I'm running the adventure, "Into the Maw" thats in the RT book. We all had a really good time and didn't run into any real problems. The game got really deadly when the baddies went from using suppressive fire to force pinning test , to full auto attacks after the players hit and took down the baddies boss lady. The explorers missionary started to move forward to get within flammer range when one of the baddies opend up with a full auto burst and hit with 5 of the 6 shots. I rolled a 10 on 4 of the 5 damage rolls and the missionary was reduced to a smoking corpse within 5 seconds. She had to burn a fate point in order to go from dying, to instead being 0 wounds and uncouncious.

One slightly annoying problem I ran into was that the players wanted to go on a shopping spree using acquisition test to buy a bunch of stuff in the book. Granted, most of it will not come for a week in game time, and they may be disappointed to learn they make have to leave before there stuff arrives, but it was still a little annoying. Thinking about putting a limit on aquisitions attempted per day or something.

Hrm... as a GM that could be pretty annoying. Maybe you could house rule (I don't have the RT core rulebook myself, so I don't know if this is in there) that each subsequent loot check gets harder and harder to do when done in a certain period of time? So for example you could make it so that every request made past the first adds a -10 penalty that stacks. So the first for a day is 0, the 2nd is -10, 3rd gets -20, etc etc...

I made an acquisition check for the Rogue Trader rulebook myself, but my Profit factor stinks.

I'm planning to only allow my players to make rolls related to buying new equipment is between endeavours. That way they can still have shopping sprees, but they won't disrupt things.

Granted I don't have the book yet so I can't speak to how the mechanic works fully, but as a GM I've often warned my players that income level/profit factors are not infinite and if they choose to go dropping large sums of cash all across the universe they will find their pockets empty sooner then they might expect.

Just letting the players know that too much spending will have a negative impact of their PF and may hamper them when they really need it can put a check on the spending sprees.

If a permanent drop seems to harsh I do like Mazin's option, perhaps just a temporary drop in PF or adding in some penalties expressing that the characters have exhausted their marks and favors in a particular market.

I think the biggest problem is trying to get the group in the Rogue Trader set of mind. A Rogue Trader has so much wealth, that really buying weapons and gear is kind of beneath them. So to my eye's, the groups focus should be else where. But coming from playing other games like D&D and even Dark Heresy, It's kind of like kids walking in the candy store after winning the lottery. The only thing to penalize them is the time taken to get the items and of course time to search for there items. Hadn't quite got to the part of the adventure where things become a race to the prize.

Maybe start putting time pressure on them. Add objectives that only have a certain amount of time to be done, and conviently, that time is shorter than the the time it takes to get some items.

You could also make it so that they get more rewards if they get to the objective, like you mentioned, a race for 1st prize. And worst comes to way worst... get another play group and invite me! Thanks in advance!

dragonmarkeddm said:

That's a good point. But once they have equiped themselves with the gear they want, the problem should subside.

I agree this isn't a major issue long term. They'll get the best gear on the open market then have nothing to buy. After new gear is one of a kind items they need to adventure to find.

PS- I intend that getting a lot of the highest end gear requires the PCs to make the right contacts. (Just like I do in DH.) For example impress the right faction of tech priests who know how to make that sort of gear. "To be worthy of same equipment as the Astartes!!! My son you must 1st show your devotion to the Machine God. We are need of a ship for a most holy quest in the Halo Stars...."

I think maybe the simplest way to limit mad shopping sprees is by saying that each availability check takes "X" amount of time. You might want to set longer times for things with lower availabilities as well. After all, anyone can find say a new cellular phone with a few moments work, plust the time it takes to go out and actually purchase it or the time it takes to order it on the web. If you want to purchase one of the few remaining Stradivarius violins however, you ought to be prepared to:

1. Do a web search, and / or call a few contacts in the field to see if any of them are for sale at all

2. Contact the brokers of the owners of the very few Strads for sale to assure them of your credentials and arrange viewings.

3. Put aside time to travel to several countries for the viewings.

4. Put aside time to negotiate price and other contractual issues ( ie. the violin MUST be purchased by someone who will either play it publically, or will loan it to someone to be played [not joking, there are such stipulatons in place on some currently owned Strads] OR will never, ever under any circumstances allow it to be played publically...) with several brokers.

5. Finally settle on a price, contractual obligations and a time to take ownership.

6. Pay them.

All this may seem a little far fetched, but if your RT is looking for a best quality suit of power armour, you better believe it's going to take this kind of doing. Those items are always centuries old and the purest works of art. So if you want one, you are going to have to devote some time to obtaining it. If all you want is a phone though, it's going to take an hour or two, tops. Of course this all assumes that you're on an Imperial world with standard access to gear. You might have quit a lot of trouble picking up a mobile phone on a feudal world.

Irontempledog said:

R.T. phone home!

Irontempledog, that's good! I'm going to use that.

Fitz42 said:

Covered to an extend in both Upkeep tests and Misfortunes. If your players are being really egregious, make them test Upkeep something every time they buy a new item, to make them ask if they really feel the need to expand their holdings all at once.

Maxim C. Gatling said:

<-----Flattered.

LOL

Please feel free. I like this kind of realism in my games. It tends to keep a lid on the impromptu "Can I get a Best Quality Melta Pistol with all the bells and whistles before we get lunch?" kind of scenes. My players generally now that if they want to purchase something extraordinary, obtaining it's going to be a story in itself. This method also has the side benfit of giving each extraordinary piece of gear the PC's come into a tale of its' own which makes the stuff just a little more special and meaningful. THIS means it's all better tool for me to manipulate their interests and intentions with down the road in the story.

Evil Grin

Talking the shopping spree:

Why not simply handing them the stuff?

• if they will be able to get it and it´s just a matter of time & waiting
• if there "profit" allows for it
• if "handling" the purchase eats away precious game time

just let them have it! What will happen next is what happens to all kids who get card blanché in the candy store... the grow fed up with the candy quiet fast or get grossly fat.

Both ways, you can "go on gaming" instead of hamstringing yourself with how to hamstring the demand of your players.
After all...everything they are achieving is that you (the GM) will have to raise the challenge in order to keep them occupied. Right?