
Posts: 569
Joined: Sun Oct 13, 2013 8:15 am
Re: RT or 2nd edition?
So I play both a lot. 1987 Rogue Trade is a completely different beast from 1993 Rogue Trader as the books (Compilation, Compendium, Astronomican, Siege, RoC, Battle Manual, Vehicle Manual) pretty much changed most areas of the game to a greater or lesser extent. So as previously said 1993 RT is essentially proto-2nd Ed. That being said it was a great game system and a hell of a lot of fun to play. I like the way that you can randomly generate everything so you can have some truly bespoke and individuals heroes. They are perfect for warbands or small skirmishes; and whilst it is scalable it does become a bit clunkier the more troops you throw into the mix. Let’s be clear..... I love Rogue Trader!
Second edition streamlines much of the content of Rogue Trader into a format where things are a bit fairer and armies will generally reflect the characteristics of their factions. So instead of randomly generating bits we now know ‘A Space Marine is this... and will usually do this’ whilst ‘A Genestealer is this... and will generally to this’. This makes the game easier to run competitively and ensures functionality without the need for a GM. So you gain consistency at the cost of slight individuality/customisation. This makes the game suited for small to medium skirmishes.... I have tried bigger but I’ll be honest it becomes a nightmare and you’ll just end up being sick into a bin after turn three. Let’s also be clear... I love second edition.
These days I usually use my own customised hybrid of the two system which seems to suit my needs perfectly!!
Hope this helps!