Page 55

Player Synopses Updated 28.05.10
Players Logs  Updated 06.05.10
Captain's Log  Updated 06.05.10

Introduction
Our recent games have tried out new ideas. The first was set in Carroburg where players were citizens and expected to live and work in the city. No running away from any enemies created here. PCs had to live (or die) through their actions in the one location. The second was Petrum, in which the aim was to get a disparate group of dependent NPCs through an alien land in which no-one spoke the language and most of the locals would be unfriendly (at best). This current game continues that tradition of creating a social setting that PCs need to work hard at.

In this game that setting is a ship. There is, therefore, a very small space for PCs to live in, lots of NPCs to interact with and a very clear hierarchical social system – with the PCs very much at the bottom. PCs are not Hornblowers in this game. Oh no, they are the third carpenter, the cook’s assistant and the guy who has to go to the top to splice something or another.

The adventures might be something out of Star Trek: the ship puts into various islands and harbours, and adventure is to be had. But, equally, PCs have to find the ir own place and space within the ship. Character progression through experience into careers is as much socially structured through promotion (and Dead man’s Shoes) as it is dictated by the rules. To this end, I have created a ship’s social status value (which roughly mirrors the normal social status rules). But, as with Carroburg especially, how well the PCs get on with their comrades is at least as important, and will affect their chances of both survival and riches. Gaining kudos from the officers might lead to promotion, but can also generate a reciprocal, but negative, reaction from crewmates too. Then there’s the issue of non-humans and women…

Start-Up
The game started with the PCs illegally prospecting for amber and other valuables on the north Ostland coast. A run-in with a Dark Elf trader and his human associates resulted in the PCs being arrested when the coastal patrol intervenes. Faced with prosecution for illegal amber trading, dealing with dark elves and the sort of other charges only players can get themselves into, the offer of ‘volunteering’ for His Imperial Majesty’s navy seems a very healthy alternative. Though things are not as they might appear…

For My Players
The following notes are written as general pointers to the players, but might hopefully prove interesting to the general reader. For this game, I created a PC Record Booklet. Given my complete lack of the relevant skills, it is only available as a hard copy put together (as usual) with scissors, paper, glue etc and then photocopied for use. However, the following reciprocates some of that, and also adds further material as we progress the game.

Your Ship
The ship is a three-masted BRIG, approximately 450 tonnes and 150’ long. She has a quarterdeck and a forecastle. She is armed with 18 cannon on a single deck, with four smaller guns on the quarterdeck, and two on the foredeck/castle. There are also carronades. She is called the Volnosht. Her figurehead is of a winged serpent, with two human arms bearing sword and shield, and (female) breasts. It is a privateer, with a proper letter of marque, too. I’m sure that is really going to help...

Ship Roles
For reference, the following roles exist on the ship (these are not necessarily historical, but this is not a historical game):

Captain: Complete command of the ship in sailing matters. Co-operates with Captain-Merchant over matters of course, trading etc. Also, he is technically the high priest for the ship – although this might be delegated if a specialist priest is on board. The Captain is usually an investor/ partner in the Trading Company, but might be an employed professional.

Captain-Merchant: Representative of the Trading Company that has set up the Privateer. Has the authority of a Captain, but only in non-sailing matters. On the loss of the Captain, will usually accede to First Lieutenant on technical matters.

High Priest: Priests of Manaan must spend time on ships, and are accorded with the appropriate religious authority. However, there might be some tensions with the Captain, normally in this role.

Priests: All religious needs must be provided on-board, and so the ship crew is chosen with a view to ensuring that part-time priests, initiates or lay-priests are available. One obvious need is for Morr, not a popular position or one that the crew likes to dwell upon.

Lieutenants: usually, these are employed professionals. However, Company members might be being trained up – and this causes some tensions as they are often regarded as superior to the professionals. The First Lieutenant is the Captain’s second, with a Second and Third.

Midshipmen: Junior officers, usually these are apprentices being trained up to become professional officers. They might be Company men, and, again, there might be some tensions between the two. Sometimes, members of the crew are promoted. The Privateer does recognise merit, but promoting a sailor precludes selling a training post. Sailors promoted often find themselves in a very difficult position; other officers look down at them, whilst ex-mates in the crew might ostracise him or seek favours.

Quartermaster: Classified as an officer, but responsible for provisioning the ship rather than in its sailing.

Surgeon: Notionally an officer, responsible for treating the wounded.

Loblolly Boys: Surgeon assistants.

Ship’s Master: In ‘traditional’ navies, ship’s officers and crews would be nomadic as promotion and needs dictate, but the Ship’s Master is normally a permanent fixture on the ship, and certainly in particular waters. It is his job to know navigation, hazards, weather and ship-related issues, and be available to offer his expertise to the captain. He is notionally an officer, but, like the surgeon, outside the normal hierarchy of command.

