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Hey there Dakka


Rogue Trader Rule book and GM kit came few days ago and i have been diligently reading though the dataslates and ancient scriptures

Big thanks to Lynata, Balance, Marco Skoll, Coinbiter and Big Mek Wurrzog and everyone else who posted on my original thread of questions

So far i have myself and 3 others who will 95% sure will join us on this perilous adventure there is a possible extra guy who has experience in Dungeons and Dragons GM'ing but i dont personally know him, my friend who went to yale who is joining us said he would ask him if he wanted to join, but hasnt said yet if he is or not.

I made an agreement with one of the players that we would take turns Gm'ing so i could have a go at playing with a character sometimes. The idea is that if his character gets injured enough , he could "leave" for say a week or so gametime, and my character would take his place in the squad. Does this sound appropriate? or should i just sit out and Gm ( which i dont mind doing) either way is cool with me

Today two players will be generating their characters as im able to meet with them, as far as i can tell one player is going to go Seneschal, who is good at bartering, speech and criminal activity ( for thoughs of you who have played Fallout New Vegas, think a 40k Benny guy)
The other said he wants to be a more military based guy, able to use heavy weapons later on.

The guy who i wont be able to meet up with for a little while wants to play a kinda assassin like guy, weve established he is from a death world so far over xbox live other than that he generally said he wants to use knives and rifles.


So far i dont quite understand profit factors , if that could be explain id be greatfull, thanks for your time

Does this sound appropriate?

Bear in mind, as the GM, you have the responsibility to play every character that isn't a player character. Which means you're perfectly entitled to include your own character in the main group, and in fact, I recommend there is at least one NPC in the group, as they're a useful way to deliver certain parts of the plot (without going meta and telling the players out of character) and sometimes to influence certain events.

For example, if there's a terrified and important NPC on the ground in the middle of a firefight and all the players have missed the fact that they need rescuing, your GM-PC can do the job an provide an excuse for them surviving instead of dying and bringing an end to an interesting plot too early. Of course, as the GM, you can also adjust their successes as needed for the adventure (although, do pretend to roll, even if you are just about to make it up).

And while they're not being a plot tool, you can play them. Just don't have them show prior knowledge of the plot or have them overshadow the main cast, as players don't particularly appreciate watching the "uninteractive GM cutscene" while what is to them an NPC shows them up. You'll have to be a bit schizoid to pull off the "I'm writing the plot and playing the plot" thing, but if suitably impartial, a GM can reasonably play along with their players.

As far as whether you have other people GM - it can work, but I'd make sure you knew what that person was likely to be like as a GM before you risk them having the reins and taking it off in a completely wild direction.

So far i dont quite understand profit factors

It's how money is dealt with. Sort of an overall abstracted value that represents a Rogue Trader's financial clout and purchasing power.

In acquisition, you test against your Profit factor, modified by item rarity, the desired quality and quantity and sometimes trader generosity/greed, to see if you can conjure up enough moolah to make the merchants happy.
It's not normally reduced in purchasing, as it's a huge supply of income that's too much to really affect by most purchases (there is an option, possibly in the "Into the Storm" book, about burning profit factor, which is a permanent reduction that gives you a big bonus on a single Acquisition test, which represents liquidating some of the assets that bring in that money). As for why such a huge amount of money might not necessarily be enough, that could be as simple as you can't access enough on this planet. Imperial galactic banking isn't flawless.

As for how it's improved, that's the primary goal of most endeavours, from perhaps a simple, easy one that will net an extra +1, or a big complex one that'll be worth +5 and take a few sessions to complete. The exact increase is somewhat arbitrary though, and ultimately decided in the same way as things like XP - more, the harder the overall task was or more successful it may have been.

If you're sharing the GMing you should probably get together with the other GM first and make sure you're going to be doing it the same way as flicking between different styles could be a bit disruptive for the group e.g. especially with RT my approach is very much if the party member wants to try a different solution for an encounter (e.g. calling in air support from their guncutter after they were pinned down by a sniper but had located which building he was in) I'll go along with it after working out what modifiers etc it's best to apply but one of the other guys at our club who GMs pathfinder etc is very much more a stuff should happen the conventional way kind of GM. Also due to the scope of what the players can do I've found there is some stuff that's in need of house ruling occassionally and you want to make sure you're both going to rule stuff the same way.

Profit Factor as Marco Skoll said is the abstract representation of the dynasty's wealth and influence. Importantly it's not all the Rogue Traders though as everyone's origin has the ability to affect it. One idea i got form the FFG forums was to out of the party's PF total (46 at the mo) get them to assign actual assets to it e.g. my families mining interests on the mineral moon of Cordia 8 or the voidmasters reputation with the Navy from his days there and so has favours he can call in with certain admirals or captains. This not only gives you plot hooks and allows you to put in more detail if you start using the misfortunes. It will also helpfully stop them seeing it as an abstract number that can be burnt without consequence since they'll get it back in a few sessions anyway since they'll have to pick the assests they'll be liquidating.

Mekboy_Rulk wrote:So far i dont quite understand profit factors , if that could be explain id be greatfull, thanks for your time

From my understanding, consider them a sort of abstract 'money' system on a grand scale. Rogue Traders aren't concerned with stealing a few coins from a bunch of gangers they killed, they're concerned with the millions of credits their cargo is worth if they get it to the destination on time... Which requires killing a bunch of gangers for some reason.

You could probably skip it at first, at least. Work not he basics of making characters, getting into them, combat, etc. I'd need to reread the rules myself, but basically from a thousand-foot level: if the PCs accomplish big group goals, they get PF. PF can be sued to attempt to get stuff like ship upgrades or exotic new personal gear.

Been working alot with RT and profit factor and it's alot simpler than people give it credit I'd love to help. Let me go find my books real fast and quote page numbers ect to you and I'll give a count down to how it all operates. But yes as a basic reference unlike D&D and DH where you have denominations of gold, silver, platinum and thrones this profit Factor is instead more of a abstract method to represent the overall power & money of your Rogue Trader Organization. Think of it like corperate big wigs you don't just carry around your money it is tied up in buisness transactions, you've hired traders to sell your creations which you founded on a fertile new world you create buisness. Infact one of my favorite stories in the book somewhere is a Rogue Trader who instigates and provokes an ork invasion onto a typically peaceful Imperial World. After tens of thousands die the Rogue Trader Establishes gun smiths and munitions factories all over the colony making countless coin all to make sure the sector is prepare for war while making money to boot. THIS IS WHAT ROGUE TRADERS DO lol

okay onto to way it works.


