i'm looking at starting a Rogue trader game once into the storm is released. i was wondering what would happen if the group consisted of RT, DH, the new xeno races and an inquisitor were stuffed into the same ship? please be honest, it sounds fun but with dark clouds on the horizon.

Void_onion213 said:

Sounds like my game. You'll have a good time!

True, the inquisitor enters the dining hall to find an ork freebooter bigmech chatting with a mechanicus adapt, a kroot merc at the buffet and the rest of the party not really minding the whole thing, What does the inquisitor do?

Depends entirely how radical the Inquisitor is. There are several who have an 'end justifies the means' outlook. Look at Cesvak or Kryptman as examples, some of the people who have the best relations with major alian groups are Xenos Inquisitors.

Really, the hardest part is answering why the inquisitor is there.

I can't really say for the inquisitor. The inquisitor will be a pc, the guy can be a by the book inquisitor at times. that is what is going to make the game interesting

With the "right" kind of radical inquisitor, this party could work.

With a puritan or the less xeno-tolerant radicals, this party will be lucky to last a session.

Sounds like it has the opportunity for some great role-playing.

The REAL danger here is in it being downplayed. Worst case scenario: Inquisitor has no problems with the xeno and power issues with the RT, the ork is a gentleman and follows orders, and the RT has no problem with the inquisition looking over his shoulder. That would be a tragedy. While true infighting and bickering is NO fun, well roleplayed friction and power plays are a blast, as long as the players are mature enough to handle it.

a gentlemen ork? a RT and inquisitor geeting along? and no one minds the strange habits of the kroot merc? that would be simply either terrible roleplaying. or limited 40k experiance.

It is not unknown for Inquisitors to work with Rogue Traders (Amberely the Inquisitor in the Ciaphus Cain novels travels undercover with an RT).

What i do find unlekely is that they would put up with a greenskin. A kroot would be possible though.

The Inquisitor could be searching for Xenos threats coming from the expanse - perhaps rumours of Freebooter Horde/Tyrinid Hive/Necron Threat or one of many potentials.

If you really want to stick an orc in there, I would suggest some kind of slave gladiator style orc that is kept imprisoned until needed, and then let loose. However I would expect the Orc to take potshots at the players should the fighting not be good enough for him, plus he is likely to resist re-capture.

as far as the ork goes, infact the xenos in general. those were intended to be pcs when the new rogue trader book is relesed. if the group did have the idea to ****** an ork from say Grace i wouldn't really try to stop them, just make it very difficult to do so. but yes the ork and kroot were mean in the perspective to be player characters

PC or NPC the issue remains the same. Can you, as a GM, provide the characters with non-metagame modivation to work togeather to an end? If you want, you can put the burden on the players, reqiure them to tell you why they're working with the Rogue Trader before allowing them the character.

the promise of thrones is often good enough, orks will often hire them selves out if there is loot and fighting to be had, kroot are always looking for unique genetic material, inquisitors often need a lift and don't want to reveal their identities,. the whole ideal is to have a game set up that dosn't limit player options in a game for the sake of stability, even compatable character types can be prone to in fighting. the thing that must be kept in mind is that it is up to the players, and players don't like to be put on a rope. the gm may intervine when required but should not be required. also the rogue trader will be a pc as will the inquisitor the issue will hang between the two, but it really depends on people. do you have a cooperative group that can role play with out fighting or do you have a munchkin group.

I think you may have missed your groups. What you are describing sounds to me like a Munchken group, they will always work togeather even if it makes no sense for their characters backgrounds or personalities because they know they are the PCs and everyone else isn't. Or you get people who want a particular character for the stats, rather then the personality. Such as I'm going to play an Ork, but he acts nothing like an Ork.

On the other hand, a group of self-centric role players will create the character they want, bring it to the game, and play it as they see it no matter what it does to the group. He may deside he's going to play a Guardsman from Armeggedon dispite knowing that Player B is going to bring an Ork, figuring he'll just kill the other player when they start.

It's not just a GM issue, but having characters that have at least some ability to get along with eachother is almost nessisary to have a game that doesn't fall eather to infighting or "muchken" RPing of ignoring parts of the characters personalities.

My question is "Why would an Inquisitor automatically have a problem with an Ork or Kroot?" Not every Inquisitor works for the Ordos Xenos. If I was running an Ordos Malleus Inquisitor I'd probably have more problems with the Navigator leaving the confines of the ship warding and having his third eye act as a beacon to every warp creature in a hundred light year radius than I would a Xenos running around the ship.

so the party might have a few xenos as well as characters from a few other books, by no means does that promote ingroup fighting. i simple don't run ideas that inhibit players to exclusivly using character types simply because they make sense. The very aspect of the 40k universe is the odd things do happen. If a Rogue Trader happens to hire an ork merc for no real reason than the prestige then so be it. Grots and squigs my come out of the ducts once in a while. and no iwas not describing a munchkin group. not sure if anyone would have a problem with a kroot merc. in terms of rogue traders the end resure often justifies the means. if you don't like xenos in the group no problem. it isn't like i'm allowing the players to be under cover chaos worshippers, that would be nutz if not funny. the idea of the game is to have fun, so if say a guardsman has a kroot merc for a drinking buddy so be it.

" just because they are xeno, they still have very human desires" " the inquisiton is watching"

My advice is to get a hold of Farscape dvds. It is gold mine of ideas for a crew that actively distrusts each and ocassionally works at cross purposes....

I've seen a few episodes of farscape good show, The Lex is also good. my game plan is mostly going to be based around a few major plot lines with either character based side quests based on origine path( concept from Mass Effect) imperial, criminal and freelance agents who offer jobs for profit and just freelance exploring and exploiting ( hunting pirates, bounty hunting, setup mining colony, smoke random group of chaos worshippers ETC.) and plenty of down time for player interaction with members of the ships crew and each other. and maybe a gellar field malfunction or dark whispers and dreams. instead of seeing a spieces mixed crew as a melting pot, view it more as a blender of ideas, personal quirks, goalsand fetishes forced to coexisted under one hull to live their dreams of loot, profit and reknown.

" a unique circle of inquisitorial servents, rogue traders and xenos gather to face the challenges of every day life" "how many eill it take to change a light bulb"