A friend of mine had this gripe about Rogue Trader after trying the first pre-packaged adventure/PCs. I was wanting to try and answer his questions.

"I guess the biggest thing is, I can't see a character I want to make. What goal would I possibly have in Rogue Trader? I did have fun being the Imperial Priest, but what in the Warp would I have as a long term goal, beside "Spread the Light of the Emperor"? Something that's fun to me, and meaningful within the setting, that I can actually work towards? That's the hardest part of any of the Warhammer games, even Deathwatch, to me. What character do I make?"

Any help/advice would be great. Thanks.

Of all the 40k games, I find Rogue Trader to be the most appealing, and yet the hardest to think of a character for!

One thing I suggested to a player who doesn't know 40k was to think of a movie/novel/drama series character they like, and hit him with the GrimDark stick!

I find the Origin Paths very useful for creating a character. Either follow along and see what grabs you, or see if the GM will let you roll randomly on each line, and see what you come up with. A few tweaks here and there, and viola!

Personally, I was struggling, so thought of a few "archetypes", which then got twisted and warped along the way.

Big Game Hunter: This is now my Explorator (headed for Genator). Dedicated to finding and bringing home Big Game (Beasts, Xenos, whatever). Alive for experiments, selling for menageries, zoos, pit-fights. Dead for experiments, trophies, pelts, useful Medicae stuff etc.

Arch-Militant: Wanted a twist, so went for "A dead foe is a useless foe". Hive-World Terrorist who fights by Fear. If they don't know when/how/ why you'll attack, they can't defend! Death is cheap. Make their life expensive. Organgrinder rounds. Mutagen grenades. False bomb-scares.

I like the ideas in Fates Worse Than Death (cyberpunk RPG) of taking a stereotype/archetype and twisting it to something surprising.

As for long term goals, I think some of the 'standard' ones are fine, but need a personal take on them.

My Explorator is after fame and fortune, nothing new there. But he does it through discovering new species, and bringing samples (from full, alive ones to small patches of skin and bone) home. He keeps parts for the Lab. He took Unnatural Origin (False Man), so is hunting for the secrets of his birth)

I think overall, make it personal. Anyone can be a Rogue Trader, but why are YOU on the crew?
WHY do YOU want fame?
WHY do YOU need a Fortune?
WHY do YOU need to fulfil your Duty?

Hope this helps

Yeah. The way I look at it, all Rogue Trader characters have history . Perhaps your priest wants to inspire a crusade to retake a chaos world, one that was once his mentor's homeworld. Or an arch-militant wants to prove himself back home by bagging a lictor. What I've found really helpful in encouraging my players is this: http://www.darkreign40k.com/drjoomla/index.php/gm-tips/general-tips/472-game-aid-3x3x3 Using that practically writes itself.

Warhammer 40.000 is kinda big and freelance, and Rogue Trader is even better. In this game the character says what he wants to do, not his race or religion for most of this void travelers are less then good imperial citizen. There are only few others RPG's that give so much freedom. Depending on he Career someone chooses and the origin path he may wish for difrent things. To put it simply in RT your character is your ambition and you guide him to riches, damnation, fame and recognision, or infamy. If someone has problems with that he should read little about background of the universe (40k) and the Calixs Sector/Koronus Expanse. This game offers realy a lot of posibilities.

And that 3x3x3 system is nice i was thinking of something similar for my players to do but saddly on 2 could do it(coresponding to their knowledge of 40k).