So, i just started the LotE Campaign with my usual group, who are, in general, pretty awesome. What I did was reactivate some old characters of the players (we had a few breaks in between with different GMs and Systems) and the players were very happy, when they finally got their beloved characters back (first 40k-characters for most of them)

This, however, left me in a slightly odd position, as the old group had no Rogue Trader. Luckily, a new player joined us, allowing me to push the role of the Rogue Trader to said new player which, in retrospective, wasn't the best idea.

Background for said Rogue Trader was being the member of a not-so-old dynasty (can't remember exact origin path, but it was pretty young, with rising star, exile and halo-artefacts as options) who then gathered the crew of an old rival-friend (the old characters).

In this case i thought it was quite interesting to make Krawkin Feckward the "Unseen Enemy" from the "Child of Dynasty" thingy, with the character's family/he himself having unwittingly crossed him (with both being involved in the cold trade )

The whole campaign started... semi-well, with the Rogue Trader seeing himself to bid his beloved Xeno-Library at the auction (They had the "Hollow Atlas" from that Edge of the Abyss Adventure). Since the Library was a defining characteristic of the character and it was a lot of knowledge and stuff in that library after all, they earned their place. After the auction, the RT tried to hit on Lady Sun Lee Ma'Kao (not that succesfull, as of yet, since he basically said "Hey, let's meet for dinner to share some information." I denied that, since at that point I felt she would simply wait for the prophecy to actually get some information to start with).

After the foretelling, he befriended a bit with Jeremiah Blitz and with them being slightly similar-minded, they agreed on a non-aggression pact, with an option for a later alliance. Everything's well for now, I thought.

Players arrived brilliantly at Quappa-Psi 12, with both the RT and the Void Master being scared as **** from the fact of the Eldar being involved (VM due to Eldar being powerful as ****, RT due to "well, they're actually pretty cool and I don'T want to anger them")

After a short trip through the Jungle (Void-Master can pilot, I hand him that, despite slightly being 'that guy') they arrived at the temple, with the forces of Bastille having locked down the temple more or less with his 30 men, Djanko standing with his guys right in front, arguing a bit, Madame Charlabelle standing a bit aside with her Kroot, same case for Sun Lee (waiting a bit, seeing how situation develops) and Krawkin standing with his scum-legion behind Djanko (possibly to back him up against Bastille?).

Now, RT smacktalks with Bastille, about Authority etc, Bastille calling in an orbital strike somewhere (possibly position of the PC's shuttle, single macro-cannon projectile only, just showing off etc.) When sudddenly, RT says something among the lines:

"Well, some of us here are from a poorish background, but together, we could beat you."

My reaction was for everyone to turn against the PCs. Bastille, who was targeting them anyway, Krawkin, who hates the RT anyway, Madame Charlabelle, well, he basically made fun of her dynasty, Djanko, he's aggressive anyway and I think his Ego and sense of honour would dictate him to be not seen as week or "of poorish background" and Lady Sun Lee, well, she'll likely read the mood of the PCs being vastly overpowered and, in this case, pretty stupid. Result of this is, that some of the PCs (Arch-Militant, Navigator, Seneshal) are looking into changing employer (looking at our beloved Sun Lee), which would, in extension, mean the end of the campaign, but, with me always emphasizing this, a legitimate action. We ended with the psionic shockwave going off and the Warlocks starting their ritual, for everyone to think things through. Oh, I also forgot to mention they also slightly pissed of Abel Gerrit, by cutting comms when he was attacked by the shard

Now, was the reaction too harsh? Was it believable? Is it worth trying to salvage the campaign or should I go for a rollback with new characters?

I consider myself a decent GM with probably 200+ Sessions GM'd, but that truly left me baffled for... pretty much the first time. I mean, it's not like I don't respect the decision of the Player to play his RT as a bit of a "democratic buddy type" of character, but, hell, that slip of tongue was just... duh...

Well, any kind of input is nice currently, cause I might be overlooking something.

Ehhh. Take a poll from your players. Are they having fun? Do they want to continue with their current plot?

