Gargoyle
Adventurer
Arrrrr, I know a tale.
In one of my longer running campaigns a couple of years ago, gnomish pirates were the scourge of the seas. The players never actually ran into them, but every now and then heard rumors of how ruthless the gnomes were. For instance, they would hear powerful mentors talking about the "gnome pirate" problem as they approached, or hear rumors of the horrors unleashed by gnome pirate sorcerers as they eavesdropped on the guards of their enemies, or a group of tough boisterous barbarians would be heard in a tavern suddenly becoming quiet and subdued when the subject of gnome pirates came up. Little scenes like "How did you lose your hand?"..."Pirates....damn gnomes, I don't want to talk about it." Ale shortages from the piracy created adventures for them such as protecting their favorite tavern's stock from rivals.
At first, they were amused.
But after about a year and a half of hearing about the gnome pirates every other session or so, and of seeing the repercussions of the piracy, I noticed they chuckled less over the prospect of gnome pirates, and became a little more subdued themselves. This change in attitude was more pronounced when I started running adventures in the docks area of a large city in the campaign, with all those tall ships in the harbor. They started actually analyzing rumors to try to find some weak spot for gnome pirates. They never saw a gnome or pirate or gnome pirate the whole campaign, but the subtle forshadowing had a major effect on their behavior. They were somewhat afraid of sailing and kept to the city.
Finally though, they came upon an opportunity to thwart their enemies at sea that they could not resist. An ancient dwarven stoneship captured by their enemies had docked to take on supplies. They knew that if they hijacked the ship and gave it back to the dwarves, they would have powerful allies. But if the lizardmen foes knew that humans had captured the ship, or worse had attempted to steal it and failed, there would be a terrible reprisal against the city. And so they used a veil spell to appear as gnome pirates. Half the session was spent describing their outfits and various limbs missing, and smells, and talking like a pirate...gnome style.
Later, rumors of their exploit caught the attention of the real gnome pirates, who were not amused at the prospect of rivals, and these great heroes lived in what can only be described as fear of the ocean. Gnome pirates are the only thing to ever scare these players.
In one of my longer running campaigns a couple of years ago, gnomish pirates were the scourge of the seas. The players never actually ran into them, but every now and then heard rumors of how ruthless the gnomes were. For instance, they would hear powerful mentors talking about the "gnome pirate" problem as they approached, or hear rumors of the horrors unleashed by gnome pirate sorcerers as they eavesdropped on the guards of their enemies, or a group of tough boisterous barbarians would be heard in a tavern suddenly becoming quiet and subdued when the subject of gnome pirates came up. Little scenes like "How did you lose your hand?"..."Pirates....damn gnomes, I don't want to talk about it." Ale shortages from the piracy created adventures for them such as protecting their favorite tavern's stock from rivals.
At first, they were amused.
But after about a year and a half of hearing about the gnome pirates every other session or so, and of seeing the repercussions of the piracy, I noticed they chuckled less over the prospect of gnome pirates, and became a little more subdued themselves. This change in attitude was more pronounced when I started running adventures in the docks area of a large city in the campaign, with all those tall ships in the harbor. They started actually analyzing rumors to try to find some weak spot for gnome pirates. They never saw a gnome or pirate or gnome pirate the whole campaign, but the subtle forshadowing had a major effect on their behavior. They were somewhat afraid of sailing and kept to the city.
Finally though, they came upon an opportunity to thwart their enemies at sea that they could not resist. An ancient dwarven stoneship captured by their enemies had docked to take on supplies. They knew that if they hijacked the ship and gave it back to the dwarves, they would have powerful allies. But if the lizardmen foes knew that humans had captured the ship, or worse had attempted to steal it and failed, there would be a terrible reprisal against the city. And so they used a veil spell to appear as gnome pirates. Half the session was spent describing their outfits and various limbs missing, and smells, and talking like a pirate...gnome style.
Later, rumors of their exploit caught the attention of the real gnome pirates, who were not amused at the prospect of rivals, and these great heroes lived in what can only be described as fear of the ocean. Gnome pirates are the only thing to ever scare these players.
