Weapons are incredibly easy to convert over to MiniSix. Most are simply represented by their damage dice - not only is ammo not a problem for Rogue Trader characters (being that you can afford to buy a manufactorum to make all the ammo you'll ever need), but MiniSix's cinematic feel means that reloading isn't a massive concern.
Weapons are split into several "categories", each with its own Skill. Usually, possessing the appropriate Skill will allow a character to use that particular type of weapon, though GMs may over-rule this for certain types of weapons (Exotic ones in particular - while a pistol-shaped, pistol-like Archaeotech device may be usable under the Pistols Skill, an Eldar Shard Pistol might need a Skill dedicated to its use).
Notes
The damage ratings for each of these weapons correspond to firing either a single shot (for pistols, rifles, etc) or for firing a single burst (auto-weapons, stubbers etc). Weapons which can fire on fully automatic can fire multiple bursts, trading a die on the to-hit roll for a die of damage, to a maximum of 3 dice (so, an autogun can fire three bursts on "full auto", at -3D to hit, for an extra 3D damage).
Melee Weapons
Knife - +1D
Sword - +2D+2
Axe - +3D
Modifications
Chain - +1D
Power - +2D, has a 70% chance to break non-Powered weapons on a successful Parry (or automatically if the Wild Die shows 6).
Force - add half the user's Psy Rating (rounded up) to the dice total (so, a Psyker with Psy Rating 3 will wield a Force Sword as a +4D+2 weapon).
Pistols
Laspistol - 3D+2
Hellpistol - 4D+2, discard the lowest dice
Stub Gun - 3D
Hand Cannon - 4D
Autopistol - 3D+2
Shot-pistol - 4D+1
Bolt Pistol - 5D
Rifles
Lasgun - 4D
Hellgun - 5D, discard the lowest
Lascarbine - 3D+2, can be used one-handed
Long-las - 5D
Autogun - 5D
Shotgun - 4D+2
Boltgun - 6D
Heavy
Heavy Bolter - 4D, Scale +4D/+12
Lascannon - 5D, Scale +4D/+12
Autocannon - 5D, Scale +2D/6
Heavy Stubber - 6D
Melta + Plasma
Inferno Pistol - 7D
Meltagun - 7D, Scale +2D/+6
Thermal Lance - 7D+2, Scale +2D/+6
Multi-melta - 6D, Scale +4D/+12
Plasma pistol 7D
Plasmagun 8D
Plasma cannon - 4D, Scale +4D/+12
These numbers are mostly taken straight from Arkat's previous thread on RPG.net, so kudos to him for allowing me to reprint them here. Some might be changed after some playtesting.
Thursday, 30 August 2012
Saturday, 25 August 2012
RIP Neil Armstrong
The man who reached high, and left a lasting impression in the heart of millions. After other had taught us war, death and suffering, Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins taught us how to hope.
How to look up at the sky, and figure out a way to get there. To always believe we can achieve anything if we worked together.
He will be sorely missed.
How to look up at the sky, and figure out a way to get there. To always believe we can achieve anything if we worked together.
He will be sorely missed.
Sunday, 19 August 2012
MiniSix 40k: Availability
Weapons in Rogue Trader-level campaigns are partially defined by their Availability - a stat that represents both price and ubiquity.
The list below gives a rough idea of the levels of availability, along with the appropriate TN for Profit Factor tests to acquire them.
Common (Very Easy) - Lasgun, several dozen lesser items (like ration packs, lho-sticks, etc).
Scarce (Moderate) - Demolition Charge
Rare (Difficult) Krak Grenade
Extremely Rare (Very Difficult) Digital Weapon
Near-Unique (Heroic) -Tempest Bolt Shells
The Scale of an Acquisition may affect how easy it is to make the purchase. The smaller the purchase, the better the bonus to the Profit Factor Test. On the other hand, purchasing enough power armour to protect a full regiment of soldiers would be beyond all but the most affluent of Rogue Traders - such large purchases will receive a penalty to the Acquisition roll.
Negligible (+10) - Single item
Trivial - (+6) - Squad (3–5)
Minor - (+3) - Platoon (10–30)
Standard - (+0) - Company (50–100)
Major (-3) Regiment (500–1,000)
Significant (-6) Division (2,000–5,000)
Vast (-10) Army (10,000+)
Of course, the GM is the final arbiter of what items may be purchased, and in what quantities - while purchasing 10,000 packs of lho-sticks to keep your personal army happy might not even need a roll, equipping each of them with Power Swords and their own personal Archaeotech sidearm will be beyond even the capabilities of the most powerful people in the Expanse, regardless of what the dice say.
By the same token, the area an Acquisition is made plays a large role in how likely it is to succeed. GMs should use their common sense - while a Forge World might be able to sell you an army's worth of weapons, a planet barely out of the Dark Ages and using black powder weapons won't be able to make that many of their own weapons, let alone the standard-issue laspistol.