Master’s Mate: Assistant to the Ship’s Master, at some stage of moving into the position.

Bosun/ Boatswain: Lead NCO, whose main role is discipline. He controls the crew, administers petty justice and is responsible for the lash.

Ship’s Carpenter: Leads the skilled (and unskilled) in maintaining the ship.

Cooper: More the #2 to the Ship’s Carpenter than a traditional cooper, but also responsible for the barrels etc. This is an especially important role, since the ship’s water supply is kept in barrels.

Carpenters: Skilled tradesmen, vital to keeping the ship, well ship-shape.

Gunnery Sergeant: Chief NCO for the gunners.

Gunnery Team: Each gun has its own team of four, who live and work together. They are also able seamen with other jobs.

Powder Monkey: Young boys, small and agile enough to scamper around and responsible for bringing powder to the guns from the store as required. For obvious reasons, the powder is kept safely locked away when not in battle, and is brought out only in smallish quantities.

Cook: As it says.

Able Seaman: the bulk of the crew, they might be specialised (eg Ships Carpenter or those who work as Topsmen in the upper rigging) or generalists. In battle, those not with a specific task form the gun teams, and they often socialise together as these teams. The intention is that PCs will form a gun team – subject to whatever careers they generate or subsequently move into.

Major of Marines: The ship’s marines are raised independently, either as a Free Company or as Trading Company soldiers. Their officer does not involve himself in ship-based decisions.

Lieutenant of Marines: Second officer, who is able to take command if the major is incapacitated.

Marine Sergeant: Lead NCO, responsible for drill etc.

Marines: Ship soldiers, including NCOs.

Your Ship: Some Notable Crew

• Captain: Known to you as "Captain" or "Yes sir, at once sir", you do not even know his name. Think of him as a god as far as your existence on and off ship matter.
• Captain-Merchant: Ditto the Captain.
• High Priest: Ditto the Captain. He calls himself Ariel.
• (First) Lieutenant: Ditto the Captain, but Sir will do.
• (Second) Lieutenant: Ditto the Captain, but Sir will do.
• (Third) Lieutenant: Ditto the Captain, but Sir will do.
• Midshipmen: Ditto the Captain, but Sir will do.
• Quartermaster: Ditto the Captain, but Sir will do.
• Wizard: Yes, we have a "wizard" on board. But what he is you have no idea. He calls himself Actaparix.
• Surgeon: Surgeon Metzger is widely known as Hacker. Enough said?
• Loblolly Boys: Jospeh and Christophe (a Bretonnian) are decent blokes.
• Ship’s Master: Heinrich Kurtz. Tanned, wrinkled, old, obese, but knows his stuff.
• Bosun/Boatswain: "Viktor". He is a 'foreigner' (aren't you all?), but rumour says that he is from Albion. Oh, and its "Sir", too.
• Ship’s Carpenter: Titch is a halfling, but a damn good chippy.
• Cooper: "Tog". Rather secretive, he isn’t terribly good, but was promoted on the say-so of the Bosun. He is also – allegedly – from Albion.
• Sailmaker: Pegleg Pedro, a young man who lost his leg in an action last year. But he is kept on for his skill with needle and thread. The crew is split between sympathy and disdain.
• Gunnery Sergeant: Khakidaz is a dwarf, pretty unpopular as he keeps telling you all how useless you are.
• Cook: Jammy. Yes, he’s a halfling. Only the best for this crew.
• Rat-Catcher: Benek the cat.
• Cabin Boy: Roget, a Bretonnian. It had to be done.
• General Crew: Includes Anna (a Norse giant and a girl), Wittgenstein (an Imperialist), Trudeau (a Bretonnian), Oswaldo (an Estalian) and Juma (a Black).
• Major of Marines: Hildegardt von Hostenhauffenssen.
• Lieutenant of Marines: Kirsten von Hostenhauffenssen, a relation of some kind.
• Marine Sergeant: Sven Hassel.
• Marines: The real standout here is a Slayer. Everyone avoids him.

The Game

What’s the Aim?
Unlike, for example, narrative games, WFRP tends to focus upon the individual PC, rather than a wider game. However, my own campaigns have tended to vary. The Wheatlands Colonies campaign was essentially about saving the region from the invasion of Chaos and – ultimately - about finding (or trying to) the original immortal rules of the province to that end. Similarly, The Outsiders was about the PCs discovering why they were tattooed and could not remember who they were. Regardless of where individual characters found themselves by that point, the game ended at the discovery. My current Petrum game is about getting home: once they are out of Araby, the game will end. Of course, this can mean that some players have unresolved character issues. On the other hand, my Carroburg campaign was set up for the PCs to live their lives out in the city – in the certainty that they would, at some point, run out of FPs and pick up one too many enemies. And this leads to the alternative problem with open-ended campaigns. As the games progress, PCs die and players get new ones. So, some players are still playing original characters – well embedded in the game – whilst others are starting new characters with all the ‘bedding in’ problems that entails. Inevitably, this means that some players are more involved/ interested than others and might be tempted to leave or be vocally supportive for starting a new game. The result is that for this game, I am going to try both. There is a point to the campaign, but since they are all minions, the players have no idea what the ultimate aim of their captain is. At the same time, I want the players to develop their characters within the ship-board situation and so the game will continue for as long as this is possible. They realise that they are never going to be Captain, but there is nothing to stop them moving into the officer class or becoming a highly skilled technician or craftsman. So, how will I judge when the game has run its course? Well, I think that once we lose our third starting PC, then the writing is on the wall – but we will see how things develop.

