Long story short, I'm thinking (still ath the phase of gathering ideas and fleshing them out) of running a Chaos in space campaign, by combining the Black Crusade character rules with the Rogue Trader ship rules.

Plot

I'm going for a somewhat free-form campaign (the way most prospective players play, any polt would anyway be derailed by personal quests for fame, glory or riches, random exploration and so on).

All the PCs would be condemned for some crime or the other, somewhere in the Imperium, and placed in cryogenic stasis at some point and place. Next thing they know they are thawed by Huron's Blackheart men somewhere within the Malestrom. They find out their caskets got found in a general freight container in a random freighter Huron's plrates attacked. Everyone aboard that might have known something is dead, and all they can find out at this point is that somebody (who was on the ship and is missing, presumed dead in the boarding action) paid a huge amount of money to the captain, to carry that container without any further questions.

At this point, not sure exactly how important the PCs are, and for whom, Huron will try to keep them close: offer them a (crappy) ship (where most senior officers will be instructed to keep an eye on them for him) and a chance to get back at the Imperium by pirating for him (for a while at least).

Where the PC's go from there (pirates, mercenaries, sneak back into the Imperium to find out who was so interested in them etc.) and how they get the crew on their side is up to them.

Rules

Everything character related will be using Black Crusade rules.

Aquiring equipment and ship components will be using BC Infamy rules.

Everything ship related will be using Rogue Trader rules with MathHammer.

I'm interested what you guys think about this idea.

Any suggestions and comments welcome.

PS: This has been posted in both RT and BC forums, as I'm interested in feedback from ppl who enjoy both systems.

It sounds like an excellent game - I played in a game with a similar set up (Black Crusade on a Pirate Vessel) for a short while and it was a blast. It also allows for more games where you can actually run around with the eight-pointed-star on your sleeve, instead of hiding and pretending.

If you are not actually using Rogue Trader careers or anything, and not building a campaign around their past lives, I'm not sure what the point of the specific and complicated origin story is. Why not simply let the players come up with their own reasons for becoming senior officers on this ship? Also, it seems totally illogical for Huron to give them a ship when he doesn't know they're important. It would only make sense if he knows they're powerful/skilled/important but doesn't know why . Though even this seems strange unless the point is for them to find out, and Huron himself to find out via spy and use it against the Imperium later.

What can be gathered from the captured crew makes it quite clear that the PCs are important enough to somebody. As there is no way for Huron to know if they're a friend or a foe, it's risky to both let them go and treat them like prisoners. Giving them a ship and a crew loyal to him is an easy way to do both.

As for why the combat licated story, I'm trying to find a way to get the PCs into a ship without giving them.long-lastimg ties with Huron pre-game.

Huron would probably not care if it is a friend or foe - he is the most powerful chaos lord of the Maelstrom, and he didn't became one by handling a ship to every single whatsyourname who got sucked into the warpstorm (which due to sheer quantity of phenomenae around Maelstrom should probably be common. His reaction would be either enslave anyone onboard or, if they seem worth their salt, offer them to join his ranks.

The second option will not mean getting a ship. More like starting a mutiny, killing Huron's captain and taking his place as the ship masters.

Or just as likely taking over, Huron's Leutenant's Second Taskforce's Scout Captain's Ship. Or leave Huron entirely out of it. The prison ship they're on is raided by a small slave-taker ship. They have the choice to accept being slaves, attempt to take over the boarding ship, or take over the prison ship. In any case, the opening plot you listed is the kind i'd have a hard time swallowing as a player - it just feels too contrived or out of character for the BIg Bad.

I don't think that making characters that have been Chaos for a while necessary means they have any tie, much less a lasting tie, to Huron specifically. In the game I was in, for example, the characters had served aboard a raider/pirate for 35, 20 and 8 years respectively before a mutiny against a harsh and unsuccessful captain put my Character in charge. Still none of us had ever met Huron, nor knew anything but rumor and reputation about him. All we knew was a few shadowports, a few other captains, and the "Lieutenant" in charge of our raider group.

Them being found during a raid and enslaved by a lesser captain...I like that. The question is: how to make players take the bait (as in rebel and try to take over the ship as opposed to just get away).

