Nobody wants to listen to you talk about your character - except in this thread, that's exactly what we're going to do. Everyone's seen Sarvus Trask and his coat of bling (and probably noticed that all the other Rogue Trader captains in the art have pretty much copied his design), but it's a galaxy of choices out there, and Rogue Trader is probably the best system out there for exploring the cultural variations of the 40k galaxy.

How do you dress your Rogue Traders? What sort of styles do you like to evoke? How much work do you put into character design?

Well, Darrius Wolf prefers his old commissar coat and cap (you just can't best this hat). At the moment, he has no need to add anything to that, so its quite plain. He does have a "gala uniform" which consists of a coat of the same making, but with all his medals straddled upon (he likes to stress that none of these medals are honorably given, they are for proper combat action).

There really isn't much to add to the regalia, though he does consider getting himself some hexagrammic wards in the armor he wears beneath but at the moment, practical light carapace armor suffices.

Not a fan of pirate-chic.

Anton Strom is a pragmatic man and dresses as he's expected to as a former Navy captain. Battlefleet Koronus p.68 has this uniform. The outer, sleeveless jacket is white, the shirt underneath is dark blue, and the boots and gloves are dark green: the colours of the Strom dynasty. His power sword is on one hip, and his ancient laspistol is on the other.

But he's more than just a former Navy captain, he's a Rogue Trader. A plasma pistol is strapped to his back--it prevents him from leaning back in his command throne as well. Lion-headed pauldrons, silver, rests on his shoulders and a short cape is attached to them.

The cape has been recently replaced with a fine white skin from a xenos predator that he killed himself. The other officers wear the same thing, sans pauldrons and cape. The uniform is void proof for up to an hour, though the hidden hood must be quickly pulled up. Anton's uniform is unique in that it has some rigid components and the hood is self-sealing. It's only for emergencies, but he is the Warrant Holder so the expense seems justified (to him).

He has let his hair grow as well but remains clean shaven. There are no medals on the uniform, the only decorations are rank insignia and other badges of identification. His belt buckle has been known to pulse odd colours from time to time.

Valgaard Zorn wears a classical Tricorne of humble size adorned with a single blue and yellow bird feather. His chainmal greatcoat is worn open and hung with a mix of bones and trophies, some of which would be fitting for a moderately successful barbarian chieftain, while others would not look out of place on a crazy backwater shaman.

Below the greatcoat he wears a threadbare navy shirt and a kilt, which regularly seems to irritate his guests although that might have something to do with the fact that said kilt occasionally fails to protect his modesty.

His combat boots are very bulky and look a bit ungainly on him, but they offer enough space for whatever pistol holster he chooses to wear on that day.

In short, he takes great care to never, ever give the impression of a shrewd negotiator or a cunning backstabber - the natives of whatever planet he just visits will find that out soon enough anyway so why give them any early clues about it ?

I prefere conquistador style, since RT is more of conquistador rather than pirate or navy officer from my POV.

I've made a number of Rogue Trader characters over the years, myself, and I usually take care to give them their own solar system of origin, with an accompanying culture and fashion. Most of the time, I take my own ignorant prejudices of an Earth culture I know nothing about, then 40k-ify them for maximum gaudiness. For example, my longest-used character:

Magellan Galba is a nobleman from a vast dynasty of career criminals, whose main stronghold is on the planet Salmonella III, or Space Siciliy. Pretty much everyone on the planet is either a vintner, a mafioso, or both. Everyone has a mono-switchblade on them at all times, and anyone who can afford it wears a double-breasted suit. Magellan himself wears one too (with skulls for buttons and cufflinks, of course) with a tie bearing the mark of his house. Over the suit, he has a network of belts and slings that hold a large number of cigars and concealed weapons. Over *those*, he wears a massive fur coat.

He is surrounded by a perpetual cloud of cigar smoke (lho smoke, if you wanna be anal about it), and is rarely found more than six feet away from a glass of wine.

Somehow my guy always ends up looking like the head vampire from underworld.

After one-too-many Eldar assassination attempts (one is too many), my campaign's Rogue Trader spends 90% of his time in his exquisitely worked Power Armour. He does however have an extensive collection of wigs and hats to make up for the fact that given the number of explosions that have gone off in his immediate vicinity that all his natural hair keeps getting burned off.

There's countless ways a Rogue Trader may dress, and I like almost every single suggestion mentioned in this thread. It is always a question of both the character's homeworld as well as their professional background. Pirates, Conquistadors, Navy officers, I like 'em all!

In the past couple months I've dug a bit deeper into StarCraft, and found that it has a visual style which may, in some aspects, feel deliciously 40k, even though it is its own look in that it's kind of a blend between 40k and Aliens. But the uniforms of military officers and nobility in that setting are something you could easily transplant into a Rogue Trader game at any time.

Yup. I think they are just oozing style.

The group's female RT uses this image:

Steampunk/Cyberpunk images from the google images usually help me a lot.

Edit:
http://www.pinterest.com/nigelcook/steampunk-pirate/

I actually started work on a picture of the character I mentioned up there, as well.

My rogue traders have either followed the clean-cut style, with Navy or other military style dress uniforms (sometimes adorned with accessories, including, but not limited to, the biggest spaulders reasonably wearable without integrated suspensors), and the full-on eclectic, including one who managed to obtain a Harlequin Holosuit, another who insists on going bare chested everywhere (he used to go out naked, but an incident with the Sisters of His Endless Misericorde made him somewhat more prudish in public), and one who always tries to dress as inappropriately as possible to any meeting, to destabilize his opponents.

