Hey guys, I have only played a few sessions of Rogue Trader and our DM had to drop out on us. After months of not playing, I decided to step up and DM a game for our group. It is my first time DM'ing and I am a little nervous, I am not too familiar with the system but I am reading the book any chance I get in order to prepare. Our first session will be sometime at the end of the month. I had my crew roll their stats today and the Rogue Trader rolled well on the profit factor scale. They have 20 profit factor but the 70 starting hit points. The whole formerly great but a shell of what they used to be, so I dont know if I should limit their hull size? Or let they get what they want? I was thinking of allowing them to have a light cruiser but no higher. How will you guys handle it?

I also plan on using either the starting adventure in the Core Rule book or the adventure that comes with the RT game master's screen. I think the one that came with the screen might be a good way to start since the Rogue Trader liked the background of trying to rebuild the dynasty. The adventure that comes with the screen touches on that kind of theme. Thank you for your time.

This answer may run contrary to what others may say, but yes, you should definitely limit the starting ship. As a first time GM still learning the rules the more you limit the players the first time, the better it will go for you. Player freedom is great and is a must once you get a bit more mileage under your belt, but at the moment, not so much as you need to yourself get a handle on the rules ( along with any loop-holes, house rules, etc that may come up.)

Personally I would have them pick one of the pre-built ships in either the core or into the storm books. They tend to be balanced for a certain theme and should not completely blow thru the starting adventures as badly as a player made ship would.

If you or the players don't want to go that route for whatever reason, you are in a bit of a sticky spot, 70 SP will be more than enough to trick out even a full cruiser, the smaller the hull gets the more pronounced it gets ( you are actually into basic battle-cruiser hulls at this point)

One trade off is to let them build their dream ship, but have them start in something smaller and weaker as their dynasty flagship, is actually in the hands of one of their rivals. There low PF could represent loss of prestige in loosing the ship as well as having to pay out to get even a crappy starter shop.

Hope any of this helps, and the best of luck with your game.

Most GMs around here seem to prefer the high SP/low PF starting point. It's classic. The PCs have a good starting ship but they're poor and have a hard time modifying that ship. There's nothing wrong with your starting point.

Some tips:

• Be strict - don't feel like you have to be the nice guy with starting gear and ship components. They will have a good ship. That means they should be able to take care of themselves. If you follow RAW you should be okay. If the players are experienced you're going to end up with a broken ship, but that's unlikely. If that's the case, though, you need to check out some of the house rules around here to find out what the broken rules are.
• If you're considering the beginning adventures then it doesn't sound like your players are experienced, in which case the above warning doesn't come into play.
• There's absolutely nothing wrong with starting out with a cruiser, battlecruiser, or grand cruiser. Just understand it's not going to be kitted out. In fact, it's going to be bare bones, and that's ideal in some ways. They'll have plenty to work for, plenty to plan for. That means they'll be coming up with their own plans, and that takes your work load away.

Stay in touch. Post your progress, your concerns, and your successes. I'm sure people here will be happy to advise you further.

It can also be a good thing for the written material. This game can be notorious for writing things on the lower end of the difficulty curve, so that there is more opportunity for you to use it; it's a lot easier to add a talent, some wounds, or a really nice ship component to an NPC, or their vessel, but a little less so to "dumb it down". If you don't find an NPC with a specific component included, mostly because it is what makes that character unique, most will have run of the mill ships, parts, and gear, with allies/crew that, while not inept, are also nothing to write home about, and once your players start to optimize, and you don't do the same to the NPC's, you'll quickly learn what a party of players can do to your plans, your pawns, and more. I don't know if I'd say "only the most regular of stuff", but let them earn some greatness, and give yourself a chance to acclimate to this side of the gaming table. It's always possible to get a better ship, steal a better ship, or improve an average ship into a better ship, later; hell, you might argue that's the whole point of the game, mechanically.

Let them get something they like, and want, certainly, but make sure "stock" enemies are still a challenge, at least some of the time. If your crew encounters Lord-Admiral Bastille, and his Colossus, for instance, if they don't have a cruiser, too, they probably should be intimidated, and a better, more capable ship, with which to challenge him, is something to aspire to.

