I thought I'd embellish another plot hook as a FAN SCENARIO write-up. This time I chose "The Lone Wolf," from The Royal Navy entry in SHADES OF EMPIRE. It's about a Wolfship (warship) that returns to dock but there is no-one on deck. The captain of the local naval mission orders his men to board the vessel to investigate. None return (of course). The local mission captain wants something off the boat before the magisters arrive, but people are terrified to even approach the vessel. It sits there in the harbor..waiting...

Development: The big secret will be that it will have Nurgle Rot from a run-in with a Nurgle Plague Ship (which will be found in the ship's logbooks). The crew is either dead, infected, or mutating. During the night that the ship is in the harbor, a Beast of Nurgle (slimehound) will have slipped off the ship and slobbered it's way into a back alley of the docks, leaving a few puddles of Nurgling-spawn-juice (which is very interesting as per ToC . * What would the local mission captain want off the Wolfship? (Nurgle plagueship "seed"? Incriminating evidence against the dock mafia? secrets to a new bretonnian cannon? a new edition of warhammer fantasy roleplay?)

Play Options:

1. Main event: They could simply be hired (as per the hook) and go onto the ship, look around, kill all the bad guys, retreive the "item" and come home.
2. Prequel: Prior to them finding out about the ship, the Slimehound could be running around town..they could solve that first (and get infected) and THEN find out about the hiring.
3. Sequel: They could find out about the escaped Slimehound afterwards and have to work it out with some dockers (and the Dockhand's mafia)
4. A thief (now infected) could have gotten "the item" off of the ship and escaped into town..the PC's could have to track him down.
5. There could be evidence of a Nurgle Plague Ship landing nearby (from the logbook) and the wolfship escaped jsut in time..the PC's may have to go to the wilderness to investigate.
6. When the magisters arrive...options?
7. Other prequels and sequels?

Some initial thoughts:

• I'm tired of cults and 'just another plague outbreaks.' I'm not going to do a cult thing, but a little bit of infection is to be expected..but I don't want player ssuddenly jumping on the 'OH ANOTHER NURGLE PLOT' right away unless somebody's infected with a Nurgling.
• Wolfships and Nurgle Plague Ships are detailed in the Warhammer: Man O'War rules..which can now be found online.
• One of the PC's may become infected with a Nurgling (heh, heh, heh...)..investigation for a cure, may result in clues..The local mission captain has put up advertisements
• The Nurgle creatures are in the Tome of Corruption.
• Shades of Empire has a nice write up on the Navy and the Local Mission Houses (courtesy of Hapimeses from here on the forums).
• OTHER THOUGHTS ON EXPANDING THE IDEAS?

Plot Hook Original Text from Shades of Empire: The Lone Wolf
A large Wolfship finally returns to port after three years of being at sea. Women and children crowd the docks, keen to greet husbands, fathers, and sons. But there are no men on the decks. None on the rigging. None anywhere. The captain of the local naval mission orders his men to board the vessel to investigate. None return. Ignoring the panic spreading through the local authorities, the captain posts messages looking for help, and he is offering a lot of money. There is something in the ship he wants, and he wants it before the admiralty comes with the magisters. Do the PC’s want to get involved?

..

I love this idea. I actually think it would be neat to do a kind of "the ship came into contact with the Nurgle ship and they start mutating while you're out to sea when you can't escape or go anywhere" kind of thing.

I think I'd leave the slimehound as a sequel; having him come off first might tip them off, and I think exploring the ship should be spooky partly because they have no idea what to expect. Let them read about the encounter with the other ship, freak out, find out the item's gone, and expect the worst.

What if you have them grab some Nugle plagueship seed, as you suggested, but make the captain's reasons for obtaining and hiding it obscure (and sketchy.) When the magisters arrive, the PCs could have to decide whether or not to give the item to the captain (and gain their reward) or turn him over to the magisters?

Also, I know from reading other threads that you've spent quite a lot of time thinking about your ship already, but if you want a nice piece of terrain, you might check this out. I've been looking for an excuse to buy it and use it myself.

