha! has tougher armour and more hull integrity. It also has one additional prow weapon slot, and it mounts two looted prow macrocannons and a dorsal battery of Gunz—all three macrobatteries as well.

The two ships start 20 VUs (Void Units) apart from each other and facing one another, in orbit over Mallanus Minoris. Earlier in the Endeavour, Trask managed to surprise his foes, but this time the Ork is aware and waiting for him. Each ship rolls Initiative (the 10s column of their Detection, plus 1d10). In personal combat, combatants use their Agility when determining Initiative to represent their quick reflexes. With starship combat, who acts first depends more on who notices their enemies first—hence the use of Detection. The Cerberus, with its higher Detection bonus, wins the roll and goes first.

Space combat is very similar to normal combat, with Strategic Turns and Rounds taking the place of regular Turns and Rounds. Each ship gets one Strategic Turn during each Strategic Round, which lasts roughly 30 minutes of in-game time.

During that turn, each ship must make one Movement Action and may make one Shooting Action (during which any available weapons are fired). Crewmembers also have the option of performing Extended Actions to boost the ship’s performance or create other benefits. Each player character can only perform one action, however, so it behooves them to plan their turn carefully. 

During the Cerberus’s first turn, Trask boldly decides to head straight at the enemy. There will be no skulking about while there are xenos to butcher! The counsel of his Void-master gunner does convince him, however, to perform Evasive Manoeuvres as the ship approaches, to make it more difficult to hit. Trask must make a Difficult (–10) Pilot+Manoeuvrability Test to succeed—meaning he adds his Pilot (Spacecraft) Skill of 30 to the Cerberus’s Manoeuvrability of 25, then tests against the total of 55. He rolls a 42, success! Success plus one additional degree of success means all shooting against his ship takes a –20 penalty until the beginning of the Cerberus’s next turn. Unfortunately, his own ship suffers the same penalty.

The Voidmaster gunner then fires on the enemy. They are still 12 VUs apart, meaning the plasma batteries are out of range. The Sunsears, with their range of 9, are within long (double) range of the enemy.

Macrobatteries fire in a similar manner to fully automatic weapons. The gunner makes a Ballistic Skill Test, and more degrees of success means more hits. However, with a total penalty of –30 (–20 for Evasive Manoeuvres and –10 for long range), the macrobatteries only score two hits. One is soaked by the ‘Eadsmasha!’s void shields, while the other does little against the Ork’s tough prow armour.

Then it’s the Ork’s turn. Trask thought he was out of range of the worst of the ‘Eadsmasha!’s fire, but he didn’t know about the Big Red Button the Ork Kaptain installed on his bridge. Belching a vast cloud of vile fuel-gas, the ‘Eadsmasha! lurches forward an additional 4 VUs, moving 9 total. Now, only 3 VUs away from its target, the Ork opens fire!

Even with the -20 penalty from Evasive Manoeuvres, the ‘Eadsmasha! can smash the Cerberus. Its looted macrocannons are within short range—partially negating the firing penalty, and even its gunz are in range as well. It lets loose with everything, scoring three hits with its macrocannons, and one solid hit from the gunz. One macrocannon hit is absorbed by the Cerberus’s shields, the rest go straight to armour. When multiple macrobatteries aboard a ship are directed against the same target, their damage is combined. The ‘Eadsmasha! ends up rolling 25 total damage. The Cerberus subtracts 16 due to armour, but still takes 9 damage to her Hull Integrity. One volley, and more than a quarter of her Hull Integrity has been lost! Things are looking grim for Trask and his crew.

A lesser captain might break off and retreat at this point, but not Trask. He quickly consults with his crew and comes up with a plan “that’s just crazy enough to work!” He wants to come up alongside the Ork ship, then turn directly into her flank and give her a withering volley at point blank range.