To start once everyone has rolled up a character like Arch Militant, Missonary, Rogue Trader Ect then we see how successful their Organization is on pg. 33 ( chart 1-5) you will find a 1d10 roll this roll should be done by either you or the team representative (normally the Rogue Trader himself). I am doing a test roll and got a 4, that result gave me 40 starting profit factor and 50 ship points (this is important to note BOTH) The example given is The Rogue Trader dynasty is a fresh, new player on the galactic stage, garnering attention both fair and foul

SO the number listed 40 for profite factor is related to everyone in your group, lets now turn to pg.270 this talks about how profit factors are deduced through various organizations, my result of 40 means I am on equal footing with planetary nobles, planetary Merchant House, Lesser Rogue Traders, and Weak Imperial Govenors. On this same page you will see a section that lists how you gain and lose profit factor, this is normally from quests known as endeavors and how important they are willing to make the mission, a reward personally from you as a GM. They can lose Profit based on storyline by following the instructions of Misfortunes which my group hasn't experienced yet but very well could in the future.

Alright... so now down to the meat of the matter Acquistions, profit factor is your % of getting something with modifiers. So For example i will use the infamous Boltgun, EVERYONE likes the bolt gun for it's armor piercing and multiple shots. Let's say your Rogue Trader Character would like to obtain this weapon. It isn't down to he spends X to obtain the object, it is you checking the markets and merchants and using bribes and black markets to locate what you want at a price that isn't robbery. pg 271 talks about the test used to to get it modified properly. So here is the equation... (pg. 272, table 9-35)

Item's rarity +/- matter of Scale +/- Craftsmanship + Profit Factor = % needed or under to succeed. Here is the example

1 Good Quality Boltgun (Rarity: Very Rare[-20%]), (Scale: Negligible[+30%]), (Craftsmanship: Good[-10%]) = 0% overall change to the group's 40 Profit Factor, So in order for your rogue trader to find this Boltgun of good quality he will need a 40% or under to obtain that bolter. This is under the assumption that adequate resources and technology would suggest bolters could be located for purchase. If you feel the circumstances of the area where the acquisitions isn't proper to locate you can flat tell them no under those reason. "This is a frontier world, they are lucky to find non primitive armor, a bolter isn't gonna happen!" or impose a misc negative -20 makes sense if this world has a few bolter owners but maybe not necessarily use them (trophies).

A word to the wise, LIMIT YOUR GROUP'S ACQUISITIONS as they will roll for everything under the sun with no care in the world. Give them an approximate # of acquisitions like 2-3 and say something like "This is comfort zone #" the game encourages you to punish greedy players as they draw unwanted attention (black organizations, inquisition, and crime lords ect)

Any more questions?

Big Mek Wurrzog wrote:So in order for your rogue trader to find this Boltgun of good quality

Buy, not find. Finding an seller is a separate Inquiry/Commerce test, modified by rarity and population, with rarer/better tech taking longer to find.

Acquisition tests against Profit Factor are only taken once you've found a seller.

Thanks for the replies

Thanks for clearing that up for me guys

Today we generated 2 characters. *drum roll* A Seneschal and a Rogue Trader

We generated characteristics the random roll + 25 method. the rogue trader guy got freakishly high he wasnt cheating either because i watched the entire thing. his lowest result was 36 for strength

here is a quick run through for what they got

Rogue trader Sarvus Yorke.
Noble Born > Vaunted > Zealot > High Vendetta > Pride > Rogue Trader
( i know you cannot get pride with this line up, but it was our first ever thing, and he explained because he was from a noble family, had High vendetta and pride says " and will counternounce no insult to your honor to go unchallenged" which matches the high vendetta " Brook no insult", and all his character skills and background would make sense to have an heirloom item. I allowed this and charged some exp for it because it normally wouldnt be able to do it. Sound reasonable? )

Seneschal. Malakai Cort.
Forgeworld > Scapegrace > Criminal > Calamity > Renown > Seneschal



Here is the questions we came across when attempting to create characters.
Skills talents etc. we got confused slightly by skills and talents warded by character creation and the ones from character advances. Do they count as Basic skills if gotten in the creation , eg career, home world etc. Talents , if you get one from character creation and then by it from the rank advances, do they stack or give a bonus?

Starting gear: Rogue trader ( because i let him get an heirloom item) got the " Saint Blessed Carapace armour" which is described as " one Best- Craftmenship set of Carapace armour" ,looking into the armour section for carapace armour set, we couldnt make out if that meant it was a " Stormtrooper Carapace" or " enforcers light carapace" which covers everything as the heirloom said "set", or if it meant a singluar peice of armour , eg "Carapace chestpeice".
Does he get to choose which carapace , " storm trooper" or " enforcer" full set he can have which counts as " best-craftmenship"or does it mean he can get a " Best-Craftmenship carapace" helm or chestplate?

Also his Starting gear comes with " best Craftmenship enforcer carapace or stormtrooper carapace" does that mean the stormtrooper carapace is Best-crafted also? and if so , and he chose the stormtrooper carapace for Staring gear, it would mean he has two sets of "best craftmenship stormtrooper carapace"? bit of a fail, but may be an advantage as i havnt come across anything breaking/deteriating armour, but im sure it should happen. or should i just get him to re-roll the heirloom item?

The rogue trader also chose Zealot-Blessed scars, -10 charm test, + 10 to intimidate, 1 poor quality bionic which he upgraded to good using 300 exp. We looked at the bionics rules and it didnt say anything about limiting what gets replaced, it also didn't specify if binonic's referred to the subheading of " bionic replacements limbs and body parts" only or included " Implant systems"?. He chose a bionic right arm, but we werent sure about what the Blessed scars bionics referred too.


My character i have planned is an Explorator base but making him more of a medical tech-preist esk character as i have heard of the Adeptus Biologis and the Organicists ( http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Organicists#.TvJ4N9RSRYw )
And giving him skills and bionic upgrades such as the " Medicae mechadendrite"

sorry about the blocky text and the ammount of writing, i have alot of questions Thanks again so much for your time guys n girls

Mekboy_Rulk wrote:Thanks for the replies

Thanks for clearing that up for me guys

Today we generated 2 characters. *drum roll* A Seneschal and a Rogue Trader

We generated characteristics the random roll + 25 method. the rogue trader guy got freakishly high he wasnt cheating either because i watched the entire thing. his lowest result was 36 for strength

here is a quick run through for what they got

Rogue trader Sarvus Yorke.
Noble Born > Vaunted > Zealot > High Vendetta > Pride > Rogue Trader
( i know you cannot get pride with this line up, but it was our first ever thing, and he explained because he was from a noble family, had High vendetta and pride says " and will counternounce no insult to your honor to go unchallenged" which matches the high vendetta " Brook no insult", and all his character skills and background would make sense to have an heirloom item. I allowed this and charged some exp for it because it normally wouldnt be able to do it. Sound reasonable? )

Seneschal. Malakai Cort.
Forgeworld > Scapegrace > Criminal > Calamity > Renown > Seneschal



Here is the questions we came across when attempting to create characters.
Skills talents etc. we got confused slightly by skills and talents warded by character creation and the ones from character advances. Do they count as Basic skills if gotten in the creation , eg career, home world etc. Talents , if you get one from character creation and then by it from the rank advances, do they stack or give a bonus?