The career compendium gave me some new ideas too. I may stick all of the named characters into the scenario

jh

I'm feeling lazy about this. Someone motivate me.

jh

Here's what's up so far. I've got the skeleton of the scneario down and now need to flesh it out. If anyone cares to comment, it would be most welcome as I expand and format it for print

THE LONE WOLF
A 3rd Edition Warhammer Scenario
By Jay Hafner
Expanded from the Adventure Seed of the same name in Shades of Empire

Plot Hook Original Text
The Lone Wolf
A large Wolfship finally returns to port after three years of being at sea. Women and children crowd the docks, keen to greet husbands, fathers, and sons. But there are no men on the decks. None on the rigging. None anywhere.
The captain of the local naval mission orders his men to board the vessel to investigate. None return. Ignoring the panic spreading through the local authorities, the captain posts messages looking for help, and he is offering a lot of money. There is something in the ship he wants, and he wants it before the admiralty comes with the magisters. Do the PC’s want to get involved?

NPC’s
Ludwig Schliemann – The captain of the local naval mission. He wishes to get the ships log and a package. The ship was not to return until it had destroyed the Bretonnian ship and/or recovered the secret of its improvements on the Bretonnian version of the Hellcannon. He wishes to get a hold of those plans before the magisters arrive (SECRET??)

CHAPTER 1
Encounter 1 (Introduction)
The Finest Ham in all of Nordland! Why’s that guy over there choking on it. A merchant says it’s way too salty and offers one silver to the man that can bring him the proprietor who sold it to him. The PC’s can get involved or watch others get involved (BY PARTY TYPE?)

Encounter 2 – By Herald or Want Ad
You’ve been hired. You’re told that you need to go to a boat out in the bay.

Encounter 3 – The Ship is out in the Bay. A dinghy will take you there. There is a dinghy parked at the boat already and ropes on the side to get up on the boat. Inspection of the ship shows that it is a Wolfship. That means that it has large oarbanks, sails, cannons, and a ram. There is a fore and aft castle.

Encounter 4. The Main Deck
The main deck of the ship is quiet. It appears as if the ship was in a skirmish with boarding. There are several cannonball holes through the deck (from the nurgle catapult). The hole leads below to the middle hold. It has been raining and there is water pouring through the holes. OBS CHECK will also reveal that wet powder was laced in a line to a pile of powder kegs in a failed attempt at sabotage (because of the rain..and the fact that the captain could not handle a match after his arms turned to tentacles.

Encounter 5. The Aftcastle and Ships Log
The aftcastle is empty. The ships log may be found here. The captain’s name is Helmut van Dorf. Some of the less uninteresting passages include a vague reference chasing down the infamous Bretonnian captain Le Fevre into a storm. The ship’s name is “The Confidence” One day later, we came across the remains of the Kingship. It appears to have been terribly damaged in battle, but not by cannons, by catapult and boarding. Although I have dispatched dinghies already to investigate, a terrible smell has come over our ship and a fog has moved over us. I fear than an engagement with Deathmonger has begun. They shall meet Sigmar’s heavy blow. (end of log)” A 3P knowledge check will reveal that Deathmonger was/is an infamous sea pirate that was cursed (or something). Three or more success will help the PC recall that Deathmonger is a sea captain on a chaos ship. Two boons will help recall that Deathmonger captained a ship previously called the Pride of Nuln.

Encounter 6. The Forecastle
The forecastle contains mostly cannons and sails.

Encounter 7. Middle Hold: Oar Banks
The oar bank benches are empty. Oars are withdrawn. Rainwater continues to pour in from above. Two of the oars have been mutated into living wooden tentacles. There are also puddles down here from the Slimehound that contain Nurgling-spawn. If a PC is unlucky enough to step in one (probably during the battle), he will gain a Nurgling inside him.

