Establishing a transition hub.

By Kapelan, in Rogue Trader Gamemasters

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Hello fellow DMs and others.

Let me bring you up to speed. My group was tasked with providing escort service to an administratum ship. Upon arrival they will have the opportunity to be part of creating a transition hub. Where all tithes of Kronus expanse would be cataloged, checked and sent further into imperium.

Upon arrival they will be faced with woefully underprepared system for such a role. I will make clear clear to my PC’s that with people in charge this administratum’s enterprise will fail. It will be up to them to assist in build a functioning hub.

I want to brainstorm with you how I can make this task fun for my PCs.

Now the check list looks like this.

  • Establish security in the system, attract Imperial navy for protection or other organization capable of such task. ( This one I struggle the most. If rogue trader approaches Navy I see no reason for navy to turn down the request especially because the Rogue Trader is acting on part of the administratum at this point. The conglomerate of Trade houses could also chip in.)

  • Establish a support from Mechanicum to service ships. (This can be an interesting one. As there will be a lot of ways to resolve it on technical level. From building facilities on the planet ,towing a space station, outfitting a particularly large asteroid in the system to become a station, Mechanicum sending a couple of barges to be “dry docks” for repairs. But what Mechanicum could ask in return? Locate and capture Magos turned Tech-Heritek springs to mind)

  • Replace a planetary governor ( The guy will be of a good will but a bit incompetent, basicly he was placed to govern a small imperial planet not a transportation hub for entire sector.)

  • Deal with a Feral orc infestation on the planet (I will run it as a small scale war using rule sets from Battlefleet Kronus)


The party consists of Rogue Trader , 2 Arch militants , Void Master, Tech - Priest and a Seneschal. With a Turbulent Class **** and a 32 profit rating. All of the PCs are Rank 2.

Many thanks in advance =).

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The Navy part is actually rather easy. Certainly, it would be obligated to provide support - but how much? Perhaps there is already a token force present in the system, but it is not enough to provide safety for such a lucrative target? The ships may be spread thin between perimeter patrols, orbital security, customs checks and anti-piracy operations because a part of the Segmentum's Battlefleet has been redirected to other tasks and the admiralty just does not have enough ships to be everywhere at once. So it would be up to the Rogue Trader to curry the admirals' favour and somehow convince them to send additional ships.


For this, I'd recommend prepping profiles for at least three admirals with different motifs. Some can be convinced by appealing to their sense of duty, because deep down they feel it would be the right thing to do, but they are unwilling to go against the other members of Naval Command. Others may feel it is their duty to keep the ships where they are now, so the RT would have to convince them of a better strategy or barter some other kind of support that would advance the Navy's interests. Yet others are merely interested in personal gain and would look for political influence (for themselves or their family), a nice place to retire in wealth ("don't you own a planet?"), or some expensive/rare gifts. It would be up to the players to carefully gauge each NPC's personality and interests, and then find a way to secure their support.


Until this task is accomplished, the players may have to deal with pirates in the system, although the more support they gain from the Navy, the more likely it is that their ship will receive aid from ships from this organisation whenever they are engaged in combat in this area (before the encounter, roll 1d100 vs target number 30, with a +10 bonus for each admiral they've convinced to help).



In regards to the AdMech, I would expect things to look the same way, as in there already being a token presence in the system. However, in this case, the fault would be with the Planetary Governor who simply was not able enough to secure more support from the Mechanicus, even to the point they'd be required to provide by Imperial Decree. It would quickly become clear that the small amount of manpower and materials would be insufficient to finish construction of the required facilities in time, but the Magos responsible is stalling for time and coming up with excuse after excuse. Can the players expose his/her inaptitude and lodge a formal complaint? Will they find a convince the Magos to change their opinion and start helping for real? Or will they reach out to old contacts to go around the red tape and apply pressure from within the AdMech? (knowing an Inquisitor may help)

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Rather than engaging the Navy it might be more profitable for the RT to set up their own mercenary system defence force for the administratum to hire. Tow in a system ship (no warp drive or gellar field, usually pretty compact with minimal stores, slow speed, with a smaller plasma drive etc means it's a lot cheaper than an actual full on void ship) to act as a monitor, maybe a few defence satellites, and throw in a regiment of armsmen to act as security forces and you've got enough of a rental fee to put thrones in the pocket. With a profit factor of 32 this might be a little expensive for the RT to contemplate, but considering it's an endeavour that can make money indefinitely, it might be worth it if you mention it as an option.

