Glad you all enjoyed it - seriously, it makes the time spent writing worth while...

I will be writing an "Aftermath" chapter that'll cover the decade after the last write up, telling the story of the survivors of House Dureen and of Brother Castagir. This isn't actually going to be a game report, but a section to hopefully round the story off nicely, based on discussions between the players and the GM regarding how they see things going.

Depending on work pressures, I'm hoping to have something written in the next couple of weeks, and also a Volume 3 pdf will be created continuing where Volume 2 left off, and finishing with the "Aftermath" chapter. As before this'll be available to anyone that wants a copy.

To all the mebers of this group, and especially Lord Spatula for writing, and Marvin for GMing/posting, thankyou for sharing what has been an excellent game and my pleasure to follow.  These are the kinds of games that we all want to play.

Well done.

LONG LIVE HOUSE DUREEN

Zakalwe said:

I second this superb statement.  To the heroic sacrifice of House Dureen!  May the Emperor watch over them for all eternity.

 Thanks for taking the time to type these up for us. This was obviously a game you put a lot of work into, and I enjoyed reading it very much.

If only I could get a game going of similar quality! 

Hi all!!!

Many thanks for the kind words, the game was a team effort from all the players and myself. Ive said it before and I'll say it again, communication and respect was the key to us having a great time. Overall this was one of the best campaigns I have had the pleasure to run and the group was fantastic. Considering we played nearly 50 sessions I had very little burnout and the reason why I ended when I did was due to personal circumstance and to keep the campaign focused.

We did have the character sheets stored electronically and I will try and dig them out with Dr V's help.

Although I had no plans to continue the tales of House Dureen, the players desire to continue the tale (Even though most are not 40k fans) and the great time I had has made me consider running a shorter campaign set a few decades in the future.

I also ran a savage worlds tour of darkness campaign where Lord Spatula took on writing duties but due to IT issues I don't have immediate access to those write ups. I will look into the writeups and see if they are complete and safe for public dispersal       

2nd-ed!

An a big thanks to all the guys for letting my join. It was great fun an salvaged 40K as an RPG setting for me. To explain, the Majors' 'backstory' actually all happened in a Dark Herasy game I was a part of and it was far FAR from enjoyable. Marvin and the guys prised me away from all that and reminded me what Gaming SHOULD be like. In the process we created some of the most memorable encounters I've had in a game. So, thanks you guys, really, thank you.

You guys really did a brilliant job of presenting this campaign. I'm very impressed it never devolved into the absurdity that most RT games do in my head as I run through them when I consider running a game. :)

This writeup along with another on the (ick) RPG.net forums have really got me amped to play a Rogue Trader in a new game my group just started. It's going to be tough not to approach every problem with, "well what would Hartek do?".

Cheers for the motivation and the great read!

I think all RT games should have a W.W.H.D sign :D

Major Kimenth said:

How do I pre-order the tshirt?

Also I ALMOST got my GM to let me roll my RT as a squat, but seeing as how I basically wrote my guy up as a Texas cattle baron/gunfighter that would have effectively made him Yosemite Sam, it was decided it may not be such a hot idea.

There is a shop in town that does T-Shirt printing. I will see how much when I am in town tomorrow :-D

EDIT: Right, I've got a mini design mocked up (nothing fancy but does the job). I'll see what they say.

EDIT EDIT: Everyone has got involed now. LordSpatula is finding fancy fonts and DrV is hunting down a 'High Gothic' translation of 'suprise cockbags' for a coat of arms

I always had a suspicion that the Major was an Assassin.

I won't spoil the supprise. We'll just wait for Marvin to post the charecter sheets shall we :-D

Major Kimenth said:

Yes please, I would like that very much.

Major Kimenth - I was shocked by the amount of interest in the T-shirts but this is how a legend is started :)

Zakalwe - Sorry for the delay on the character sheets, I will have a look today but im not convinced all of the players kept their online sheets up to date. They should still be interesting enough :D

 Okay, here we go...

First of all, the one and only....

