crownblade:
My basic premiss for a game is perhaps less illegal pirates and more Imperial sanctioned privateers, setting the game in either the Jericho Reach or the Spinward front. That would give the players freedom to pursue their own agenda and still having opportunities with the imperial authorities.
Why those sectors? Especially if the game were more piratical, wouldn't it be better out in the Expanse where there's less Imperial authority and therefore more freedom to pursue a given agenda?
SENIOR CARDINAL IGNATO:
Starting with character creation, are you going to do it by the book? A joint effort could take months and seems to kill games, but the ones that seem to have little character involvement in the building of the ship also do not seem to go over as well.
And who comes down to being the Rouge Trader or How many Rouge Traders are there? And then the one I think really gets it going south spineward is REALLY what the frakk are we all doing in a 41k starship?
Do you want to pirate or privateer, do you accept Dark Eldar aboard, do any of the characters have any reason really to be with each other at all? These seemingly little things get big when you take on a Warrant of Trade. And even if it flopped at 100 posts I will throw my Seneschal into the ring again, because it is frakking ROUGE TRADER. And nothing, nothing is as cool as "Space Gangstas".
There are all questions I hope to answer before I commit to running such a game. I'm hoping to get answers to the question of "What do you hope to get out of the game?" from the seven or eight people who responded to crownblade's original post.
To give my initial answers (that can be persuaded to change) to your specific questions, though:
1) Character creation would be done as normal but with Motivation as a free-row.
X) Ship creation / starting PF and SP would depend on the answer to question 4.
2) One rogue trader (or pirate captain).
3) The same reason you're all in the same squad, the same DW team, the same warband, or the same acolyte cell - the Emperor wills it. Specifically applied to RT, though, the captain must have chosen each of you for some reason: your connections, your abilities, politics, etc.
4) Pirate or privateer (essentially, pirate or rogue trader) is the real question that needs to be answered.
5) Depends on what the group decides. Xenos are a big part of any game they're included in, and it should be agreed upon by everyone.
6) See number 3.