Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hey everyone! I am a complete noob to being a game master, but pen and paper rpg's in general. I also want to play Rogue Trader!

...

Yes you can stop gasping/laughing in horror now. I realize this will be difficult and probably a bad idea. However my local game store currently has no GM's willing to play RT, and although I have a group of friends willing to play non really want to be a GM themselves. As such I decided to bite the bullet and give this thing a shot...

So I am asking for help. What do I need to know? How should I prepare? I am reading the core rulebook thoroughly, but do I need any of the expansions? How would one start a session of Rogue Trader (or honestly, how does one start a session of Pen and Paper rpgs?)

Is there a collection of resources/how to guides for noobies like me? I saw a short collection in this forum, but it didn't really give me a starting point. (The resources look useful though!)

Your first sentence has some odd wording: Do you mean you are new to RPGs in general, or new to being a GM?

Either way, it'll work if you keep the basic stuff in mind. My usual advice:

* The player characters are the stars. Not the most powerful characters, but the most important. If stuff doesn't involve them, don't worry about it (and feel free to fake results for dramatic effect).

* You are not the adversary of the players. You are there to make things cooler.

* Establish some boundaries and expectations with the players. I'd suggest stating that you want to keep things simple at first, so sticking to the main book (+ errata, if there's anything big). You DON'T need to worry about adding in the books to add xeno characters, characters from the sister game lines, or other advanced options. Save these for later. Also set up if the game is intended as an open sandbox (players do what they want, the GM just responds), plot driven (There's an overarching plot the players will need to constantly deal with) or a hybrid. Make sure they know if it will be combat heavy or diplomatic

* Remember the whole "it's a game" thing.

For some specific advice, I have read RT but not played it. Compared to other RPGs, the big 'hook' is some neat looking rules to abstract out trading and ship operations.

Your best bet may to look at the adventures FFG has published and pick one of them as a starter. You can rewrite and tweak as needed. The published adventure may supply some basic hooks to use so your players can get into the 'system' the game provides where they get points for doing missions they can sue to upgrade the ship and their personal gear.

In general, don't sweat the small stuff. Running a combat or two with a smaller group is a good idea: Grab pre-gen characters (or make some quick) and play out a combat so you can learn the basic game flow. RPG players get attached to characters, so it's best to try out combat on more expendable characters before a rules mistake leads to the death of a character they've invested time and effort in.

All of Balance's advice is solid.

I'd add to that,

If you can't find a rule, make it up.

If some ridiculous dice rolls are going to screw up the game (incompetent or devastating adversaries), feel free to fudge them. Cheat to make the game more fun.

If something goes wrong, wing it. Find a similar circumstance, and guess on the fly how to modify it to fit.

Don't force your players towards the objective, but if they're getting bored or confused, it's fine to have some unsubtle hints: you're not writing literature, here, so your players will probably be fine with it.


The most important advice I can give is to at least skim the whole campaign, and thoroughly read the next two sessions' or so worth of campaign before each session: the single most agonizing experience as a GM is to not know what you're doing next, and need to look it up while players are waiting, with this horrible awkward silence ans you flip around. I love unexpected stuff, and get most of my energy in any session from players doing weird things that I (and the campaign) hadn't thought of, and reacting to it, but nothing's worse than realizing that you're not sure what's next, because you didn't prepare well enough.

I did it. Do you know the 40k universe? That helps a lot. Are your players RPG vets? Are they themselves familiar with the 40k universe?

I've found that players can kind of find themselves at a loss for what to do in RT if they are completely new to RPG games. It's a very open ended, sandbox type game that encourages players to set their own objectives, set their own goals and then set forth to accomplish them, but I've found I've had to sort of plan out every endeavor for my players, or at least strongly lead them with a carrot on a stick ("there is an opportunity to start a drug trade that would be very profitable in a nearby system...what do you do?"). This is fine, but it does somewhat detract from the game. It will require to know what your players want to do, and what they find interesting. You don't want to plan out a quest only to find your players have no interest in pursuing it.

It makes me wonder if OW, DH or even DW would have been better games to start out with RPG noobs. I definitely probably would have gone back and picked OW if I could, they love RT now but it doesn't fit the whole "powerful and wealthy individuals making their own destinies" when I'm still guiding them.

The core rulebook is a good place to start. There are also a couple of starter adventures on the FFG site. Into the Storm would also be useful as it adds new equipment, character creation options and some advanced classes.

In terms of how you play it, it may be best to have the actual Rogue Trader as an NPC (unless someone in your group can be trusted to do the role justice) as stictly speaking the RT should be making all the decisions which can make the game quite one sided. In my current campaign for example our RT is old, near senile and too infirm to leave the ship so he is treated as an NPC while the player characters are his circle of 'advisors' who basically tell him what to do (unless the GM wants to use him to give us precise directions) which allows us a lot more latitude to play around with the game and make our own choices.

To begin with, starting with RT is not a bad idea in the slightest! Don't be intimidated.

Balance provided top-notch advice -- if nothing else stick close to his points

In a basic thematic sense, RT is about bringing a huge amount of resources to bear on this issue of exploring the frontiers of the Imperium FOR PROFIT. The catchy part is that even though a RT is immensely powerful and his ship is the equivalent of a kingdom, a RT and her/his crew has taken on a proportionally huge task. The unknowns of the 40k universe are extremely dangerous.

Just take the Eldar as an example. These guys are ancient beyond reckoning, at least in human terms, and have all the skill and infrastructure to back that up. All a RT's wealth and status seem far, far more humble in the face of that -- what matters is her/his skill, tenacity, and audacity. Is that enough to stand up to the deadly wisdom of the Eldar? Is that enough against the vast lethality of the Void?

I think the key is to have a sense of proportionality.