Just when I had expanded my Rogue Trader collection and spent several weekends meticulously going through the books....I get an awesome copy of Black Crusade for my birthday (had been looking awhile but settled on RT since none of my local stores stocked BC). Anyway, I have been getting into it all day and am looking forward to starting a campaign. I always worry, for whatever reason, about contradicting established fluff, but BC seems ok with that. I like the idea in character creation about not being concerned with what comes before, as well as the freedom of "it's the Warp so it's ok".

That being said, I was wondering if you could all offer some advice. I have yet to go through every part of the book in detail, but on my first pass through I had trouble figuring out the main method of moving about the Vortex. I read about Psykers, Heretek Teleporters, Daemon Pacts and The Brass Door as means of transportation but what about ships? I know they exist, but are they a rarity inside the Vortex? Can characters "walk" from planet to planet similar to Webway travel/Dante's Inferno? Can they walk through the void as in the Ragged Helix?

And what about vehicles? I'm sure I could adapt the acquisitions rules from RT for rhinos and the like, but do we think these will be covered in later expansions? (Chaos Engines, Dreadnaughts, and Soul Forge Defiliers etc.)

Thanks in advance!

Ships are just as common as anywhere else in the galaxy, it's just that Chaos, with it's greater control over the warp, has more options open to it's followers.

As for vehicles, no idea. I'd just use the RT rules, and then swap over if rules are released for Black Crusade - I doubt they'd be much different even if they were released.

Thanks MILLANDSON,

After I posted, I got to thinking how I'd like to incorporate all the methods I mentioned. Getting used to the none black and white nature of chaos is going to be refreshing, but also take some getting used to.

Really looking forward to starting up, as well as getting involved in this community. Once again, appreciate the advice. I'll post campaign notes once it is underway.

- Chemist

ThdChemist said:

Awesome! I look forward to reading what happens in your game!

MILLANDSON said:

I wouldn't say that Chaos (in general) has any greater control over the Warp. I would say that they're more open to thinking outside the box and tend to have more options available than the Imperium would ever condone, but that doesn't mean that the Warp is any easier on them.

I'd say that, yes, that's exactly what it means - if a quarter of the daemons assailing your vessel during warp travel are told to stand down by the deity you have a pact with, that's a quarter daemons that won't be bothering you.

Cifer said:

Good luck with that. Just because you follow a given Chaos Power doesn't mean that that same power won't harm you - it is Chaos after all. Also, there are daemons that are not devoted to one of the Chaos Powers, so the 'quarter' you mention isn't fully accurate.

Note that Cifer didn't say "deity you follow" but "deity you have a pact with".

Barring that, it makes sense that Chaos would have more and potentially better methods of traversing the Warp, because while they're still aware of the dangers it entails, they're not slavishly attached to the Proper Old Way of space travel. If they experiment, some ways will barely work, some will bite the authors in the ass and get discarded/destroyed along with their creators, but some ways are bound to be good, perhaps even better than the Imperial way.

Also, while well aware of the dangers, they may not grade all of them equally to the Imperium. IoM is stuck with Navigators, Geller Fields and Warp Drives because it's an acceptable compromise between the speed of travel, the number of daemonic incursions onboard and the number of tentacles per voidsman. Some Chaos worshipers might actually have pacts granting them safe passage through some routes, and some might not consider a few extra tentacles all that bad. Meanwhile, everyone wants speed, so guess what directions their research is most likely taking

Well if you take the Anthony Reynolds "Dark Apostle" series interpretation, There the Word Bearers have no Gellar Fields and just allow the Furies to perch around their ship. They embrace and are rejuvenated by warp travel