2300 AD vs Rogue Trader
Compare 2300 AD and Rogue Trader side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| 2300 AD | Rogue Trader | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Scifi | Scifi |
| Tags | Career-Based, Skill-Based, Simulation, Combat-Heavy, Tactical, Crunchy, Ship-Based, Exploration, Random Tables, Strong GM Support | Space Opera, Grimdark, Licensed IP, Ship-Based, Career-Based, Crunchy, Exploration, Domain Management, Corruption, Fear & Stress Mechanics |
| Core Mechanic | For a task, roll d10 and add modifiers from applicable skills and characteristics; meet a difficulty target from 2 for Simple to 18 for Impossible to succeed. A natural 1 fumbles, while failed checks use a separate roll to determine whether the character may retry or suffers a mishap. Hasty, hazardous, uncertain, and cooperative tasks modify time, failure risk, information, or group participation without changing the core check. | Roll d100 equal to or under a characteristic or skill after a difficulty modifier between +60 and -60. Each full 10 points under the target adds a degree of success, and each full 10 points over adds a degree of failure. Fate Points let a character re-roll a failed test, add +10 before rolling, or gain a degree of success. Spent Fate Points return at the start of the next session. |
| Dice | d10 | d100 |
| Complexity | High | High |
| Availability | Paid | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | 5 of 5 book tools |
| License | All Rights Reserved | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Noncommercial only — Mongoose Publishing Fair Use Policy | No verified route found |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | GDW | Fantasy Flight Games |
| Year | 1988 | 2009 |
| Languages | English | English, French, German, Italian |
| Best For | Groups who want career-shaped crews exploring a politically divided interstellar frontier where starship operations and hard-science constraints drive missions. | Groups who want a long campaign as the senior crew of a starship, growing a merchant dynasty through trade, exploration, and void battles in the Warhammer 40,000 setting. It suits tables that enjoy detailed d100 rules and want business ventures to drive the adventures. |
| Highlights | Career terms turn pre-play service into skills and organizational ties, giving each crew member a practical history that feeds later missions. Space combat uses hex movement and signature-based detection, making maneuver and sensor discipline as important as weapon range. Linked world-generation and mapping procedures build planets down to regional terrain, giving exploration campaigns playable locations instead of setting prompts. | Profit Factor folds the dynasty's wealth, credit, and standing into one shared number that the group tests against to acquire gear, ships, and favours. Endeavours frame profit-seeking ventures as sets of objectives whose Achievement Points raise Profit Factor on completion. Starship combat divides each ship turn among the crew, with one Explorer manoeuvring, another firing, and the rest able to take actions such as emergency repairs or augury scans. |
| Considerations | Character creation can end when a turning-point roll fails, leaving a concept in its current career before the player intended. Combat routes each hit through location and damage-type tables, adding several lookups to a fight. The future history assumes a World War III and French hegemony, so campaigns are tied to a specific 1980s vision of the 24th century. | Damage beyond a character's Wounds inflicts critical effects from tables organised by hit location and damage type, including permanent maiming and death. Insanity and Corruption Points build toward disorders and mutations, and a character who reaches 100 in either is removed from play. Gear normally comes from Acquisition tests against Profit Factor rather than tracked money, so groups that enjoy counting coins lose that layer. |