Make it a backstory instead of roleplaying it - the game begins with them standing in front of now-dead reaver, a couple thousand blood-crazed warp-twisted crewmen are now looking at the PCs to lead them to glory, so it's better not to repeat former captain's mistake of showing momentary weakness, and on top of it all it seems very likely that their victim was someone's champion, so it's safe to assume they have just made themselves a powerful rival.

And that's when the game begins - on severely underhanded small ship with minimal morale, in the unknown region of space which is perilous to navigate using most foul sorcerous rituals and outright suicidal by conventional means, with no allies, no safe harbour, powerful enemies soon to appear at their six o'clock and food supplies which will diminish in a month.

Exactly what Chaplain said - Or if you want a Hot Start, throw the players right into the final combat. In both cases the Mutiny is backstory. What's important now is they have to figure out how to hold on to their position. If you don't prove to the crew (via booty) that you're the captain they should have, there will be another mutiny next month. If you don't prove to your old captain's boss that you really should have been the captain of the ship all along, you're going to find yourself without a harbor. If you don't find Food and Water, your going to be in a dead tin can quite soon. If you don't replenish the crew that were slaughtered in the mutiny, you're going to be short-staffed and overworking those who supported you.

Suddenly your players have a hundred really good reasons to act, rather than sit directionless. Throw a couple of worlds or other plot hooks their direction and your campaign is up and running. If you go this methods, I recommend making a portion of the ships crew loyal to each PC, preferably portions without overlapping jobs. This adds a wonderful extra layer of "we're working together because we can't make this work without everyone at this table."

For related fun/inspiration, here's a background thing from my game - which started similarly.

A lot of BC campaigns end up feeling like Chaos Rogue Trader, anyway, so this campaign really is within the wheelhouse of the system, as it tends to be practiced. If it helps you any, I'm in the startup phase of a BC campaign (4 players w/ me as GM). The campaign is very much shaking out to be Rogue Trader-esque with the players as 4 surviving members of a chapter recently turned to renegade after being betrayed (in their minds) by various Imperial adepta. There is a player taking the role of a Sergeant, who will be the de facto commander with the other 3 playing their respective roles. It's obviously going to lack the fancy pseudo-nobility and high society aspect of the average RT campaign, but will contain most of the power mongering aspects - just with a chaos spin - as the players execute their agenda, amass power/influence and try to survive.

The campaign is set to begin in the area of space known as the Maelstrom Zone, as the chapter they created were an Imperial Fist successor founded in M38 as Maelstrom Warders. As of now, they are renegades, not chaos space marines. Their agendas are actually slightly different from player to player - running the gamut of trying to clear their name all the way to revenge against the Imperium for the betrayal. I suspect their paths will diverge at some point in the campaign, which will result in conflict. This is part and parcel with the system; something that does not exist in RT - at least not to that degree.

In sum - this sort of thing works, you just have to be mindful of the differences between an actual Rogue Trader and a group of renegade/chaos followers. What they can do and how they go about doing it are VERY different. So long as you keep that in mind, the concept works.

In sum - this sort of thing works, you just have to be mindful of the differences between an actual Rogue Trader and a group of renegade/chaos followers. What they can do and how they go about doing it are VERY different.

You need to add a "usually" somewhere in your second sentence.

Hell, for accuracy you should make it an "occasionally".

In sum - this sort of thing works, you just have to be mindful of the differences between an actual Rogue Trader and a group of renegade/chaos followers. What they can do and how they go about doing it are VERY different.

You need to add a "usually" somewhere in your second sentence.

Hell, for accuracy you should make it an "occasionally".

I guess I disagree. Usually, maybe. Occasionally, not even close. From methodology to goals to overall approach, a Warband and a Rogue Trader will operate very very differently.

In sum - this sort of thing works, you just have to be mindful of the differences between an actual Rogue Trader and a group of renegade/chaos followers. What they can do and how they go about doing it are VERY different.

You need to add a "usually" somewhere in your second sentence. Hell, for accuracy you should make it an "occasionally".

I guess I disagree. Usually, maybe. Occasionally, not even close. From methodology to goals to overall approach, a Warband and a Rogue Trader will operate very very differently.

It an be closer than you think. A Chaos warband that's more into pillage&plunder than actual furthering the cause of the Ruinous Powers and a Rogue Trader crew that's more into pillage&plunder than furthering the interests of the Imperium would be pretty similar.