A Bicycle Made 40K Two (a repost of sorts)

Ghost Whistler · September 09, 2011, 10:57:20 AM

Ha ha, funny title.

I've asked before but to no avail.

I really want to run Rogue Trader (especially before i tackle Deathwatch) but I only have 2 players. How can I make this work?

thedungeondelver · September 09, 2011, 11:37:57 AM

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;477627Ha ha, funny title.

I've asked before but to no avail.

I really want to run Rogue Trader (especially before i tackle Deathwatch) but I only have 2 players. How can I make this work?

Two undercover inquisitors sent to investigate and root out a Genestealer cult on a hive-world. The world in question is at a nexus of interstellar travel and also houses one of the most important Adeptus Mechanicus weapons factories in that segment of the galaxy. A Genestealer or Chaos cult there would be HIGHLY disruptive and a full-blown Inquisition on the planet would disrupt resupply of many Chapters holding off an entire orc Waaaagh! a mere three parsecs away. So the "light touch" is required to ferret out the Heretics!

Novastar · September 09, 2011, 12:41:14 PM

Allow them to play 2 characters apiece (typically, one ship-bound and the other landing party material)?

Liberal use of the "Red Shirt" mechanic?
(A landing shuttle holds a lot of men; men dying by the droves, as the PC's accomplish goals, fits the genre.)

Ghost Whistler · September 09, 2011, 12:54:14 PM

Quote from: thedungeondelver;477632Two undercover inquisitors sent to investigate and root out a Genestealer cult on a hive-world. The world in question is at a nexus of interstellar travel and also houses one of the most important Adeptus Mechanicus weapons factories in that segment of the galaxy. A Genestealer or Chaos cult there would be HIGHLY disruptive and a full-blown Inquisition on the planet would disrupt resupply of many Chapters holding off an entire orc Waaaagh! a mere three parsecs away. So the "light touch" is required to ferret out the Heretics!

That's great, but I said Rogue Trader, not Dark heresy. I don't own dark Heresy (or Ascension).

Ghost Whistler · September 09, 2011, 12:56:44 PM

Quote from: Novastar;477639Allow them to play 2 characters apiece (typically, one ship-bound and the other landing party material)?

Liberal use of the "Red Shirt" mechanic?
(A landing shuttle holds a lot of men; men dying by the droves, as the PC's accomplish goals, fits the genre.)

Having tried star trek the idea of playing people not at the high end of a hierarchical structure (ie bridge crew) is an unrewarding experience. If possible i'd rather stick to the character types in the book.

Playing multiple characters is an option I had considered, but the players wont' be interested in that.

it's not the landing party/away team aspect that's an issue. It's the fact that the shiops have huge crews and so the player party needs to encompass a sizeable number of the command staff including the man in charge (the trader himself).

I suppose it's more akin to playing a noble house set up, like Game of Thrones, with only two players.

thedungeondelver · September 09, 2011, 02:54:55 PM

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;477642That's great, but I said Rogue Trader, not Dark heresy. I don't own dark Heresy (or Ascension).

You can't play an investigative type game in RT?

Not being snarky, I'm genuinely curious.

Ghost Whistler · September 09, 2011, 03:08:18 PM

Quote from: thedungeondelver;477660You can't play an investigative type game in RT?

Not being snarky, I'm genuinely curious.

You could, but it doesn't include stats/rules for an inquisitor character and that's not what i'm looking to run with RT. The game already has plenty of flavourful character choices.

Novastar · September 09, 2011, 04:50:23 PM

I'd actually say a Inquisitor is better served with Profit Factor/Influence rules from Rogue Trader, than the more "adventuring group" rules of Dark Heresy (YMMV).

Also, to clarify, the Red Shirts would be NPC's. They live and die at the speed of plot (though player actions can affect that: good actions = no/less men die, bad actions = barrel o' blood o' death)

And Into the Storm proved to our group, no matter how many players you have, you will never fill out all the Command roles on-board a Rogue Trader. You will have to default to "ship standard" (20/30/40/50; mattering on what you bought/earned) for a lot of roles.

Pseudoephedrine · September 09, 2011, 07:20:40 PM

Let each PC play one character of suitably high rank (probably the RT and one other), both mechanically and otherwise. A smaller group works better the higher in a given hierarchy you want to play.

Then, generate a bunch of lower ranking characters for the PCs to play. The PCs as commanders choose who they want to assign to any given task, set some goals, and then roleplay the lower-ranking characters carrying out the adventure. Design some Phoenix Cave-style adventures, where there are multiple parties working simultaneously.

Blackhand · September 09, 2011, 08:36:45 PM

I really don't see what the problem is, other than only having 2 people - which isn't really a problem.

Build the ship and it's crew, or at least the crew. If one player isn't a Rogue Trader, then build the ship. If one player selects the Rogue Trader, let them build it.

The other player (or both) can then select any other character. Their characters replace or add to the crew you've already rolled for their ship.

The only problem is that the ship needs to be a setting in itself. If you have 7+ players, that tends to solve itself. In this case, just map it out like you would a town.

You might even bar the players from playing the Rogue Trader just so you can have one be an NPC to hand out missions.

Ghost Whistler · September 10, 2011, 03:36:18 AM

Quote from: Novastar;477679And Into the Storm proved to our group, no matter how many players you have, you will never fill out all the Command roles on-board a Rogue Trader. You will have to default to "ship standard" (20/30/40/50; mattering on what you bought/earned) for a lot of roles.

Of course, but there is a tipping point. With 4 or so players enough of the important roles are there that playing rogue trader becomes more viable it seems to me. These are all important roles, navigator, astropath, seneschal, bosun, arch militant. Obviously noone is going to have 20,000 players.

Ghost Whistler · September 10, 2011, 09:12:41 AM

Let me put it this way:

Which class would you pick to go alongside the rogue trader in a 2 player game?

Pseudoephedrine · September 10, 2011, 10:07:31 AM

I would go for Navigator, Astropath, or Explorator. Something where there's an obvious and immediate contrast with the capabilities of the RT.

Blackhand · September 10, 2011, 10:40:14 PM

That depends on the focus of the campaign.

What if I wanted to be Archmilitant? Wouldn't that suggest a more visceral game?

Ghost Whistler · September 11, 2011, 09:17:02 AM

I think I will take a leaf from Dark heresy and have the RT as an npc in the same way. The pc's can be a more independent force within the RT organisation. Ideally someone would have played the Lord Captain, making decisions with the advice of the rest of the players as to where to engage in economic crusades, who to plunder, what to trade etc.
However this way the ship can play a more interesting role as a venue the pc's can come and go from doing their lord's bidding. I envision a Seneschal and perhaps Explorator/Astropathic character perhaps. Maybe one of the players can be from the trader's bloodline - heir apparent maybe.