Musings on Rogue Trader

By | Published May 30, 2010

A few more thoughts on my Rogue Trader game as it pushes forward.

Combat

When I was running Dark Heresy I found combats to be ugly, brutish and short. One or two autofire bursts and someone—PC or NPC—would wind up a bloody mess. In Rogue Trader, this hasn’t been the case.

For instance, the superior stats and equipment Rogue Trader PCs start out with, and the similar abilities of their suggested opponents, has the effect of making combat drags on. The problem, as I see it, is that while the capacity of Rogue Trader PCs to soak damage is considerably better than starting PCs in Dark Heresy, the effectiveness of the game’s weapons seem kind of flat. As a result most combats seem to be a back and forth marathon.RT Cover.indd

So right now, I’m working on ways to speed it up. For instance, I’m considering only applying a characters toughness bonus (instead of doubling it) and making all tens rolled in damage open-ended, rather than requiring another attack roll. At the end of the day, I want my combats quick and deadly.

A Pirate’s Life

Overall though, I’m finding that the vibe of the game is great. I was a little worried that having five players in charge of a ship with 95 000 crew would be a little overwhelming, but it’s actually been a blast. Each of the players has really taken charge of their domains on the ship and are constantly breathing life into the ship’s micro-setting.

Along similar lines, I’m playing pretty fast and loose with the game’s morale mechanics. I’m sticking to the spirit of the rules, but I’m making sure that the actions of the PCs can have a direct effect on the ship’s crew. And really, they set themselves up for trouble on this front from the get go.

For instance, the PCs opted for the ‘reclaimator’ option on their ship (basically injured and deceased crew men are converted into gruesome cyborgs), purchased the cheapest possible life-support system, and over-crowded crew quarters. Add to that the murderous zeal of the ship’s Explorator and frankly totalitarian tendencies of the Arch-Militant and you’ve got a GM’s dream. You can imagin my glee when, after dropping morale by a point because of their long trip out into the void, the players wound up debating every imaginable option to stave off mutiny.

I can only say it’s a good thing that the Captain overruled the Arch-Militant’s plan to string-up anyone muttering discontent…

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Bring on the B-Team

By | Published May 26, 2010

Have a Big Bad that needs embaddening? Want to establish some in-game history but want to avoid expository speeches and unread handouts? Would you like to give your players a little extra incentive to go looking for missing teenagers at the abandoned summer camp?

Then tell your players to put down their character sheets and bring in the B-Team.

Not These Guys

Not These Guys

Bringing in the B-Team is a simple technique that takes the often GM-heavy task of establishing facts, characters and themes about a game and includes the players.

It’s as simple as 1-2-3. Let’s take the example of establishing a recurring villain as a deadly threat. Rather than having your villain murder a squad of red shirts before your party’s eyes, let your players play the hapless red shirts and experience this villainy first-hand. I’d recommend that you:

1. Create a group of pre-gen characters less powerful than your current party. This has the added bonus of reminding your players how exceptional their regular PCs are. Keep the pre-gens as archetypical as possible and describe them in no more than 2 paragraphs. If you want to add a little flourish, give each character an illustrative quotation.

Example: Clancey Chase is a gruff veteran of the Chicago police. He isn’t as fit as he used to be, but he makes up for it in experience. Quote: “Put the gun down and your hands up kid. I’ve been chasing punks like you for 30 years and I’m in no mood to run.

2. Drop your newly minted pre-gen party in a setting or situation you might want to use later: A raid on the villain’s lair, in the midst of a world changing battle, driving up to an old summer camp on a dare. The important thing is get the action rolling immediately.

Example: I’d start Chase’s unit off in the middle of a raid on the villain’s lair, racing down a narrow corridor and just about to engage a few mooks standing guard outside the main chamber. I’d give them just enough to establish the mood and an easy obstacle to start off with so the players can try out their pre-gen characters’ capabilities.

