Hey Guys,

Im planning a rogue trader game in a few weeks and I'm getting the feeling that none of my players will want to play as the rogue trader. One is a kroot, the other is going to be a Ork(cockney accent and all). The other three, looking at thier personalities, might not be inclined to playing a rogue trader. From reading the book, it feels like I, as a GM, might have to take the role. Now, I could play him as a rogue trader who never leaves his ship for whatever reason, but it seems to go against the spirit of the game. I also cant imagine myself ordering my PC's around during a whole campaign, since it would feel like I was taking away thier freedom of choice, which they definetely have during thier Dark heresy games. Giving them the ability to choose makes the best roleplaying and honestly makes my podcast sound a hell of allot better. Any advice from you guys would be great.

- Arvandus

The game is at its best with a PC as the RT. It can be played with an NPC in the role, but it loses some of what makes it different from the other WH40K games. In those, the PCs will rarely have true autonomy - instead required to do the bidding of their Inquisitor or Watch Captain, and doing the same with RT is really missing out on a lot. I would do everything in my power to suggestively sell the RT character type to the players.

A Rogue Trader is not necessary at all. They can simply be executors of the Rogue Trader's will in the Expanse. Some Rogue Traders have dozens of ships at their command. Grant one of the players the Lord-Captain title (NOT one of the xenos, obviously), have your NPC RT give them orders every now and then via astropath but allow them freedom to do as they will so long as they keep the money coming and don't stir up more trouble than they can handle too often.

In our campaign the Rogue Trader is dead (died during the first session, killed by our mutual enemy), and his only heir was too young to take on the warrant. So we (the players) formed a Council that holds the warrant until the heir is of age. (10-15 years real time - with warp travel; who know how long)

It's an interesting dynamic, we vote on the big decisions since no one has absolute power over anyone else. We're growing the dynasty's wealths but still covering our own asses with personal wealth in case the future heir doesn't like the way we do things. The previous RT, his father, gathered a bunch of "interesting people" to run his ship. (Heretek Savant Explorator, Malefic Stalker Arch-Militant, a hulking mutant as the Missionary - and a Void-Master with a taste for Ork flesh) - we have cleaned up our act somewhat, but still...

If someone wants to be the Rogue Trader (warrant holder) while having a character that isn't of the Rogue Trader (class), I don't see any reason why you should stop them. Especially if you have a servitor crew.

While it is true that you don't NEED a rogue trader, you will likely have a better game with one.

Rogue Trader is a bit different than most RPGs in that you play a crew, not just a party. You aren't just a bunch of individuals who have been thrown together by the whims of fate, you are a crew, chosen for your skill and ambition, and working together volentarily as a crew towards the common goal of building a dynasty.

As such your players really should create their characters, ship, and dynasty as a group. They need to come up with a crew dynamic and a theme.

While no one NEEDS to be the warrant holder, unless you really have an amazing idea someone really should be, or you are going to miss out on a huge part of the fun of Rogue Trader, the power trip. No dynasty building, no bossing around imperial officials and staring down inquisitors, no political power plays. You lose a huge part of the majesty.

Sure you can just the the agents of a Rogue Trader, but then it isn't YOUR ship and YOUR dynasty, which is a big part of the fun. You might as well play a high level Dark Heresy game, because you are missing out on what makes Rogue Trader great.

Now as has been said, the warrant holder doesn't NEED to be a Rogue Trader, but the game will run better if he is. Any other class is going to have a difficlt tie properly filling out the role.

The thing is, the class doesn't need to define the character, just the mechanics. A Rogue Trader can be a missionary, a tech-priest, an Adeptus Sororitas, or a vagabond, and still have the Rogue Trader class. Just allow heavy use of "elite advances" (what the book calls letting players take skills that aren't in their advancement trees).

In conclusion, unless you have a really great idea for an alternate style campaign, you really should encourage you're players to a captain from amongst themselves. If they are unable to do that than they probably haven't quite gotten the vision of the game and are planning on just running D&D in space. They need to be encouraged to work as a crew, and being able to bite the bullet and do what needs to be done is part of that.

Thanks for the Advice guys, keep it coming. I didnt even consider giving one of the other classes a warrant of trade.