Lastly, for me, at least, I favor the more SP/less PF, on account of getting ship parts can be hard, and time-consuming, while regardless of how much money you start with, one of the primary game elements is the acquisition of more, so you might as well have a great ship, and then use it to make more money. Having said that, though, if you limit them some, you'll be giving them an opportunity to invest more in their ship, as the game progresses, and this might be one of the few things to actually hit their PF. There comes a point when they have their iconic weapons, armor, and gear, and then they have tons of wealth, and little to spend it on, but if they want more for their ship, this works great. Give them a chance to learn what their ship is like, and an opportunity to want to invest in it, and improve it, over the course of the campaign.

Hope some of this inane babble proves at least somewhat helpful, and best of luck.

Don't forget either that the more they invest in a hull, the less relative capability it will have. Yes, they might pick a bare bones battlecruiser. But ask yourself (and your players) the question: Will they have the power to keep it? If they have limited means and clout (low PF), their underequipped battlecruiser might be a sore temptation for quite a few other parties in the expanse.

I'd advise them to go with a nice frigate. These ships are quite nicely powered, but not overpowered and with their SP they can outfit one magnificently.

My campaign's first ship was a Light Cruiser with an Archeotech lance and Sunsears, and that served them completely well for over two years of game time. They would make minor modifications to it, adding some trophy rooms, salvaging some Dark Eldar writings, designating a 1-Space portion of the ship to be "completely off limits" where the Astropath would go during Ship Combat to prevent psychic phenomena from killing people... but they always had their Lance + Sunsears.

So it was definitely a flagship, and it never really changed the core of what it was. They still want to get it back, and it felt like losing a member of the crew which was right. I actually am okay with allowing them to take something powerful so that they get attached to it. There are absolutely ways to take it away if they are unlucky in ship combat (or misbehave).

I still think that for a starting RT crew, the Star Galleon should be everyone's choice. There should really be a pre-built one that people can take.

Good job taking the GM seat for the rest of them, you've got loads of homework to do all summer! I too had their mission be To Restore the Dynasty. They got a modest start... 1st with a transport then a raider worked up from 40 profit factor to 60 very fast before misfortune had to slow their gain.

Since we're both new members I wanna say do the ship sheet yourself. don't worry about tallying the ship points for balanced profit factor. Give your crew either a stock ship which can be improved, or one built for a certain task in mind; you be master of the dockyard in every sense; the ship is only a way to get around anyway. Start them off with a Star Galleon or a Loki - Orion - Vagabond class transport then work your way up to that battlecruiser with nova cannon and launch bays.

We are all a group of new players. Except for a few of us that have played a few sessions. Thanks for the help guys, I am honestly really intimidated by all of these rules. There are just so many situational things and I am getting a bit discouraged. I finished up reading the "playing the game" portion to try and speed things up a little. They opt'd to take the sabre frigate so that helps I guess. I think I may have got their stats wrong and all of these endevours and everything else. I just feel over whelmed by all this. I just wanted some 40k in my life and I am now freaking out cause I want to do a good job.

Sounds like a big group. I'm curious to know their career choices... Read the Core as much as possible- if you have the hardback it's better b/c they will go out of print... then after the rulebook check out Stars of Iniquity. I totally felt the same way- It gets worse when they make rank 4-5

There are a lot of rules, but you don't necessarily have to follow all of them. I think most people eventually let Endeavours slide to the side, because this game is too open to have a strict adventure path where you can assign Endeavour points to small, easily broken-down objectives.

You'll absolutely make mistakes when you're GMing, be it your first time or your 100th time - though especially your first time. There are two important things that I think every game group should understand though

1) Open conversation between players and GM is important to address concerns, and as long as everyone understands you're there to have fun it should all work out.

2) In the event of any dispute, whatever the GM says at this exact moment in time is correct.

The only things I might disallow in terms of a ship is a teleportarium or a nova cannon.