However, the Ork ship is only 3 VUs away, under the minimum distance the Cerberus is required to move each turn. Trask will have to Adjust Speed, a Challenging (+0) Pilot+Manoeuvrability Test. In the Cerberus’s engineerium, the Explorator links himself directly with the Cerberus’s core cogitators in order to Aid the Machine Spirit, boosting the ship’s Manoeuvrability for the turn. Then Trask makes his Adjust Speed Test, and succeeds with two additional degrees of success. The Cerberus can choose to move half its Speed instead of its full (as can any ship), and Adjust Speed allows it to decrease or increase the distance it moves by one VU for every degree of success. With the savage flare of firing retro-thrusters, the Cerberus moves forward 3 VUs, then turns hard to face the Eadsmasha!’s vulnerable flank.

On the gun decks, the crews let out a hearty cheer as the ship’s Missionary exhorts them, Put Your Backs Into It! With the accuracy of the macrobatteries boosted, the Void-master calculates targeting solutions and orders all batteries to fire!

She rolls a successful Ballistic Skill Test with no degrees of success for the plasma batteries, and misses with the laser batteries. However, the Void-master’s Master of Gunnery ability allows her to re-roll failed Ballistic Skill Tests when firing the ship’s guns. She rolls again, and scores an impressive four degrees of success! Not only do all four of the laser batteries’ shots hit their target, but by scoring four degrees of success, she also equalled the weapon’s Crit Rating. The Eadsmasha! is in for a Critical Hit.

First the Void-master calculates damage, subtracting one hit from the Ork’s void shields, then rolling the remainder. She gets a total of 36, and once the Ork subtracts its armour of 18, it still suffers an additional 18 points of damage to its Hull Integrity—almost half its total! In addition, the Void-master rolls high on her Critical Hit, causing a fire to break out on the unlucky Ork ship.

During the Eadsmasha!’s next turn, the full ingenuity of Trask’s plan becomes apparent. The Ork ship’s Manoeuvrability is low enough that it will have to move a good distance forward before turning, meaning it will be unable to bring the majority of its weapons to bear against the Cerberus. Meanwhile, Trask’s more manoeuvrable vessel can come about and stay on its stern, raking the Freebooter until it surrenders—or is destroyed.

Of course, this is only a brief snapshot of basic starship combat. Lances, boarding actions, hit-and-run attacks, and the horrific plasma drive and warp drive overloads (to name a few) are beyond the scope of this designer diary, but all combine to make space combat in Rogue Trader a savage—and thrilling—experience. 

Rogue Trader is a roleplaying game set in dark gothic far future of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe. Players take on the roles of explorers aboard a Rogue Trader's ship, searching for profit and adventure while discovering new alien cultures and threats in the uncharted regions of space.

By Rogue Trader Developer Sam Stewart

Hello, Rogue Trader fans! I’d like to take a little time to talk about one of the core experiences of Rogue Trader—constructing and completing Endeavours.

Recently, Owen Barnes ably explained two key concepts of Rogue Trader, Profit Factor and Endeavours. He explained the best way for Rogue Traders to raise their Profit Factor is through pursuing Endeavours; colonizing worlds, mining asteroids, exploring undiscovered star systems, trading, and—of course—making war.

An Endeavour is basically a framework for how the players can accomplish their goals and gain profit, while having glorious adventures and taking perilous risks. However, one important aspect of Endeavours is that they can be a collaborative effort between the GM and the players. When a GM presents a potential Endeavour to his players, they are able to work within the framework he has created to complete it. To illustrate this, let’s look at an example group, the raider Cerberus and her crew.

Trading With the Heathens

The Cerberus’s captain, Sarvus Trask, has quickly made a name for himself in the Expanse as an ambitious and slightly mad Rogue Trader whose star is on the rise. Upon his return to the void station of Footfall, the GM places a risky Endeavour in front of Trask, discovering a stable trade route to the distant frontier world of Mallanus Minoris. Only one other Rogue Trader has ever been to this world, and has brought back stories of Ork Freebooterz in the system’s asteroid belt, and a population hungry for Imperial technology.

