Questions of New GM

By Felius2, in Rogue Trader Gamemasters

Well, I've been reading the rogue trader books, and have more than a few questions to ask.

Are there rules for improving the quality of the crew? If yes, how to do it?

Are there rules for more Xenos antagonists? Edge of the Abyss have a few more, but it only gives specific opponents for the main xenos races.

How do vehicle stats translates into space combat?

What would be good stats for an average Imperial Guard soldier? What would be a good rarity modifier (for an average world, with the possibility of being modified depending of where you are) for requisitioning an Imperial Guard regiment? What stat modifiers are good for change in quality in the requisitioning?

Similar question about the storm troopers. Edge of the Abyss have rules for requisitioning a small group of them. What would be the good stats for an average storm trooper? And what modifiers would be adequate for change in quality?

Felius said:

Well, I've been reading the rogue trader books, and have more than a few questions to ask.

Are there rules for improving the quality of the crew? If yes, how to do it?

Are there rules for more Xenos antagonists? Edge of the Abyss have a few more, but it only gives specific opponents for the main xenos races.

How do vehicle stats translates into space combat?

What would be good stats for an average Imperial Guard soldier? What would be a good rarity modifier (for an average world, with the possibility of being modified depending of where you are) for requisitioning an Imperial Guard regiment? What stat modifiers are good for change in quality in the requisitioning?

Similar question about the storm troopers. Edge of the Abyss have rules for requisitioning a small group of them. What would be the good stats for an average storm trooper? And what modifiers would be adequate for change in quality?

1) Not yet, I'd expect them to be in Battlefleet Koronus if they're going to be anywhere.

2) Nope, but since the RT rulebook, Into the Storm and Edge of the Abyss cover several races, it's not too had to make your own NPCs/antagonists by extrapolating from them.

3) They don't, they're two different things. I'd expect this to be in BfK also.

4+5) Both of those can be found in Dark Heresy, I believe, and no idea on modifiers for quality (though those rules have been said to be in Battlefleet Koronus).

How about an eldar pc player career?

thor2006 said:

How about an eldar pc player career?

It's not been announced anywhere, so no idea. At present we only have Orks and Kroot.

1.Not in any of the currently-released books, but Battlefleet Koronus SHOULD have rules for it.

2.Depends what you're after. Dark Heresy: Creatures Anathema has a few Death-World creatures and statblocks for several of the more important races (Eldar, Orks, Tyranids) though obviously no space-ships for them.

3.Er. They don't, really. The general presumption is that a small craft will be unable to mark the hide of a true space ship, while the latter will swat the former out of the sky with nary a glance.

4.Average Imp. Guard: Masses of Humanity, Hired Gun subprofile, outfitted with flak armour and a lasgun.

Storm-trooper: Much the same, 5-10 points to relevant physical stats and better kit.

As to the Acquisition, Rogue Traders have the full right to claim Imperial Guard for their own use provided they're able to provide for them, so it wouldn't be too hard. -10 or so, assuming you just want the troops and not all their fancy guns and toys.

Weeeell. Technically there aren't rules for upgrading your crew, but if you were to buy a best quality Crew Improvement upgrade ( Into the Storm , p 163), it would give you a permanent boost of +3 to the crew's Morale, and a +5 to Crew Rating.

In theory, you could also go to a port where there were a large number of skilled voidsmen, pay off and discharge your entire crew and hire a completely new one (using the Acquisition rules as normal, or to slightly modify the usual rules for replenishing Crew Population (RT core book, p 226).

I'll also note that the Dark Heresy supplement, Creatures Anathema , has a number of xenos critters, vermin and antagonists. And almost seems better scaled to Rogue Trader than Dark Heresy, while the Bestiary at the back of DeathWatch is full of nasties, and includes a number of both Tau and Tyranid to take care of (be aware that any game taking place in the Calixis Sector, before the discovery of the warp gate in the Josian Reach in 755.m41, should not include Tau, as they have not sufficiently fast interstellar travel, or the urge for random exploration that would allow them to reach across the galaxy in that time), as well as a number of profiles for Imperial Guard (general staff, field officers, and grunts).