Why would the administratum go for it? The navy is unlikely to establish a permanent force there, just add it to the patrol route, which means the navy might or might not be there if and when trouble arrives. An IG regiment might be a bit expensive to bring in from Calix compared to mercs compared to the relatively paltry tithe of the expanse. Also the size and composition of the defence force can be tailored to the facilities needs.

The Mechanicus might be interested in setting up a dock facility simply as a money making endeavour of their own. It is after all going to be seeing a lot of ship activity from the tithe ships. Maybe you could make it more appealing by mapping out a few warp routes to encourage it for use as a stopover for local trade routes.

For the planetary governor there are a couple of options. If he's good hearted and well liked he might do well as a figurehead leader, with the actual administrator using him to deal with the dog and pony show stuff while the administrator does the actual work. Heck, if he's got a reasonable grasp of his own limitations he might consider this as a good idea.

Or you can simply replace him. Given that this is the Kronus Expanse and not actually part of the Imperium you need to answer how he was chosen as the planetary governor? Is it actually a full Imperial world where the Administratum choose his family to rule? If so then simply shuffle him and his family off to rule another border world and put somebody else in place. No fuss no muss given that it's come down from on high. If it's something else, well then things start to get complicated (and fun usually).

Feral ork problem. Well that's just a little war. Simple, although maybe not easy. It'd be a good thing for that system defence force mentioned earlier to cut their teeth on, harden them up a little. You'd want to lead it personally to ensure minimal casualties, given how dangerous even feral orks can be.

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Love all the feedback. Thanks alot!

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Speaking of monitor ships, are there stats for these anywhere? I've seen them mentioned several times on the forums.

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If it helps for inspiration/extrapolation/conversion, here are some stats from BFG:

System Ship

System ships are a mix of short-range strike vessels and other starships incapable of interstellar travel. They often have civilian crews and lack the sophisticated targeting systems, superior engines and manoeuvring thrusters of a warship, but when used in numbers can still pose a real threat. During the Eldar attack on Misere in 153.M41, the Governor's personal fleet of luxury cruise ships were quickly fitted with gun decks and sent into battle. Although eventually destroyed, they accounted for two Eldar escorts before their demise. 
Type: Escort (1 Hit)
Speed: 15
Turns: 45°
Shields: 1
Armour: 5+
Turrets: 1
Armament: Weapons battery (Range 30, STR 3, left/front/right fire arcs)
Defence Monitor
Defence Monitors are dedicated defence ships crewed by Imperial Navy personnel, designed to hammer the enemy at close range. Much of the power generation systems are linked to armaments rather than engines, which means that they pack a lot of weaponry for their size, but are relatively hard to manoeuvre. However, when fighting an enemy who is intent on attacking a world and who must therefore approach closely and directly, this ungainly handling is not so much of a handicap. 
Type: Escort (1 Hit)
Speed: 10
Turns: 45°
Shields: 2
Armour: 6+
Turrets: 2
Armament: Weapons battery (R 30, STR 8, left/front/right arcs), Lance battery (R 30, STR 1, front arc)
Some time ago, Gribble posted his take on some RT stats here .
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I feel like I've seen it mentioned in a book that system ships borrow the wolfpack raider stats. not positive, but if it were me I'd use that and weaken them a bit more

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There's system ships statted out in the GM's Guide adventure, but those are Ad-Hock transport ships and such that have been converted.

I won't list the stats here since that would be a no-no.

I remember there being something called a Monitor Ship somewhere else. I'll have a quick look around.

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Found the defense monitor I was thinking of in Hostile Acquisitions page 81. It's quite slow (speed 2) but also very well armored and armed.

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Thanks for all the help! I am planning on starting a series of colonies, and I will need something to keep watch while my small flotilla is about. I have Hostile Acquisitions, so thanks for letting me know - I haven't been able to sit down and go through the books to check.