Encounter 8. Fore Hold
There is a lower deck of canons here & ship’s magazine. Numerous canon balls have been altered into humanoid heads. One madman here is currently loading several of them into a canon. If he see’s the PC’s he will attempt to turn the canon and fire the heads at them. He qualifies as a Zombie.

Encounter 9. Aft Hold
There is a lower deck of canons here as well as provisions. The PACKAGE is missing. It’s apparent that someone stole it already. THERE IS A SLIME TRAIL OUT THE BACK WINDOW.

Encounter 10. Ballast
The lowest level of the ship contains all of the remaining sailors. They had been pulled in, one by one, and absorbed into the hull and ballast. It is now a slithering, slimy mass of mutated, misery and disease.

Chapter 2 – CHASING DOWN THE SLIMEHOUND
Encounter 1 – The first Lead
When the PC’s arrive back at the docs, they will be approached by a dockhand (a stevedore actually). “Someone come quickly.” Down the docks, the PC’s will find the mangled bodies of two dockhands. A trail of slime is all around them. The rain has washed a lot of the slime away, but perhaps enough to trail.

Encounter 2 – The back Alley
The slimehound is here in the back alley. If there is a PC that has been infected with a Nurgling, it can sense it’s bretheren and it will decide to come out through an orifice at this time. The PC will be incapacitated for one round and additional rounds until he succeeds at a resilience check. At that point, the Nurgling will have emerged (PC unhurt..but certainly uncomfortable/embarrassed) and will slobber lovingly towards the slime-hound. There are two other puddles of nurgling slime here as well.

The thief that stole the package is actually the slime hound (YES/NO/YES/NO???). It is the remains of CAPTAIN. The package is under one of his tentacled arms.

POST-PACKAGE RECOVERY IDEAS
- The package shows that the improved hellcannon works with some chaosy-stuff er’ sumthin’
- Will the magisters come after the PC’s
- Etc. OTHER IDEAS????
- ALL AREAS NEED EXPANDED DEVELOPMENT AND DEPTH OF MYSTERY.

.====.

References:
o N.Stillman, A.Jones, B.King, “Wolfship,” Man O’ War~Raging Sea Battles in The World of Warhammer (Eastwood, Notts UK:Games Workshop, 1993), 34+
o A.Jones, “Plague Ship,“ Plague Fleet ~ Chaos Warships in the Man O’ War Game (Eastwood, Notts UK:Games Workshop, 1993), 22-23.
o E.Cagle, et al., “The Imperial Navy” and “The Lone Wolf,” Shades of Empire ~ Organizations of the Old World (Roseville, MN USA:Fantasy Flight Games, 2008), 87.
o R.Schwalb, et al., “Demons of Nurgle,” Tome of Corruption ~ Secrets from the Realm of Chaos (Eastwood, Notts UK:Games Workshop, 2006), p226-228
o J.Little, et al., “Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Career Compendium ~ The Ultimate Career Reference (Roseville, MN USA: Fantasy Flight Games, 2009), water-related careers.

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Man O War p.34+
"Wolfships

The sleek Wolfship is the most powerful Imperial ship of the line. Great batteries of canon jut from its high forecastle, overlooking the titanic ram with which it spears its foes. Powered by the wind and dedicated oarsment selected from the strongest soldiers it seeks out the Empire's seaborne foes. Wolfships are organised into squadrons which makes them triply dangerous. The squadron is capable of moving with a drilled precision that lets it bring an enormous amount of firepower to bear on its targets. once an enemy is crippled Wolfships close and board. Their gun-lined forecastles make them particularly dangerous when doing this since their enemy must make any counterattack in the teeth of many cannon. Drummers man the aft castle beating time for the rowers. The terrifying sound of their drumming mingles with blasts from the ships' brazen warhorns as they enter battle. All this din serves another purpose in letting the Wargalleys know each other's position in the dense clouds of powder smoke once the cannonades begin”

