Hello all,

I would like to pose a quick question. How do we handle gruops that do not include a PC navigator? Do we just use the crew rating? I was thinking of creating a pseudo PC and running a navigator as a sort of DM character (that only ever interacts when the ship travels throught the warp). I think that would ad a bit of flavor, and maintain the idea that warp travel is difficult.

What do you all think?

I did just that, especially since I am running into the Lure and the player who originally played the Navigator opted to try a seneshal instead. A Navigator with just the crew rating is not good enough to succesfully navigate so I let the players make an Aquisition role for a good Nav.

Of ciurse the man comes with it's own story attached but that is part of the fun.

Thanks for the reply!

Thats perfect! Pretty much what I was thinking exactly.

I tend to agree, if there is no navigator one should be rolled up, however if it no player is running the Navigator they probably shouldn't have Fate Points.

Another option is to have "secondary" characters, which is what I'm doing with my group. This works well in smaller groups. Each player has a secondary character that gains xp at half the rate of their main character. The secondary character has to be significantly different in abilities, personality, and motivations. This is also helpful for getting everyone involved when their characters motivations might not line up with the situation.

That is a fancy way of saying it gets players who roll up "jaded lone gunmen" and "jaded mystics" to get involved, since their main characters are always WAY TO COOL to be impressed by anything.

This is exactly the situation i have in my game. We started off with 2 NPC navigators. I, as GM, statted them up as the same XP as the PCs. Since the Parol Dynast fleet has grown quite a bit since then, additional navigators have been taken on.

I'd strongly recommend against using the crew rating. A navigator is an exceptionally rare, extremely well trained individual.

My group in Lure of the Expanse has a NPC navigator, and they hate his guts. Even at crew rating +10 the incompetent clod has steered them into trouble repeatedly. The ship has run into warp storms, had its hull torn on "shoals and reefs", arrived way late, arrived in the wrong star system, emerged from realspace into the middle of a dense asteroid belt... As the GM, I am amused by all this. The players, however, are not.

Cheers,

- V.

I personally made the Navigator and a Seanchal on the ship as NPCs. They're there to be more than just faceless mooks. the Seanchal especially since nobody opted in for many knowledge skills, and he can at times offer a wise word of advice.

I actually wanted to stat the Navigator entirely and let the players roll her tests, so they can see if something bad happens. But we never got around to that.

Nothing stopping the players from using their profit factor to get themselves a better navigator.

Just in my opinion, there are two classes in a rogue traders retinue which make a big difference and SHOULD be played as a PC.

#1 is the Seneschal, because if you dont have one you'll never get anything- either information or equipment and secondly, you'll be bereft of a number of very important lores and social nuances that would otherwise get you into big trouble.

#2 is the Navigator, because if you hadn't noticed, navigating the warp is really hard normally and there are times that it gets extraordinarily difficult... and you literally want to put the family jewels, yourself and tens of thousands of people in the hands of a learner driver that might get it right 40% of the time. But he also screws it up 60% of the time? No thanks! The warp is the worst place to make a mistake and you're going there without fate point re-rolls? lol no thanks...

You can get by without others, even having the Rogue trader themselves as an NPC, but those two classes will at least even the odds in your favour that you end up where you need to be instead of running around like dupes and stacking the ship into something. Because otherwise if your group consists of a couple of Arch-Militants a Rogue trader and a maybe a Voidmaster because they all like to be "Fighty!" then you're kind of missing the point, you can always hire lots of fighty people

Vandegraffe said:

Did they think about buying ship components or personal gear to help the navigator ?

For example, buy the navigator a map (Navis Prima)

Bilateralrope said:

Their ship has a Warpsbane Hull, so they get a free reroll on the warp encounter table every time. Even with that, the players have still gotten screwed repeatedly. When the choice is between "shoals and reefs" or "reality erosion", well... sucks to be you. There's also a little rule that says a navigator who fails his test and rolls a 9 on either die gets lost (p.185, RT rulebook). That's been relevant, too. I'm starting to think the Warp's a very dangerous place, especially if you don't have Fate Points to spend.

Cheers,

- V.