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Using “magic” in the Warhammer 40,000 universe is an incredibly risky business. A psyker (aka cosmic wizard) must draw his power from the Warp, a volatile dimension inhabited by demons and Chaos gods. Thus, every spell, no matter how trivial or powerful, comes with the possibility of injury, insanity, demonic possession, or death. In Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, the upcoming RPG from Owlcat Games, you’ll have to weigh that risk every time you decide to gut an enemy with your mind.
The “Warp Perils” system that determines whether your head explodes or you live to see the next day is one of Alexander Gusev’s favorite mechanics from 2009’s Rogue Trader, a tabletop RPG set in the bleak future of the 41st millennium. He and other members of the Owlcat development team have been playing the game for years, so being able to turn this pen and paper hobby into a video game was something of a dream come true. And now, this dream has become a reality; Gusev is now the creative director of the very first role-playing video game, Warhammer 40k.
“We’ve made more sandbox RPGs than most other developers,” says Gusev, referring to Pathfinder’s open source games. You had your own kingdom. You traveled, studied the map, learned something about this unknown place, the Stolen Lands. And it constantly reminded me of what parties are doing in Rogue Traders.”
In most Warhammer 40k video games, you take part in humanity’s millennial quest to wipe out every other race in the galaxy. But Rogue Traders, with their luxurious spaceships and impeccable taste in fashion, are not your battle-hungry Space Marines.
Rogue Traders are different from many other factions in the Warhammer Imperium in that you can also interact with xenos [пришельцами] not only by killing them.
The Rogue Trader’s mission to explore, trade, and broker deals in regions outside of Imperial space means they are free to see the unfamiliar side of the universe.
This is probably the best [тема] in a Warhammer 40k setting that can be approached from a CRPG perspective. This gives us the ability to give you powerful enemies and do some really epic stuff without going completely away from roleplay and into combat. It also allows us to show the world, how ordinary people live there, and what the peaceful parts of the Imperium look like.
It is currently unknown when Rogue Trader can be released, but Owlcat already has a number of beta testing stages planned, which can be accessed by purchasing the Founder’s Pack.