Kilgrim Hartek

Personal Statistics

Origins Path

Homeworld Footfallen

Birthright Fringe Survivor (Survivalist)

Lure Of The Void Criminal (Wanted Fugitive)

Trails and Travails The Hand Of War

Motivation Endurance

Career Rogue Trader (formerly Arch-Militant)

Appearance

Build: Short and Stocky

Size: Squat

Height: 1.37m

Weight: 102kg

Age: 54

Skin: Fair

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Brown

Experience Points

XP Earned: 27650

XP Spent: 27550

XP to Spend: 100

XP Rank: 7

Next Rank: 30000

Characteristics

STATISTIC

SCORE

BONUS

ADVANCEMENTS BOUGHT

Weapon Skill (WS):

64

+6

Expert

Ballistic Skill (BS):

46

+4

Trained

Strength (S):

41

+4

Simple

Toughness (T):

41

+4

None

Agility (AG):

41

+4

Simple

Intelligence (INT):

52

+5

Trained

Perception (PER):

39

+4

Simple

Willpower (WP):

42

+4

Simple

Fellowship (FEL):

54

+5

Trained

Damage

Wounds: 17/ 17

Critical: Nil

Fatigue (Max = TB): Nil

Fate

Total: 4

Current: 4

Movement (m)

Half Action: 4

Walk: 8

Charge: 12

Run: 24

Lifting (kg)

Carry: 56

Lift: 112

Push: 225

Sanity, Corruption and Mutations

Insanity

Points: 9

Degree of Madness: Nil

Trauma Modifier: N/A

Disorders

Severity

Nil

Nil

Corruption

Points: 0

Degree of Corruption: Nil

Malignancy Test: +0

Malignancies: Nil

Mutations

Nil

Tested Against:

WS

BS

S

T

AG

INT

PER

WP

FEL

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Skills

Basic Skills

Awareness (PER): Skilled

Barter (FEL): Skilled+10

Carouse (TOU): Skilled+10

Charm (FEL): Skilled+20

Climb (STR): Unskilled

Command (FEL): Skilled+20

Concealment (AGI): Unskilled

Contortionist (AGI): Unskilled

Deceive (FEL): Skilled+20

Disguise (FEL): Unskilled

Dodge (AG): Skilled+10

Evaluate (INT): Skilled+20

Inquiry (FEL): Unskilled

Intimidate (STR): Skilled+10

Logic (INT): Unskilled

Scrutiny (PER): Skilled

Search (PER): Unskilled

Silent Move (AGI): Unskilled

Swim (STR): Unskilled

Survival (INT): Skilled

Advanced Skills

Blather : Skilled+20

Ciphers - Rogue Traders (INT) : Skilled

Commerce (FEL) : Skilled+20

Common Lore - Imperium (INT) : Skilled

Common Lore - Koronus Expanse (INT) : Skilled+10

Common Lore - Rogue Traders(INT) : Skilled+10

Common Lore - War(INT) : Skilled+10

Forbidden Lore - Xenos (INT) : Skilled+10

Literacy (INT) : Skilled

Pilot - Spacecraft (AGI) : Skilled

Psyniscience (PER) : Skilled

Scholastic Lore - Astromancy (INT) : Skilled

Scholastic Lore - Tactica Imperialis (INT) : Skilled+10

Secret Tongue - Rogue Traders : Skilled

Speak Language - Low Gothic (INT) : Skilled

Speak Language - High Gothic (INT) : Skilled

Speak Language - Traders Cant (INT) : Skilled

Speak Language - Proppa Orky (INT) : Skilled

Tech Use (INT) : Skilled

Traits

Street Knowledge: -5 penalty on all Scholastic Lore tests that don't relate to Koronus Expanse.

Talents

Air Of Authority

Ambidextrous

Basic Weapon Training - Universal

Blademaster

Counter Attack

Crushing Blow

Decadence

Duty Unto Death

Enemy - Adeptus Arbites

Fearless

Gunslinger

Hatred -Chaos Worshippers

Hung like an Ogryn - Fact!

Into The Jaws Of Hell

Iron Discipline

Jaded

Lightning Attack

Melee Weapon Training - Universal

Peer - Underworld

Pistol Weapon Training - Universal

Polyglot

Precise Blow

Quick Draw

Resistance - Fear

Rival - Inquisition

Sound Constitution x8

Sure Strike

Swift Attack

Talented - Command

True Grit

Two Weapon Wielder - Ballistic

Two Weapon Wielder - Melee

Wall of Steel

Resistances

Fear

Hatreds

Chaos Worshippers

Weapons Training

• Basic Weapon Training; Universal (Bolt, Flame, Las, Launcher, Melta, Plasma, Primitive, SP)

• Pistol Weapon Training; Universal

• Melee Weapon Training; Universal (Chain, Primitive, Power, Shock)

Weapons

Ranged & Melee

WEAPON

CLASS

DAMAGE

TYPE

PEN

RANGE

RoF

CLIP

RELOAD

WEIGHT

SPECIAL

Bolt Pistol

Pistol

1d10+5

Projectile

4

30m

S/2/-

8

Full

3.5kg

Best Quality: Reliable, Tearing
(Left = "Purity", Right = "Retribution")

Power Axe

Melee

1d10+7+SB

Energy

7

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

6kg

Good Quality: WS+5, Power Field, Unbalanced

Squat Power BattleAxe (I destroyed this BOOM!!!)

