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I have been given a challenge by members of my gaming group (I am DM) to introduce Dwarven Pirates into the campaign.
I have some good ideas but thought I'd post the question here for some fresh ideas people maybe could give me.
My initial thought was to develop an island off the coast, maybe 50 miles off coast, that has a lot of really high mountains, and the dwarves have found some rare ore there they are mining, thus the need to have ships and travel back and forth, etc.
Any cool thoughts might help me develop a better scenario, etc.
Well, if you're trying to make the pirate dwarves still somewhat resemble the typical D&D dwarf, what about...
A clan of dwarves fought a war with an alliance of men and elves. They lost and were driven from their mountain home. They retreated to a small group of sparsely populated islands. Now, in an effort to fight back, they have resorted to piracy, hit and run raids against human and elven ships. If the dwarves are skilled engineers, perhaps they have even created the first submersible vessel.
My second instinct is "viking pirates". My first instinct is to ask if duergar would fulfill the terms of the challenge, because spike-launching, broad-shouldered beard-satams seems like a great concept for a pirate crew. Maybe include some sort of imp as a parrot stand-in.
Yeah I had a Viking sorta dwarf lot (Sea Dwarf) in a campaign.The dwarves all came from a massive mountain range with Mnt Dwarves living deep in, Hill Dwarves living on the landward side (and used t dealing with other races) and on the massive cliffs/fjords (think uboat pens in WW2 with dwarven vikings in the caves) on the seaward side of mountains the Sea Dwarves.
They were very isolated and were very similar to other dwarves. However their isolation led them to thing of everything not dwarvish as dangerous and evil there fore fair game in raids and piracy
I could see dwarven shipbuilders being the first to invent ironclads, or at least ironclad ship rams. Ditto Paddlewheels. And submersibles- mines, after all, frequently have flooding, so Dwarves know how to pump water and air.
"island off the coast, maybe 50 miles off coast, that has a lot of really high mountains, and the dwarves have found some rare ore there they are mining"
and their shipments to the mainland have been robbed by pirates over and over again.
A contingent has just left the island to chase the pirates.
They're using a PumiceBoat, crafted from the pumice that covers the shore of the island where ancient lava flows solidified.
My initial thought was to develop an island off the coast, maybe 50 miles off coast, that has a lot of really high mountains, and the dwarves have found some rare ore there they are mining, thus the need to have ships and travel back and forth, etc.
Not bad. Here's some more thoughts.
Oil Rig: Dwarves are industrial. They conquer the natural world with raw metal and power. They have made off-shore castles that suspend themselves over the bottom of the sea so that they can drill into the heart of the earth and take her precious innards. Entire clans live their lives without ever seeing solid land, fishing and mining and sending off barrels to cousins on the shore. The dwarven pirates are go-betweens who bring the oil back and bring necessities to their brethren at sea. Most long to get back...
Whalers: Ever read Moby Dick? Ahab is a brilliant archetype for a dwarf: one big obsession that he just can't get past. Most characters work pretty well that way, actually. Dwarves that sail the seas, ships covered in carnage from previous hunts, hunting the largest beasts in the world. HARPOONS AWAY, BOYS!
Volcanoes: Polynesian dwarven pirates in canoes and outriggers with an elaborate trade network, who use obsidian and wood, and who can get very close to the Fire of the Earth without getting burned themselves...sulfur-smelling dwarves covered in burn-scars.
Vikings: Rape and pillage all the way down the coast, retreat away before anyone can martial naval backup. Fast, rutheless, and grim.
False limbs should be fun to do with a dwarf-like level of industrial technology. Personally, I'm a huge fan of the whalers idea. Dwarven whalers! Yay!
They're homeland is on the edge of a mighty glacial shelf and each year at 'Calving time' they tame the icebergs that float past their strongholds.
