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 - A pack of resources a GM may find useful in and out of play, including a GM's screen with rules summaries. The book included comes with a pretty simple set of rules for creating star systems.
• Lure of the Expanse - Splat book with three pre-written adventures.
• 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 - Splat book that expands on the Expanse. Pretty much just details places, give background info, and some stats for ships and stuff.
• The Frozen Reaches/Citadel of Skulls/Fallen Suns - A pre-written adventure splat book in three acts called the Warpstorm Trilogy. Veeeeeery long. Warpstorms are always fun.
• Battlefleet Koronus - Almost required for ship combat or ship anything. Tons of updates to ships, including new hulls, components, and weapons like the torpedoes and nova cannons.
• Hostile Acquisitions - New rules and career paths for playing a Rogue Trader ship that is definitely more pirate than explorer.
• The Koronus Bestiary - Monster splat book containing some interesting creatures, and has one one monster for each of the Chaos Gods.
• The Soul Reaver - A pre-written adventure splat book involving pulling a con on the Dark Eldar in Commorragh. Awesome because it adds Dark Eldar Kabalites as a career path. Also has a supplement for the supplement called The Dark Kin, which includes other Dark Eldar career paths, like the Wych or Skyterror.
• The Navis Primer - Super useful supplement for psyker characters. Adds in a ton of new stuff: background fluff on Navigator houses in 40k, new powers for Navigators and two new disciplines for Astropaths, the Ork Weirdboy career path, and expanded rules for navigation and astropathing.
• Stars of Inequity - The lastest Rogue Trader book. It gives information on worlds in the Expanse, as well as providing some neato rules for creating your own worlds with the world generator, as well as giving Colony Creation rules for the imperialistic Rogue Trader.

There are also several prewritten adventures available.

See Also

• Deffwotch - a game about Orks impersonating Deathwatch Space Marines run using Rogue Trader
• A fuckhueg character & ship folio made by an anon on /tg/. Prepare to bleed the ink cartridge dry.
  • Character Folio HQ
  • Character Folio LQ
  • Ship Folio HQ
  • Ship Folio LQ

The companion games to Rogue Trader, also published by Fantasy Flight Games:

• Dark Heresy
• Deathwatch
• Black Crusade
• Only War