“Brand me a heretic, but I love xenos. Selling the gear from the bodies of the ones I slay has made me a wealthy man."
      –Rogue Trader Krawkin Feckward

Last month , Fantasy Flight Games announced Fallen Suns, the third and final instalment in The Warpstorm Trilogy for Rogue Trader . Today, we’re pleased to offer a preview of Fallen Suns by contributing writer John Dunn.

I was fortunate to have an opening in my writing schedule at the same time that the Rogue Trader development team needed an author for Fallen Suns . Working closely with Sam Stewart and Ross Watson, I crafted the plot details for the adventure, while Jason Marker fleshed out the Gazetteer section and created the game statistics for the adventure’s encounters.

Raising the Bar

Fallen Suns is the final instalment of The Warpstorm Trilogy . Without spoiling too much, in The Frozen Reaches , the Explorers faced an Ork horde large enough to conquer a planet. During Citadel of Skulls , they confronted a well defended Chaos fortress. My first challenge was to identify a foe that offered a threat appropriate to follow what had come before.

Fortunately, the Koronus Expanse is a source of bountiful story hooks and phenomenal dangers. The region plays host to lost worlds, unknowable threats, and the constant dangers of the warp. The development team was kind enough to let me interweave some of the threats that had been hinted at previously. Pulling from the the first two books of trilogy as well as materials from the Rogue Trader Core Rulebook, Edge of the Abyss , and Lure of The Expanse , I worked with the rest of the team to develop an Eldar threat of titanic proportions.

Previous materials had established that some of the Eldar within in the Expanse are extremely hostile towards humanity. Fallen Suns reveals at least one of the reasons for that stance. The adventure challenges the Explorers to overcome this animosity at the same time that they must defend themselves from a threat that endangers the entirety of the Expanse. If the Explorers take care, they may unearth countless xenos secrets from this ancient threat at the same time as they recover priceless xenos artefacts and technology. Of course, the Explorers are not the only people within the Expanse interested in uncovering its secrets and harnessing its power.

If the characters succeed in overcoming their foes, the potential rewards are immeasurable. Their Profit Factor could skyrocket as human and xenos alike rush to show their gratitude. New information and technology could lead to countless new adventures, or it could be sold to those willing to exploit it. The Explorers might ensure the economic stability of their dynasty for generations or choose to expand in entirely different directions using their newly procured resources. Immeasurable vistas open for those who have saved the Expanse from such a dire threat.

Conversely, if they fail, their lives become far more challenging and potentially much shorter. The risks are dramatic, but the rewards are vast. For those Explorers willing to accept the chance of death and near-certain damnation as they confront overwhelming odds, the Endeavour presents an unparalleled opportunity.

An Ongoing Saga

Unless the Explorers meet with tragedy, this adventure wraps up the end of an adventure trilogy but does not complete their story. There are countless additional tales to tell within the Koronus Expanse. Because of this, the scenario concludes by presenting a variety of new hooks that tie in to the revelations contained throughout The Warpstorm Trilogy . Depending upon their decisions, the Explorers may be anxious to seek vengeance and repayment from dozens of foes, or they might be fleeing their former allies. Both of these possibilities and their myriad variants are considered, as the Explorers prepare to embark upon their next Endeavour.

Keep checking back for more on Fallen Suns , and look for it on store shelves in the fourth quarter of 2011!

Rogue Trader is a roleplaying game set in dark gothic far future of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe. Players take on the roles of explorers aboard a Rogue Trader's ship, searching for profit and adventure while discovering new alien cultures and threats in the uncharted regions of space.