Okay, so in Into the Storm it details all the various positions aboard a ship that can be held by PCs, and which are held by NPCs otherwise. I've detailed most of these NPCs for the sake of having a more vibrant, interesting crew. The PCs however, are somewhat scattered in their positions, and not all of the highest positions are taken up by PCs. This keeps raising a question in my head: What is it that explains the unique relationship between the Rogue Trader and the other PCs, as opposed to the other senior staff positions? Why is it that these particular individuals keep getting the Lord-Captain PC's attention over others, and why are they continually hand-picked over others to form landing parties?

One option is to look at the characters background paths, looking for points where they "cross over" in choices as a common past history together.

For some classes it can be quite simply that their is really no other choice (the only Astropath or Navi that is that bold/stupid, the designated member of the Ad-Mech to accompany the RT).

For the rest, I guess if their is no other explanation, maybe the RT happens to trust that character that little bit more than other NPC's with similar skill sets.

I think this is a good point to bring up in the game when people are creating their characters, so the PCs can address this themselves. I think going in the vein that the NPC officers are good *ship* officers not necessarily good *field* officers is another useful point.

I suppose you could also simply state that the PCs are people whom the Rogue Trader just "gets along with" in a certain way they don't with others. We work with lots of folks in our real life jobs, but usually we have friends at work who stand out above others.

It's really simple to understand. even if you have officers and crew that might be equal to or better than the PC's, The player characters are more capable of independent thought unless the GM rules that your officers are able to use extended actions independantly of the Lord captain. Also it is critical to the game play for party interaction to take the main lead or there is no real reason for a game to take form. In general the PC's can be more entertaining in action than PC as they tend to act in more unexpected mannerisms than an npc.