Rogue Trader Developers of Warhammer 40,000 Say They “Would Love To Have” More LGBT Romance Options, But They Won’t<br>

Owlcat Games aims to provide the most realistic recreation of life in the year 4101. Because of the Warrants of Trade they carry in their spaceships, which resemble cathedrals, rogue traders are able to reside on the periphery of the Imperium and evade imperial laws. Because they are (typically) more regular humans than galactic super soldiers, are surrounded by a cast of weirdos from all over the cosmos, and are more concerned with upholding their own shaky morals than with remaining faithful to the God-Emperor of Mankind, they are the ideal protagonists for role-playing games.

To preserve the lore and encourage players to interact more deeply with Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader’s story, Owlcat, on the other hand, wishes to restrict this freedom. You can roleplay as much with the limitations as you can with the freedom of choice presented to you, whether that means restricting what your character may wear (as they discussed in our last interview) or what weapons they can use.


The sad news for alpha and beta players is that there aren’t as many alternatives for romance. Regardless of your Rogue Trader’s gender, characters such as Sister Argenta of the Adepta Sororitas and Magos Explorator Pasqal Haneumann are not suitable for romance. Players who frequent online forums are especially irritated by the restriction on the latter of the two options because more people would rather hook up with a gorgeous warrior nun than a strange half-robot guy who talks to his guns. Who would have thought it?


Narrative lead Olga Kelner says, “We needed to respect the lore and the restrictions that there are in the lore, but on the other hand, we wanted to make it exciting for the player. Putting the romances with the companions into place was a challenge in and of itself.” It all boils down to the lore, of course, but it also has to do with staying loyal to the characters Owlcat has developed.

“On occasion, it was due to folklore,” Kelner adds. Sometimes it was done to maintain character consistency—Seneschal Abelard [Werserian], for instance. It didn’t feel right to include romance because it would go against the story and be untrue to the character given some aspects of his past, his relationship with your predecessor, and his relationship with his deceased wife because he is a widower.

But the Discord chat becomes icy the moment I bring up the fact that homosexual men or players portraying gay male Inquisitors are upset that they have only one, unappealing romantic choice to choose from—an alien terrorist you might not even be able to recruit. Male and female straight players already have at least three alternatives, but lesbian players have the same problem as gay males in that they have only one bisexual character to fall in love with—a terribly generic banker. She’s not a terrorist, at least. As soon as I inquired about whether Owlcat would include more LGBT+ romances throughout the entire game, executive producer Anatoly Shestov jumped right in, sounding defensive and seemingly trying to dispel any claims of bigotry made by Rogue Trader’s LGBTQ+ community.

He states, “It’s not about LGBTQ+ options.” It concerns the story of the overall image that we wanted to expound upon. We saw every romance as our means of delving further into the narratives in the most intimate way possible, not as a means of highlighting any particular “aspect.”

Internally, it’s not about the homosexual or straight person; rather, it’s about a Seneschal who lost his wife, a blood-stained sociopath who can confront his own ideas, or a whole species that can alter its own perception of the universe by means of you. These are the stories we wish to tell, and we select the greatest choices to accentuate the narrative’s strengths in all areas—models, portraits, voiceovers, and so on.

We don’t even seem to have a quota. No, we’d rather tell a compelling tale. We identified the best solutions to achieve it within the allocated budget and time schedule. And thus our time with the provided collection of romances came to an end. Naturally, every member of the team would adore having tens of more romantic relationships. However, everybody on the team would also like to have more teammates, such as Kroot, who is a popular choice.


Shestov continues by outlining the steps involved in game creation and how salary and budget restrictions all play a part in the decision to omit material. Owlcat gave priority to the most immersive aspects, thus space naval combat—an extremely outstanding system that was created from the ground up—was included rather than more romantic scenes.

But I can’t help but think he’s missing the mark. The fact that party members are assigned specific sexualities doesn’t bother players; in fact, it makes more sense and keeps them loyal to their personas. When you roleplay as a gay Rogue Trader, the already constrained alternatives become even more so, which infuriates players. When gay players are denied the freedom to choose who they romance while straight players are allowed to, the argument that “we see past sexuality” is untenable.


It would have been nice for LGBT+ gamers to see themselves more represented in the 40k universe in a game that promises to offer more roleplaying chances than any previous Games Workshop-affiliated title, especially at a time when IRL Warhammer communities are so heavily controlled by heterosexual men. Currently, it seems as though they have been disregarded, and the devs are presenting a generalized “we didn’t have enough money for a lesbian” response that appears to purposefully misinterpret the situation. By simply balancing the amount of straight and LGBT+ party members, Owlcat could have added more LGBT+ options and better reflected the post-gender society they live in. Owlcat implemented the romances.

Furthermore, given that these aren’t stories about gay or straight people, it seems a little disingenuous to argue that romances should be based on the requirements of the characters and match their own unique narrative. Just as a straight Seneschal can not be prepared for a relationship because of his sadness, a Drukhari terrorist can also be gay. As long as romance is present in Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, characters’ sexualities are integral to them and deserving of study. After all, in the twenty-first century, love is just as much a part of life as conflict.