Starting gear: Rogue trader ( because i let him get an heirloom item) got the " Saint Blessed Carapace armour" which is described as " one Best- Craftmenship set of Carapace armour" ,looking into the armour section for carapace armour set, we couldnt make out if that meant it was a " Stormtrooper Carapace" or " enforcers light carapace" which covers everything as the heirloom said "set", or if it meant a singluar peice of armour , eg "Carapace chestpeice".
Does he get to choose which carapace , " storm trooper" or " enforcer" full set he can have which counts as " best-craftmenship"or does it mean he can get a " Best-Craftmenship carapace" helm or chestplate?

Also his Starting gear comes with " best Craftmenship enforcer carapace or stormtrooper carapace" does that mean the stormtrooper carapace is Best-crafted also? and if so , and he chose the stormtrooper carapace for Staring gear, it would mean he has two sets of "best craftmenship stormtrooper carapace"? bit of a fail, but may be an advantage as i havnt come across anything breaking/deteriating armour, but im sure it should happen. or should i just get him to re-roll the heirloom item?

The rogue trader also chose Zealot-Blessed scars, -10 charm test, + 10 to intimidate, 1 poor quality bionic which he upgraded to good using 300 exp. We looked at the bionics rules and it didnt say anything about limiting what gets replaced, it also didn't specify if binonic's referred to the subheading of " bionic replacements limbs and body parts" only or included " Implant systems"?. He chose a bionic right arm, but we werent sure about what the Blessed scars bionics referred too.


My character i have planned is an Explorator base but making him more of a medical tech-preist esk character as i have heard of the Adeptus Biologis and the Organicists ( http://wh40k..com/wiki/Organicists#.TvJ4N9RSRYw )
And giving him skills and bionic upgrades such as the " Medicae mechadendrite"

sorry about the blocky text and the ammount of writing, i have alot of questions Thanks again so much for your time guys n girls

More power to you for thinking outside the box, yeah characters do get really high stats sometimes with the 25+ dice rolls but it's fine as these numbers rarely make a world of difference.

As far as your question about armor regarding the special item it is a single selection below under the "carapace" section so it is often better to get suits that provide protection in all areas as opposed to partials.

Blessed Scars just means the character had been in a harsh fight which may have claimed his arm. If he upgraded to good bionics as opposed to poor he actually gets a few benefits like 2 increased toughness in that limb and +20 i think to delicate percision based hand tests like slight of hand. He also counts as stronger in that limb. The Bionics option is really up to you as a person normally it's an arm, leg or like eye.

Skills at character creation are... strange... the best way i have understood it is this. Your past builds you as a person, unless the skill is a basic skill already (like climbing, swiming, ect) then gaining an advanced skill simply will give "basic" training unless stated as "counts as trained". Pressed Gang for example gives you training in a skill of your choice so you could try and pick up acrobatics outside of class progression. Basically unless you get the skill twice you will only get basic training unless it was a basic skill at start. Confused yet?

So if you gained training in deceive, then you will be properly "trained" due to it being a basic skill!

But something like Medicae, you will gain only basic training since it is an advanced skill

Now assuming you got the advanced skill training twice in character creation, then you will be "trained"

Ultimately it should be very rare for your characters to ever get beyond training unless it states it in such a way. Also when you add your class into the effects remember that it's training vs character creation are different they do not stack you take the better of the two if character creation didn't exceed class basics.

Thanks for the reply

clears up those issues some more, thanks ,

another thing i was planning on doing is not including the ship battles etc until we get a good grasp on the core rules, you know, interation, combat on foot, all that stuff. Id love to do it straight away, but i think if we start on one planet, then let them explore that, deal with various plots and twists, have them work their way up to the capiblitity of space travel.

The plot.
Basicly they dont have much wealth to start together,

as the rogue trader is from a decaying noble family, which reminisces about their families days of old, their stature and wealth in the past, who finds out he is the last remaining heir to the rogue trader title, (think only slightly related through blood) and sees this as a huge oppertunity to bring back their glory days and begin anew a reign of power and honor.

The Seneschal is a criminal who basicly plays for the highest bidder, personal gain and is the guy people go to if they need help , this is through criminal activities, and he is talented as the arts of persuasion, fellowship, barter, commerce, all that stuff, talking his way into and out of trouble, and uses gambling to secure wealth ( rigging and scamming essentially). ( bit like benny from fallout new vegas, thats what the player is going for)

My character ( still debating on what to actually to have his background) Is going to be an Explorator. think he is going to be like the support character, the tech/ medic guy.

The other player wants a character from a Deathworld, who uses rifles and knives, can climb walls, use contortionist moves , crack shot. a stealth-er, spy and assassin essentially.

For the last two ( my own and the deathworld character) have yet to make backgrounds or stats , anything yet as we have not met yet, so any ideas on how we could get all these guys together? on one planet. The reason im asking is so i can provide suggestions to the players and they can pick n mix, or event expand on any i offer, its their choice, but i want to be able to provide something that would be believable.

Thanks for your time

Mekboy_Rulk wrote:I allowed this and charged some exp for it because it normally wouldnt be able to do it. Sound reasonable?

If you want to stick to the origin path. While it's a good guideline, the GM box at the top of pg15 does say it's fine to allow good concepts to break the adjacent choice rule. (Charging XP not a prerequisite).

Big Mek Wurrzog wrote:unless the skill is a basic skill already (like climbing, swiming, ect) then gaining an advanced skill simply will give "basic" training unless stated as "counts as trained".

No, it's the other way around. All skills gained are treated as trained unless it's an advanced skill that states it's gained "as a basic skill". (pg 74 states gaining Advanced skills as Basic is an exception to the rule, not the rule itself.). If a character gains a skill, they gain the full skill, regardless of whether it was a basic or an advanced skill.

