I’ve just picked up the Rogue Trader book and GM Kit. I admit that I haven’t read all of it yet…so this may be a mute point.
Should the Rogue Trader be an NPC like most of us use the Inquisitor in Dark Heresy or should it be allowed as a character?
If a player chooses to play the RT is he in charge… Telling the other players what to do all the time?

That strictly depends on your group really. It's definitly not so in my group as the poor Rogue Trader gets over-ruled and outshown time and time again by his Seneshal... which he really needs to do something about. The crew of their ship is starting to see the Seneschal as the Guy In Charge and that's starting to hurt their opinion of the captain.

Aside from that, there's really a wonderful opportunity for high games of intrigue between the bridge crew of a rogue trader vessel. While the RT is the Rogue Trader, he's not necessarily king of the hill. Any Exploritor with him is there for the ship first, captain second if he's attached to the ship, or there for his own sect's goals and missions first and the rogue trader's concerns second, or his own need for knowledge and the RT second, etc (to pay for is ride and all). The senechal will probably know more about the running of the ship and dynasty then the RT and, as such, could pull a coup quite easily or play up his power with a weak RT and become the power behind the throne with the Rogue Trader being little more then a well dressed bullet shield. While any navigators present work for the RT's dynasty, chances are, they probably don't work for the specific Rogue Trader himself but his family on the whole and they won't take much guff unless they're getting heavily compensated for such guff -Navigators really seem to like to remind most everyone that they are the only things holding the Imperium together and without them, everyone's up the creek so-to-speak. The missionary might have the heart's and souls of the crew in which case, if he doesn't like the way somethings going, a mutiny could be had quite easily... and so on.

It really depends on te dynamics that the group decides on and plays to. In the end, the RT is the one with the Warrant that enables the dynasty to exist and make profit, but that profit can not be made without the other's involvement. It's more like a partnership with a lot of checks and balances emplace by the various Big Players to insure they remain Big Players in the dynasty and less like a dictatorship. Without most of the other PC's, the RT is screwed and without the RT, the other PC's are screwed and balance is maintained.

All very good points Graver. Thank you so much.

The Rogue Trader is more a "first amongst equals". He needs the other members of his entourage/command staff, and they all have skills that are required to keep the ship moving. Arguably, some parts of the crew (such as the tech-priests, security forces, etc) are going to have greater loyalty to their own leaders (the Explorator and Arch-Militant in this example) than they do to the captain.

Ordering the people with important skills and who know what they are doing around, and overruling them a lot, is actively a negative impact, as they would be having to do what the Rogue Trader wants them to do rather than what they know they should be doing.

Basically, he needs them to keep the ship running. Acting like a dictator is a sure-fire way to have them either strike, quit, or kill him. Either way, without them, his ship, if he's left with one once they stop doing their jobs, is going no-where.

It depends on the dynamics of the group. I'd be careful about letting the wrong person be the RT. (Our RT just asks that the Crew be sure to get him those TPS reports!!!) The thing to remember is that a RT doesn't fully control his ship. If the tech priests revolt his ship is dead in the water. If the Navigator decides to not guide the ship then at best it's a very long trip home. If the RT tried to execute either of the above it's unlikely he'd ever be able to get replacements. Both are in many respects of higher social standing.

What guidance I gave my PCs:

While it may seem that the Rogue Trader himself is the captain and master of his ship it's not entirely true. In order to crew a vessel a Rogue Trader must make certain compromises...

Explorator- The leader of the tech priest contingent. He/she is charged with not only the care of the machines on board, but their proper use. In return for it's services the cult requires a voice in the ship's council, and a tithe of profits or 1st choice of any technology found.

Navigator- The Navigator houses know fully well they hold the key to interstellar travel. As such they charge dearly for their services. In general 5% of all profits, and a seat on the ship's council. Of course many Navigators often can't be bothered with the mundane day to day running of the ship.

Astropath- The Adeptus Astra Telepathica holds the key to interstellar communication. Crossing them cuts off a Rogue Trader from communication with the rest of the galaxy in and out of port. Given their powers, knowledge, influence it is rare the highest ranking Astropath is not given a seat on the ship's council.

Missionary- Given the influence, power, and wealth of the Ecclesiarchy. It is fair common to see a Missionary on the ship's council as they are often instrumental in providing crew, funding, and cutting thru red tape. Also a scorned Cleric can stir up trouble and even mutiny amount the crew.

Senescal- The ship's Seneschal is always on the ship's council if not always a voting member. It is not uncommon for the Seneschal to be chosen by investors. As a result some Seneschals have a vote and/or veto.