Endeavours are classified as either lesser, greater, or grand, depending on how ambitious they are and how much Profit Factor they will net the players. The GM decides that establishing a reliable trade route to Mallanus Minoris is a Greater Endeavour, and will award the players four Profit Factor should they complete it successfully.

The Endeavour’s scale also determines how many Achievement Points will be needed to complete it. Achievement Points are the GM’s way of keeping track of the party’s progress, and are awarded whenever the party completes one of the Endeavour’s objectives – milestones in accomplishing the Endeavour that have certain keywords associated with them depending on what they involve. As this is a Greater Endeavour, it requires 1,200 Achievement Points to complete. The GM determines there are four objectives in this Endeavour. The players must locate the Mallanus Minoris system—an exploration objective worth 300 Points. They must bring at least one cargo to establish trade with the native humans—a trade objective worth 400 Points. They must wipe out the Ork Freebooterz infesting the asteroid belt—a military objective worth 400 Points. Finally, they must convince the native humans to trade exclusively with Trask—a trade or creed objective worth 100 Points. All four objectives will earn 1,200 Achievement Point total.

First, the Cerberus’s crew decides to purchase a cargo of lasguns and Sentinel walkers to trade to the natives, weapons to help them defend themselves. The ship’s Seneschal procures five hundred crates of weapons from a fellow trader at Footfall while the Arch-Militant reaches a contact in the Imperial Guard and convinces him to ‘lose’ sixty walkers plus spare parts. Cargo secured, the ship sets out to find Mallanus Minoris.

The trip is long and harrowing, into the outskirts of the Unbeholden Reaches. Eventually, the ship’s Astropath Transcendent contacts a fellow astropath on another vessel and learns of a ill-scouted route past a warp storm blocking the Cerberus’s path. Working with the ship’s Navigator, the players soon find themselves on the outskirts of the Mallanus Minoris system, successfully completing the objective and earning 300 Achievement Points. In addition, their ship has an Augar Array Component granting them an additional 50 Achievement Points when they complete exploration objectives, netting them 350 Points total.

The players find the planet Mallanus Minoris under attack by Freebooterz vessels, who are bombarding the surface and sending down raiding parties. Instead of attacking directly, the players decide to trade their goods first—after all, they are sure to be in high demand! Sneaking to the other side of the planet, the Rogue Trader and Seneschal work together to set up a deal, trading lasguns for precious metals. The trade objective is accomplished, and since the Cerberus has a cargo hold granting them 50 additional Achievement Points when completing trade objectives, the players’ total jumps to 800.

Eight hundred points is still not enough to complete the Endeavour (nor should it be, while Orks still prowl the trade lanes!) The players decide to attack each of the Ork raiders in turn, in a series of surprise attacks. Thanks to the superior gunnery of the ship’s Voidmaster and the tireless work of the Explorator in keeping the ship repaired, the Cerberus hunts down three Ork raiders and forces the rest to flee the system. The third objective is accomplished, and though the Cerberus does not receive any bonuses, it still earns 400 Achievement Points, granting it the needed 1,200 total.

Although the fourth objective is not completed, the players have earned enough Achievement Points to complete the threshold as a whole. the GM decides that the population of Mallanus Minoris is grateful enough to grant the Cerberus exclusivity without prompting. Had the fourth objective been more vital to the Endeavour, the GM could have required his players to complete it anyway (and then turn their ‘extra’ Achievement Points into additional Profit Factor).

Now, however, it’s on to the next Endeavour. The ship’s Missionary is already asking the Rogue Trader to begin a mass conversion of Mallanus Minoris’s population to the Imperial Creed...

Rogue Trader is a roleplaying game set in dark gothic far future of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe. Players take on the roles of explorers aboard a Rogue Trader's ship, searching for profit and adventure while discovering new alien cultures and threats in the uncharted regions of space.

Hello, Rogue Trader fans! This week, Ross Watson has graciously agreed to 'return' and speak on something near to his heart—creating a character in Rogue Trader. One could even say he wrote the book on the topic:

So this week, I am writing a guest designer diary for my good friend and fellow RPG producer Sam Stewart about character creation in Rogue Trader.

