monkyman said:

That's not really evil. It's rather predictable.

In fact if I ever introduced a scene with lots of hookers and blow (which I wouldn't, because that would be way to nice of me), my players would instinctively watch their backs for Slaanesh corruption around every corner.

Varnias Tybalt said:

Slaanesh is so last year.

Hookers can have strange diseases... is that a severe case of Nurgle-itis you have there?

Blow makes people aggressive... maybe that jacked up record company executive will start slashing people with his cocaine razor blade and invoke the daemons of Khorne.

Pretending to be another Chaos god is the realm of Tzeentch. So that could work too.

Besides, getting your group all coked up is a great way to have someone else take advantage of them.

Seems a little stale: "Complete A, B, C & D to finish endeavour, some bonuses may allow you to skip smaller tasks"

Hopefully there are provisions to allow branching paths and alternate methods of undertaking the endeavour (and if there aren't, a good GM will make one). For example, why fight the Orks? if they're Blood Axes (or just similarly-inclined Freebooters) there's a good chance the crew could establish a sideline in trade with them as well as the locals. Persuade the orks to divert their attacks elsewhere, pick up some Xenos artefacts (perhaps a squig or two to sell off to some Xenophile nobles, or the Beast House) and squeeze trade out of the humans by staging a "rescue" while they're under attack.

Big risks = big rewards, so most endeavours should, IMO, consist of at last two paths - the high-risk, get-many-achievement-points route and a longer, safer "lots of little steps" route.

Such a provision is probably in the game anyway, but including it in the diary would have pre-emptively put to rest a lot of concerns

Don't think of the endeavour rules as set-in-stone laws of Rogue Trader. They're a outline of how to create a task for the crew and the associated rewards. It's really not that different from XP in an RPG.

Killing 100 goblins will get you a certain amount of XP, convincing their Cheiftan not to attack the village will get you a certain amount of XP, tricking the goblins into thinking that you're the avatar of their god and convincing them to go on a pilgrimage to a far off land will also get your a certain amount of XP. Whichever you chose, you'll have saved a village, which was the point all long.

There is nothing stopping you from writing a grand endeavour in which each step is made up of multiple sub-steps and it takes your group two years to go through the whole thing.

As an outside example, in my line of work (auditing), we have to sign off on each procedure as we complete it. We're consistently reminded that we're not to fill out the checklist, but rather perform the procedures, address the risks of the audit, and follow up on any loose ends. Either way, there's still the list to follow, it's just a matter of application and diligence.

LuciusT said:

As I saw it, it's simply a means of weighting the relative importance of a task's success - a tool for GM's and little else. Some things will be more important to the overall success of an endeavour than others, and this is an easy way of measuring that. How you use it is an individual matter - I can see instances where an in-depth game litters small, behind-the-scenes quantities of these points all around the place, and larger ones for really significant gains, used as shorthand for a GM to keep track of how successful or not his group is at any given moment (you need a total score of 1600 to complete this endeavour... getting the contraband past customs will get you 15, while driving off those pirates is worth 200).

N0-1_H3r3 said:

I'd like to see it that way... as a tool for building adventures... but that doesn't mesh with the idea that certain ship mods appear to have the principle function of giving you points toward completing endeavors. Essentially, they serve as a meta-game power to circumvent in-game actions without necessarily being in any way related to the in-game actions they allow you to avoid (using the design diaries example as a case in point). If this mechanic were merely a tool for the GM to build adventures, I wouldn't expect to see that.

LuciusT said:

This isn't math with right or wrong interpretations, this is a game. Make up a reason why it provides that benefit. As it's already been suggested, better sensor arrays let you navigate in realspace more efficiently, better cargo holds can hold more or have better storage accoutrements, like temperature and humidity control.

It's as detailed or bland as you make it.

The achievement points system seems like a useful too. A lot of GM's won't have a whole lot of experience with trade centered adventures and campaigned and the game mechanics are helpful. The game isn't only going to be run by experienced GMs, after all.

As for the venture, 1200 points was the target set for the full profit rating of the endeavor. Two pieces of gear gave bonus points and that made the last piece unnecessary, but the achievement of the exclusive contract isn't necessary to get the full profit rating. Remember that the ship did successfully sell a cargo of weapons to the world when the population of the world badly needed them and established trading contacts while doing so. Essentially the exclusivity of the contract is worth as much profit in the short term as the extra navigation data from the auger arrays (making the trip faster and easier) and the extra goods the cargo allows the ship to carry . That's reasonable.

Can't say I'm all that wild about this system. Then again I won't have to use it. For those who like more concrete ways of dealing with stuff like this this seems perfect.

As a side note, I have a hard time seeing a game centered around trading being very engaging. To me it seems like more of a starting pretext for something quite a bit more ominous (ie discovery of a lost civilization of malign god-like beings). All this stuff about calculating profit and such seems kind of boring to me.

Atheosis said:

That's why they've abstracted it into a profit/endeavour system instead of tracking money. Players want to go out explore, engage in political intrigue, discover, and conquer but the characters have great big expensive ships to run and want to be rich. Thus an endeavour/profit system that handles both needs with a comparatively minimal hassle.

Atheosis said:

Can't really argue either way for the system, I want to see how it plays first before I judge it. Other then that....

Rogue Traders are more of the Han Solo kind of merchant however. They don't "play it safe," they deal in contraband, run blockades, search for "treasure," and suffer from the fickle fate provided by the GM. Han Solo's cantina meeting with a Jedi exile and a outright nobody would definitely fall under "Random Acts of Game Masters."

That being said, at the end of an endeavor, Explorers still want to get paid.

As far as ship componets giving bonuses to achievement points, It's one way of making your choices made during ship creation mean something. The thing about endeavours is that that can take place in the foreground of an adventure and really drive it, or they can be something going on in the background while another adventure takes the front seat. The main reason for the endeavours is to increase a rogue traders profit factor, and thus his buying power and prestige. I own the book and having read the chapter, it sounds a lot better than it may seem reading the example. I think the main point of the "extra achievement points" is to award the players extra profit for a endeavour well done. For every 100 acheivment points gained over the Endeavours goal, you gain 1 extra profit point. The thing about ship componet bonuses is that they only work for certain types of objectives which are used to gain achievment points, like trade, military, creed, and Criminal.

For those out there that have the book already, I was wondering, how many of the upgrades provide bonuses to achievement points/etc? Are there different levels of them?

LordMunchkin said:

The Barracks and Munitorium components add to Military acheivements. There's a "Auspex Multi-Band" that adds to Exploration. Commerce Bridges and Cargo holds add to Trade. And each component offers a specific number of points--the Main Cargo Hold that comes equipped to a transport gives over a hundred, whereas a simple Trophy Room adds 50 or so.

No offense to anyone, but can we please stop with the teasers? I'm teased. I want the book. Can we just focus on getting the book out, and getting the book right, please?

Thanks.

Dak Rogers said:

so say we all

sinkarna said:

Love the cross-universe reference there. And I'm sure we all agree.

Other then that, I do have to I think I understand the reason for components giving additional points towards the completion of certain endeavors. Not sure I won't try to come up with something else but I must admit it's a good start to get us thinking.