Greetings Rogue Trader fans!

This week, I have a guest designer diary from Sam Stewart. The author of the Starships chapter explains how to build a Rogue Trader vessel! Enjoy!

Building a ship sounds just as in-depth and varied as rolling up a new character.

Just as it should be.

I can't wait to get all my players arguing about the ship when they have to sit down and design it.

I already know one of my players wants to design a sleek heavily armed raider like vessel, and another player wants a large but slow cargo vessel. should be an hour or so of amusement from them fighting about it.

Looks like the first session will have a lot of time spent on character and ship creation.

Is there any way to convert ship points to/from profit factor ?

I ask because I expect that most groups will have ship points to spare and it adds another thing the players need to agree on.

Bilateralrope said:

Excess ship points are converted to profit factor, but not vice versa. I would recommend against converting profit factor to ship points as your initial PF/SP roll is supposed to give you an idea of what sort of Rogue Trade family you come from - mucking about with it too much could negate the roll.

As for excess ship points, I rolled the 40 PF/50 SP result on the RT table when creating characters for my players. I used to 50 ship points to build a sword-class frigate. There were no ship points left over and I only put one "nice" thing on that ship. Unless you roll for a ton of ship points (and a low PF), I wouldn't expect any excess. Especially since a group that gets more SP will generally want a larger ship. A light-cruiser (dauntless class) is about as high as a starting group can go.

Now there's a nice privateer's cruiser for you. Like Darkstar, I look forward to the discussions my group may be having about ship design.

There is one way to get extra ship points. Your crew has a default of 30 in all stats, but making them Incompetent (20 in all stats) nets 5 extra SP. That's the only way to get a remotely fully stocked cruiser, even with max ship points. However, if you want a Crack crew (40s) or a Veteran crew (50s) expect to have a very small ship, even with a high SP roll.

EDIT: Oh, and there is a piece of background later in the book that indicates the whole "ship points as relating to your dynasty" is off. It says most RTs who receive a Warrant of Trade themselves, rather than inheriting, are given a cruiser to protect the Imperium's interests. And yet, fresh Rogue Traders are given the lower end of the Ship Point scale.

Related question, what sort of options are there for an Explorator vessel?

There are some choices within the essential components--some examples include a sup-par but easy to power life sustainer versus the standard one, and a selection of Auger arrays with differing bonuses. All of the Essential categories have a "standard" or "basic" choice, and at least one variant, with the exception of Warp Drives, which only upgrade based on the size of the vessel.

As for Supplemental components, there are Weapons, Cargo Holds and Passenger Compartments, Augments and Enhancements, and Additional Facilities.

Cargo Holds add bonuses to Endeavors, and include things like a Barracks, which gives bonuses to Boarding while you have troops quartered in it.

Augments are things like Armor Plating, Improved Retro-Thrusters, and the Armored Prow the Imperial Navy favors for its cruisers. It also includes a "tenebro-maze" designed to confuse boarders and gunners on the opposing fleet.

The last quarter is odds and ends, like a Temple, Observation deck, or Trophy Room.

RocketPropelledGrenade said:

It's all a matter of how your roleplay it. My group rolled "fresh dynasty", 40 PF/50 SP. It's a new family, and the Captain (Fortune LaFontaine) is the third in her family to bear the Warrant. Additionally, my interpretation of that passage is that new RT families get a cruiser upon issuance of a NEW warrant. Who says that all new RT dynasties begin with a new warrant? Perhaps it was obtained through gambling, skulduggery, or the spoils of war. In those cases, the dynasty would certainly be new, but the Imperium would not gift such a valued asset.

/Besides, from a story perspective, starting with a cruiser is like a 1st level paladin starting with a +3 Sword. Sure it's cool, but where is the challenge and conflict when you never feel uncomfortable or in a dangerous situation?

Well if you have ever played BFG you would know that making cruisers nervous is not all that hard. Sure they don't die in one hit.. but all that means is more stuff hits them.

RocketPropelledGrenade said:

So say you were trying to put together a long-range AdMech vessel for some reason. You could upgrade supply vaults, specialized scanners, include a library and a manufactorium, then modify your ship for durablity and speed?

Psion said:

Basically, although they don't have a a manufactorium component.

RocketPropelledGrenade said:

No workshop to speak of?

Crafting is one of the few things the game does not yet have extensive support for, despite the delectable Trade (Shipwright) skill.

RocketPropelledGrenade said:

Hmmm, interesting. I wonder if that will come up in the inevitable player's supplement?

I'm just using the Inquisitor's Handbook rules for now. They work fine for any scale of item.

RocketPropelledGrenade said:

True, and most of the time the players aren't interested in making something for mass consumption.

That sounds awesome! It seems that you could make a very characterful ship very easily.Cant wait!

Mr. Watson. In this weeks diary could you give us more on building a starship? We have the sheet for the ship but very little on how to build it. Teaser rules if you please; it would give us GM's some knowlege.

ECLIPSE1970 said:

All ships have the following characteristics:

Speed, manourverability, hull, detection, and space.

Speed and manouverabilit are self-explanatory

Hull is similar to wounds

Detection represents the ships sensors

Space represents how much space there is inside the ship for components.

After selecting the hull, you select certain essential components (generator/engines, geller field, crew quarters, etc)

The genetor you get provides a certain amount of power, but takes up a certain amount of space.

Everything else on your ship takes power and/or space, depending on the component and the ship type. Crew quarters take power and space, a warpsbane hull (improved gellar field) takes power, etc.

You have a certain number of weapon points, dependant on your hull type.

Combat is a variation on standard combat rules with additiona emphasis/rules on manouvering. You only really need ship rules if you're doing ship combat. If you're desparate to do ship-to-ship combat, give each ship 20 to 60 hull points. Lance batteries are lascannons, macrobatteries are storm bolters. Everything fires on full auto (more successes equal more hits) but range reduces effectiveness.

If you're played BfG at all, you're halfway there.

Thanks Cervantes3773! I think this might work. Just Jonesing for some more info and waiting until Sep 18-25 to get me copy of the rules is just killing me.

ECLIPSE1970 said:

Tell me about it! :C

ECLIPSE1970 said:

I think there's quite a few of us who agree with that sentiment.

In the meantime, feel free to ask questions of someone who got one of the last two copies at GenCon.