Telemicus said:

This idea is pureGOLD!  I love the hell out of It!  

Telemicus said:

I don't believe that a SM in a sus-an trance can self-revive and I'm pretty sure that no one outside of the Astartes (and forsaken/Chaos Marines) would have the knowledge of how to perform that procedure. Now if you want to do the Astartes version of Sleeping Beauty, it might be fine.

A Genetor might have a chance to revive the marine. However, I am sure the marine's chapter would prefer the body to simply be shipped back. The chapter's apothecary is by far the best place. Also the Genetor would be risking the wrath of the marine's Chapter - particularly if he was unsuccessful.

However, if there is a story reason to revive the marine, then I would let the PCs do it.

Fresnel said:

Its been a while since I players Deathwatch (which it totally awesome) but I remember getting the impression that marines can voluntarily wake themselves from the trance. I could be wrong here but I mention it because I think it's worth a look into the RAW

I only brought a couple RT books with me to work, deathwatch is at home. I can check in about eight hours….

Fresnel said:

Fresnel said:

Its been a while since I players Deathwatch (which it totally awesome) but I remember getting the impression that marines can voluntarily wake themselves from the trance. I could be wrong here but I mention it because I think it's worth a look into the RAW

I only brought a couple RT books with me to work, deathwatch is at home. I can check in about eight hours….

Given the nature of fluff in the franchise, it probably depends on where you look.

"Only appropriate chemical therapy and auto-suggestion can revive a Marine from this state - a Marine cannot revive himself. The longest known period of deanimation followed by successful reanimation is 567 years in the case of brother Silas Err of the Dark Angels (d.321 M.37)."
- WD #247, Index Astartes, Rites of Initiation

Depending on how closely the group wants to stick to which sources of fluff and/or how important the Marine's participation is for the story, I am sure one could come up with ways on how to trigger revivification … possibly even with unintentional side-effects due to using non-standard procedures! *plot hook*

But if the idea is to have a whole team of Marines (possibly player characters) on the ship, the Apothecary could well suffice as a "Sleeping Beauty", as HappyDaze put it, good only for establishing the initial contact. ;)

Don't forget the Squat Heptad that accompanies the sleeping Astartes!

Lynata said:

Oh, good catch, I don't think I've seen that before!

A weakened, irritable Astartes (like when the 10th Doctor first regenerated in front of Rose) who needs a special cocktail of nutrients to get himself back in shape could be amusing (for the GM) and a memorable complication for the Explorers to overcome ;)

Telemicus said:

Rogue trader is a heavily social game with some focus on combat (especially starship scale combat).

Deathwatch is a combat grind with very little social focus.

Those two work well to mesh together, but the problem is Dark Heresy - your players wont enjoy how underpowered the characters are compared to RT and DW. Also of issue is the fact that DH has a focus on inquiry, which can be done in RT via your seneschal or dynasty's network of operatives, at low levels and at high levels becomes a political power game, which is what Rogue Trader is from the start.

I'd personally skil DH and just do an RT/DW hybrid.

Reading through this thread I had an idea I've not seem written yet do here's my two cents. 

The recent Salamanders trilogy showed a side of SM that we haven't really seen before, and a number of the main characters (all full battle brothers with at least a couple of decades of service under their belts) had great difficulty adjusting to the loss of thier company captain, and the head apothecary of the company is so grief stricken by the loss of such a close friend that he decides to withdraw from service and leaves on a journey across the deserts of Nocturne as a form of honourable suicide not unlike the Japanese tradition of Harikiri. Though he is not expected to return, his brothers hope he will for a warrior returning from the edge of the abyss is a warrior reborn, and to find out if he does, you'll have to read the books XD 

Now onto my original point. If a battle brother was a member of a task force that suffered a crushing defeat from which he was the only survivor, he may feel his personal honour was injured, or he may feel responsible for destroying those responsible for killing his brothers, he may take the a death oath, as some have mentioned, or he may request leave from his chapter master to hunt down the ones responsible. This gives you scope for a future campaign with the SM, and an almost infinite number of ways to introduce him to the RT group. Meeting him devoid of armour in a spaceport bar while he looks for suitable transport to follow his next clue, finding him in almost destroyed power armour barely conscious after a confrontation with his sworn-enemies, those are just two, but theres any number of ways to bring him in.