Melee

2d10+5+SB

Energy

7

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

8kg

2-handed(negated by bionic arm), Power Field, Unbalanced

Good Mono Knife

Melee

1d10+??+SB

Mono

??

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

??kg

??

Grenades & Ammunition

GRENADE

DAMAGE

TYPE

PEN

SPECIAL

-

-

-

-

-

Gear

2 bolt pistols

1 Good Power Axe

1 Good Mono Knife

Micro-bead Vox

Injector w 3 doses of Stim

Medikit

Manacles

Enforcer Light Carapace armour

Void Suit

Cybernetic Implants

Good Quality Bionic Right Arm with Integrated Concealed Compact Hand Flamer (+2 Toughness, +10 STR, +10 AGI for dexterity tasks)

Armour

Best Power Armour

Weight: 65kg

Protection

Head (01-10): 9

Right Arm (11-20): 9

Left Arm (21-30): 9

Body (31-70): 9

Right Leg (71-85): 9

Left Leg (86-00): 9

Description

Kilgrim Hartek is an angry Squat, who curses fluently in many languages. His moods vary from general grumpiness to an all-consuming rage against a hostile universe that sought to wipe his very race out of existence (and succeeded). He is deeply addicted to the fruit from the world of Dropas in the Saphirus system, known as the Hartek Fruit, but so far has managed to avoid any significant impairment as a result of this condition. He is, however, a high-functioning sociopath, capable of cold-blooded killing without feeling or remorse, though this behaviour predates his use of the Hartek fruit. Yet he is also capable of displaying great compassion to those who he deems worthy by his personal code (displaying loyalty and bravery in battle).

As Rogue Trader of the Dureen Dynasty, the command crown does not rest easy on Hartek's troubled brow. It is a role he still feels ill suited for and would gladly trade the machinations of a Rogue Trader for a battlefield command any day, which is why he still takes a major part in running Dureen's military forces. As someone who has only known fighting and bloodshed all his life, and as the member of a doomed race shunned by most of the Imperium, he feels a close kinship with races that are "born for battle", like the **REDACTED** and surprisingly for a squat, the Orks.

Background and History

Kilgrim Hartek was born to unknown parents, believed to have been refugees from the destruction of their homeworld by the Tyranids. As a Squat (Homo sapiens rotundus) he is one of the last of his kind, apparently left abandoned on Footfall station.

Hartek's early life was a bitter struggle for survival in the gutters and underbelly of Footfall. Naturally as he grew he found himself drawn into the station's more criminal fraternity, where his innate toughness and tenacity helped him find work as a hired thug and legbreaker, despite his short stature.

After a heist that went south badly put the Arbites on Hartek's heels, he left Footfall to join a mercenary infantry company. It was here that his talents as a soldier and a leader of men came to the fore, and over years of heavy fighting, rose through the ranks, eventually finding a senior post in the household military of a fringe Imperial world.

It was around this time that he was recruited to help build the military forces of a newly revived Rogue Trader dynasty, in the service of newly warranted Lord Captain Rico Dureen. Looking forward to a role that combined the security of a household guard position with the opportunity to travel the stars, he pledged his allegience to the Dureen Dynasty and took the title of Warmaster and joined the Dureen's ship, the Furnace Of Redemption.

Unfortunately his delight at this new found home did not last long. Hartek soon reached the conclusion that Dureen was not the leader he had hoped for. After a couple of disasterous months, Dureen withdrew from public view almost entirely, leaving the crew of the Furnace Of Redemption leaderless and floundering. Driven by his loyalty to House Dureen, Hartek stepped up to take over the day to day running of the house, acting as Dureen's deputy while the Rogue Trader was "resting in his quarters."

At first Hartek struggled badly, coming off second best in a confrontation with Rogue Trader Haderak Fel (Hartek still blames himself for this failure) as his training as a battlefield leader left him ill equipped for the more refined challenges a Rogue Trader must face. But an intensive course of study under Mistress Cassandra Salvatore (Dureen's High Factotum) taught Hartek enough to get by.

The discovery of Rico Dureen's death seemed to spell the end for the dynasty, however Enginseer Hak's "discovery" of the highly improbable blood link between the Dureen family and the (abhuman) Hartek family, offered Kilgrim Hartek the chance to take the command throne, officially. After much soul searching, to save the dynasty to which he had pledged his loyalty, he accepted. Hartek took the title "Trader Regent" reflecting his proclaimed position that he is merely a caretaker leader until a more suitable heir to the Dureen bloodline can be found. (He uses the full formal title of "Trader Regent Kilgrim Hartek, Captain of the Furnace of Redemption and Bonded Warmaster to House Dureen")