I am having trouble understanding the Money system in Rogue Trader (if there even is one). I know profit factor can be used to upgrade ships n such but when it comes to purchasing weapons for personal use and out fitting an armory with weapons for your crew and troops, i have not seen much in the way of money usage and currency. I know the technical currency is Thrones, but how would one determine how many Thrones they are able to spend on such things?.

So far as an ADHOC system with my group i am running with, i have currently considered 1 profit factor as 1 million Thrones, but if the players want to spend money on say food, booze and guns, spending 1 profit factor for anything is a bit harsh. I dont just dont know what to do in this sort of instance.

for example, the Void Master wished to purchase some void shrikes for the fighter bay. because i wouldnt know how to do the money system cause i can not find anything i told him it would be 3-4 million thrones, so 3-4 Profit Factor.

Can anyone help please?

Profit Factor is an abstraction of how wealthy they are.

A Rogue Trader is wealthy enough that they aren't keeping track of the cost of their personal gear or personal expenses.

And, usually, you don't actually "spend" Profit Factor. It's a roll under d100 roll, using PF as the target, modified by circumstances, and other factors.

You can spend PF to gain a bonus on the roll, but normally, spending PF is reserved for Acquisitions like full up voidships or voidship components.

You use the PF for the acquisition of items for personal use. It is described on pages 270ff of the Rogue Trade Rule Book how this works. For instance, to buy a common craftsmanship lasgun you have to pass a PF-Test +50 (+20 for common availability, +30 for a negligible scale)...

The core book is 400 pages long. I would not recommend attempting to run a game of Rogue Trader without having read it. You don't need to memorize it, not all of it anyway, but you need to have read it all at least once. Acquisitions, Endeavors, and Profit Factor are sections that deserve several re-reads.

Yep, even some of the paltriest Rogue Traders often have the equivalent resources of a planetary governor (one or two might even try to match a Sector Lord), and most Rogue Traders actually seem to have more liquid assets, and a better "cash flow", if you will, as you imagine many of their earnings, and expenses, happening in the background, while they do all the cool, heroic, or terrible stuff. They can easily buy one of almost anything, and if they are going to outfit a force, they might get cheap, they might not, but it's still a small matter for them. Also, if you've ever traveled abroad, you might know how annoying exchanging money can be. Now, imagine how that (doesn't) work in a galaxy like 40k? You might use Thrones, while I might use crystal ingots, or water barrels. We might be techno-savages, and barely even have a concept of "money". Profit Factor means you don't have to convert capital between various locales, as you have access to a wide variety of stuff, and can make them available, through your assets.

I'll grant that the book's abstract method, on money, can suck. If I want to buy something, it never really explains what connection I have to my distant funds, like I own a debit card, or a credit card, or if I want to bribe my way into a meeting, where I really shouldn't be, it might be nice to know how many thrones I actually have, on my person, to bribe them, there on the spot, if I'm not going to just cow them with my presence, but that can be an easy number to calculate, ahead of time; look in DH1, see how their money works, and assume you can carry a lot, if you're into that. Mostly, it's that Profit Factor is so much MORE than money, consisting of your name, your prestige, your lineage, wealth, trade routes, business interests, families indebted to you, colonies you've launched, and on. it can be hard, IMO, to know what all your dynasty might have, under their belt, when they need to liquidate something, for a big expense, but it takes a BIG expense to usually dent your PF, such as purchasing a rare ship component, or a new ship, altogether. Misfortunes can also do it, I think, as you make mistakes, and you can't oversee every facet of your enterprise, all the time.

It's sort of a fun bit of the game. If your player says they want something, they can probably get it (you finally CAN have anything you want ). If you've ever spent a whole other game, waiting till you had the money needed to by that one magic sword, or that one pimped out gun, that one other high-end, expensive, and rare item, you might appreciate what even a relatively new RT player CAN get their hands on, after being just a little bit successful. If you want something that, even in RT, is "rare, expensive, and hard to get", like a new ship, or a rare part for the one you already have, access to an actual Saint's relic, or just the most pimped out gear you can describe (the stuff that gets up to (Near) Unique rarity), you actually get to just role play for it, at least partly, and sometimes the biggest trick is just finding it, and the person who wants to sell it (or you don't ask, and take it from him; it's grimdark, after all). Once you get past the seeming limitations of the vagueness of it all, it might actually seem pretty liberating to not have to keep track of all that bean-counting, or being just a few gold short. Certainly, even with all the massive assets of a Rogue Trader, you CAN fail to find, or get it, that's chance 9the luck of the dice), and it can be annoying, but you can also grab up some awesome stuff, and have a really fun game.

It's also an abstraction of your influence and power, your ability to tell people they belong to you, in other words. A rogue trader with PF5 probably has his ship and only that, while a Rogue Trader with PF 200 likely owns several high resource systems in the Expanse, feeding him with raw materials to build things with. He would also very likely own several large business fronts in the Imperium, selling products and services, while he almost certainly holds a great deal of sway in local politics and has an army of killing machines nigh unstoppable.