Void Master- A Void-Master is a proven master of his craft and highly sought after. It's rare they are no included in ship's council, and may or may not have a vote. Often this is due to the relationship the Void-Master has with the ship's crew. While the majority of crews are unskilled every ship depends on the officers, and other skilled crew. It's not uncommon for a Void-Master to bring this skilled crew with him, and for them to hold loyalty to him. In some ships a void master represents the crew's interest and may have no vote, but veto power.

Arch-Militant- Every captain fears mutiny, and the Arch-Militant is responsible for the safety and security of the ship. As a result they are always on the ship's council, and may have a vote. It is common for the core of a ship's security to come with a Arch-Militant. Often these mean and women were formerly under the command of the Arch-Militant and are very loyal to him. It's not uncommon for an Arch-Militant who comes with a mercenary company, guard troop, or the like to exercise a veto over their use.


Note it's my intent that all of the PCs have voting rights on the ship's council. This means unless you are an Astropath, or Navigator you need a back story that includes a reason why you have voting right similar to stated above. If you fail to bring a back story you will not have any voting rights on the ship council.

Common Ships Council.
Rogue Trader V2,VV
Navigator V1,VV*1
Explorator V?, VV*2
Astropath V?
Arch-Militant V?
Senescal V?
Void Master V?
Missionary V?

V1- One vote
V2- Two votes
VV- Veto
VV*- Limited veto
V?-One or 0 votes

*1 Navigators generally have veto over any warp travel related votes.
*2 Explorators generally have veto over modifications of the ship.

You need a particularly strong player or a group of strong players to have the RT role filled correctly; otherwise the DM is going to need develop ways of fully demonstrating the power of the RT over the other players.

Namely, all things said and done, the RT is the defacto holder of the warrant of trade and the be-all end all reason (unless DM directed otherwise) why every other player (and the ship and crew) are there. Which is why you need a strong player for the RT: they need to treat it as a group of friends playing an RPG around a table, and not use their position to live out the life of an imaginary tyrant at the expense of the group. Likewise, you need a group of respectful players that try to appreciate that, they are technically employed by the RT.

Myself, I control some elements of this through the RT Dynasty: the player is a holder of the warrant for his dynasty but not the sole warrant holder or leader of his or her dynasty: they are still beholden to a higher authority; which is typically where and how the other players are "hired" to work with RT.

As mentioned, all of the classes also have stakes in the enterprise, one way or another. Some of these stakes could be contrary to the desires of the RT dynasty, but they would never supersede them.

For example, a player navigator has about as much right to control how and when the vessel moves as much as a chartered bus driver controls the destination. Sure, the driver could refuse to drive, or go somewhere else - but chances are he is "sacked" for doing so in the process. It's extremely bad for business if a Navigator House offers Navigators that may, or may not chose to do what they are contracted to do.

More, directly, yes the RT is the "leader" but, should wisely defer to the experts when their numbers come up, that's the reason they are there.

In the RT game I'm building up in preparation for moving to somewhere that I can actually get a gaming group together, I'm definitely going to have the Rogue Trader in the group be a scion of a Rogue Trader dynasty, empowered by the warrant that the character's father or grandfather holds.

In short, the character with the Rogue Trader career is going to be the captain of the ship, but not the Rogue Trader of the dynasty. At least not to start with.

Doing that allows me to give the players a single frigate, hurl them into the Koronus Expanse to make their fortunes, and have them be something other than relative nobodies who just got slapped with a Warrant of Trade.

I do like the Ship's Council idea, so I may end up using that.

In my games the Rouge Trader is the boss. His words are law. That being said he can't easily get replacements for the other players so he needs them as well.

The arch-militant is also hated by the church for being an individual and not too intrested in taking orders so he sticks out from the general hierarchy.

I was concerned about this very issue before I started my campaign and I brought it up to my players. One player wanted to be the Rogue Trader and no-one else had objections. I did explain that non-RT characters all had the potential to make life intolerable or very short for a RT who dicked them around. e.g. Arch-militant could have loyalty of the armsmen, explorator could shut the ship down. But luckily for all involved, the RT player has gone with a fair handed approach. That said, his *enemies* get screwed.

My Rogue Trader got unanimuly elected by the players before anyone even started making characters. It wasn't even her idea. That being said, she's played a relitivly quiet Rogue Trader. He listens to everyone argue it out, then makes his statement and that's the last word. There are definoutly some players & groups that can handle this, and some that can't. I'd never have a PC Rogue Trader for a convention game, for example, but your players should be able to figure it out before hand.

That being said, there are many ways to run the game with less power to the Lord-Captian Rogue Trader, such as having the warrent owned by someone above them all, having investors who reqire a councel, etc.