Personally I wouldn't have every one of the opposing Rogue Traders begin fighting your group exclusively, rather take it as an opportunity for them to vent at each other. Djanko and BLitz might have started a shouting match with each other about which of them is of poorer background, etc.

You had laid out explanations for why people reacted the way they did, but I think it was a little harsh and not fair to your players - your Rogue Trader in particular. There might be a few details you've missed from your story, but these would be my concerns with how you've laid things out.

You said he was a new player to 40K, I'm not sure if that means he's new to roleplaying, but this sounds like a case of the player saying something that his character may not have actually known, or might have been able to pull off with a jaunty air or a twinkle in his eye. If a Rogue Trader is about to say something that /might turn everyone present against him into an enemy, he should be allowed a Charm Test to say it in a way that doesn't offend everyone, or a way to assess the situation and realise what is or is not a good approach to go with.

I'm always against the idea of a rollback, but as things stand 6/8 Rogue Traders are now against the PCs, 1 is in a tentative alliance, and 1 is probably going to hate them. You could sit down and outline with your players how this went wrong, but it sounds like you've created a situation where both the NPCs and your other players have all come to view one of your players as a hindrance/liability, and that's not a good scenario to put one of your player's in. As you said, it was a slip of the tongue, but it's not necessarily a slip of the tongue that in-character the Rogue Trader may have made, or necessarily would have been interpreted by everyone as the worst possible result.

Edit: Errant is right that the most important thing right now is to sit down with your players and ask them if they're having fun with the current plot. They are in a massive disadvantage, but if they want to try and turn this situation around then play the campaign that way.

Thanks for the input so far

Yeah, figured I was a bit harsh. (Been GMing a few sessions of DH and OW in between, which are both far more unforgiving^^)

What I'm going with now, I think, is

- Abel Gerrit being slightly pissed off but not hell-bent on killing the Explorers (reconciling with him will be a bit more difficult though)

- Bastille also being disgusted by the RT, who also rejected an offer of him duking it out in a duel right there and then, not unredeemable though

- Madam Charlabelle... well, they totally hit her weak point, I believe there's no room for discussion left

- Krawkin... well, it would've taken them a lot to bury that old rivalry between the RT-Dynasty anyway, so he's probably a sworn enemy now

- Lady Sun Lee... probably disgusted as well, but as we all know, she and Bastille are going to get really unfriendly with each other, leaving the PCs with a few possibilities to use that as a new point of attack

- Hardarak Fel... well, the "old" characters had a run-in with him on the righteous path and won, thus having his grudging respect, but he won't underestimate them, leaving at least a possibility to gain a new friend

- Djanko Scourge, while being quite pissed of I would imagine as one at least respecting the balls of that guy

- Jeremiah Blitz.... He'd see how the situation resolves (currently not on-scene) to either go or not go for the alliance

Resolution of the immediate situation would be the other present RTs pushing the PCs to solve the situation with the warlocks themselves, only interfering if **** really hits the fan and if they manage to resolve the warlock-problem, well, no point in pursuing this matter any more, he did loose some respect, but was a useful tool after all, right?

Oh, and the "new player" was only considered "new" in the sense of "having no character in that old campaign we're continuing", he did play with us about...a year, I guess, participating in a RT-campaign with a different GM and several Only War missions.

I don't think the problem is with all of the Rogue Traders turning against your players. Rogue Traders are inherently greedy, and any alliance of more than one is inevitably going to fracture and fall victim to in-fighting. You can also justify that they're going after the players because they were just looking for an excuse, but then have them all fall into infighting as no one trusts the other. I like the idea that the other RTs make your PCs handle everything to as punishment for their transgression, and it could very easily resolve this problem plus mean your players are now united against these jerks who are making them do all the work.

My only flag for how you handled the situation was the triggering event was one off-hand remark by one of your players, which had absolutely disastrous, long-term consequences for the entire group. I have had that kind of thing lead to resentment between players, so I would try to play up the angle that this was something they were looking to do anyway, and the excuse could have been from any of your PCs.