Hello.

I'm interested in running a RT game with a few friends. I'm kind of new to GMing and I was just wondering, how do you handle the players knowing more about the 40k universe and its setting. My friends have been playing / reading etc with this universe for a long time and have a more in-depth knowledge about the Imperium than I do.

Can you see this being a problem or is it just me reading too much into it? Just don't want to make something that seems unplausable / wrong lorewise that can break the mood of the game because of such a thing.

Thanks for your assistance.

Cheers // pellwav

I haven't had this problem with 40k, but it has cropped up in games I've run in other settings. If you're worried about it, the simplest and smoothest way of dealing with it is to state up front that this is your interpretation of the setting: It might not be totally in synch with current canon, but it's how things work in your campaign.

If there are things you feel some of your players will know better than you, and having fore-knowledge that you're going to use them in campaign isn't going to ruin suspense and tempt players into meta-gaming (or, at least tempt them into ruining other people's fun by meta-gaming), then feel free to speak to them beforehand to get their take on things. By the same token, feel free to completely ignore what they say if it conflicts with what you reckon is right.

And, as an extra resource- use fora and online communities like this one, Dark Reign, RPOL, etc., hell, even /tg/. There's usually some knowledgeable people willing to be friendly and give hints and tips on various points.

If your players can be trusted not to metagame, and you don't care about suprising them with everything you do, ask thier advice on stuff. I've done that before in a few non-40k games and it worked out fine. Other that that, like alasseo said, use the forums. Personally I dislike the just decide how its gonna be and let them deal with it method because your players can lose out on thier imersion that way… it would bother me that we aren't really playing in the universe I had wanted to.

Alasseo said:

Cryhavok said:

Yet that's exactly what the authors of WH40K and the associated RPGs do. The WH40K universe has so many 'official' interpretations these days that its canon is pretty muddy. Keep with the general themes of the setting and the details can vary considerably without too much issue.

For a GM with less knowledge of the setting than their players, Rogue Trader has an advantage over the other games in the WH40KRP line: the standard setting is outside the Imperium, in the lawless, 'anything goes' frontier of the Koronus Expanse. Hence, you don't really need to be able to portray Imperial society perfectly on Day 1, like you do in Dark Heresy , where a key part of the GM's job is selling the distopian nature of hive cities and the unspeakable horror of Chaos cults right out of the gate. If you just stick to exploring the 'wilderness' areas of the Expanse until you have time to get in enough background reading to become comfortable at portraying 'standard' Imperial society, I doubt too many problems will crop up.

HappyDaze said:

There is still the problem that each player may have his or her own interpretation of the 'verse and may expect it to be catered to (especially difficult if you have several different opinions on this between the players of one single group), but in the end you are no worse off than any other GM who may have to gauge the same feelings from their players. Talk it over some before, and some after. Get feedback, and see how you can make things fun for everyone. Find the common ground, so to say. I'm sure your players will appreciate you even just spending some thought on this potentially important detail.

Thanks for your replies and tips! I will definetly read up on the forums and such when needed and I think I will have a little talk with my players as well so they know what to expect.

Cheers // pellwav