Yarr! Me WFRP2 Pirates Campaign be kickin' off ternight!

[Rel]

I'm starting a campaign for the first time in almost two years and I'm totally excited about it!

We're playing WFRP2 and I think the system is going to be an excellent fit for the Fantasy Pirates of the Caribbean setting that I'm using. The party is going to have to find a way to make a life for themselves on the rough waters and even rougher islands of the Caribbean. Orcish War-Canoes, Goblin Pygmies shooting blowguns, Jungles full of Lizardmen, Sea Monsters, Pirate Ships crewed by Skeletons, Treacherous Tilean Merchants, Estalian Treasure Galleons bristling with Cannons, Buried Treasure, Sunken Cities...GAH! So many cool ideas that I can't even fathom them all!

The PC's are an eclectic and interesting lot (hardly surprising given the random generation methods of WFRP):
A Human Tomb Robber
A Halfling Bone Picker
A Halfling Scribe
An Elf Tradesman
An Elf Ferryman

Not a single one of them any great shakes at melee but when the pistols and cutlasses start coming out then they'll have to figure out how to survive!

I'm grinning an evil, RBDM grin at how I'm going to start them off in the game. The starting point is not so much a "railroad" as a "bullet train". However, as with a bullet train, the trip will be very short and then they canget off the train and stretch their legs.

That's another thing about this game is that I have absolutely no idea where it will lead. After the first session or so the PC's are going to have an unprecedented amount of control over their fates and lifestyle. There are so many possible angles the PC's can take that I am making no attempt to predict what they do. Will they be Pirates? Privateers? Merchants? Treasure Hunters? Will they avoid the sea and become Crime Lords and Fences on shore? All of the above? I have absolutely no idea.

The one thing I'm sure of is that my vision of this Fantasy Caribbean is so stuffed with great adventure ideas that I'll be able to find a way to make any choice exciting and fun!

 

[Maggan]

Have you checked out Skull&Bones from Green Ronin? It can be a great resource running a pirate theme campaign with WFRP. I'm planning on leaning heavily on that book, when trying out some pirate stuff later this year.

I'd love to read more about your campaign as it develops. Any plans on a Story Hour?

/Magnus

 

[greywulf]

That sounds like great fun and I wish you all the best with it! Keep us posted, ok?

And wow. Goblin pygmies must be really small!

 

[Desdichado]

Speaking of Story Hours, did you ever get around to reading barsoomcore's Dead Man's Chest storyhour, or trilobite's pirates storyhour? Great stuff, although different systems.

 

[Rel]

Have you checked out Skull&Bones from Green Ronin? It can be a great resource running a pirate theme campaign with WFRP. I'm planning on leaning heavily on that book, when trying out some pirate stuff later this year.

I'd love to read more about your campaign as it develops. Any plans on a Story Hour?

/Magnus

Henry loaned me his copy of Skull & Bones and it was a good source of inspiration for "The Pirate's Life" in general. I also liked some of the voodoo magic stuff and I'm probably going to swipe a few things from that to use as Rituals in WFRP.

I haven't decided about the Story Hour thing yet. If I do one, it will be more like my "Dissection of a Campaign" Story Hour that got totally wiped out by the board crash than like my Faded Glory Story Hour that was more of a narrative. Writing as a narrative is a lot more work. But I had a lot of people that seemed to find the "Dissection" Story Hour useful as a forum for discussing why and how GM's structure adventures and campaigns the way they do. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Maggan]

But I had a lot of people that seemed to find the "Dissection" Story Hour useful as a forum for discussing why and how GM's structure adventures and campaigns the way they do. We'll see how it goes.

That sounds even more interesting! I'll keep my eyes open, but don't sweat it. In your own time, captain!

/M

 

[Rel]

Speaking of Story Hours, did you ever get around to reading barsoomcore's Dead Man's Chest storyhour, or trilobite's pirates storyhour? Great stuff, although different systems.

I read about half of barsoomcore's Dead Man's Chest. I liked it and intend on finishing it. Most of my reading for the last couple weeks has been more focused on the various Warhammer FRP books that I'm pulling material from and the Patrick O'Brian novel "Master and Commander". That's actually been a very good resource for getting a feel for the privations and dangers of life on the sea. Plus I know a CRAPLOAD more about all the different sails now.

It's funny how, the more I learn of historical life on the sea, the more WFRP seems to fit the bill. Horrible wounds where some bonesaw with dirty carpentry cuts off your arm, leg or hand? Check. Your body wracked with some hideous and poorly understood disease? Check. Steadily growing insanity that may drive you to the brink of utter madness? Check.

It's a match made in heaven!

 

[Rel]

Oh and one other thing. In preparation for this campaign I did a lot of work on my home brew ship to ship combat system. I finally pulled all of that together and I like the final product a lot. It's not what I'd call "fully playtested" but thus far it seems to do a good job of emphasizing the things that I think should make a difference in combat at sea (wind, speed, maneuverability and number of cannon) while remaining fairly fast and playable.

I'm intending on posting it if anybody is interested. If you'd rather wait until I've had a few weeks of working out any remaining kinks then that's fine or if you'd like to try it out and let me know of any flaws then that's ok too.

 

[Maggan]

Oh and one other thing. In preparation for this campaign I did a lot of work on my home brew ship to ship combat system. I finally pulled all of that together and I like the final product a lot. It's not what I'd call "fully playtested" but thus far it seems to do a good job of emphasizing the things that I think should make a difference in combat at sea (wind, speed, maneuverability and number of cannon) while remaining fairly fast and playable.

I'm intending on posting it if anybody is interested. If you'd rather wait until I've had a few weeks of working out any remaining kinks then that's fine or if you'd like to try it out and let me know of any flaws then that's ok too.

Post it when it feels right to release it. I'll happily have a look at it.

/M

 

[Maggan]

BTW, you have checked out Under the Sails, the WFRP fan book in nautical life in WFRP?

Download it from:

http://traumtaenzer.schrader-germany.de/html/under_the_sails.html

/M