The list below gives a rough idea of the levels of availability, along with the appropriate TN for Profit Factor tests to acquire them.
Common (Very Easy) - Lasgun, several dozen lesser items (like ration packs, lho-sticks, etc).
Scarce (Moderate) - Demolition Charge
Rare (Difficult) Krak Grenade
Extremely Rare (Very Difficult) Digital Weapon
Near-Unique (Heroic) -Tempest Bolt Shells
The Scale of an Acquisition may affect how easy it is to make the purchase. The smaller the purchase, the better the bonus to the Profit Factor Test. On the other hand, purchasing enough power armour to protect a full regiment of soldiers would be beyond all but the most affluent of Rogue Traders - such large purchases will receive a penalty to the Acquisition roll.
Negligible (+10) - Single item
Trivial - (+6) - Squad (3–5)
Minor - (+3) - Platoon (10–30)
Standard - (+0) - Company (50–100)
Major (-3) Regiment (500–1,000)
Significant (-6) Division (2,000–5,000)
Vast (-10) Army (10,000+)
Of course, the GM is the final arbiter of what items may be purchased, and in what quantities - while purchasing 10,000 packs of lho-sticks to keep your personal army happy might not even need a roll, equipping each of them with Power Swords and their own personal Archaeotech sidearm will be beyond even the capabilities of the most powerful people in the Expanse, regardless of what the dice say.
By the same token, the area an Acquisition is made plays a large role in how likely it is to succeed. GMs should use their common sense - while a Forge World might be able to sell you an army's worth of weapons, a planet barely out of the Dark Ages and using black powder weapons won't be able to make that many of their own weapons, let alone the standard-issue laspistol.
Saturday, 18 August 2012
Rogue Trader: Ork Grotweed
For Orks, the Grotweed has a pleasant (if acquired) taste. Many Warbosses and Big Meks (and the occasional Burna Boy) keep a supply of grotweed on hand for celebrating victories, keeping their cool in stressful situations, or when they need to buckle down and get thinkin'. For game purposes, treat these as lho-sticks, for Availability.
For Humans, however, the effects are somewhat different - when inhaled, Grotweed forces the Explorer to make a Hard (-20) Carouse Test (or Toughness Test, if using the BC rules). Failure gives 3 levels of Fatigue for one hour. Passing the Test leaves the Explorer high as all hell, hallucinating as if under the effects of a hallucinogen grenade for 3 rounds, and gives 1 level of fatigue. Passing with 2 or more degrees of success means that the hallucinogenic effect is ignored, but the Fatigue is still taken.
Humans who smoke these foul cigz in the presence of Orks will find a modicum of respect - gain a +20 to any Fellowship rolls (or similar) when dealing with those particular Orks.
Thursday, 16 August 2012
MiniSix 40k: Profit Factor
Profit Factor is an abstraction of the group's mighty wealth. To a Rogue Trader, a bolt pistol is not something to be scrounged and saved for, like most of the Imperium's subjects - it's something to be bought in the numbers to outfit an army. Rogue Traders come from massive amounts of wealth, and regularly engage in acts of derring-do, piracy, and sublime contract-negotiation, all in the pursuit of greater material possession.
Profit Factor does not cover just money - it represents wealth tied up in land, trade deals, priceless heirlooms and artifacts, and so forth. It is these contracts and deals that make a Rogue Trader wealthy, not just coin. To save the massive amounts of bean-counting and Throne-pushing, Profit Factor is not counted by the coin - instead, it is given as dice.
1D - destitute (for a Rogue Trader)
2D - starting wealth for most Dynasties
3D - up and coming
4D - comfortably wealthy
5D - very well off
6D - rich by even the high standards of a Rogue Trader
7D - the most powerful Dynasties in the Expanse.
As a warning: operating on the "+1 pip per Endeavour" scale means that the players might only require 16 such Endeavours to get up to 7D. While this might be suitable for some of the larger-scale plots and plans, it leaves little room for the smaller deals.
To counter this, I suggest having Greater and Lesser Endeavours.
Greater Endeavours are grand, involved, difficult plots, which should be spread over multiple game sessions, with multiple objectives which contribute to the overall effectiveness of the plan. These should tax the Explorer's resources sufficiently, such as converting a whole system of planets to the Imperial Creed, or finding the final resting place of a legendary lost ship, or settling a long and arduous trade route through the Warp. These grant +1 pip (perhaps +2 for particularly nightmarish ordeals, or incredibly high-risk, high-reward deals, though these should be rare). A Greater Endeavour that grants a whole die to Profit Factor should be the basis of a campaign, more than a series of sessions - and is most likely easier to split into three 1-pip objectives.