3. Get your point across. Do you want to show that Dr. Destructo has kidnapped the mayor’s daughter? Is it important that Evilla the Goblin Queen gained the Ring of Wrathfulness 400 years ago? Make sure your pre-gen party witnesses it first hand. And if you just want to show that the villain is no slouch…

Example: So Chase’s unit of talented cops storms into Dr. Destructo’s lab and sees Mayor Milkin’s daughter strapped into the De-Virtuetron. Now is the time for the good doctor to bust out those powers that will give the main PCs problems down the road. I suggest playing the combat out bloodily but possibly fading to black before the last pre-gen character is outright killed. Players tend to love the possibility of rescuing survivors.

One of the advantages of this technique is that it works well to “show, not tell” when trying to establish facts, moods and characters for your game. It also allows GMs who are a bit on the soft side to cut loose on characters other than the main PCs and establish that their baddies mean business. Plus, many players will feel they have a stake in the B-Team characters and situation.

It may sound odd, but trust me: they will. Nothing motivates players to chase down a villain or follow a lead more than having their nose bloodied, pre-gen character or not. And if you dangle the possibility of a survivor or two out there, I think you will be surprised by how quickly your players take the bait

Most importantly, bringing in the B-Team takes the sometimes frustrating task of providing exposition and embeds it in an adventure everyone can participate in. And really, that’s what everyone is at the table for, right?

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Stuff to Steal From: The Black Hole (1979)

By | Published May 18, 2010

cygnusAs you probably know by now, I love the Black Hole. And I love stealing from it.

The Black Hole lends itself to be pilfered by any GM running a ‘wandering adventurer’ type campaign or to one-shot adaptation.

The key elements I suggest you swipe are:

The Cygnus.

An isolated, exotic and perilous setting (a rococo ship sitting on the edge of the Black Hole, a secret harbor built into the side of a volcano, an ancient temple close to a rift in time and space). Ideally your Cygnus should be extremely difficult to get to or from, with your Reinhardt having the power to increase or decrease the difficulty. This may smack of railroading, but I prefer to think of it as motivation.

Reinhardt.black-hole_hans

A driven, but brilliant, character with both a horrible secret and an all-consuming goal. In the film you’ve got Reinhardt’s forced conversion of the crew into robots and his black hole research. Other concepts can easily be substituted though. A sorcerer seeking egress into another dimension who has made a pact with a demon would work just as well. The most important thing is to remember that your Reinhardt wants the PCs to help him with their goal.

Reinhardt’s Research and the Cygnus.

Essentially you need a Maguffin that isn’t easily taken by force. In the Black Hole this was Reinhardt’s knowledge and the Cygnus, but it really just needs to be something that will benefit the PCs back in civilization, yet might be easier to haul back with the antagonist’s cooperation.

Maximilian, S.T.A.R. and grillion other robots.maximillian

Your antagonist should have back-up along the lines of the very imposing Maximilian and the pompous S.T.A.R. to run interference as soon as the PCs start behaving like PCs. A horde of mooks is also always useful.

And Then Things Go Wrong.

Basically, make sure you have a trigger that sets off two events. The first is having Reinhardt decide that eliminating at least some of the PCs is easier than getting their help. This should probably occur whenever the PCs start to uncover Reinhardt’s Secret. You also need to decide when it is that the environment takes a hand and begins the destruction of the locale.

Increase power to maximum. We are going THROUGH!

Once Reinhardt has sicced his henchmen and the environment starts tearing the setting apart the adventure will probably run itself. At this point the PCs need to deal with environmental threats (hull breaches, lava floes, and extra-dimensional incursions), henchmen and securing the Maguffin while trying to escape before everything collapses. Have fun.

You know, in retrospect, I think this one of those texts I’ve stolen from dozens of time…and I intend to steal from it again. So if you’re stuck for this week’s adventure, I think you could do worse than have your PCs encounter a faint distress beacon from the USS Cygnus… or your local equivalent!