Character creation is a fun journey that takes your character from his humble beginnings all the way through to the profit-seeking, star-spanning, adventure-seeking Explorer that he was meant to be! The best way to illustrate the character creation process is to use a real character, in this case, my own player character for the Fantasy Flight Games Rogue Trader campaign, Sarvus Trask.

The first step in character creation is to generate your characteristics. In Rogue Trader, you roll 2d10 and add the result to 25 for each characteristic.

After rolling, Sarvus’s characteristics look like this: 

Now that I have my character’s characteristics, it’s time to take that journey I mentioned earlier...via the Origin Path.

If you want to know more about the Origin Path system, I’ve talked about it in a previous designer diary. The short version is that the Origin Path provides an easy way for a player to create an interesting backstory for his character and gain some cool bonuses along the way.

Now, I could start from either the top or the bottom of the chart, and there are a large number of ways to use the chart in any individual Rogue Trader campaign. For the FFG game, I wanted to start from the top and see what happens!

I see Sarvus Trask as a man who is used to being amongst other citizens of the Imperium. Therefore, I choose Hive World as my home world, meaning that my character has lived in the dense ultra-huge cities of the Imperium for most of his life. Being born on a hive world gives me some advantages and disadvantages. Sarvus can move about in a crowd without any trouble, but he has difficulties in a more primitive environment. I suffer -5 Toughness, but gain +5 Fellowship, and some extra starting skills. To generate my Wounds, I double my Toughness Bonus of 3 (equalling 6) and add 1d5+1 to the total. Lucking out, I roll a 5 and begin the game with 12 Wounds. In addition, I get a number of Fate Points. Another lucky roll means that Sarvus has 4 Fate Points, which is quite a large number! I’m off to an excellent start. 

The next row down is that of Birthright, meaning it answers the question, “what was your character like during his formative years?”

When I pause to consider, I like the idea of Sarvus being a man who values knowledge, and it is likely he was a scholar in his youth. Therefore, I choose the Savant selection. Being a Savant nets me the Peer (Academic) Talent and +3 Fellowship, but I lose 3 points of Toughness as well. Studying dusty old tomes isn’t good for one’s health, but it has taught Sarvus a lot about how to deal successfully with people.The next line of the Origin Path is the Lure of the Void, an answer to the question, “why did you seek your fortune amongst the stars?”

There is no hesitation for me, I immediately select Chosen by Destiny! Sarvus is already taking on a life of his own and demands that his Origin Path follow this course, and I am happy to oblige. Being chosen by destiny offers a number of secondary choices, from amongst which I select Fated for Greatness, again steered by the bombastic rumblings of the player character taking form in my imagination. Being so fated adds an additional Fate Point (bringing my total to 5!) but also carries a risk of madness...I gain 1d10+1 Insanity Points. Here is where my talent for rolling high works against me, and Sarvus gains a full 11 Insanity Points, well on his way towards making other Explorers nervous. Obviously, Sarvus is one of those characters that just seems “a bit off.”

Onwards, to the Trials and Travails line of the Origin Path. Here is where we will find out some of the challenges Sarvus has overcome leading up to the beginning of his journeys in the Expanse. Because I selected Chosen by Destiny, there are only two options open to me on this line: High Vendetta and Dark Voyage. One additional option for the Origin Path is for the GM to designate a row (or more) as a “free choice” row, meaning that there are no restrictions. In this case, however, Dark Voyage suits me perfectly! Clearly, Sarvus Trask has led an “interesting” life, and has no doubt encountered his share of warp-worshipping aliens, shadowy conspiracies, and other dangers of the Expanse during his life. Sarvus gains the Forbidden Lore (Warp) Skill, but also gains 1d5 Insanity Points. Curses! Once again, I roll the maximum, and now Sarvus is up to 16 Insanity Points. My character is moving out of “a bit off,” and into “quite unhinged” territory...