Captain’s Log  [top] Updated 06.05.10

Session 1: in which the PCs find some amber, and some dark elves, and join the Navy.

Session 2: in which the ship is transformed, gnomic traders sell some slaves to some very weird wood elves, odd rituals are had by all and you set sail (again).

Session 3: in which you make landfall in the Westerland, meet some chirpy halflings who have just slain every human in the village and find some snotlings (and Andrew loses a FP to a spoon-wielding snot).

Session 4: in which privateering takes place, the PCs release the plague from a long lost dwarf hold and then are sent on a 'simple' journey to deliver a captured merchantman.

Session 5: in which are PCs commence lost in a fog (but it isn’t their fault this time as they just follow orders), having fallen out with one of the unofficial leaders below decks (oh dear...), and ends with…

Session 6: in which our lost schooner comes across a weird whaling platform and uncovers something of its strange origins, before being chased towards home by a Dark Elf ‘harpy carrier’.

Session 7: in which are heroes finally make Chantillon, Lor Nessa turns his back upon the transportation, or worse, of his people and the PCs return as Royalist heroes after they kill the traitorous mutant Boney on his prison island of St Helena.

Session 8: in which mundane sailing to their final destination can only be lulling them into a false sense of security.

Player Synopses [top]  Updated 28.05.10
I asked the players to write a few lines on how they see their character at the creation/ first session point of the game, and this is what we got:

From Andrew:
Lukas hasn’t had an easy life, blue eyed and blonde haired he's always been quite a social chap and enjoys the company of like-minded souls which more often than not got him into all sorts of trouble. Fairly athletic he makes use of his abilities to see him through and at times has a rebellious streak, although aboard ship he's quickly learnt that that streak needs to be suppressed if he wants to live long enough to get ahead.

From Toby:
Franz was a sickly child, but the prayers of his devout parents helped him survive and eventually overcome his physical frailties. Generally astute, pious, decent and brave, he does harbour a hatred of bullies. Keen to travel in search of fame and fortune he joined the Imperial Marines, but whilst trying to generate some income during a lean winter was captured, falsely accused and pressed back into naval service as punishment - a job he'd have happily volunteered for! He's now determined to right this injustice and prove his worth

From Lee:
Ernst never really wanted to go to sea. It's wet, scary and the only thing worse than the 1st Lieutenant, who hates him, is that thing Ernst knows is in the hold of the ship, watching him and waiting for just the right moment to... well, who knows? It won't be nice though. But then again, although he never really wanted to go to sea, Ernst never really wanted to be a shipwright either, or to fight, or to get into arguments with elves, or to do anything really except carve wood and maybe have people appreciate his work and pay him lots of money for it. Ernst knows in his heart that what he is is an artist, he just wishes other people could know it too and stop making him do manual labour. 

From Frederic:
Hieronymous ("rhymes with anonymous") is a bright and willful kind of chap. Being born in a dung-covered fishing village is tough on anyone but Hieronymous quickly decided he was meant for better things. He ingrated himself with the village initerant priest, who taught him how to read and write.

One fateful winter, as he was trying to make ends meet by recovering some amber, he got pressed into the Imperial Navy. Not exactly his dream job. But he will make the best out of it. He will endure. And he will not be cowed by some stupid seamen bullies. Frack the lot of them, he's better than that. When he gets to be an officer, they'll have to watch themselves and call him "Mister Hieronymous". And it will rhyme with 'argentiferous' and 'bodacious'... Ah!

Player Logs  [top] Updated 06.05.10
We have also developed a competition over the last couple of campaigns to produce diaries of what has happened, which can then be slanted to put one’s own PC into the best light, and show the others up for what they are (or what we want others to think of them anyway). Disgraceful tendency I know. My write-ups are always scrupulously honest! Anyway, I am grateful to those who take the time to write up the sessions, or at least their interpretations of them. So, here we have a selection of player logs:

Franz's Journal    Part 1  26 KB

Contact Details [top]
Any questions or comments upon Man O'Warhammer or my other projects, please feel free to email me using the button below. You can also check out my other pages from here.

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