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The Black Hole (1979)

By | Published May 17, 2010

Maybe it’s my age, but the Black Hole (1979) was my favourite non-Star Wars sci-fi flick growing up. Maybe it’s because448px-black_hole_ver1 it’s a sci-fi take on the haunted house story sitting somewhere between Event Horizon and The Tempest. Either way, it is still a favourite.

The film has a brooding quality not the least because of its The film’s costume and set design. From the robots draped in plain grey cloth to the way the Cygnus hangs in the darkness like a cross between a cathedral and the Eiffel Tower, the film oozes mood. Overall, the Black Hole has a brooding and downbeat quality that juxtaposes nicely with the slick special effects, cute robots and stirring score.

The Black Hole follows a small group of space explorers as they encounter the Cygnus: a vast and long lost star ship sitting impossibly close to the titular black hole. Aboard the vessel they encounter Hans Reinhardt, the brilliant and megalomaniacal captain of the Cygnus, presiding over a crew of subservient robots (most notably his massive and deadly enforcer Maximilian). Although seemingly happy to see them at first, it doesn’t take long before the crew of the Cygnus realize that Reinhardt is hiding a terrible secret. Needless to say, it doesn’t end happily for everyone.

Adding to the film’s dark design and classic horror plot is a strong cast including Anthony Perkins as the deluded Dr. Alex Durant, Ernest Borgnine as the irascible journalist Harry Booth and uncredited voice work by Roddy McDowall and Slim Pickens as the robots V.I.N.CENT and B.O.B.

If you don’t mind a film that takes its time and haven’t seen the Black Hole (or just haven’t seen it lately) I strongly recommend you give it a look.

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Sandboxes in Spaaaaaaaace!

By | Published May 14, 2010

My Rogue Trader game is definitely rolling along. Our last session went smoothly, although I found combat dragged a bit (and the PCs seemed a touch untouchable). I’m mulling around a few ideas as to how to fix it for my purposes, but for now I’m just going to stew.

One thing I am going to do is keep this game as sandboxy as possible.

The PCs are, after all, nearly as wealthy as a small planet and command a five-kilometer long starship containing around 95 000 souls.

It’s tough to justify saying ‘no’ to any place they want to go or any thing they want to try to do.

That said, it’s a new game and only one of them is super-familiar with the setting. As a result I’m trying to balance the freedom of a good sandbox with lots of hooks for them to enjoy.

I plan to flip the chart below to my players, as a reminder of the various hooks they’ve run into, along with a link to the Koronus Expanse. I’ve also got a bit more detail for myself in a ‘Rogue Trader’ excel document that I use to keep myself organized (actually, I’m a little ashamed at how much I rely on Excel for GM-ing these days).

So please take a look and tell me what you think!

World/Region Hook Possible Booty Known Complications
Magoros/Winterscale’s Realm An ancient map leads to a secured storage facility of Zaphod’s long dead, and long condemned ancestor Whatever Xeno and Archaeo-tech Sybelle was not bold enough to bring back to the Imperium At this point, Orks, lots and lots of Orks
Zayth/the Heathen Stars Hentzau of Rurrit, the Prince of a Zaythian City-State looks identical to Rook the Archmillitant due to a common ancestor and ancient genetic enhancements Zayth is rumored to have a great deal of tech left over from the Golden Age of Humanity; including a Macro-Cannon design unknown in the Imperium. Jonquin Saul is escorting Hentzau to Zayth and has long been working to open the world to trade.
Footfall The last scion of the Stubbs Dynasty, Morgan managed to lose the family’s storage vaults, repair facility and general headquarters An HQ on Footfall The Bloody-Handed Brotherhood, a gang of extortionists and other scum live there now. The Mechanicus will also need to be wooed into maintaining it.
Xarit/the trailing-rimward corner of The Cauldron Hierophant Nereus wants someone to head to this long ignored colony to confirm its Heterodoxy. Getting the Ecclesiarchy on side. The world may also require its tithe to be collected, if the PCs check in with the Administratum Finding a route to the world. The world has been isolated for a long time, so anything is possible.
Helliot XI/Winterscale’s Realm Aspyce Chorda has suggested that someone break Winterscale’s trade monopoly with the Chen-Horvath Mining Combine’s operations on this world. The rare chemical and metallurgical wealth of Helliot XI Facing whatever planetary defenses are in place. Setting up a rival mining operation or extorting Chen-Horvath’s goods. Pissing off Calligos Winterscale.
Footfall/Wherever Bystra, she of the void-shielded vaults for discerning citizens, has a connection for selling any legal or illegal Xenos artifacts the Dynasty finds A fence connected to the Imperial Nobility and other buyers None, yet.
Footfall/Wherever Bystra knows a group looking to establish a colony away from prying eyes A colony with a debt to the dynasty to trade with There’s probably a reason they want a discreet colony…
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Thoughts on Rogue Trader