Moving on, the next row on the Origin Path is that of Motivation. It’s time to discover just what lurks in Sarvus’ heart, what drives him on into the unknown reaches of the Dark Frontier. For this character, there is no better way to go than to choose Prestige, for Sarvus hungers for power, wealth, and influence. This grand ambition nets Sarvus the Talented (Command) Talent, paving the way towards his fortunes by being a celebrated leader of men.

Although Sarvus Trask has acquired a disturbing tendency to speak to people who aren’t there, one step remains to complete the Origin Path. I must select a Career! From Prestige, my options are either a Seneschal, a Navigator, or a Rogue Trader. With an image clearly in mind of an ambitious, bombastic, and slightly mad Rogue Trader, my course is clear. With Sarvus's final stat-line (below), the Warrant of the Trask Dynasty has taken its first step towards greatness!

In a future designer diary, I will go into more detail about how to further personalize your character, from selecting your initial advances to choosing your starting gear to generating your starting Profit Factor and Ship Points. Keep your eyes open for Sarvus Trask to return in a future installment, and until then, may all your endeavours bear profit!

Rogue Trader is a roleplaying game set in dark gothic far future of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe. Players take on the roles of explorers aboard a Rogue Trader's ship, searching for profit and adventure while discovering new alien cultures and threats in the uncharted regions of space.

Hello, Rogue Trader fans! My name is Sam Stewart, and I am the new Associate RPG Developer at Fantasy Flight Games. I am honored to announce that Ross has granted me with responsibility for the Rogue Trader line of Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay.

Now, I’m guessing the first question on everyone’s mind is: “Sam? Where the heck is Ross?” Don’t worry, Ross is still the Senior RPG Developer for Warhammer 40K Roleplay here at Fantasy Flight. As we move forward with a great deal of exciting new Warhammer 40K products, I’ve been brought on board to manage Rogue Trader.

However, that doesn’t tell you all much about me. Since my college days, I’ve been long-time fan of the Warhammer 40K universe. I’ve been a loyal servant of the Emperor ever since, with a massive Imperial Guard army, a robust cell of Deamonhunters, and a sizable Imperial Navy fleet for Battlefleet Gothic. College was also where I first started playing roleplaying games. Like so many roleplayers, I got my start in Dungeons and Dragons, branched out into Iron Kingdoms, Planescape, and Midnight – a harbinger of things to come, perhaps? Like so many Warhammer 40K fans, I was ecstatic when Dark Heresy was announced, snapping up one of the first copies on the shelf of my local game store.

I’ve been a writer and an editor for most of my professional life, first at a newspaper, then here at Fantasy Flight Games. While at FFG, I began spending my free time doing more and more work for the RPG department, starting with Phyrr and the Xothic Blood Locust in Creatures Anathema, and culminating in my work on Rogue Trader and the upcoming Ascension.

Being tapped to work on Rogue Trader is a dream come true for me. I have always been fascinated with the titanic flying cathedrals that are Imperial starships, as well as the lithe and graceful Eldar sailing vessels, and the flying junk-heaps with teeth the Orks pilot. I’m also a huge fan of movies and literature about the high seas and Age of Sail, from Treasure Island to Master and Commander (book and movie). Rogue Trader is a chance to combine that love with my love of the 40K universe, and I’m deeply excited to give this my all – and am looking forward to interacting with you, the fan community, on a regular basis.

The Future of Rogue Trader

I’m sure everyone wants to know where Rogue Trader is headed. Ross and I have spoken about this at some length, and I plan to continue the trend of his excellent work on the Rogue Trader Core Rulebook. As to plans for the line, our first goal is to get the Rulebook on store shelves as soon as possible. Next, we’ll be producing the Rogue Trader Game Master’s Kit.

And after that? Well, let’s just say a course is plotted, and our ship stands ready to proceed. Let’s go see what lies off the edge of the map, shall we?

Rogue Trader is a roleplaying game set in dark gothic far future of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe. Players take on the roles of explorers aboard a Rogue Trader's ship, searching for profit and adventure while discovering new alien cultures and threats in the uncharted regions of space.