Of course, if you gained an advanced skill as a basic skill twice (unlikely), then the GM could reasonable decide it was a decent excuse to upgrade it to a trained skill. (I wouldn't however let it upgrade an already trained skill to a level of skill mastery).

Also when you add your class into the effects remember that it's training vs character creation are different they do not stack you take the better of the two if character creation didn't exceed class basics.

No, it does stack. I've never seen any line drawn that says the two sources are separate and cannot stack (in fact, your career is PART of your origin path), and the bottom of pg 15 is quite clear that things do stack if you get them from different sources.

What you cannot however do, is purchase any of the skills you got in character generation again at Rank 1. (pg 39) But if your career automatically gives it to you again (rather than you having to buy it again), you get it again and gain skill mastery (or can trade in the redundant Talent for the "Talented" talent).

Mekboy_Rulk wrote:The other player wants a character from a Deathworld, who uses rifles and knives, can climb walls, use contortionist moves , crack shot. a stealth-er, spy and assassin essentially.

The easiest thing to do there would be to use the Dark Heresy Assassin class and level them up to 5000 XP and some extra equipment, but that's obviously another book to buy. If you don't want to buy it (or "find it") then you'll need to be a bit liberal with the character classes.

I suppose i could be wrong, it has rarely come up in our origins but it would lead me to think +20s in skills come a little too easy then *Shrug* if they do they do i suppose though.

If a player wants to choose a path where they start to develop Skill Mastery at the cost of their range of skills or stat bonuses, then that's their choice. After all, +20 to Intimidate won't help if you've got to get through a locked door or when you're drowning.

This is particularly true as the GM can simply just make the encounters based around the boosted skills harder. Rather than it being an Adminstratum adept they have to intimidate, it's a hive ganger and his dozen cronies.

Thanks for the replies

Yeah, the rogue trader player wants to use intimidate, and hes aware it wont get him through a locked door etc, but he figures he could intimidate some npc to open the door for him, or if there isnt any npc's around, he could use team work with a player who can open the door. If hes really really on his own ......... hell have to find away around it ( perhaps attempt to punch trough with his bionic arm?)

Mekboy_Rulk wrote:Thanks for the replies

Yeah, the rogue trader player wants to use intimidate, and hes aware it wont get him through a locked door etc, but he figures he could intimidate some npc to open the door for him, or if there isnt any npc's around, he could use team work with a player who can open the door. If hes really really on his own ......... hell have to find away around it ( perhaps attempt to punch trough with his bionic arm?)

Best bet is to use his microbead to scream at the tech support lol. but yeah you are on the right track

Hehe tech support

" can i please just get someone to unlock this........... yeah......all i want you to do is ......... yeah.......NO!?............ JUST OPEN THIS!...........yeah......yeaaah................................... DONT YOUR DARE PUT ME ON......."
" What happened Sarvus?"
" Damn Adeptus Mechanicus Tech support put me on hold............ we may be here awhile"

Thats all i could think of when i read you post Wurrzog


Me ( GM ) and the rogue trader player are discussing background for his character. does this sound like it could be true.

Sarvus Yorke is part of a noble family on the fringes, a kind of backwater system, with their manor house being a kind of heirloom in itself. Surrounded bout acres of land and they take part in many activities of other noble houses, a favourite being going on great hunts of some Xeno prey. While they are not a hugely wealthy noble family, like some of those who live in more developed areas of the imperium, House Yorke take pride in its wealth , honour and martial prowess, and does not back down from displaying and using their power over lesser people.

The more recent background ( closer to our first game) is that the Noble Sarvus Yorke, a man of hulking stature( by average human standards of course) , gruff demeanour,glory hunter and veteran of the hunt ( having had been mauled and torn by a raging Xeno beast, which he still felled before passing out from blood loss, leading to a bionic right arm and a number of gruesome scars)
has been contacted by the administratum and agents of the imperium, that he is to sole legitimate heir to seal, documents and title of rogue trader, as he has traces of the now deceased Rogue trader who did not have any immediate heir , in his blood ( distant relation) . Sarvus sees this as an opportunity to aquire that which his Noble House treasures, Wealth, Power and Honour.

does this sound reasonable? Im also trying to find a way to link all the characters together, so if anyone could provide examples of what they have done, or seen done , id much appreciate it
Thanks for your time

Here is what we did for our past group this is in the player's words not my own.

----------------------------------

Darris Grey, a tech priest of the Adeptus-Mechanicus. Darris, is a noble born who had gotten tired of his high end life, and moved into exploring the vast void. After a having a long exploration of other planets, Darris became more attached to the ideas of the Machine Cult. Wanting to learn more about them, himself became part of the cult. More and more he became more enticed into become one with machine, slowly removing his flesh and replacing in with machine. After, what is believed to be his age of 25, years of being with the Machine Cult, he wanted to go find what he believe to be the better prize in life. Finding old Forge World factories to find bits and pieces of old technologies and figuring out how they work and run. In doing so he was considered a deserter of the Cult. After leaving he went into hiding by any means necessary. In which he came across Capt. Torque and the Cutlass. Knowing that if he was able to join with this rouge trader and an old age ship such as his, he could not only stay hidden from the cult but learn more about this ship and hopefully find more rare and old tech. As of right now he stands as head Engineering office aboard the Cutlass. He has got his own team of tech priests that he is in charge of. He is well known for his sniping skills, and abilities to unlocking secrets in locked up data banks in any mission he is sent out to.