And if you DO allow the teleportarium (I hope you would; it's one of the best pieces of archeotech, almost a must grab, if you can), don't hesitate to make it a risky venture, at least some of the times. I think it's Into the Storm, has a nice little box called "Teleportariums and You", or something equally classy. It stays vague (the AdMech barely understands how it works, mechanically, in-universe; why should your understanding of its game mechanics be any better out-of-universe? ), but gives several options for keeping this great piece of tech from breaking the game, like cool down times, between uses, maximums of what one beaming can transport, a Tech-Use test to do so safely, some ideas of what might block it/hinder it, and such. Various people here can likely direct you to more; it's a great item, with a potentially great likelihood of abuse, if you don't set some ground rules. Even with my ship having lighters, barges, Valkyries, and that one Thunderhawk we stole from the Blood Angels (all hypothetical, of course; please don't tell Dante ?), I would probably need a GM to disallow a teleportarium, in order to not try and start with one, and it could be a great excuse to scrap some competition, if I have reason to believe they are known for using such a device, which I lack; I like them that much. Sort of like the Milosav Warp Engine, you'll catch yourself eying it every time you sit down, to build a ship. My opinion.

The Nova Cannon, that I agree with. If you aren't RICH rich, like upper end Rogue Trader rich, with good friends, high up in the Navy, and mastering a dedicated warship, you probably don't need, and will have trouble maintaining a NC, and I still think, for the most part, that I'd rather fill that prow slot with torpedo tubes. Mostly my opinion, but it often feels like an especially scary hood ornament; a good bluff piece, to see if the opposition will risk pushing you to having to fire it, and avoiding conflict, rather than actually using its ammunition to cook anything, especially if, like you, maybe, your enemies often travel solo. (If you've ever played Suikoden 4 and 5, this is a cool bit, as they are ridiculously powerful, but the Obel Fleet of 5 hasn't let slip that they don't have rune shells, anymore; people see the cannons, and wet themselves, but they've been without ammo for several decades, and no one has called their bluff. When you DO find them, you usually opt to destroy them, as no one should have that power, and it nets you two of your Stars of Destiny.) I'd almost rather hope to find the hulk of a heavy cruiser, or bigger, sporting such a NC, hopefully with some armament left, and either use the ship hulk as a base, and sell the ammo back to the Navy, for the profits/perks, or just sell them the whole bag, for even more benefits. Not a terrible weapon, but not one I'm particularly fond of, personally, nor see an overwhelming need for.

While it's not a limit, entirely, maybe make them have some idea of what type of enterprise they want their dynasty to be, and MAKE them get a ship that fits. For me, it always seems easy to just say "start with a bigger ship, like a frigate/(light) cruiser, a bit less money, and run with it; you'll make more money, regardless of which you favor, starting PF, or starting SP, and if you think space combat is likely, why not be in something that can actually fight? Later, get a ship that is smaller, and maybe better at some of that trade stuff, and can serve as an escort." Maybe you should try NOT to listen to that, if you do, too. Whatever their first ship is, it should be like one of the crew. They should want to have it, and hope to keep using it for much of the campaign, at least, but a warship isn't a trade vessel, or usually a stealthy pirate sloop, so maybe try to get them to pick a ship that fits their motif, more than the best, biggest thing they can get, and then they'll force it to hug that motif as closely as it can. Like their character choices, try to make the ship fit with them.

Okay, those are my feelings on these little points. Best of luck, if you haven't already moved on from this.

Thank you for all of the feed back guys, so we haven't played at all yet. I kind have given up some hope, I am trying to get the players together, I planned on running the intro encounter in the core rule book and after that using the adventure that came with the DM screen. I also picked up like 5 books from a crazy sale that I couldnt say not to (list below). My party consists of A Arch militant, Rogue Trader, Voidmaster, Tech Priest and our last player was supposed to play a cleric but he now had a brilliant idea that I kind of want to do that I think is hilarious but no idea how to make work. He wants to play an Ork but I told him it wouldnt work well in our Party because the Arch Militant is a Death Korpsman, and the rest of the party is very xenophobic. He is a very good friend of mine and complete smart ass, so he says "But I am an Ork that thinks he is human, so that means he is..." He is technically right... Idk how this would translate in game.