However, what they all have in common is an obsession for having the best, most impressive headgear possible. You see, in my version of the 40k universe, it is a long standing tradition among Rogue Traders, first begun by the Emperor himself, that order of precedence between otherwise equal rivals be bestowed based on the impressiveness of their respective hats, as judged by all warrant bearers in assistance. This of course means that a veritable fashion arms race exists among the Rogue Trader community, and hats including anything from Tyrannid skulls and Eldar soulstones, all the way to integrated weaponry and suspensors to help carry the weight, have been seen. Current contenders for the most impressive hats include Lord Derrick Von Marsten with his self-repairing necrodermis and wraithbone tricorne with integrated force field and a hidden extensible handle to use the entire thing as a power axe, and his arch nemesis Lord Samuel Godwine, whose hat is a replica of the legendary battleship Dominus Astra, and comes with a full complement of digi-lasers for the lance batteries and a miniature bolter in place of the nova cannon, and an integrated grappling hook gun behind the ramming prow. Of course, Ork Freebooter Kaptins were quick to join in the fun, with the Ork's preference for large and loud objects leading to truly grotesque hats.

However, what they all have in common is an obsession for having the best, most impressive headgear possible. You see, in my version of the 40k universe, it is a long standing tradition among Rogue Traders, first begun by the Emperor himself, that order of precedence between otherwise equal rivals be bestowed based on the impressiveness of their respective hats, as judged by all warrant bearers in assistance.

This seems like something from the Girl Genius comics where the Jagers put a lot of stock in who has the best hat and having your hat stolen is quite a drop in status.

It also is responsible for this: http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090528233234/girlgenius/images/7/74/Magnificent-hat.png

Really? I immediate recognised /tg/'s take on the Imperium's hierarchy there:

Helmet < No helmet < Hat < Pauldron + Helmet < Just Pauldron < Pauldron + Hat

- http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Hats

... of course, this means MorioMortis' Rogue Trader also requires large pauldrons .

Really? I immediate recognised /tg/'s take on the Imperium's hierarchy there:

Helmet < No helmet < Hat < Pauldron + Helmet < Just Pauldron < Pauldron + Hat

- http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Hats

... of course, this means MorioMortis' Rogue Trader also requires large pauldrons .

Don't forget that Purity Seals are the accessory that go with anything.

I should buy a hat. Also, my pauldrons are normal-sized. I feel as if I've failed at Rogue Tradering.

This is for an NPC but my players are dealing with the Obsidian Emporial at the moment, their contact being Intercessor 22. Intercessor 22 dress from head to toe in optically distorting holographic clothing and uses a voice modulator that broadcasts multiple voices at once - in short the identity of the man or woman (or xenos! ) that is Intercessor 22 is a great secret.
Surprisingly none of the PCs got greedy eyes when they saw the Intercessor's outfit or hear the funky voice (i explained it as a bit like the voice of the goa'uld from Stargate or Xerxes from 300 but cycling through modulations on the fly)

I use this image now for my Rogue Trader but now I think I should really buy a hat.
Bigger the hat bigger the power?

This woman ruined hats for me. If you're allowed to care that much about such an ugly hat, what's even the point of wearing a nice one?

This woman ruined hats for me. If you're allowed to care that much about such an ugly hat, what's even the point of wearing a nice one?

Well you're lucky, that hat belongs now to Kaptin Bludflagg (spoiler according the ork campaign outro) and is his/its bosspole

Offtopic: Kaptin Bludflagg is in my campaign working for an allied RT.

Ps.:

My RT doesn't have a particularly fancy hat. I should get one. Instead she has been steadily replacing every bit of her body as she can with cybernetics and biotic parts. This is due to the fact that as a child she was chubby and had self esteem problems. Once she got her own money and started RTing about she has replaced everything so she can be pretty. It's gotten to the point where her insanity forces her to make a 50/50 will power test on acquisitions on whether she buys something useful or another cybernetic. All that's left is the Twitch-Mask and she will have every damned cybernetic/implant/biotic there is in the game. From there, its onto Best Quality everything.

My RT doesn't have a particularly fancy hat. I should get one. Instead she has been steadily replacing every bit of her body as she can with cybernetics and biotic parts. This is due to the fact that as a child she was chubby and had self esteem problems. Once she got her own money and started RTing about she has replaced everything so she can be pretty. It's gotten to the point where her insanity forces her to make a 50/50 will power test on acquisitions on whether she buys something useful or another cybernetic. All that's left is the Twitch-Mask and she will have every damned cybernetic/implant/biotic there is in the game. From there, its onto Best Quality everything.

Sounds like an Augmenticist, have you read about them in ITS?

My RT doesn't have a particularly fancy hat. I should get one. Instead she has been steadily replacing every bit of her body as she can with cybernetics and biotic parts. This is due to the fact that as a child she was chubby and had self esteem problems. Once she got her own money and started RTing about she has replaced everything so she can be pretty. It's gotten to the point where her insanity forces her to make a 50/50 will power test on acquisitions on whether she buys something useful or another cybernetic. All that's left is the Twitch-Mask and she will have every damned cybernetic/implant/biotic there is in the game. From there, its onto Best Quality everything.

Sounds like an Augmenticist, have you read about them in ITS?

Oh my yes. Once I told my GM my background he immediately turned me to that. Once I gained enough insanity (my characters all tend to have poor WP) we worked together to make my insanity make me compelled to buy cybernetics. It's been very fun. And as a melee oriented RT, the extra AP is helpful for wading into combat and coming out relatively unscathed.

This woman ruined hats for me. If you're allowed to care that much about such an ugly hat, what's even the point of wearing a nice one?

Really? I frickin' love that hat. Of course I've always liked Solomon Kane so I always associate that style with puritanical badassery.

I've always wanted a Rogue Trader that dressed like a hive ganger myself.