------------------------------------

Born with the name Harmonious onboard the rogue trader ship Devil’s Dice, Capt. Torque was destined for greatness. Or so he would have anyone believe. From an early age, he quickly set himself apart from the other void-born children, his stubbornness and tact often landing him the leader of the one gang or the other on the sword-class frigate. Being children onboard a ship with a crew of tens of thousands, there was often times nothing one could do but cause trouble. At the age of ten, he commanded one of the largest of the roving gangs onboard the devil’s dice. His love of old stories about crime lords and kingpins made him delve into the idea of organizing his band of ragtag void-borns into something greater. The captain of the Devil’s Dice, a stern imperialist named Nicolai Virtue, ran a tight ship which meant very little entertainment opportunities for the crew to relieve some of their stress. It was these conditions, which led Harmonious into trying to fulfill his dreams of being a crime lord. By the age he was fourteen, he had established gambling dens, taverns, and places of ill repute in the darkest dredges of the ship. His bands of void bastards were no longer a gang, but a syndicate. It seemed to him, he had no worries, since even the Chief of Security secretly visited his establishments. But, the hammer did fall. Frustrated by the lack of crew discipline, Captain Virtue, hire outside investigators to find the source of his problems. When all was said and done Harmonious was dragged in front of the stern captain as the perpetrator of various crimes. His luck, it would seem, was not about to stop though. After taking a long look at his captive, Captain Virtue gave him a choice. He was to serve as the captain’s personal cabin boy, or be thrown on an imperial penal colony. The choice was obvious, and Harmonious served the next six years polishing the captain’s boots and armor and observing what it was to be a rogue trader. That, Harmonious believed, would be his destiny.
When he turned twenty, again his luck saved him. It was then that Harmonious first got to leave the ship and was shuttled down onto a hive world on the menial task of picking up a new cloak for his captain. The menial task saved his life. As he was planet side, a massive xeno surprise attack warped into orbit and after long hours of fighting 12 ships were destroyed, including the Devil’s Dice, with all hands perishing with the ship. With nowhere to run and not knowing anybody, he took the name Harmond and then the twenty year old again became a wandering dredge of society. Again, his natural leadership landed him at the head of a criminal gang. His crimes where simple, drug, extortion, and the like, but as his gang grew, he drew the notice of some of the more powerful underworld figures. The leaders sent out an emissary with one message, join with them and share his profits, or die a horrible death. His pride wanted to deny it, but he was pragmatic and realized he had no choice. He accepted. The emissary that was sent was to watch him and report his activities to the cartel. Her name was Sydney.
Sydney soon learned that the boy she had been sent to watch wasn’t a common street hood, but had an intelligence to him that was almost uncanny. His commands were carried out with no question, and his enterprise and planning rivaled the cartel leaders themselves, only on a smaller cell. She immediately knew she liked this Harmond.
Around this time, the planetary governor had become a real unpopular figure. He was using the planets resources for his own, and the citizens saw themselves growing poorer, overworked, and weaker. A rebellion was born, and Harmond saw a way to make profit and help out the regular people. He started trading in weapons to the rebels and started to supply food to the starving people. To this day he will deny he did it out of any form of good will, but the truth is he continued to support the rebellion, even when it became unpopular. Right there beside him the entire time was Sydney. With her contacts, they were able to feed many and get weapons to the right people. But, it was not two years after the rebellion started, that the Emporium came down hard on the resistance. Harmond found himself captured and taken by the Arbiters. Here, he was imprisoned for three years undergoing tortures unthinkable. They wanted him to give up his contacts and friends, but he never budged. After that long time, his hope was just about to leave him. But, as he was going to be transferred from planet to ship, the guards escorting Harmond, were surprised and set upon by a group of Rebels lead by Sydney. He believed he was going to be set free, but his hopes were dashed when the rebel group soon found themselves surrounded by Imperial guard under the direction of a mysterious hooded Arbiter. The Arbiter gave the order for the Imperial guard to execute them. Harmond bit his lip and prepared to die. But, before the bullets came, a voice boomed out, and told the guard to hold their fire.
An Inquisitor strode forward and looked directly at Harmond. “Harmonious from the Devil’s Dice?” he asked. Slightly embarrassed of his old name and the look Sydney gave him when she heard it, Harmond just nodded. The Inquisitor just motioned to a man that had followed next to him, who quickly pricked Harmond with a needle and looked result on the data pad. He then nodded to the inquisitor. The Inquisitor curtly handed him an ancient rolled piece of paper. “As the sole surviving son of Captain Nicolai Virtue, you are hereby passed his Warrant of Trade and all rights associated with it. All of your past crimes are forgiven.” At that, the mysterious Arbiter was about to object, but one look from the Inquisitor stopped the protest. It was over then. The Arbiter left curtly, as did the Inquisitor, and Harmond found himself holding a Warrant of Trade. As he unrolled the ancient paper, a newer paper fell out. It was a deed for a Sword Class Frigate by the name of the Cutlass and a tally of vast resources he had at his disposal.
Harmond rerolled the deed and smirked. “Well Sydney, I’m gonna need some help with running this, and I seem to be all out of first mates.” Sydney coyly looked at him and replied “No, I am standing right here, and that’s not debatable, but we do need a crew.”
Harmond stared at her for a long while, and then started to laugh. They both laughed for a long while, before turning to walk and inspect their new home. The bewildered rebels that Sydney lead, fell in behind them and thus the adventures of Captain Harmond Torque began.

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Born on a death world Ver had to learn that survival was all that mattered and he learned quick. As he was growing up Ver realized that the pistol was the only ranged weapon of choice in the dense jungles where agility and mobility was law. Ver had lost his parents at a young age, a death world is hard on even the best. One thing Ver’s parents had managed to teach him before passing on was that to survive was to be silent, noise on a death world only means your the biggest or the weakest.

_--------------------------------------------

Titus was born to the house of Xantov, a noble family and magisterial house of the collection of navigators amongst the Imperium. Born and raised to fill his purpose as a navigator, an honor and rarity amongst even the few psykers, he was bound to a ship and captain at birth. Though born with a mutation, his fully black eyes, he rarely encountered a situation where they hindered his social skills among his peers. He was well versed in high gothic, possessed good etiquette and a sensible fashion all of which more than made up for his blank and piercing gaze. As he grew into adulthood it was becoming more and more necessary that he master his powers, a feat that was no easy task. While the sight granted by his eye was not difficult to use, the pure madness that he was forced to witness was something that taxed his body and strained his mind to reaches that would have driven an ordinary man insane or to death. While in the end he managed to tone and master his skills he will never forget the ordeal that haunts him each and every day. While aboard a training vessel where he would spend his first attempt to navigate a real ship he became lost within the warp. Nobody knows what grabbed a hold of Titus or if anything happened at all, perhaps he was stricken by fear or…worse. Nobody knows what happened, not even Titus and there has been no clue sense….not spoken at least. It was the last encounter he would ever have that inhibited his skills as a navigators. Many years passed and eventually he was duty bound by contract between houses to be assigned his rogue trader and vessel. He was placed upon a private vessel and sent to a thought to be known peaceful planet. He was greeted by high members of authority and nobility with open palms and casual conversation. It was only until later that something strange had occurred. He had been left behind….It was something strange indeed. Navigators are a breed of psyker rare among even the psyker population, a specific breed that are usually fought over by ship captains to lead their vessels through the immaterium, yet here he was left behind by his contracted rogue trader without even a notice or reason why.
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I normally start with them already on the ship i create a few npc's that start the conversation saying this is officer's briefing in which all people of importance to the ship I.E. the Explorers are meeting up some for the first time others as a formality as the Rogue Trader explains the purpose of the ship, his goals and what he plans to do with such able bodied people. It really helps set the game instantly, ask people to do things like "I am gregory the Ships chief Gunnery specialist" give them a role on the ship like in star trek that way they can find niches and purposes for their rp and desires.

