Rogue Trader (RPG)

Front cover of the core sourcebook for Rogue Trader.

Not to be confused with the original Warhammer 40,000 sourcebook of the same name, or with Rouge Traders, who presumably deal primarily in makeup supplies.

Rogue Trader is a tabletop RPG based in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 setting. It is published by Fantasy Flight Games and is part of their 40k-based RPG line, making it mechanically very similar to and broadly compatible with Dark Heresy, Deathwatch, and Black Crusade (and all their associated splatbooks).

The basic premise of the game has the players take on the roles of a Rogue Trader and his retinue of trusted officers (altogether referred to as "Explorers" by the system) as the command staff of a starship. With wealth, privilege and power undreamt of by the average Imperial citizen, Rogue Traders are free to explore the galaxy at the edges and, indeed, beyond the boundaries of established Imperial space. Far from the prying eyes of the Inquisition or other Imperial authorities, any method of furthering their interests and making profit is on the cards; strip-mining, enslaving, or depopulating entire worlds are within the realms of possibility, and many crews are not above consorting with xenos or even turning to heretical means to achieve their own ends. The players are free to roleplay the crew of a noble exploration vessel, a band of piratical looters, or anything in between - more than any other in the 40K RPG line, Rogue Trader offers players the most freedom and choice as to what they wish to achieve and how they go about doing it. Generally speaking, Rogue Traders answer to no-one but themselves and their Warrant of Trade lets them go where they please with relative impunity (although it still behooves them to try and stay in the Imperium's good graces).

From a mechanical perspective, the game is extremely similar to FFG's other 40K RPG lines and is, broadly speaking, mechanically compatible with them - Rogue Trader in fact includes rules and guidelines for porting Dark Heresy characters into a Rogue Trader game, and vice versa (having been published before Deathwatch it makes no mention of that line, but is still compatible). The core of the rules is a percentile system where the player must roll a d100 and compare to a target number (usually a character attribute plus/minus relevant modifiers) to determine whether or not (and how well) they succeed at a given task. As in Dark Heresy, characters find themselves belonging to a specific career path which determines the availability of advances that can be purchased with their earned experience, although the careers in Rogue Trader are significantly more powerful than the Dark Heresy counterparts - a starting-rank RT character is considered roughly equivalent to a DH character with 5000XP. Character generation is much more involved than in Dark Heresy, with the players deciding on a multi-step "origin path" for their character (each step of which provides a choice of options with various mechanical effects).

Other notable differences in Rogue Trader's rules as compared to Dark Heresy include a significantly reworked system for psychic powers and techniques (RT uses attribute tests instead of DH's power dice), in-depth rules for the operation of starships and ship-to-ship combat, and the abandonment of the concrete monetary system in DH for the abstract "Profit Factor", which is tested against when making purchases, Rogue Traders being so fantastically wealthy and their wealth so diversely invested and represented that a simple monetary value becomes meaningless. Abstract rules for undertaking profit-making endeavours such as establishing trade routes and other commercial objectives are also included.

The titular core sourcebook contains everything needed to play the game, but a number of supplements are available, including:

• The Game Master's Kit - includes a useful GM screen with rules summaries
• Into The Storm - expanded character generation with extra Origin Path options, alternate ranks for careers, rules for playing Ork and Kroot mercenaries, additional psychic powers for the Astropath Transcendant and Navigator, and an expanded selection of equipment and starship components
• Edge Of The Abyss
• Battlefleet Koronus
• Hostile Acquisitions
• The Koronus Bestiary

There are also several prewritten adventures available.

See Also

• Dark Heresy
• Deathwatch
• Black Crusade
• Deffwotch - a game about Orks impersonating Deathwatch Space Marines run using Rogue Trader