I designed these hooks to tie in with the ‘past histories’ table of ship generation. You should be able to expand them into full-blown Endeavours, or merely add them into your current storyline as a sub-plot or complication.
Reliquary of Mars
Recent damage has injured the archaeotech systems beyond the capacity of the ship’s enginseers to repair. Some vital component has been ruined and the function of the ship’s system will degrade over time until the ancient tech is completely non-functional. The Rogue trader has few options – locate a similar system and hope the necessary parts can be salvaged or adapted for use, or seek out a particularly sagacious Magos with sufficient knowledge of lost tech to create an acceptable replacement. Either choice is likely to be a long and difficult process.
Haunted
The Rogue Trader is in a situation eerily similar to the tragedy that marked the ship long ago, and the psychic sympathy between the two events is so great that passengers and crew find themselves taking on roles from the ancient passion-play. Individuals are drawn to act as hero and villain alike, and risk losing themselves as memories blur and personalities distort. The PCs must hold the ship together as the plot unfolds, or perhaps, insert themselves into the story to bring about a happy ending and a measure of closure for the restless dead.
Emissary of the Imperator
Whether by coincidence or invitation, the Rogue Trader and his crew join in a grand fete being thrown on a nearby shrine world. The normally sedate atmosphere is bursting with noise and color and some of the planet’s greatest luminaries are present, each taking the time to be seen and speak with the Rogue Trader. During the height of the festivities it is announced that the location of a lost holy relic has been discerned, and that the PCs, as loyal servants of the Emperor, have humbly requested the honor of returning the relic to the folds of the Imperium. Even Captains and crews of a more devout bent are likely to be offended by this imposition, but to refuse (worse, publicly) would be a tremendous insult to the ecclesiarchy as a whole.
Unfortunately for the Rogue Trader, there is currently an opening for a prestigious position in the ecclesiarchy and those present see the relic’s recovery as a sure way to be noticed for promotion. The priests that came aboard bring their personal squabbles and power-games, and a small army of scribes, servants and laymen that have never been aboard a voidship before. As tensions mount and grow into assaults and then murder in the night, the crew is trapped in a conflict between factions of the faithful.
Wolf in sheep’s clothing
One of the ship’s components is so well hidden, even the Rogue Trader is not aware of it. However, crewmembers under the ship’s previous owner or those who managed to wring the secret from them have snuck aboard hoping to loot something from the hidden vault. Do they attempt to make off with their prize the next time the ship goes into port, or do they release something that threatens the lives of everyone aboard?
Turbulent past
Thanks to the glacial pace of the Imperial justice system, charges are finally being brought against the perpetrator of the horrible deeds which the ship is so infamous for. Unfortunately for the Rogue Trader, whoever was involved in the beginnings of the legal process only named ‘the captain’ of this particular ship as the culprit. Never mind that the man who committed the original sin is dead and dust, the Adeptus Arbites will see the ship’s Captain brought to trial, with the assistance of the Imperial Navy if need be.
Death Cult
An important passenger has somehow drawn the ire of the cult hidden within the ship’s lower decks. Watched carefully from the very moment they board, assassination attempts begin in the form of arranged accidents or discreet murder and escalate to armed assaults and suicidal methods should all else be foiled. The Rogue Trader has the choice to sacrifice his guest to maintain order onboard or find some way to convince the bloodthirsty cult to cease their attacks.
Wrested from a space hulk
Floating through the immaterium for thousands of years does strange things to a vessel, the least of which is make is more conductive to psychic energies. A fledgling sorcerer, follower of the dark gods, warp-dabbling here-tek or similar has taken an interest in the Rogue Trader’s ship as a result, and is determined to take it for his own. While forces from bastions sworn to dark powers may simply ambush the Rogue Trader while he travels, more subtle men will work to perform some dark ritual in the depths of the ship itself, consecrating his act in a way sure to curry favor with the Ruinous powers.
Temperamental warp engine
During a particularly difficult passage in the warp, the ship’s pained warp drive grows closer to an overload, threatening the souls of all aboard. As the adepts work frantically to appease the machine-spirit, space and time grow distorted and open ‘windows’ to past, to the event that was the root cause of the engine’s current predicament. At first only birthing strange apparitions that do little more then frighten the crew, the images of the past grow in clarity and solidity as the ship is fragmented into areas of what was and what is. However, along with the threat of whatever originally marked or damaged the ship affecting the ship in the present, there is a possibility to gaze back in time and observe the precise nature of the machine’s affliction to give the enginseers the knowledge they need to avert disaster.
Finances in arrears
The PC’s financier offers to reduce their debt if they manage to complete a variety of strange tasks. These small endeavours range from dangerous to whimsical, and the trinkets and treasures they collect are sent along trusted channels only to be received by a very confused man who wonders why you sent him such an assortment of possibly heretical junk. The PCs will soon learn that the financier’s child (or underling, as appropriate) wanted nothing more then to impress a lovely lady by regaling her with tales of daring adventure, only for the proof he promised to be intercepted by the maiden’s father.
Xenophilous
In installing little-understood xenotech, a way has been opened to the ship’s core cogitator through the jury-rigged control interface. This allows the xenos that originally created the technology to tamper with ship systems at a critical moment, shutting down the xenotech at least or crippling vital functions at most. If a particular Rogue Trader is known to have an unhealthy appreciation for xenotech, a daring species may leave something for him to find as a sort of Trojan horse.