I am also trying to work on maybe getting the game going in Roll20 there is just a lot of prep time that goes into roll 20 than doing it in person. I am drowning a bit, have a lot of personal issues atm and I just want to play 40k as an escape I guess. Life is just out of hand and the only time I feel ok is when I do stuff like this. I know its dumb, I am dealing ok but this is my happy in a way just sucks that it keeps falling apart, any thank you sooo much for the support guys. I appreciate the feed back, I will look more into the teleport device I havent heard of it. Sorry for getting emo guys

Just because an Ork believes he's human doesn't make him human, and it doesn't start a transformation. An Orkish WAAGH field would maybe change one Ork if an entire army believed him to be human, but otherwise you just have a crazy Ork. If your player were to file off his tusks, and undergo some bizarre treatments by the Tech-Priest you could say he looks like a very, very sick Ogryn, but he should also be in power armour basically all the time for the disguise.

I mean you shouldn't overstress yourself, it is a game and it's meant to be played for escapsim. I would run the idea, and your concerns, by your other players and let them all decide if they're okay with this. The Imperium is pretty fantastically xeno-phobic, so it might mean more complications for your group just by this player existing. Hopefully they would be able to resolve in and out of character knowledge though.

Yea makes sense, I wish our community was a bit bigger. There does not seem to be much for RT out there on the interwebs.

There isn't a month go by that I don't see a new RT campaign starting up on roll20, and I only check once every other week or so. Yes, there are always more DH campaigns starting up, and recently there's been a spate of Only War games, but there's always an RT game coming along. Just check in regularly.

As you are a first time GM, I would strongly advise against allowing a player to incarnate an Ork (or any Xenos for that matter). It will massively increase the stresses within the party and complicate any adventure you plan to play. If one of your players truly wishes to play something else and deserves it, allow him an abhuman. Ratlings, Ogryn or that rare surviving Squat can fit the bill without triggering the fear and loathing of Xenos that pervades Imperial culture.

I strongly advise against ever letting someone play a xenos in an RT campaign, but I'll spare you all one of my rants about that. Hold me back!

I won't rant, certainly, because I am a xeno-lover, to a degree, but I'd agree with Errant; it's not likely to be a good idea. You'll spend as much time trying to justify how they fit, when they really don't, as you will doing what they do, that a Human could probably do to a similar degree, and then getting mad that so many NPCs behave hostilely toward you, as if it isn't a normal part of the lore, and the GM is just being a tool. Half the PC varieties should have problems with one, most of the NPCs, and on I could go, but I won't, because it's your game, so please do as you will. What I WILL say is, if you have read any of my weird crap, you'd know that I do weird stuff in my 40K, some in most of my RPGs, too. I don't hesitate to play a special snowflake, and almost specialize in writing backstories so detailed, I've gotten them past all of my GMs, so far (you can say it wouldn't work for you, but I've managed with five GMs I can remember, in four different lines of games), and will gladly seek the best, most awesome gear picks I can, and the perks to make those picks easier, but in 40K, xenos characters; I wouldn't attempt it, even if we HAD gotten real Eldar, and not their BDSM brethren, and I wouldn't allow it. Unless 9/10 of the game is just you, and the party, hanging around the ship, with them playing more to placate your choice, then how their actual character would normally act, while you avoid the NPC ratings, or your group only interacting with NPCs that they are intending to kill, anyway, because they antagonized you, or have the mcguffin, being a xeno PC SHOULDN'T really be fun; just a lot of the NPCs not wanting to work with YOU, or deal with your allies, or trying to kill you, as any God-Emperor fearing citizen would. Sorry, I guess I did rant. I'd suggest against it, or go in with both eyes open, and be prepared to treat them poorly because it's how it would be. I appreciate that they DID try to do rules, the same way D&D does with some "undesirable" races, but that doesn't change how the fluff of 40K works, inside the Imperium.