Hello Rogue Trader fans!

This week my designer diary is entirely from my own perspective , some insight into the creation of Rogue Trader. Gen Con is coming soon!

A game that has a heavy influence on space travel and star ships and you are cutting the vehicle rules and ship roles?

Sounds illogical, but I will reserve final judge for when I see what is in the actual book.

Peacekeeper_b said:

Given that we've seen part of the starship rules already, I don't think the removal of the vehicle rules (which presumably cover atmospheric and land vehicles, etc, rather than forming part of the more important starship rules) is as huge a deal as it might seem; same with Ship Roles. With Dark Heresy, the Xenos creation rules and a whole chunk of the Corruption rules got cut for space reasons from the rulebook (the former reappearing in the GM's Toolkit, the latter of which never reappeared, sadly), so it's not exactly unprecedented for this kind of project to create more material than can adequately be presented within even a large rulebook. Both seem the kind of thing entirely appropriate for a book analogous to the Inquisitor's Handbook.

To clarify, the "vehicle rules" are just that, the land and atmospheric craft...not the starships!

N0-1_H3r3 said:

N0-1_H3r3 said:

Which Im fine with, once they tell us what the release schedule is like. And what books are planned.

FFG Ross Watson said:

Im fine with that. Will the Vehicles Apocrypha be reposted on the web then?

Peacekeeper_b said:

Which we'll likely get relatively soon. The only reason we knew what the Dark Heresy product lineup was so far in advance was because the rulebook got pushed back, so all the sourcebooks did as well; let them get the rulebook published and on the shelves before anyone but FFG starts concerning themselves with the supplements...

ooh, opportunity strikes! * dusts off WiP Vehicle rules from months ago *

so does this mean we won't be seeing any rules for carrying characters over from DH? not even a tiny boxout or appendix? (Rogue Trader was never meant to be just an expansion, but it was always going to have some form of synergy)

You know, I'm disappointed by the loss of Ship Roles. That's really the trouble with hearing about things in development. I hear about these great ideas that then don't make the final cut. I get disappointed about these little things when, really, if I'd never known about them I'd never miss them. I'd try and not read the design diaries but it's like trying to avoid spoilers... they're there, calling you, luring you in.

Perhaps a little depressing to see what didn't survive the chopping block but ah well, as long as I'm not getting four hundred blank pages I can't really complain. I'm just now curious to see the release date for the Seneschal's Primer (or whatever they plan on calling the player's handbook.)

FFG Ross Watson said:

Thanks, Ross.

But one question is left for me:

The DD mentions that there are "no spacecraft rules", either. You already correct that "space combat rules" are indeed inside the book and we all have read the DD about "building your own ship" and have seen sample pages of the crafts... so there must be some "spacecraft rules" inside the book..

As already might see yourself, this is a little confusing. Can you help out some very short notes what is covered by the "not there"-spacecraft rules and what is "not. Like in REALLY-not-there". Thank you!

So, Ship Roles and Vehicle Rules have been sacrificed.

So I take they will either wind up in a GM's Toolbox or Rogue Trader's Almanac some time around December/January.

However,

"Navigators, Lunar-Class Cruisers, The Harlequins Kiss, Arch-Militant Bodyguards, Explorators with enhanced bionic frames, and Warrants of Renown. The cannibal tribes of the planet Grace and the drifting space-hulk graveyard of the Processional of the Damned."

The Harlequins Kiss? There are Harlequins in the core book?

Rictus said:

Well, there are Shuriken weapons in DotDG and you don´t get Eldar,) Overally, I´m disapointed with the direction which RT has taken as I always see it and want to use it as sort of expansion for Dark Heresy. Still I´m looking forward for this, if only for the material I could salvage for Inquisition investigations. New equipment, origins (I hope that death-world presented in Forsaken Bounty is more than just other name for Feral World), Navigators (Wolfblade novel gives me plently of inspiration, now some more lore would help), Astropaths, Explorators and only Emperor know´s what more..

TorogTarkdacil said:

I quite agree, for me it is an expansion to Dark Heresy.

To me, they dont need to repeat all the how to play rules, and therefore would have had room for the stuff they cut. But I understand some people will play this game who never got into Dark Heresy (but I imagine that is a small number).

I hope Ascension does what it needs to to up Dark Heresy to RT levels.

I was just surprised the Harlequins Kiss got a mention seeing as it more exotic a piece of equipment than a shuriken catapult, thinking the developers would have reserved that for the Craftworld/Codex book on the Eldar down the line which would possibly include coverage of the way of the Harlequin.

Have to admit I am intrigued in how they handle the Navigator, a facet which wasn't explored in DH.

Actually planning on using both DH and RT to complement one another, creating crossovers in both. Surely Ascension would lead to a suitable escalation to RT perhaps even having the guidelines for a fallen acolyte to perhaps step into RT via some conversion, which would be logical.

Peacekeeper_b said:

Given how tight money is for some of us, it's probably a larger number then you think. I can't say the old WoD method of publication is better then the new but in this case, $55 instead of a possible $110 would be easier on the consumer. Besides, these rules were already ported over to Dark Heresy from Warhammer Fantasy and don't exactly take up that much room (except for skill discriptions, that is easily a chapter.)

Rictus said:

Anyway, keep up the good work I am sure this corebook will be amazing and I really can not wait until the release.

Thank you Mr Watson for the information.

Allrab

Rogue traders often use all sorts of exotic and alien weapons. Having rules for a Harlequin's Kiss doesn't mean that there are Harlequins . . . as cool as those would be.

Cynical Cat said:

Cool but oh man would those stats be a nightmare to manage.

"Navigators. Lunar-class Cruisers. The Harlequin’s Kiss. Arch-Militant bodyguards, Explorators with enhanced bionic frames, and Warrants of Renown. The cannibal tribes of the planet Grace and the drifting space-hulk graveyard of the Processional of the Damned."

...so we're getting a space-based RPG with no infrastructure on starships and command crew? The bold bits I've highlighted as being stuff I can run a space-RPG without , very nice, yes, but its a pretty hard sell trying to convince me they're more important.

MKX said:

And you think that might be the sum total of the book's contents because? I took that as being "look at all the other shiny bits that we still have in the book" rather than "look what we sacrificed the core premise to include". Then again, I'm able to use work as an outlet for my pessimism, so I don't feel a need to blurt it all out here in regards to a 400 page rulebook that we've seen 6 pages of in total so far.

What has been removed for space/development time reasons are the ground/atmospheric vehicle rules (starships will be in there, we've seen part of that chapter already) and a game mechanic for giving characters additional roles and purposes during starship combat. Assuming that it's anything more than that, IMO, verges on paranoid.

After re-reading Wolfblade and also some Inquisitor´s materials, I´m also hoping for extensive material about Navigators. In fact, I think that the whole sourcebook could be dedicated to them without much problem (mutations, trade wars, houses, obscure and dangerous secrets....)

Am I the only person who really isn't overly bothered about ship-ship combat/ship mechanics anyway? Let's face it, it's just not as exciting as up close and personal. It'd be like playing BFG from a RP perspective. Having said that, FFG have done an excellent job on almost everything so far, so I would like to see what they make of it.

Am I the only person who really isn't overly bothered about ship-ship combat/ship mechanics anyway?

No, at least, not in my book. It'd be nice to see it come through in a supplement, but there's a lot more to the life of a Rogue Trader than broadsides

Locque said:

Coming from more traditional science fiction as opposed to 40k proper, I tend to agree. The most interesting stuff in an RPG tend to involve a small group of people. That being said, I would like to see what they do for ship customization.