Lesser Endeavours are somewhat more manageable - possibly even wrapped up within a session. Setting up a small trade route, setting up a Cold Trade business on a newly-founded space station, clearing a current trade route of a minor threat, or securing exclusive rights to the sale of a particular pattern of weapon to a Forge World would all fall under this banner.
Lesser Endeavours earn "points". Six points make up a "pip". GMs who wish a more light-hearted tone might even make each point a letter in the word "PROFIT" (this make for a great visual aid, writing up each letter as they approach the pip).
When a character wishes to acquire something, he rolls the group's Profit Factor dice against a Target Number - success means you can get your hands on it, failure could mean it is unavailable at that location, that it might take a few weeks to order in, or just that you can't find a merchant willing to sell it. Note that failure doesn't mean "you don't get it" - just that it's not instantly available. Each item will have an Availability in their stats, which will give you a TN for average purchase.
As a rough guide, common items and services don't need to be rolled for. Unless you're in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, you can walk into any Imperial city and buy a pack of lho-sticks, a laspistol and a cheap hooker. If you're looking to acquire, say, 100 laspistols, of a specific pattern and colour scheme, or hand-rolled cigars made from the dried remains of a particular type of Xeno plant, or perhaps a courtesan who looks like a specific Adeptus Sororitas Canoness (and is willing to act out your "Inquisitor and Heretic" fantasy), then you might need to roll. Bear in mind the respective tech-levels of the various Imperial worlds, however - on a Feral or Feudal world, a laspistol will be a one-of-a-kind treasure, whereas on a Forge World, they pump them out at a rate of tens of thousands a day.
Next: Gear and an Availabilty Chart!
Profit Factor does not cover just money - it represents wealth tied up in land, trade deals, priceless heirlooms and artifacts, and so forth. It is these contracts and deals that make a Rogue Trader wealthy, not just coin. To save the massive amounts of bean-counting and Throne-pushing, Profit Factor is not counted by the coin - instead, it is given as dice.
1D - destitute (for a Rogue Trader)
2D - starting wealth for most Dynasties
3D - up and coming
4D - comfortably wealthy
5D - very well off
6D - rich by even the high standards of a Rogue Trader
7D - the most powerful Dynasties in the Expanse.
As a warning: operating on the "+1 pip per Endeavour" scale means that the players might only require 16 such Endeavours to get up to 7D. While this might be suitable for some of the larger-scale plots and plans, it leaves little room for the smaller deals.
To counter this, I suggest having Greater and Lesser Endeavours.
Greater Endeavours are grand, involved, difficult plots, which should be spread over multiple game sessions, with multiple objectives which contribute to the overall effectiveness of the plan. These should tax the Explorer's resources sufficiently, such as converting a whole system of planets to the Imperial Creed, or finding the final resting place of a legendary lost ship, or settling a long and arduous trade route through the Warp. These grant +1 pip (perhaps +2 for particularly nightmarish ordeals, or incredibly high-risk, high-reward deals, though these should be rare). A Greater Endeavour that grants a whole die to Profit Factor should be the basis of a campaign, more than a series of sessions - and is most likely easier to split into three 1-pip objectives.
Lesser Endeavours are somewhat more manageable - possibly even wrapped up within a session. Setting up a small trade route, setting up a Cold Trade business on a newly-founded space station, clearing a current trade route of a minor threat, or securing exclusive rights to the sale of a particular pattern of weapon to a Forge World would all fall under this banner.
Lesser Endeavours earn "points". Six points make up a "pip". GMs who wish a more light-hearted tone might even make each point a letter in the word "PROFIT" (this make for a great visual aid, writing up each letter as they approach the pip).
When a character wishes to acquire something, he rolls the group's Profit Factor dice against a Target Number - success means you can get your hands on it, failure could mean it is unavailable at that location, that it might take a few weeks to order in, or just that you can't find a merchant willing to sell it. Note that failure doesn't mean "you don't get it" - just that it's not instantly available. Each item will have an Availability in their stats, which will give you a TN for average purchase.
As a rough guide, common items and services don't need to be rolled for. Unless you're in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, you can walk into any Imperial city and buy a pack of lho-sticks, a laspistol and a cheap hooker. If you're looking to acquire, say, 100 laspistols, of a specific pattern and colour scheme, or hand-rolled cigars made from the dried remains of a particular type of Xeno plant, or perhaps a courtesan who looks like a specific Adeptus Sororitas Canoness (and is willing to act out your "Inquisitor and Heretic" fantasy), then you might need to roll. Bear in mind the respective tech-levels of the various Imperial worlds, however - on a Feral or Feudal world, a laspistol will be a one-of-a-kind treasure, whereas on a Forge World, they pump them out at a rate of tens of thousands a day.
Next: Gear and an Availabilty Chart!
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