When I did mine I did something very similar and had them all start on the ship as part of an existing crew but kept tieing everyone together a bit vague wherever we could since when in Into the Storm is shows the position on the ship the party members occupy they essentially the highest ranking ones of their type on the whole ship so it's likely some of them will have stories with some of the others going back years as they've reached that position.

Ones who join after (I run it at a gaming club so while we have some core players there is also a little bit of peripheral character turn over so I've had to bring in 3 new ones) I'll work them into the story as part of one of the over arching stories normally e.g. the new explorator and militant were "suggested" by the Inquisitor who has taken a personal interest in the activities of one of the RTs ancestors (this also gives a handy hook for further adventures).

Thanks for the replies

so its better to have them start of as a crew already assembled, thats a good idea

A new day a new question :

This is going to sound like such a noob, and its because i am but what would be the basic way to hold a conversation?, i have to rule book and im reading through it atm, but it would be nice to have some examples laid out say a negotiation, or a deal made, or even simple conversations ( like been invited to the planetary governers halls for a meeting)

Thanks for your time

depends on the content really, try not to focus on it you won't be 100% cannon make sure you're players understand you will try your best but the nuance of meeting this requirement isn't easy and really only accomplishes a minor portion of the immersion technique needed to make an RPG sucessful.

My conversations however go normally something like this...

Imperial Commodore Damien Orson inviting the crew to meet him upon his Imperial Heavy Cruiser

Orson: Myes, welcome and to whom do I address as the liaison to your military force? Ah yes, thank you for standing forward. Welcome to my vessel, The Angel's Bastion no doubt my assistant Demitri has already informed you of it's prestigious history of service within the Imperium and her many battles. Ah, but where are my manners please feel free to introduce yourself and instruct your representatives to follow us to the dining hall, I have prepared a feast for you.

Hadon: Thank you My Lord, it is an honor to be granted such privilege within your warship. I am Haddon Altanok, chief Libarium-Master and Missionary to the God-Emperor's Will aboard our vessel, the Gauntlet of Mars. We'd of course be delighted to accept your offer (motions for them to follow)

Orson: Excellent! After diner we shall speak of the reasons for my request of an audience of your ship's highest ranking officers, But for now you and your men may look forward to fine pleasantries that i could scarcely imagine available to you upon the *shudders* Frontier World of Corvin. Would any of your comrades wish for wine before we begin?

Hadon: No, my lord, we needn't take any for our trip the food would be more than generous for your invitation (one of the group grumbles under his breath wanting to have said drink obviously ill at ease here.). With you Permission sir, may I ask you a question?

Orson: (sits down looking a bit annoyed) Yes?

Hadon: (looks to the Kill team troopers holding heavy bolters at each exit) Are these men really necessary? We had already came unarmed as you requested and also passed an inspection by your servitors those heavy weapons are making some of our crew ... nervous.

Orson: (Stares up after his first bite of a finely cooked Xeno Flesh meal and smiles rather arrogantly) One can never waste good men, or caution... the Guards will maintain their posts and I would advise your men, that they should have no need to worry if they indeed to just join me for dinner.

Hadon: O...Of course Sir, My apologies.

[Dinner concludes a few nerve racking minutes later as everyone struggles to emulate high-gothic table manners]

Orson: Ah, yes now that we have address a proper meal I think it is time to discuss our official business now then. (stands up motioning to a vid-screen) This information is high priority classification of the Imperial Navy; should any of this information be lost, stolen or sold you shall be held responsible and tried for high treason. Discretion is advised...

Hadon: We understand Commodore, please continue with your instructions.

Orson: This is the Iron Defiance a Tempest Class Frigate with a design not unlike your own vessel... (screen changes) You will notice however this ship has been outfitted with a number of experiimental devices and components which have been showing some promising results and advances for the Imperial Navy. As of 3 weeks ago however this vessel was taken over by an organization of bandits which we think centeralized upon your base of operations, Namely Corvin.

Hadon: I think I understand my lord, we had noticed a recently damaged set of ships using on distance Augers and suspected banditry you are wanting it removed aren't you?

Orson: *sigh* Indeed, among the ship an enhanced warp drive and Emperyan Mantle have made it nearly impossible to catch or track once it's gained ground. While my forces could be re-routed to remove this stain to Imperial Honor I find it all too convenient a Rogue Trader's Vessel with the Blessings of Mars seems to now frequent my Sub-Sector and seems to be looking for profit. Besides, the current battlelines accross the void are teaming with more threats than normal; I am dealing with an Orkish Waagh, Eldar Pirates and entire merchant fleets disappearing at this moment, so any chance for an alternative response has now been deemed favorable to my superiors. One thing is certain, profit is to be found, you can tell your Captain that with assurance the pay is lucrative!

Hadon: I am sure Captain Vangelous will be pleased to hear about this Commodore, could we discuss some of the particular information regarding this endeavor for my debriefing later? Or should we simply expect a transfer of data later?

Orson: I am a very busy man Missionary, your data cores are receiving the transferable data immediately and i expect you to fill in anything which hadn't been included. May the Emperor smile on you for aiding the Imperial Fleets, you have just made the Sub-Sector a safe place for the time. You and your Captain will have my respect should you take up arms against out common foe... dismissed.

Hadon: Of course my Lord.

Thanks for the replies

Thanks for that description , helps alot , My group and i should be getting together hopefully this weekend to have some practise , namely the entire spectrum, so that when we actually start, we can do it with alittle knowledge of the rules

So far everything ive come across makes sense, though actually remembering will be the main problem ,

one thing i was wondering is this, with rounds of combat, they last say 3-4 seconds ( i think i read that somewhere) , do i let the players like have say 5 minutes to decide what to do, or give them like 3 seconds to decide before giving an action?

Also, say the group is split up ingame, one or more players are too far from the others. How do i keep it so the things that happen to them are not known by the others ( as they wernt there to see/hear/feel etc what happened)? do i keep the group irl together, or do i separate them somehow? anything like this been done before?

Thanks for your time

Mekboy_Rulk wrote:
one thing i was wondering is this, with rounds of combat, they last say 3-4 seconds ( i think i read that somewhere) , do i let the players like have say 5 minutes to decide what to do, or give them like 3 seconds to decide before giving an action?