================

PLAGUE FLEET p.22
“Nurgle Plagueship
Plagueships of Nurgle are hideous to behold. They are huge, rotund vessels lashed together from mildew-ridden, slimy planking. They fly vast, ragged and rotting sails from their uneven and splintered masts. Their great treadwheels lasily churtn the sea as they plod forward under a cloud of flies. Behind them, the Plagueships leave a trail of disgusting detritus, polluting the sea and killing fish for miles around. Cackling Chaos Spawn and Nurglings swarm over their slippery, rotten decks. The stench of a Plagueship passing causes even the strongest stomach to retch as the foul smell of this immense tub-like vessel drifts downwind. A plagueship can ove under sail or by paddle. Plague catapults are the principal weapons onboard a Plagueship. They are loaded down with plague-spores, excrement, rotting material and the infectious filth of decay. The plague can incapacitate enemy crews or decay and rot ships. As Plagueships of Nurgle plod across the seascape, they leave a stinking trail of fetid slime behind them. This trail can rot ship hulls that come in contact with it.”

Nurgle plagueship and Wolfship for reference:

This sounds like a very good and atmospheric scenario. You seem to have the outline pretty much figured out, but I thought I would share a few ideas and thoughts that came to mind.

Suggestion for background

Ludwig Schliemann and his brother hail from a region that is preparing for a conflict against its neighbour (Border Princes?). In preparation for the coming conflict the entrepreneurial brothers figured that good money was to be made in trading arms. Through some nefarious contacts they found about a person (a spy, a traitor, a student from Nuln etc.) who was looking to sell blue prints to an experimental cannon. The brothers wagered all their money on this opportunity and purchased the prints and had a prototype made in secret.

Now, before they could start selling these new cannons they needed to test their prototype. Bribes, blackmail, and outright lies finally got some Imperial officials to grant them a Wolfship and a crew for a secret mission. Ludwig’s brother took the cannon and went with the ship. Ludwig stayed behind. The secret mission was to sail North to the Sea of Claws and test the weapon on an unsuspecting norse village by bombarding it from the sea.

The Wolfship found a suitable village and the new cannon turned out to be a success as it reduced the helpless village into rubble. The crew went ashore to inspect the results closer and to finish off any survivors. Amongst the ruins they found a mortally wounded witch-doctor. The villagers had worshipped Nurgle and with his dying breath the witch-doctor laid a curse on the crew.

As the crew returned home the curse slowly started to turn the Wolfship into a Nurgle plagueship.

Some suggestions for the scenario

Now the ship has returned. The captain of the local naval mission orders his men to board the vessel to investigate. None return.

Panic starts to spread. The PCs see people rushing to the docks to see the mysterious ship. They should investigate. This is a good chance to some wildly speculative rumours, as well as some hints at the truth. The authorities gather to decide on a right course of action. Just before nightfall they announce that the mystery ship will be sunk the next morning by sending a warship to bombard it.

Ludwig Schliemann seeks the PCs out and hires them to sneak aboard the ship and find out what happened to his brother. He also wants them to retrieve his brother’s journals (with their valuable notes on the cannon). The PCs have just this night to achieve this.

First, they must find someone to take them to the ship. This will be challenging as the ship is cordoned off by dinghies manned by city watch with storm lanterns. Once they get to the ship, instead of having them climb aboard, you could have them enter through a strange hole in the side (a botched attempt by the first mate to blow up the ship). It is dark inside and the use of any sources of light might alert the watch to their presence.

The PCs have to work their way up the ship from the lowest levels to the main deck and the castles. To help create the mood for mystery, you could start by gradually giving up more and more hints of something sinister. Awful stench, odd scratch marks on the walls (Sigmar save us! etc.), signs of the botched attempt to blow the ship up, swarms of flies, odd sounds coming from the upper decks (strange moaning that comes from the previous boarding, which has been absorbed as a part of the Forecastle.)

