Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Rogue Trader
Tabletop Roleplaying Games
Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Rogue Trader
Rogue Trader is a science fiction tabletop roleplaying game of exploration, trade and profit at the edge of the Imperium of Man, set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe and published by Fantasy Flight Games in 2009. Ross Watson was its lead designer. Players take on a Rogue Trader, a ship captain licensed to trade and explore beyond the Imperium's borders, and the crew who serve them. It is the second of five independently playable Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay games from Fantasy Flight, which ran from Dark Heresy (2008) to Only War (2012). A limited release sold out at Gen Con 2009, with a wider store release in October 2009. Fantasy Flight lost the Warhammer 40,000 licence, and official support ended in September 2016.
The system directly evolved from Dark Heresy, the first game in the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay line, and it was succeeded by Wrath & Glory.
Description
Players take on an explorer's dynasty: the Rogue Trader, the officers and specialists who crew their ship, and the retinue that follows them. The Game Master (GM) runs voyages into uncharted space, deals with alien species and hostile worlds, and the party earns a fortune doing it. The career paths include Arch-Militant, Navigator, Explorator and Void-master, and sourcebooks add alien player characters such as Kroot, Ork and Dark Eldar.
The game asks a table to run a business as well as a crew. The rules cover interplanetary trade, ship operation, travel and combat, and a group that enjoys managing a ship, a fortune and their reputation will get more out of it than one that wants a single dungeon crawl. The 41st Millennium is a grim setting, and the book does not soften it.