No PC navigator?

[Quint Havlock 0]

Starting up Rogue Trader for the first time soon and none of my players are interested in playing a navigator. So I was wondering if there was a default set of stats I could use to roll against when doing stellar/warp navigation or some other alternative?

[HappyDaze 10,108]

you could just base it on crew quality.  They give a standard rating of, IIRC, 40.  If you spend SP for a better crew you get a better Navigator too.

Optionally, a probably much more satisfying if you have the time, is to make up an NPC Navigator.  NPCs that are on the ship are some of the only recurring characters you'll have to keep continuity, so you might as well make the most of them.

[MILLANDSON 306]

HappyDaze said:

you could just base it on crew quality.  They give a standard rating of, IIRC, 40.  If you spend SP for a better crew you get a better Navigator too.

Optionally, a probably much more satisfying if you have the time, is to make up an NPC Navigator.  NPCs that are on the ship are some of the only recurring characters you'll have to keep continuity, so you might as well make the most of them.

Nah, base crew rating is 30, you can spend 5SP to get to 40 or 15SP to get to 50.

[Tantavalist 36]

If there is no PC Navigator then the players can just roll Crew Quality for an NPC Navigator.

 

My own players are doing this in the campaign I just started. However, even with a better-than-average crew (Quality 40) the Navigator is making rather a mess of several Navigation rolls and they've never made a journey in less than the base travel time, frequently making x2/x3/x4.

 

A PC Navigator will not onlyu possibly have better scores to roll against, but more importantly will have Fate Points to spend when a really bad roll is made.

 

The current plan of the group is to press-gang another player into joining then making him create a Navigator character.

[Varnias Tybalt 3]

HappyDaze said:

Optionally, a probably much more satisfying if you have the time, is to make up an NPC Navigator.  NPCs that are on the ship are some of the only recurring characters you'll have to keep continuity, so you might as well make the most of them.

I'd go with this one too.

Forcing the players to have to make do with an NPC navigator based on crew rating as opposed to a PC navigator that's probaly going to try to be the best darned Navigator there is, is pretty harsh.

Even if things go wrong during warp transit, then at least they have a real "face" to shout at if the NPC navigator is fleshed out as a detailed NPC, rather than being a facless "everyman" on the vessel.

[Quint Havlock 0]

I agreed and started rolling up an NPC navigator last night for all future games with no navigator.

Do you think it is also worth my time to roll an Astropath?

[Varnias Tybalt 3]

Quint Havlock said:

I agreed and started rolling up an NPC navigator last night for all future games with no navigator.

Do you think it is also worth my time to roll an Astropath?

Well as a rule of thumb I'd say that working out a detailed NPC with it's own personality, looks, past history and quirks is always preferable over using a "mook" with standardized characteristics.

It makes the game world seem more vivid for the players.

That being said, there's really not much preventing you from simply saying that they have an astropath on board and pretty much treat it like an interstellar telephone. It all bottles down to how much detail you feel you'd like to include in the campaign. Because while going in-depth with the details can be nice, you're going to have to take the rest of the campaign into consideration as well, and deduce how much time the players will have to actually explore all these details.

So it's your call.

[Quint Havlock 0]

Good point. I have some time, so I think I'll add a little more like to the more significant characters that may show up.

[St. Jimmy 0]

I like the idea of using a NPC navigator, and I've written one up for the situation. There just seems to be one slight problem, how to handle ship-combat.

Should the NPC be available like any other crew member, to use skills and/or fire guns? I'm thinking Yes, as it's a 3-player party and they'll probably want to split up when a second vessel is acquired, but the NPC will try to remain on the ship or in a base at all times. A highly talented flagship is one thing, but don't want the transports picked off too easily. Anyway, I'd appreciate any input.