You've heard people talk about it online and in the news groups. Its perhaps the most talked about Sci-Fi miniatures book ever. You're not sure what exactly is inside the pages of this amazing book. Infact you've never seen a copy of the book itself. Oh maybe you've glimpsed a badly scanned picture of the books cover online sure. You know a guy that claims to have touched a copy, but you don't really believe him. There's even a cult online centered around the book! Once you almost payed $50 dollars for a copy missing the cover and half the pages. But when you sent them email it was already sold! You play the current version of 40K and love it. Somehow though you just know that you're missing out on what could be the best part of the game. You've seen what happens to others foolish enough to post messages online asking about the book. If they're lucky some one may repond by telling them that Rogue Trader was the original version of the Warhammer 40,000 rules. More than likely they are flamed out of existance for asking. If only you knew what was in that book!
If this is YOU then read on...
Now I will admit that as I write this I don't have my copy of Rogue Trader here in front of me. I keep it at my grox ranch out in the country in an underground complex dug by squat engineers and guarded by ambulls. I bought my first copy when I was about sixteen and still in high school. I've always been a slow reader and didn't read anything I was assigned to as homework. But I read Rogue Trader! It was just the coolest book I had ever come across.
Now I had been into role-playing games for years and had seen miniature games before. Most were historical wargames they seamed difficult and abstract with tons of rules, charts, and number crunching. Not only that but each miniature represented twenty or more men. Not like a RPG where after playing you have created an exciting story about individuals. I like history a lot but these games just didn't seam like something I could get into. As I read Rogue Trader however my young eyes were opened to a new vision. A table top miniatures game where one figure represented one individual. The games was sort of a hybrid between role-playing and wargaming in a science fiction setting!
I don't think that anybody, especially not Games Workshop, expected the game to get as big as it is now. The game was more of a miniatures skirmish game. You needed one person to act as the referee. They would plan battles, campaigns, and act as an impartial 3rd party during games. Much like a referee in a RPG they often controlled monsters (like ambulls) or bystanders. The game was definitely not put forward as any sort of head to head tournament game like we see today.
Certainly you could play large games but I don't think that was supposed to be the norm. Infact in one section Rick Priestly explained what would be a good strategy for collecting your miniatures. He suggested that everyone should choose a race and paint up one squad. In addition to that he advised everyone to paint some humans since they would be in most battles. Toward the back of the book was a series of random tables with examples of different plots to use as the basis for games. This was my favorite part of the book, it was called the plot generator. It had examples of all kinds of different types of conflicts. Most involving humans imperial or otherwise fighting each other or humans fighting aliens.
I mind swam with the possibilities! Space pirates, rebels, colonial settlers, imperial soldiers, planetary militias, and more all battling each other or fighting off hostile aliens. Not to mention the free roaming Rogue Traders themselves, imperial agents with thier own private armies charged with exploration of the galaxy. The book had a rich back ground that is still great to read. Yet to me it didn't limit you, there was still plenty of room for you to play whatever sort of battles you wanted.
And the miniatures Citadel made at the time were just great. All kinds of different humans were available along with orks, eldar, squats, zoats, and some monsters. But it wasn't like you had to use there stuff. Infact the rules had a point break down that let you create profiles for your own aliens. Not only that but the system would let you purchase anything in the game. The book didn't have army lists like today. Under the section for each race was a set of tables that you could roll on to create a force of that race. Then you would use the point system to make things balanced. There was an extensive list of equipment. There were no wargear cards. If you wanted a whole squad of penal troops equiped with frenzon dispensers then you just paid the price. The referee kept it fair, you didn't need to worry about somebody making a cheesy force. Infact you didn't need to always play the same race.
The point system wasn't limited to just the creation of races. No it let you make rules for any vehicles that you had or decide to build. They gave generic example vehicles that were really cool. Things like walkers, flyers, skimmers, motorcycles, civilian vehicles, and even giant city crushing juggernauts were all described. Not only vehicles but you could make your own dreadnaughts and robots. In those days plenty of plastic model kits saw service across the galaxy, though probably not in there original form!
The writing style of the whole book was different than we see today. Most people describe it as darker. There is a general feeling that in later editions of the rules Games Workshop chose to make things not so dark and gloomy. There certainly is a difference between the two versions. Most people that I've heard talk about it simply say the background has changed and is different now. I have to disagree with that. Little if any of the back ground has changed. But the style in which the background is written has changed.
Rogue Trader was written from the stand point of a neutral third party. The actions of the imperium were seen from how a modern observer might view them. That the emperor's policy are oppresive and cruel but there necessity was recognized. No particular side was viewed as right or wrong. Infact all the different sides had thier own tragic faults and shortcomings.
Now the current background doesn't change anything from RT. It just presents it from an imperial view point where the imperium is always right. Some specific parts of the universe have been writen about more and thus expanded upon. Also certain things have been left out like the emperors need to consume the life force of a thousand psykers a day. But they have never said that he doesn't still do this. Also White Dwarf and things in the Black Library often mention things that are only talked about in the older rules.
Rules have changed a lot, but don't mistake this for the background. Some rules like 'following fire' have been done away with. But they have been in general replaced with better or just different ways of doing things. This has to be expected in any new edition. Many of the old rules that you hear people talking about weren't that great. Like rolling up what equipment a race had when they were played. It was neat to look at the tables and say, "Wow, imperial guard can be equiped with bolters but only 10% of the time." But the fact was I refereed a lot of RT games and we always used what miniatures we had available. The tables gave you some insight into the universe that was so vast and open back then. But we never saw them as mandatory or even all that useful.
Another part of the book that has pretty much disappeared is the section on creatures. There used to be tons of aliens, plants, and animals in the game. But in general it was up to the referee to control them. Two hostile forces would be fighting it out on a death world. But the battle would have an extra complication in the form of dinosaurs, giant insects, and carnivorous plants attacking both sides. Many scenarios involved Grox a type of edible lizard grown for food through out the imperium. These big mean tempered creatures had to be kept sedated or would attack anything nearby. Sometimes Grox were just a nuisance on the board and other times they were the objective. Different imperial governors were always feuding and the destruction or theft of Grox was a common theme.
Game play in RT was just meant to be different as well. There was a system that you could use to advance characters. It wasn't nearly as advanced or well thought out as the current one for Necromunda. But it let you personnalize your miniatures and give them unique benefits. As opposed to today were most battles involve two nameless major heroes controlling armies fighting to achieve the senseless objectives on mission cards. Win or lose your next battle is just a repeat of the same with some minor changes.
So to sum it all up Rogue Trader sought to enable you to play a totally different style of game. Where you were incontrol and had a lot of options. Now Warhammer 40,000 is still a good game but what many people once found so attractive about it is gone. I suppose this has to do with the growth of the game. As GW has tried to reach a wider audience they have also changed the games format. I saw RT played at tournaments a few times but without a referee the sides were rarely balanced. The new rules are especially geared toward a more compedative style of play. I have seen many games come along over the years and had hoped for one of them to let you do what RT did. But there have been no real contenders. Well rumor has it that GW is going to make a skirmish version of 40K. Maybe it will be a return to the RT style of play?