Group decision. Generally, you want to keep things moving, but there's good reasons to stop and slow down a bit. This is NOT a wargame where 'chess clock' rules apply.
New players: New players need time to consider options.
Player has one turn left before likely death and can either save himself or try to kill the boss: Needs time to think.
Player is contemplating pressing the Big Red Button that might destry the opposition's plan, or might accelerate it: Player needs time to contemplate.

Essentially combat in RPGs tends to be either 'grind' where it's not super threatening and the players are expected to be weakened, consume consumables, etc. or bosses (the big fights, often with 'puzzle monsters' that require special skills to defeat). The 'grind' fights are generally where players should move fast and not use much, if any, special weapons like rare grenades, exotic ammo, etc. On the other hand, in boss fights they need to work a bit harder.

For example, if a Rogue Trader and friends are in robit around a hive city infested with orks and have gone down to look for a Plot Coupon in the ruins, the half-dozen Orks attacking from the ruins are a 'grind' fight and things should move quickly. Use a grenade to wear them down, then shoot, hack, or blast the rest. Hopefully no major wounds, and on to the next challenge!

On the other hand, if they enter a chamber and encounter a three meter tall Big Mek with a strange device on his arm that might have the rare archeotech they're looking for incorporated in it: that's a boss fight. The players should consider if they want to use that plasma pistol they found on the artifact they're looking for, and the danger of fighting said boss near an open shaft to nowhere.

Mekboy_Rulk wrote:
Also, say the group is split up ingame, one or more players are too far from the others. How do i keep it so the things that happen to them are not known by the others ( as they wernt there to see/hear/feel etc what happened)? do i keep the group irl together, or do i separate them somehow? anything like this been done before?

In general, discourage this under the "Don't annoy the GM" code of conduct guideline, unless you encourage it. Basically, only when you want to deal with it. Good players should 'get' this and want to stick to a group, but it's difficult to (as a player) walk into a trap because your character doesn't know it.

If it makes sense, be up-front and as Group B to go grab some food or something while you do a scene with Group A.

If you want to represent this with mechanics, Group B would have a penalty against the Sneaky Gits Orks-in-Black trhat Group A doesn't.... Unless Group A does something to alert them.

Splitting the group can be a bit of problem sometimes (more things for you to keep track of) but depending on how much they split up and how much group A takes to do its bit things can get a bit boring for group B and vice versa. My party decided to split itself across two ships in an encounter and one of the ships ended up getting sucked into the warp when an enemy ship exploded leaving just half the party in the system.

I'd probably not time people in the actions as since their options can be so open it can take a bit of consideration plus if they are new it can be a fair bit to remember. Then again it is a balancing act as in one of mine recently the party spent about 5 mins discussing the best course of action as an enraged mutant was running towards some unarmed civilians they were meant to be picking up in their lander.

In terms of remembering it all I'd definitely say that's a problem for a new GM as I know some of my earlier games were filled with stuff I'd forgotten or misread (cover for the bad guys to make use of was until recently the normal thing I forgot). If you can't remember though unless you can find the answer quickly I'd recommend just winging it to not disrupt the flow then look it up properly afterwards.

Mekboy_Rulk wrote: one thing i was wondering is this, with rounds of combat, they last say 3-4 seconds ( i think i read that somewhere) , do i let the players like have say 5 minutes to decide what to do, or give them like 3 seconds to decide before giving an action?

I'm only operating on memory here, but I think the 3-4 seconds bit is only the in-universe time, meaning how long it takes for the character to perform an action - regardless of whether his player took 10 seconds or 2 minutes to come up with it.

Things should be kept somewhat dynamic so that people don't start to get bored, but you shouldn't rush it either. The balance is some kind sort of a "gut feeling" sort of thing, affected both by your players as well as the situation their characters are in ... you'll get the hang of it, no worries.

Mekboy_Rulk wrote: Also, say the group is split up ingame, one or more players are too far from the others. How do i keep it so the things that happen to them are not known by the others ( as they wernt there to see/hear/feel etc what happened)? do i keep the group irl together, or do i separate them somehow? anything like this been done before?

Up to you - and possibly whether you actively want something to be kept a secret. Most groups tend to keep sitting at the same table, just that the GM focuses on the players in smaller sub-teams whilst the rest are free to grab a snack, read up some stuff in the books, or let themselves be entertained by whatever happens to their friends. I was also present in two instances where the GM sent players of "inactive" characters into the next room, however. Usually, this only happens when some plot-relevant thing happens whose discovery by the other characters will be more fun if their players were not there for the "spoiler".

But as has been pointed out, separating the group shouldn't happen too often, as it just means a lot of "downtime" for half your group. Unless you keep switching between both scenes as per the normal rounds. Then you need to take care not to mix stuff up, though; it can be hard to narrate two different locations nigh-simultaneously and keep everything straight in your head. Written notes may help.

Thanks for the replies

Suppose ill i have left to do is organise the group, get some characters rolled, and to start the epic adventure
We will usually play at one of the players house, as he put on gatherings all the time anyway, and he has enough room ( plus he usually provides takeout / pizza, chinze etc so its sorta a tactical vote by the group hehe )

I think im going to make my own character as an npc for the group, as we are begining, i thought it would be good, ( like what others here have posted) as i could help guide if they have forgotten to do something vital etc. As no one so far has actually planned on healing ( y'know kinda a derp considering what can kill you ) I think ill be making a kinda field medic like character, but here is my problem, i cannot decide which would be better, an Explorator, or a Missionary? Both have some nice upgrades, and of course both have individual bonuses the others wont have.

Another thing, my group will most likly comprise of a Seneschal, a Roguetrader , a Arch militant and either an Explorator/Missionary. Seems to me there will be some lacking holes of the group, eg the classes which use psychic ablitities, pilot the ship etc etc etc etc. Can i just let them make to roles ( as if there where the characters them selves, but say they are an npc?) for all the things the other classes would do? eg we have no astryopath or navigator, sooooo techincally we would not be able to use warp travel if we have to have a class to do it as a player.

ERM.......................................................................... yeah, not much left to ask, though if any problems / misunderstandings arise, ill be sure to consult the elders here on Dakka You guys have been great so far, and id like to thank you

I'd go for the have them roll as the NPC as even if there were an astropath or navigator (or any of the other classes at all with the probable exception of the Rogue Trader) they wouldn't be the only one on the ship so there is going to be someone in the crew with the necessary skills. I'd give them stats akin to whatever they get for the crew rating when they create their ship.

My group had to do this a couple of times with an npc tech priest from the crew when due to various reasons there was no one with any tech use ranks.