As they make their way up they can find the first mate’s diary with more clues (their initial mission). Also, the ships mutations become more and more evident (slime here and there, odd boils throbbing on the walls) until, finally, they see the boarding party absorbed into the ship (main deck, mast, aft castle?). Finally, they find the captain’s quarters and the log (it talks about the curse and reveals how the ship and crew gradually changed). The mutated captain is in the forecastle and about to use the experimental cannon (now a Hellcannon) against the city. He might be loading the cannon with Nurglings (who used to be the crew?). They must stop the captain and escape the living ship.

As a final clue they should find the brother’s journal (it reveals the brothers’ plan). They also find clues that the brother (now slimehound or some other sort of Nurgle beast) has abandoned the ship and is probably hiding somewhere in the city. Eventually, it will most likely try to seek out its brother. Now, the PCs have to decide what to do with Ludwig and his mutated brother. If Ludwig finds out about his brothers fate before the PCs get to him, he might set them up for an ambush at his townhouse.

Great ideas. Thanks,

jh

All of this is far too good not to steal at some point. In which case, I ask for your forgiveness.

Ludlov Thadwin of Sevenpiecks said:

I expect to have it finished in the 2-3 weeks or so (depending on how much I choose to neglect my children and let the go play at the old army chemical dump..that is Disneyland) I spent most of yesterday rounding up pix of wolfships and other wessels' ..now I've got to figure out how to get them altered to work as scenario artwork.

I should have a formatted copy uploaded by the end of the month.

Thanks everybody!

jh

For reference, the wolfship is a pretty amazing ship...

Wow, that is a fantastic idea. This is actually my very first post here; i just signed up only to say that this scenario has really gripped my imagination.

Detailed maps

Inspired by your premise, I've searched around for floor plans of historical ships. Unfortunately, I have not found any online. I think the floor plan (do they call it that, for ships?) of the Wasa ship whould be spot on for your needs here. Can't find one online, though, but surely there must be one in a book somewhere. I'll try to find something like it in a library. The map in the other thread seems to be missing a galley. I'd like to find a map with a whole lot of detail, a map that could sustain a lengthy campaign. Maybe the map of the Emperor Luitpold is a good starting point, although that is a much smaller ship, is not sea-going (it is a luxury riverboat) and is not even a military vessel.

My campaign idea

I have more or less decided to take this wolf ship/plague ship idea and run with it. I've just started GM'ing 3rd ed, but I want to make a horror-heavy standalone mini-campaign sort of based on the same concept, only set a little earlier in the history of the cursed ship. Perhaps a prequel to your adventure. I'll try to embellish a little.

Acto One: Awast, me maties!

The players are all junior officers in the imperial navy: ships physician, navigator, mercenary sargeant, marine etc. Plenty of suitable careers to choose from. The PC's are all transferred from their current ships (or garrisons) to crew the new flagship of the imperial navy: the IWS (Imperial Wolf Ship) MAGNVS PIOVS (obviously named after one of the empire's greatest heroes, the emperor Magnus the Pious). The grand ship is launced from the largest wharf in Marienburg by Emperor Karl Franz himself, smashing a bottle of fine Reikland bubbly against the ship's gilded and exquisitly decorated hull. The ship, fully manned with 300 marines, 126 sailors and 24 officers, then embarks on her maiden voyage, a diplomatic mission to Lustria.

Once well at sea, the PC's are given a thorough, but for gaming purposes completely bogus brifing ot their mission by the captain: they'll be clearing out the crypt of the fabled, god-like necromancer Nagash himself, or something similarily important-sounding. Of course, they'll never actaully reach Lustria, but it is important that the adventurerers do not suspect the true nature of this adventure quite yet. While sailing, a few minor encounters take place: through vigilance and bravery, the NPC's rescue a merchant convoy attached by Norscan raiders, fight of a sea monster or two, encounter a Ulthuan envoy ship, re-stock supplies in Albion and so on. These encounteres are important to allow the PC's become well aquainted with the ship, to introduce some salty vacabulary and maritime rutine, form relationships with important crew members, and most of all make the players assume that this just another sea journey, and that they'll be fighting undead cannibals and Liche-kings in Lustria in the next session. But they won't.

