Hey folks.

I'm about to start a new Rogue Trader scenario in the future and i'm hoping to keep it running for atleast half an year ( playing twice in a month, atleast ).

What i'm thinking about, is to write down a long list of things the Rogue Trader "owns".

The twist here is, that the rogue trader doesn't start with a ship, but has to buy one. He got a list of things, like planets he owns, favours between him and his contacts ect.

I'm looking for ideas from you, what his profit factor could be. I'll come up with some ideas to make you understand.

An Agri world, producing meat and other eatable stuff. The planet is worth of 4 profit factor and gives 1 extra profit factor per 2. year.

A deal with a Forge World Magos, making a repair "free". Worth of 5 profit factor - The unused amount of Profit factor can't be kept after use.

Underworld Gangster Lord on a hive world makes unique and Near Unique a step easier to get. Useable d5 times (rolled before use by the Gm, secretly) Worth of 2 Profit factor.

I guess you got it now.. Come up with different ideas, twists and stuff.

Thanks ^^

I forgot to tell you, that the Rogue Trader is supposed to choose between 3 different ships, ranging from 50-65 hull integrity..

He starts with 90 Profit factor, and paying the cost by removing things from his list of profit factor chart.

Keep in mind that investing in a starship shouldn't normally reduce a character's Profit Factor. (Letting the player make choices on a "meta" level sounds good though.)

I'm not sure if it makes sense to have properties that give both PF and special bonuses/advantages. Also, I'd avoid properties that pay dividends. That's built into the PF IMO.

Iku Rex said:

I get your point. Considered that following the normal system, the Rogue trader starts with something randomly (or pre-chosen by the GM) i will give the players a chance to pick something, that they might look for, but still have some kind of disadvantage (like i poor air-system)

Well, I read the rules for PF as both "cash" and "influence". So the RT might have a great deal for someone else or can pull some contacts for another Rogue trader in need.

This is a cool idea.

How about the RT owns an exclusive and fabulous resort on a garden world. It's only 2 PF but the Trader can meet all sorts of very important guests there. Such as vacationing planetary governors.

Grimze said:

Erm… what? I've never run a game where the players haven't built the ship they want to have after they've made their own characters. Why did you get the impression they normally wouldn't get a say, and that the GM would do it without their imput?

Good point grimze. Rules are set so players decide on the ship. I think what the OP is doing is allowing the pcs to choose what influence and Proffit factor they trade for ship points. They get a list of their total potential assets and trade some for a ship. So it's like rolling but with more background and control. Say the chart we roll on in RT core gives you a total of ninety points between PF and ship points. The op is giving the pcs the ninety points and they can spread them between the two as they like. But they are giving up background and bonuses too.

I dig it.

It sounds as if the OP doesn't have a full understanding of how Profit factor and Ship points are generated at start.
As per the core book it is a random roll, ending with either PF or SP being high and the other being low.

With the expansion Into The Storm there is an expanded Origin path for player characters (giving them more options which is always nice) plus a Warrant origin path - this explains the reasons behind the dynasty being given a warrant, plus their reason for being famous(or infamous!) and their closest allies. For the most part these are all background effects, though it is possible to get an archaeotech or xenos tech component from the choices. At the end of choosing you total up the SP and PF listed for each option, using this system instead of the random rolls in the core book.

The latter system gives more control to the players (do they want a bigger, better equipped ship or to be richer and capable of buying more things) while the former is still random. Either way however it is the players that then use their SP to build a starship (paying for the hull, then the mandatory systems then any optional systems they have space/power/SP for. Any excess SP are converted into PF at the end of this process (unless a specific choice in the expanded origin chart is used in which case you get more SP but cannot convert any excess).

I suppose if the OP really wants the players to have decide what to "sell off" he could take away 10 PF from the players and put it into investments, asking them which to sell

I were just trying to think in another way. I do know the system quite well.

I like the idea of writing down precisely what the RT has that generates PF. That said, it's worth noting that PF is usually gained from a stream of revenue, so it should be very rare to having something that adds +1 PF every few months. Like, ordinarily, you might get, say, 5 PF from owning a large factory that produced lasguns. The constant stream of thrones from the lasgun sales is the 5 PF, which is why when the Rogue Trader acquires a best-quality bolter pistol, he's not actually poorer- he may have spent all of this week's profits on it, but the factory is already selling goods to make up the loss. A factory that produced +1 PF every few weeks would imply that it was constantly becoming more valuable.

Also, PF just for existing feels like a mistake. Ideally, you should motivate your players to be desperate for money, and paying them to sit around runs counterintuitive.

susanbrindle said:

I have already considered the risk of "sitting duck". As your example with the las guns. They have to make contacts and stuff to secure that the factories still produces the amount of guns needed around the sector. The factory might go from 5 to 4 after 10 years (ex.) if they don't refresh their deals or makes a quality-warranty for their products. Not to mention that the PF they gain through yearly sale may first be seen after a few years.