Mekboy_Rulk wrote:Thanks for the replies

Suppose ill i have left to do is organise the group, get some characters rolled, and to start the epic adventure
We will usually play at one of the players house, as he put on gatherings all the time anyway, and he has enough room ( plus he usually provides takeout / pizza, chinze etc so its sorta a tactical vote by the group hehe )

I think im going to make my own character as an npc for the group, as we are begining, i thought it would be good, ( like what others here have posted) as i could help guide if they have forgotten to do something vital etc. As no one so far has actually planned on healing ( y'know kinda a derp considering what can kill you ) I think ill be making a kinda field medic like character, but here is my problem, i cannot decide which would be better, an Explorator, or a Missionary? Both have some nice upgrades, and of course both have individual bonuses the others wont have.

Another thing, my group will most likly comprise of a Seneschal, a Roguetrader , a Arch militant and either an Explorator/Missionary. Seems to me there will be some lacking holes of the group, eg the classes which use psychic ablitities, pilot the ship etc etc etc etc. Can i just let them make to roles ( as if there where the characters them selves, but say they are an npc?) for all the things the other classes would do? eg we have no astryopath or navigator, sooooo techincally we would not be able to use warp travel if we have to have a class to do it as a player.

ERM.......................................................................... yeah, not much left to ask, though if any problems / misunderstandings arise, ill be sure to consult the elders here on Dakka You guys have been great so far, and id like to thank you

I highly suggest as a new GM making a NPC this lets you get into combat and understand just what your team is up against as well as how they should or shouldn't be acting or at least helping you offer advise in the long run. Educate yourself while educating them more or less, I will say the "magic" style characters are something your team may want to have, a navigator can melt super tough enemies and a astropath can be immensly useful if he keeps his power in check from time to time and doesn't throw pushes left and right.

My group consists of 5 players A Sensechal, Missionary, Astropath, Ork & Explorator it's a well balanced group aboard the ship i have given a few NPC's which the players may call in when they want but i tell them straight up these character's can die and have no fate points like them so it can easily result in losing a really useful member of the ship. I always try to make these NPC's/Officers of the ship fill in roles the group needs

Monica, Officer of Security (melee style Arch Militant)
Jack, Ordinance and Escourt Officer (Void Master who has some survival and piloting skills)
Cision, (An Archo-tech Medical/Combat Servitor)
Gabriel Vangelous (The Ship's True Rogue Trader, not aboard the ship he oversees a small fleet of ships)

Mekboy_Rulk wrote:I think im going to make my own character as an npc for the group, as we are begining, i thought it would be good, ( like what others here have posted) as i could help guide if they have forgotten to do something vital etc. As no one so far has actually planned on healing ( y'know kinda a derp considering what can kill you ) I think ill be making a kinda field medic like character, but here is my problem, i cannot decide which would be better, an Explorator, or a Missionary? Both have some nice upgrades, and of course both have individual bonuses the others wont have.

This is a potentially dangerous idea. This can turn into a problem where if the GM-PC is better, or even appears to be better, than the PCs, it can really hurt the mood for the PCs.

The extreme is in an RPG where the GM-PC has the solutions for all the puzzles, is unstoppable in combat, etc. The PCs start wondering why they're their at all.

My recommendation would be to tweak the character to have limited use. Maybe make it some sort of weird servitor?

If you need to give them a hint for a puzzle or plot point, there's other ways. Ask for everyone to make a skill roll for the local version of Notice, Spot, or similar. Someoen will make it, and will notice that there's a note under the mattress they didn't think to flip over before.

But don't screw the players with this kind of thing. If they get burned on clue-finding they become much more likely to 'bunker down' and wait for things to happen, or go off and do unrelated stuff.

(A related example is armoring down for social situations and such. The fantasy RPG cliche is the warrior that wears full platemail ALL THE TIME because once, possibly on a different character a decade before, some GM took advantage of the player noting that they would remove their armor for dinner to have fully-armed trolls show up and kill them. If you want to make a 'social event' turn into combat, make sure the enemies have an appropriate power armor for how the characters are currently equipped. Not a huge deal for 40k where Power Armor is appropriate for all social occasions, but...)


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Another thought on GM-PCs: I like to turn the cliche around, so my GM-PCs often meet a grisly, plot-appropriate death. For RT, they'll almost certainly end up falling to Chaos or getting eaten by something horrible. Maybe both!

Thanks for the replies

Good ideas guys really are a huge help , keep up the good work here and with any others who need help, belive me, i really appreciate you guys helping out

We attempted a play test , a one on one face off between the senechal and a random thug like character. we managed to get through it ( it took about 2 hours ) but we got stuck afew times, and it was far far far from fluid and nice , first time though so letting it slide . One thing we did NOT understand was ROF , rate of fire. The seneschal had a hellgun , and wanted to shoot at the enemy. We assumed it was a 3 burst gun, so each "shot" consisted of 3 rounds, but we rolled only once to hit, and wound. is this right? Also , can players get critical hits on npcs?

also i was wondering would it be to much for me to ask if someone could show a round or two of combat ( you know with the actions, dice rolls , the order of combat/turns, like the examples in the book but without the discriptive parts ) , as an example. I know i should read the rule book like crazy and learn it, which i am, i would just like an example to verify what i actually got from the rules if this is too much, no problems you guys are really helpful and i apperciate everything you guys do

Thanks for your time guys

The ROF relates to the firing option of the gun in question so a gun with 1/-/- can only ever fire a single shot, one with 1/3/- like the hellgun can choose to either fire a single shot or a semi auto burst of 3 shots, and a weapon like the autogun with 1/3/10 can fire either a single shot, a semi auto burst of 3 or a full auto burst of 10 shots. You will only roll to hit once and each degree of success relates to an additional hit up to the ROF you've chosen to use. Each one of the those shots will then roll damage and have to overcome armour and toughness separately (working differently from a ships salvo where you add it all together). There are no critical hits as such in a D&D sense only the righteous fury roll in you roll a 10 for the dmg and anyone can score one of the them against anyone else.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Combat in it's simplest form runs like so;
1 - Everyone rolls initiative (or spends a fate point to come in at 10)

2 - The highest initiative person decides on the action to take from the ones listed in the book e.g. shooting so they will pick their target and roll against their BS needing to score under it after applying all modifiers for ROF, size, distance etc. Assuming they hit this leads to..

3 - If it hasn't already and wants to the target can attempt to dodge testing against it's agility. Assuming it fails...

4 - Roll DMG then deduct the targets toughness and any remaining armour not negated by the pen of the weapon to work out how many wounds it looses.