As a guard person you will probably be familiar with Andy Hoare's work even if you don't realise it - he's one of the main authors of the current Imperial Guard codex, as well as Tactica Imperialis and qute a lot of Guard related stuff.

I'd really like ot see the involvement of the Tau in Rogue Trader.  It's a shame the Calixis Sector is so far away from the Eastern Eringe.

... and then there was a warp storm, and 'lo and behold the Tau were in the Calixis sector. 

Kage

Kage2020 said:

Hah!  Let's have the Tau testing a new warp drive and it transports them to the Calixis sector.

Ahh, yes, the Chaos Tau, the world's greatest contradiction in terms.

"FOR THE LESSER GOOD!"

Pneumonica said:

Or maybe a new Tau caste - the Chaos Caste.  They are noted for their mutations.

PGMason said:

I don't play the minis as I mentioned elsewhere, a thousand dollars for models, books, paint, brushes... is a little much for ONE game in my opinion.  I have been introduced to the lore through DH, DoW, Lexicum, and other places.  I've also been introduced to the controversy behind "lore=mechanics" but that's another story.

PGMason said:

Is it?  I've always had trouble putting these places to the maps given on Lexicum.

Yes, the Tau Empire is right in the extreme Galactic East, right at the far edge of the Ultima Segmentum, while the Calixis Sector is in the Galactic West, near the Scarus Sector and not too far from the Eye of Terror.

I'm sure Kage is right though, and there's a way to work them into Calixis if necessary, although it does sound a bit too Star Trek: Voyager.

PGMason said:

Well, there's ALWAYS a way, it just depends on how satisfactory it is with the rest of the lore.  One of the Tau's allies (the new space dwarves I think) has FTL capabilities if I remember correctly but that still doesn't explain why they'd randomly want to take a jaunt across the galaxy light-years from home.

So Calixis is near the Western Rim.  Well that would explain why the Tyranids have a entry in the DH monster manual.

PGMason said:

Well, my response would utilise one of the cliches of the 40k universe.  Need a world to be separated from the Imperium for whatever reason? Hey, surround it in a warp storm.  Need to get a ship to a point really quickly/slowly?  The warp was acting weird.  Need practically anything to happen in the 40k universe?  Yup, you got it—the warp did it. 

The warp is just 40k's magic bullet.  But it's one of the things that we all love, though I would imagine to varying degrees.  (Phil Sibbering really loves the warp as an explanatory mechanic!)

Anyway, just because something can be done doesn't necessarily mean that it should... 

Kage

Warpalicious.  I blame it on the Warp all the time.  It's a great GM tool for explaining your goof ups.

I really hope the two systems are similar enough that I can seemlessly integrate my DH campaign into RT.  I already have RT players in my DH game...

The way I see it is, Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader are just two parts of Warhammer 40k RPG.  Hopefully, there will be more parts in the future.

For example: Why have a RT supplement book which details Orks and Eldar when you already have Creatures Anathema?  I had theorized that some of the other species/Xenos weren't in CA because they would be detailed later in a RT supplement.

Why would you not want DH players to buy RT books?  If it's all the same universe, then DH players would still want RT books to enrich their game and vice versa.  That's my opinion anyway.

I know they are planning on two more installments for this game (Rogue Trader and Death Watch) but I would love to see more (Greater Good: All Tau RPG*, Choas: The Ruinous Powers RPG and especially Necromunda: RPG in the Underhive).

Especially would love to see Necromunda as a RPG setting or a Necromunda like RPG setting. I mean you can play that with existing rules, but honestly, you can play rogue traders with existing rules, once you have some space travel/conflict rules.

Peace

Peacekeeper_b said:

I would love a rulebook for playing Eldar.  Their pathways seem perfect for the advancement system.

I would prefer more supplements and less expensive new systems, but there we go.  That's an old soap box of many.

Wilfred Owen said:

Actually, there's some debate about just that point on another forum.  On the face of it kinda/maybe, but what about changing Paths?  What happens then?  Erm, but there we go.  That's food for another discussion. 

Kage

I heard that Rogue Trader is set in the Koronis Exspanse, anyone want to bet that it is near the Eastern fringe(Damocles Gulf)

I can Imagine that there will be supplaments to play as Tau and Eldar

Pius XIII said:

All Ross is willing to say is that it is connected to the Calixis Sector in some unsual way, meaning that its probably "near" to the Calixis Sector without necessarily being right next door, but far enough away that we'll be exploring virgin frontier.