By | Published May 12, 2010

Tonight will be our second session of Rogue Trader, not counting the initial character creation session. A couple of observations:

I’m a little worried that in the flurry of chaotic activity that is character creation that some of my Players marked their career, skills as ‘basic’ rather than ‘trained.’ Not a big deal, but it could be a bit annoying if I have to audit everybody’s sheets.

The centerpiece Rogue Trader’s character creation system is a life path of sorts that takes you from your homeworld to your career (or you can just as easily work backwards). This makes for an interesting character with a bit of a back-story out of the gate, which is great. The book also encourages you to play up any ‘intersections’ with the life paths of other characters (for instance, two PCs could have met when they were press-ganged).

This is reminiscent of a similar mechanic in Mongoose’s Traveller that I was quite fond of. In Traveller, if the two players could come up with a reason their characters would have met during a PC-life path event, they earned a skill point. In Rogue Trader they earn…nothing but the good graces of the GM.

So my first house rule has been to offer up 500xp (roughly one session’s xp) for each player if they can come up with a way that their character knows at least one other PC. I’m hoping the carrot will help inspire my players a little.

Another observation is that characters will always be upgrading. This might be a problem because I have a huge group at the moment and one solitary copy of the corebook. Give the cost of the bloody thing, I can’t really expect my players to fly out and buy their own, either. Really, I wouldn’t find this as frustrating if the career advancement tables were available in an ugly, print friendly form, but, alas, they aren’t.

Playing the game itself has been a good time so far. One of my players only has D&D experience, so the system isn’t intuitive to him. For the remainder, however, percentile dice rolling is about as simple as it gets.

So far the only real slow down the group has experienced was due to our space combat starting too late in the session and the fact that I haven’t been good about giving each player something to do in the combat.

We shall see whether I can get this right tonight!

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RPG Carnival- Life Without Gaming

By | Published May 7, 2010

3 Years, give or take.

That’s the longest I’ve gone without gaming.

It was during the second half of my undergrad. Unlike a lot of gamers, I didn’t game a lot back in undergrad. As it began, my old high-school group went its separate ways, some of us to University, some to work, and we all chased after different things. Mostly we chased after girls, booze and drugs, truthfully.

I know that for myself, I saw those years (say 18-23) as a chance to try out new things and try on new identities. It wasn’t just a ‘now that I’m not in high school I can be cool’ thing, it was more of a ‘the world’s bigger than the small town I came from’ thing.

So it’s not like I was bored.RPG-Blog-Carnival-Logo

I co-hosted a college radio show. I got involved in politics. I went to see bands, plays and art. I probably watched hundreds of great films (always my first love).

What I didn’t do was game. And no matter what I tried to tell myself, I did miss it. I was a junky convincing himself he’d kicked the habit.

I was living in Edmonton, Alberta for a big chunk of my rather chequered undergraduate career and I thought I was happy living my life without gaming; but every once in a while, I’d jones for it.