The plot thickens

The grand ship is infected. One of the crew, a lowly cook's assistant, is a nurgle cultist. He's smuggled a plagueseed aboard. The seed is festering in the ballast. Slowly, the taint of pestilence is spreading across the entire ship. Within days, the taint has reached the ship's water supply, and from there it gets into the food. Also, the taint is infecting the vessel itself. Like a corpse maggot, the taint of The Great Unclean One is burrowing into the core wood of the mighty oak plaks and masts. The ship itself is mutating. The plump cherubs decorating the brow are turning into sickly nurglings. Gradually, the crew and the ship itself is turning into a plague ship!

The PC's are not infected immediately, as they sup in the officers quarters. Their food is prepared in a separate galley, by a halfling cook, and they only drink bottled wine. So they get to stay sane and healthy longer than the rest of the crew. Lucky them!

Act Two: The Cursed Ship

This is the main chunk of the adventure. The adventurerers try to stem the tide of pestilence washing over the ship. It is utterly futile, of course, and eventually the adventureres, too, will become plague-carrying mutants. The ship will become a sea-going version of Castle Wittgenstein, every nook and cranny seething with horror, insanity, mutation and disease. Slowly, the adventurerers realize thaty the are sailing towards their doom. there's no escape - exept, perhaps, in death. In this act, they must investigate the source of the taint, they must quell a mutiny and try to find a way to cure the ship. This act ends when they realize that their efforts are futile: there's no cure for what the ship has become. They are the last sane and reasonably healthy people on the ship, along with perhaps their halfling cook and a handful of other officers they may have been able to save from the tide of corruption. Eventually, it will dawn on them: the ship is doomed. Now what?

Act three: Doomed Heroes

The last part of the adventure, then, is most likely an attempt to blow up and sink the ship before it can reach its port of destination. The semi-sentient plague ship is making it's way back towards Marienburg, with the completely insane former captain now fused to the helm. That would of course be a complete disaster. If allowed to dock in Marienburg, the ship's cursed crew would disembark, spreading madness and pestilence straight into the mother vein of the empire: the river Reik. The most important port would be decimated by plague. The empire could never recover from this. The only thing that could stop the ship, would be to sink it.

Sinking the plague ship is no easy task, as almost the entire crew is now thoroughly infected. Quite a few of the crew have turned to worhip of Nurgle as the plague has rotted away their sanity. At launch, the ship was crewed by 150 sailors, and a contigency of 300 marins were also stationed on the ship. Without doubt, quite a few have already been slain by the adventureres, a great number of un-infected crewmen have been slain by plague-ridden mutants, and a rather large number have commited suicide. But still, there are perhaps 100 heavily mutated marines and crewmen opposing the PC's and a few surviing NPC's.

Nurgle himself is very pleased with the cultist who smuggled the plagueseed abourd the ship, and has elevated him to champion. The champion actively attempts to foil the adventurerer's plans, whatever they are, and sinking the ship in search of salvation is no easy task. There is no chance of survival here, but redemption is a faint possibility. Witth the adventureres survive - and retain their sanity - long enough to sink the plague ship?

The Explosive Finish

With heavy doses of inspiration from Call of Cuthulhu and movies like Event Horizon, Mutiny on the Bounty, Pirates of the Carribean, Prince of Darkness, Alien, Event Horizon, Into the Mouth of Madness and Sunshine, this chould be a dark epic unlike anything my players have experienced before - I hope. Especially towards the end, the cliché could be ramped up, borrowing heavily from the action adventure genre: locating some secret, explosive device only mention in the captains secret log, figuring out how to use it, fighting their way down to where it will do the most damage, and finally setting the device off though some mysterious and long-winded ritual while the Nurgle Champion and his pestilent entourage are assaulting with no heed for personal safety. It could be a pretty tense finale to a very dark tale. It could also all go horribly wrong, of course. What do you guys think?

Very cool ideas!

Jh

I just got FELL CARGO from Amazon. I'm going to read it and make notes and implement them into my scenario as well.

jh