Well first of all this is my first post on this board so hello to everybody.

I've been a long time player of Warhammer in the tabletop game, and i've been involved in a campaign of WFRP a long time ago, but decided to run 3rd ed with my group when it came round to my turn to GM.

So I started to devise a campaign and I've run a couple of scenarios and have a couple more planned out (one storyline and one more just a filler) but beyond that I'm starting to putter out of ideas where to go with the story.

So for a brief recap, I'll give you the tale of the Van Tanncred sword.

Van Tanncred was a knight, a member of the Brotherhood of the white rose, that took part in the Araby Crusades of the 15th century. When the Sultans city was sacked he, along with all the other warriors there had his share of the loot. And that is were he came into possession of the sword.

On the journey back from Araby, Van Tanncred sickened and could not make the sea journey back. He died in the Port, attended by his squire Markus Verstohlen.

Cycle on to the 25th century.

Van Tanncred may have sickened and died but he was now bound to the sword. He eventually woke as a vampire in the lands of Araby, and slowly made his way back to the Empire. There he discovered that his family was brought low by his death (and the cursed sword, which did make it back as one of the squire's last acts) and that the order is now no more, faltering on till it was eventually destroyed in the great war against chaos.

However to Van Tanncred those of the order betrayed him by leaving him to rot in Araby, and so he will now see about bringing their descendants low and the downfall of the Empire, as soon as he can be reunited with his sword.

His sword is actually a rather powerful magic item (I haven't worked out the exact details yet) but basically will allow the summoning of a veritable horde of the undead to unleash upon the Empire. So probably not a good thing to let him get a hold of.

Working in his name is also his squire Markus Verstohlen, who was raised from the dead upon his return to the Empire, as a reward given that he was the only one who stayed loyal to him.

Anyways. In the first adventure they basically played the intro to a day late, a shilling short. I tweaked the end so that basically the merchants package was supposed to be the Van Tanncred sword. However it never left Marienburg (It had already been switched) and was infact just replaced with another sword, one tainted to attract beastmen. The merchant was then arrested by a witch hunter for dealing with evil relics (He wanted the Van Tanncred sword, though just to try and prove his claim to nobility, not out of evil intent, but you know what witch hunters are like). And that's were the scenario ended.

The second scenario was a filler. Basically the characters are now agents for the witch hunter who has told them a little of the Van Tanncred swords background but not a lot. Now they are on the way to an old chapter house of the Brotherhood of the White Rose to hopefully dig up more details as to exactly what happened in Araby. There they will no doubt encounter undead and what not. After that they are to meet the merchant in Marienburg, as he intended to journey there to see if he can pick up the trail.

However beyond the story scenario of journeying to the chapterhouse, and then possibly a scenario either en route to Marienburg or taking place in Marienburg, I'm not sure what to do afterwards really. I don't intend for the PCs to confront Van Tanncred this campaign, that'll be a while down the line. Possibly to defeat his squire at the end though ultimately fail in reclaiming the sword.

So any ideas?

P.S. Hope I haven't rambled on for too long.

I'd work it into some of the scenario contest winners for the future. There are a lot of them out there:

www.strike-to-stun.net/downloads

jh

Welcome to the boards, Mecha Ace.

Here's how I'd handle it. First thing I'd do is look at the characters and talk with the players and try to figure out how their characters can engage with this quest. If they're dedicated Agents of this Witch Hunter fellow then they have a good reason to go through hell and high water after this item, but if not I'd be looking carefully for reasons to go after this thing. For example a Shaman might be happy to go along if it involves killing undead, whereas the Dockhand might be less inclined unless there's some financial reward, or maybe a guy he hates is working for Van Tancred etc. I always try and tailor the adventures around the motivations of the PCs, and ideally the opposite is also true for the players.

Second thing I'd do is get some of the NPCs goals out on the table. Until the players have some idea of what's going down they'll probably be happy to do some investigation, but until they know what they're up against, or have a **** good reason to go after Van Tancred, they may not be as proactive in the game. So I'd think about introducing the squire character soon, possibly as an adversary, and reveal more of the NPCs machinations. Remember - the best NPCs are pointless until the players are interacting with them in some way.