I lived in the seemingly abandoned downtown core of Edmonton in the late 90s and whenever I’d get antsy at night, I’d head out for a cigarette and coffee fuelled. Listening to Tortoise or God Speed You Black Emperor, I could really dig on the whole empty apocalypse vibe that the city gave me at night. That said, sometimes walking by empty stores and seedy bars got old and practically the only thing open after 9pm was the ‘Wee Book Inn’ used bookstore (just off of 104th and Jasper avenue, I believe).

Whenever I felt restless or just needed to get out, I’d go there and search through the racks of paperbacks and comics for something to catch my eye.

Most of the time I wouldn’t find anything.

But one night, I stumbled across a bunch of odd looking books that had been misfiled with the comics. Supplements for White Wolf’s Trinity and priced for maybe $5 each. Inevitably, I slowly bought up the lot, devoured them, and eventually sprung for a new copy of the core book.

Future psychics fighting against the return of apocalyptic super-heroes in a conspiracy fuelled universe.

I was hooked.

Whenever I got frustrated with my academic work (which I took far too seriously) I’d sketch out ideas for campaigns or theorize about the elusive gaps in White Wolf’s official story. By the time I finished my degree, I knew I had to run something. I knew I was a gamer and that running games was just something I like to do.

It’s funny.

I’m still mildly political, I’m still a bit of an art nerd and I love music, but after those years of experimenting with new things and trying on new identities, I wound up realizing that gaming, comics, and film were really my three big passions.

I’m glad I broadened my horizons, but I’m even happier that I realized what I liked to do. Since then I’ve never let myself go a longer than 6 months or so without a game (although moving to Montreal and starting Grad School was a transition).

Then again, I’m going to be a dad in two months, so we shall see…

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Stuff to Steal From: Smokin’ Aces

By | Published May 3, 2010

Personally, I recommend every GM rip off Smokin’ Aces for a messy good time.

Mr MacGuffin

Mr MacGuffin

Now I’ve chatted about Smokin Aces before, but the stripped down premise goes a little like this:

A talented schlub has a MacGuffin or is a MacGuffin (lets call him, Mr. MacGuffin). Mr. MacGuffin has crossed a lot of powerful people and has squirreled himself away. A bounty is put on Mr. MacGuffin’s head, and a whack of odd-balls, mercenaries, and psychos set out to collect it. Through in a couple of other interested factions and havoc ensues.

And really that’s it. The simplicity of this set-up is it’s big advantage. Personally, I’ve used this in a Convention Game to great effect with Bugsy Siegel as Mr. MacGuffin and the players as a number of small-time super-villains.

In general, the way I’d recommend you set it up is as follows:

Keep 'em Memorable

Keep 'em Memorable

  • The PCs have been hired, harassed or cajoled into hunting after Mr. MacGuffin. They are also probably aware that a number of other, similarly psychotic groups are on the hunt as well.
  • Unlike Smokin’ Aces, I don’t recommend that you tell your PCs group Mr. MacGuffin is right away. Instead, I’d suggest giving them two or three locations or contacts that could lead to Mr. MacGuffin and will serve as set-pieces for interactions with competing groups.
  • Give Mr. MacGuffin some talented bodyguards and an exit strategy from the scenario, if possible.
  • Depending on your group, you may want to consider having some members of your PC group working fordifferent factions that are at odds with each other. For example, a PC’s secret master may want Mr. MacGuffin’s head not to fall into the hands of the PC group’s Patron. I find this particularly effective at Convention Games.
  • Finally, the most vital thing to lift from Smokin’ Aces is its take on Characters.
  • Now I’m not suggesting you lift characters wholesale from the film, although there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m suggesting you make sure your competing characters are broadly painted types that will stick in your players’ minds.
  • So, throw in a bunch of memorable psychopaths (bloodthirsty shark-face mutants), ice-cold professionals (assassins from the black city of Styre) and Johnny Laws (Agent Thirsk and Steel of A.X.E.).
  • Give them each a timeline and a set of locations they’ll be at; and let the fireworks begin.

With a little luck, you’re adventure will end up as glorious a mess as Smokin’ Aces’ shoot-out at the Nomad.

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