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| The Ariadni, birthright of Captain Sheen. |
Thursday evening, Captain Video started the adventures for his new Rogue Trader event, Xenos Conundrum! We've been anticipating this event for quite some time, and now we're on our way to Pandaemus subsector for what promises to be a classic set of adventures!
So how'd we get here?
Well, I'd like to start of by addressing a point that others on the internet don't seem to agree. My opinion is that Rogue Trader itself is a worthy addition to the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay line of games. For those of you that don't really care for the way Fantasy Flight is handling the line, I say POPPYCOCK to you.
It's been argued on countless forums between countless roleplayers that Rogue Trader is somehow "off the mark", somehow failing to deliver anything both in terms of roleplaying opportunities and adventures that the characters would reasonably take part in. I'm not going to dignify those opinions by further elucidation, but lets just say we'll let those dogs fall asleep. What I'm here to tell you is that the game is awesome. If you're a fan of roleplaying AND of Warhammer 40,000 then you're in for a real treat.
If not, stay off my lawn!
In the past, I've kinda made it my mission to deal with internet fervor over the direction of the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay line. I'm not arguing with anyone anymore over whether or not the package has been delivered. I don't want to have another flame war with some fool who invariably thinks some ill-plot by Fantasy Flight has ruined the potential we have for a Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay system. I'm not going to defend FFG's decisions with the line, even though I wholeheartedly agree with every design choice made so far.
It's just pointless to attempt any kind of discourse with people who have it in their head that somehow Warhammer 40,000 could be shoehorned into a few manuals, or that the manuals should be cheaper because they are overpriced, or that the game assumes you have miniatures, or that this or that that....
There's just no point. A person of the right gaming pedigree is going to understand the facts just by looking at the book. The game is quite elegant, the book itself is beautiful and I believe the target audience to be Warhammer 40,000 players, not players of conventional roleplaying games. There's a difference in philosophy between those two groups that's hard to see.
On the one hand, roleplayers are miffed that everything in the universe isn't represented in the product line. Some of those players, who openly tout that they don't even play Warhammer 40,000 (due to price / time constraints - WTF?), seem to have a problem with how some of that material is presented. When you tell them you're a Warhammer 40,000 fan and that their perceptions are skewed by their addiction to pointless games no one plays, somehow you're instantly mutated into a rabid GW fanboy berserker who can't listen to reason.
On the other hand, players of the wargame are treated to something we've never had - a roleplaying game based in our wargame world. For those of us that are also roleplayers, this is a way to integrate our games one more level - beyond Battlefleet Gothic, Epic 40,000 and Warhammer 40,000, now we can also integrate Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay into the Mardannon Sector.
This is something players of Warhammer 40,000 (who are also roleplayers) have been missing since the beginning. I'll use this line to give kudos to Fantasy Flight for taking our game to the next level. Don't mind what other fools are saying, listen to the fans of Warhammer 40,000 who've bought every book in the line since you've taken over from Black Industries.
Bleh. I could go on about that, it irritates me so much. I feel I must champion the cause, because if I don't, the ignorance might spread. All of you out there who can hear me - I BEG YOU - help with this! Don't let FFG be swayed by the masses of the nay-sayers!
Commander Oliver Maximilian Sheen, until a few weeks ago, was the commander of a Cobra-class destroyer named the Rattler, operating on the fringe of Magnum Sierra near Hollow Rock. While on picket, expecting a dangerous attack order from Battlefleet Command, the Rattler was approached by an imposing figure of Imperial authority - a Black Ship of the Inquisition.
Inquisitor Mobius and his entourage boarded the ship and explained the new situation. Vladimir Sheen, bearer of the renowned Warrant of Trade for the Gulf of Acherus, was no more. Unorthodox as it was, the Inquisitor was very interested in the well being of the ship - the Ariadni.
The Inquisitor explained the situation. Captain Sheen was to take his birthright (by way of the Black Ship) to Pandaemus, where the ship must be wrested from the hands of those factions who would claim it for their own. As a reliquary of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Ariadni was filled with fantastic devices and arcane technology that could not be replaced.
So, the good Captain and his arch-militant, accompanied by a lucky tech-priest and a member of the Navis Nobilite who's destiny is to pilot the Ariadni on it's fantastic voyage trek to Pandaemus, on the other side of the Mardannon sector.
Only one thing is for certain - Captain Sheen will be 'winning' the Ariadni shortly, and the spirits of his Adonis ancestors will breathe fire over the plasma coils. After washing off any daemons or nymphs that have taken up residency inside the ship, we'll garnish with the secret ingredient - the Warrant of Trade.
And perhaps a little Tiger's Blood.
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