Lastly, and this is just a personal preference of mine, I'd consider making Van Tancred a little morally ambiguous. Sure he's a vampire, sure he wants to raise this army of undead, but is there some chance of redemption? Perhaps the squire is only working for Van Tancred out of loyalty, but secretly wishes he would could redeem his master. I'm a big fan of never having straight up "evil" guys. It's very rare to see a truly irredeemable person, or at least a person who is totally evil.

Anyway those are my two cents, good luck with the campaign and let us know how it goes.

@Emirikol

Those are some pretty good looking adventures, I'll definitely be having a closer look at those.

@Grimandperilous

Sorry, probably should've said what characters are involved. Right now I've got two players with the potential of a third. The two are currently a dwarf mercenary and a high elf soldier. Basically they decided that witch hunters are not to be messed with and they heard the words "dangerous to the empire" and "payment" which obviously equates into a lot of money.

The third player if he can get introduced will be introduced as an actual agent of the witch hunter so he'll have a good reason for joining this group mid track and helping them.

And yeah this trip to the old chapter house will fill them the players in on what happened in Araby and that the sword came back but it's master didn't and then it's off to Marienburg. I think in Marienburg I'll introduce the squire, lurking in the sewers or something (as wights obviously stick out like a sore thumb). Maybe by this point they will realise the players are agents and try to discredit them and then bump them off.

I like the idea of Van Tanncred being possibly redeemable. Maybe in the end he can be convinced that what he is doing is wrong and he is destroying the thing he fought to protect and that his family worked so hard in to help build it a bit better. Though the encounter with Van Tanncred will be a while away, I don't even think they'll see him this campaign apart from maybe hints that the squire is working for some higher power.

I've also just thought of something else that should probably have been mentioned. The witch hunter is actually the descendant of the squire. The squire's family fell into poverty along with the Van Tanncreds, as they were closely linked, however his family line didn't completely die. They know at one point they were better off than this, however I'm sure this revelation will make him work the players even harder to root out this evil that is so closely tied to him.

Grimandperilous said:

I like the plot a lot, but would definatly incorporate some moral issues in it.

I like grey zones, and dislike white/black in games. I like the story of Satan and God, how Satan like a spoiled child got jealous of humans, and acting like a spoiled child revolted. He's not evil (although his acts are), he's just a spoiled brat.

So I'd make his motives less of revenge, but more about putting a distant succesor on whatever throne/title he used to have. And then allow the players in the end to make him see/understand that in doing so, he's destroying the world/Empire, making the title he's handing over to his succesor worthless.

Like when Raistlin (Dragonlance) sees that in becomming a god, the battle in doing so would destroy the world, meaning he'd rule a wasteland...

To me, evil has it's merrits, but when dealing with an arch-enemy, I find it the most interesting if he started his evil doings by thinking he did the right/just thing. But through the process he started to bend his own rules (like using torture to secure a safe democracy (no policy intended here)), and slowly becomes an even bigger monster than what he was fighting in the first place.

Gandhi told us that "an eye for an eye" leaves the whole world blind, and while he might have been extreme, his point is that when you fight others with their own weapons, you become like them, and thus would have been better of not fighting in the first place.

This is why the whole "But I just wanted revenge" theme is extremely interesting!

My players once tortured a skaven, for information on their plot to poison a whole river. When I asked them how their characters felt morally after it, they answered that the skaven was not human, which justified it...

Might have derailed a bit here...

But the point is, don't make him "Evil", make him "Rightious", but make it so his road to justice will look very evil. Make him "love" his squire (in like loving his loyalty), make him percieve himself as good, and maybe allow the players to find a magic mirror that will show anyone like they truely are (even Vampires).

Chevalier and Segur made a cartoon called "Légendes des Contrées Oubliées" (in english very losely translated: Legends of the forgotten countries... I only have it in danish). Anyway, the main plot is this god who's wife gets killed by the other gods. Now before this he was a very kind/sweet god. But the enrages him, and he wages a war against the other gods (being the most powerfull of them), in order to find the life-stone that can bring her back to life. When he finally finds this and brings her back to life, she can't recognize him, since his evil doings (and there were many!) has altered his appearence... His response is what makes the book(s) so immensly heartbreaking, one of the few cartoons I've had to hold back a tear to finish, but it's still simply awesome!!!

So his journey to bring her back to life (which in theory is a good thing to do), makes him a much different man, so different that she will never love him again... talk about irony!!!