History TabletopGame / RogueTrader

* WretchedHive: Footfall, a collection of hollowed-out asteroids, repurposed derelict ships, and other such livable space detritus loosely held together with tethers and docking bridges, located on the far side of the Maw just inside the Expanse. It is here that various factions vie for control of various territories, any number of goods both conventional and illicit can be bought and sold, and a variety of powers keep agents stationed there to guard their interests and monitor those of others. A place where assassins, diplomats, priests, criminals, and even xenos can rub elbows with each other. The fact that not all of them shoot each other on sight says much about how little Imperial law means on Footfall.

* TooDumbToFool: A particularly messy variant. If a Navigator takes The Lidless Stare up to Master level, anyone who looks into their Warp Eye has to pass a Toughness test or die immediately- unless their Intelligence is less than 20. As a comparison, the minimum starting Intelligence is 27...

Tropes for the former can be found on the main ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' page; this page is for the latter. See also ''DarkHeresy'', ''TabletopGame/{{Deathwatch}}'', and ''BlackCrusade'', ''Rogue Trader'''s sister games.

* [[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou Sarvus Trask Is About To Shoot You]]: The cover for the ''Hostile Acquisitions'' supplement.

* PunchClockHero: The ''Into The Storm'' {{splat}} gives us the Kroot mercenary as a career option. Rogue Traders are one of the few Imperial servants who have sanction to deal with xenos, and that includes hiring of services. The Kroot are excellent trackers, spies, and close-quarters combatants, but their help is strictly mercenary. They can be trusted to [[IGaveMyWord uphold their word]], but how determined they are to see their task through is heavily dependant on the renumerations they expect to recieve, to the point that they can resist fear and pinning better if their current venture is potentially profitable enough.

** In the crunch, your starting character is either going to start with lots of money or a frakking big ship. So either this or [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveANuke Screw The Rules I Have A Kilometers Long Starfaring Battle Cathedral]].

* StarshipLuxurious: Things that can potentially be found aboard a Rogue Trader's starship include vaulted ceilings, barracks for entire regiments of ground troops, room-sized techno-pipe organs, factories, and full-size churches to the God-Emperor (some of which can detach from the ship proper and be air-dropped as prefab cathedrals on worlds in need of converting).

* HordeOfAlienLocusts: Surprisingly, not the Tyranids but the , a new canon addition.

* HordeOfAlienLocusts: Surprisingly, not the Tyranids but the Rak'Gol, a new canon addition.

--> "The Ork has an innate and instinctive skill with machinery, allowing him to perform feats of engineering that [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve defy logic]], cobbling together [[MacGyvering random lumps of wrecked technology and scrap metal into something bizarre and startlingly effective]]."

The name ''Rogue Trader'' refers to two different games associated with the ''[[{{Warhammer 40000}} Warhammer 40,000]]'' universe. The original ''Rogue Trader'' was the first edition of the ''Warhammer 40,000'' tabletop game, while the current ''Rogue Trader'' (2009) is the second of a series of ''Warhammer 40,000'' tabletop roleplaying games. While its sister game ''DarkHeresy'' casts the players in the role of Inquisitorial Acolytes and focuses on themes of corruption and conspiracy, ''Rogue Trader'' is a game of exploration, adventure, and the horrors of the unknown, following one of the eponymous Rogue Traders and his crew as they explore the uncharted depths of space for gold, glory and the God-Emperor. Something like a more GrimDark ''Franchise/StarTrek'' -- or, as some put it, MirrorUniverse ''Franchise/StarTrek''.

Tropes for the former can be found on the main ''[[{{Warhammer 40000}} Warhammer 40,000]]'' page; this page is for the latter. See also ''DarkHeresy'', ''TabletopGame/{{Deathwatch}}'', and ''BlackCrusade'', ''Rogue Trader'''s sister games.

* AcePilot: One of the possible archetypes for Void Master characters (the others being Ace Helmsman, Ace Gunner, and Ace Sensor Officer). The Flight Marshal elite advance that Void Masters can take is unambiguously this.

* AwesomeYetPractical: Bolt weapons. Also, [[LostTechnology archeotech]] ship components, which use less space and power while being slightly better than normal components.

* BalanceOfPower: Aspyce Chorda and Calligos Winterscale, the two strongest Rogue Traders in the Expanse are on a brink of war. They are so evenly matched that neither is guaranteed victory.

* BiggerIsBetter: A literal case with Ork equipment. As the quality of the craftsmenship goes up, so does the size and mass of the piece of equipment. With human manufactured items, the opposite tends to be true.

--> "The Ork has an innate and instinctive skill with machinery, allowing him to perform feats of engineering that [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve defy logic]], cobbling together [[MacGyvering random lumps of wrecked technology and scrap metal into something bizarre and startlingly effective]]."

* PunchClockHero: The ''Into The Storm'' {{splat}} gives us the Kroot mercenary as a career option. Rogue Traders are one of the few Imperial servants who have sanction to deal with xenos, and that includes hiring of services. The Kroot are excellent trackers, spies, and close-quarters combatants, but their help is strictly mercenary. They can be trusted to [[IGaveMyWord uphold their word]], but how determined they are to see their task through is heavily dependant on the renumerations they expect to recieve, to the point that they can resist fear and pinning better if their current venture is potentially profitable enough.

* ShoutOut: The description of the Endurance Motivation ("You seek to endure, and, in enduring, grow stronger") refers to a line spoken by Dak'kon from [[PlanescapeTorment Planescape: Torment]].
** There is also the characteristic given to [[DeathWorld Death World]] characters, which lets them take training with primitive melee weapons, to represent their experience fighting terrifying monsters with improvised or underpowered weaponry. Its name? [[Film/{{Predator}} If it bleeds, I can kill it]].

The name ''Rogue Trader'' refers to two different games associated with the ''[[{{Warhammer 40000}} Warhammer 40,000]]'' universe. The original ''Rogue Trader'' was the first edition of the ''Warhammer 40,000'' tabletop game, while the current ''Rogue Trader'' (2009) is the second of a series of ''Warhammer 40,000'' tabletop roleplaying games. While its sister game ''DarkHeresy'' casts the players in the role of Inquisitorial Acolytes and focuses on themes of corruption and conspiracy, ''Rogue Trader'' is a game of exploration, adventure, and the horrors of the unknown, following one of the eponymous Rogue Traders and his crew as they explore the uncharted depths of space for gold, glory and the God-Emperor. Something like a more GrimDark ''StarTrek'' -- or, as some put it, MirrorUniverse ''StarTrek''.

** There is also the characteristic given to [[DeathWorld Death World]] characters, which lets them take training with primitive melee weapons, to represent their experience fighting terrifying monsters with improvised or underpowered weaponry. Its name? [[{{Predator}} If it bleeds, I can kill it]].

* [[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou The Iconic Rogue Trader Is About To Shoot You]]: The cover for the ''Hostile Acquisitions'' supplement.

** The Hostile Acquisitions sourcebook brings us the "Reaver" career option, raiders who have lived too long on the edge of space and now live only for pillage and slaughter. The accompanying illustration includes a rather familiar [[{{Firefly}} brown duster]].

* [[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou The Iconic Rogue Trader Is About To Shoot You]]: The cover for the ''Hostile Acquisitions'' supplement.

* WorthyOpponent: This can quite easily happen in-game between PCs and other Rogue Traders, since while most of them are rivals, very few are outright enemies as Koronus is filled with forces that are openly hostile to all humans. The supplement ''Edge of Abyss'' actively encourages GMs to have their groups develep rivalries with, and seek to surpass the existing canonical NPCs.