Felius said:

Well, I've been reading the rogue trader books, and have more than a few questions to ask.

Are there rules for improving the quality of the crew? If yes, how to do it?

Are there rules for more Xenos antagonists? Edge of the Abyss have a few more, but it only gives specific opponents for the main xenos races.

How do vehicle stats translates into space combat?

What would be good stats for an average Imperial Guard soldier? What would be a good rarity modifier (for an average world, with the possibility of being modified depending of where you are) for requisitioning an Imperial Guard regiment? What stat modifiers are good for change in quality in the requisitioning?

Similar question about the storm troopers. Edge of the Abyss have rules for requisitioning a small group of them. What would be the good stats for an average storm trooper? And what modifiers would be adequate for change in quality?

1. Yes. Improving your crew is an acquisition for your ship, just like any other. Each time you improve crew it costs +5 or +10 SP initially, but don't have the acquisition rules for it in front of me. It's in the core book, though.

2. Aside from Edge of the Abyss, the adventures will have stats for more specific xenos.

3. Good question, but will probably not be resolved until the fighter rules in Battlefleet Koronus come out.

4. Hired Gun NPC from the book, with heavier stats. Alternately the Mercenaries from Edge of the Abyss adventure, with slightly reduced stats. Or alternately check the Imperial Guard codex and multiply their characteristics by x10.

5. Allegedly I've been told that Tabletop stats from the codexes can be translated to RT by multiplying the initial stat by 10. Combine that with the Imperial Guard's gear list and you got your Stormtrooper stats. Otherwise I would take the stats for a hired gun in the original book and tweak them myself.

Ah, also: Into the Storm has rules for crew upgrades on P. 163, with the scarcity rating on P.164. Best Craftsmanship crew upgrades give a +5 to the ship's crew rating. Good, Poor, and Regular upgrades only give a ship a bonus to morale. In my opinion, this upgrade can be taken as many times as necessary. Though for a matter of balance I would make the acquisition for rating advances above 50 to be much more scarce. Also the modifier is going to be at -30 in spite of the average scarcity due to the fact that it's for your entire crew, so either way it's not an easy acquisition.

Hi everyone! I am an experienced DM of some 15 years and I´m starting up my first Rouge Trader campaign tomorrow, I have one question I was hoping you guys and gals could help me with.

Each Career has a set of starting skills and talents, but man of these talents are listed again in the Rank 1 advances, why is that? are the starting skills/talents just suggestions?

Thank you for your time.

DUPLICATED SKILLS AND TALENTS

It is important to note that many Career Paths starting Skills and Talents are duplicated at Rank 1 of the Career’s Advances. This is an intentional duplication, and represents the training that is available to all Careers regardless of their origins. Future expansions for the Rogue Trader line may feature Alternate Career ranks or backgrounds with different starting skills, and therefore, this duplication serves a purpose for the overall Rogue Trader line. If a character already possesses such a Skill or Talent from Character Generation, they may not purchase it again at Rank 1.
From the errata.

Lordgreyseer said:

Hi everyone! I am an experienced DM of some 15 years and I´m starting up my first Rouge Trader campaign tomorrow, I have one question I was hoping you guys and gals could help me with.

Each Career has a set of starting skills and talents, but man of these talents are listed again in the Rank 1 advances, why is that? are the starting skills/talents just suggestions?

Thank you for your time.

I wish they'd make a sticky about this... bostezo.gif

The starting skills/talents aren't suggestions, they're set for that career (unless you use one of the alternate ranks covered in the supplements that changes them), and they're covered in the Rank 1 advances just to show you how much they would cost if (due to the aforementioned alternate rank) you didn't start with them, so you could buy them instead.