Following up on the success of its Dark Heresy line (see “FFG’s 2009 Dark Heresy Release Schedule”), Fantasy Flight Games will release another role-playing game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

In Rogue Trader, players take on the roles of freelance merchants and explorers, seeking ever-greater profits in the vastness of space. Players can own their own spaceships, seek out treasures in far-flung, long-forgotten locales, and tangle with pirates, aliens and other mercenaries equally hungry for wealth and fame.

The game boasts a quick character-creation system, rules for several types of encounters and adversaries, and background information written by WH40K novelist Andy Hoare. The 400-page, hardcover full-color Rogue Trader Core Rulebook ships in August with an MSRP of $59.95.