Using a mix of magic and engineering they carve out homes among the ice and retrofit the outer layers with docks, some paddlewheels, cranes, and other equipment to enable them to support a flotilla of barges, kayaks, and outrigger canoes. The largest Burgs are actually capable of supporting squadrons of Dromons.
The Motherships are then prepped with magic and special ice treatments to preserve their longevity and sent forth to roam the currents.
Most Motherships are unpowered, but their vast holds allow the dwarves to operate at sea for months without resupply. Dwarven longboats and war kayaks can threaten even open sea lanes in the warmest months of the year through the use of their Burgs. Further, unlike other pirates, the Dwarves have no permanent haven to defend. A Burg can be easilly defended, is practically unsinkable by conventional naval forces, and is easy to abandon.
Further, the icy conditions are ideal for food storage. Dwarven pirates are often at the peak of physical condition where their prey suffers from scurvy and deprivation.
The final secret of the Burgs is a temple and ritual space located at the heart of the Burg. Here the burg priests track the location and condition of any other burg in the fleet. As the warming season begins to degrade the southernmost burgs the flotilla can sail to the next coldest one and so on up the chain till they are in familiar waters. Further the mightiest burgs are equipped with one-use teleportation circles that can be engaged to simultaneously transport the burgs cargo to the homelands and melt the ice so that the secrets of the burg will not fall into enemy hands.
Volcanoes: Polynesian dwarven pirates in canoes and outriggers with an elaborate trade network, who use obsidian and wood, and who can get very close to the Fire of the Earth without getting burned themselves...sulfur-smelling dwarves covered in burn-scars.
A little stone-shaping magic, a little metalwork, and you've got "polynesian" dwarves going out to sea in ships made from concrete made from volcanic pumice...possibly with some coral thrown in.
Ever read Moorcock's Elric series? One of the awesome things in there is The Ship Which Sails Over Land And Sea - a ship which can magical sail on land as easily as it can water. The land ripples and flows in front of the ship, solidifying again as the ship passes.
So, yeah - load that bad boy up with dwarf pirates, and they'll go wherever they want! Towns all across the continent will erupt into panic when someone sights the jolly roger cresting over the plains.
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I have a pirate setting I'm working on. The dwarves have a culture somewhat loosely based on polynesian culture, with a bit of mesoamerican and a lot of stuff I just made up. One of their great myths is a lost city of gold, built by Moradin himself and protected from all normal navigation and sight. They regularly send expeditions out to try to find it, but resources being scarce at the open sea many of these dwarven expeditions support themselves through raiding and piracy. Survivors of failed dwarven expeditions often end up joining other pirate crews to continue their journey or try to return home.
Dwarven ships have to be seen to be believed. Many of the volcanic islands they inhabit have sparse vegetation or trees that are no good for seafaring. However, they have found that certain volcanic rocks are quite bouyant. When stuck together with a light mortar, they can make quite passable ships. Elaborately painted and decorated with iconic heads, magical beasts, and images of the gods, a dwarven boat looks like a floating castle or temple and is just as good at repelling attacks.
Make it big enough, and it can be captained by Prince Nemor*, a dwarven inventor turned privateer, fighting a private little war against the nations of the surface world.
*The name is a combination of Captain Nemo of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (by Jules Verne) and Prince Namor, the Sub Mariner (Marvel Comics character).
You'll be for handing over your valuables when a mountain rolls up on you out of the fog in the middle of the ocean.
That makes me think of this...
Quote:
Yes
"Roundabout" <snip>
In and around the lake
Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there
One mile over we'll be there and we'll see you
Ten true summers we'll be there and laughing too
Twenty four before my love you'll see I'll be there with you
I will remember you
Your silhouette will charge the view
Of distance atmosphere
Call it morning driving thru the sound and even in the valley <snip>
Make it big enough, and it can be captained by Prince Nemor*, a dwarven inventor turned privateer, fighting a private little war against the nations of the surface world.
*The name is a combination of Captain Nemo of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (by Jules Verne) and Prince Namor, the Sub Mariner (Marvel Comics character).
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