Welcome to Fill in The Gap, a column devoted to individual, "one-off" scenarios, that any GM can run for his/her group.
What's the only thing cooler than a ninja? Why the subject of today's one-shot scenario, of course!
If you need to know more about the FITG(Fill in The Gap) system/column, please check out the first (and second) of these monthly columns. Without further ado, I bring you today's scenario:
As always, if you're going to play in this scenario (run by your favorite GM) then please read no further, for fear of spoilage. Alan, Dave, Kristo + Sarah, that means you!
High Seas is a scenario for 4 players.
The Premise
In High Seas, the year is 1719, and pirates sail the sea as they please. The characters are four crewman on the small but fast and legendarily ruthless pirate vessel - Vanquisher - run by a merciless pirate captain Dreadbeard. Dreadbeard has recently announced that he's retiring, and has also proclaimed that he has not yet chosen his successor. The scuttlebutt aboard the ship leads the crew (and our PCs) to believe that the new captain will be one of the four of them, and so they're all vying for the position while going about their daily piratical lives.
There are several obvious ways that the characters have at their disposal to try to gain control of the ship during the adventure, and likely many more not-so obvious ones. They could organize a mutiny - but that risks them being caught and drawn + quartered, Dreadbeard's standard punishment for attempted mutiny. They could try to bump off their competition, but if caught the punishment for murder is a keelhaul. Another option is to simply try to impress the captain as to their leadership or other virtues, which should involve doing some research as to what kind of a man the captain likes. The last clearly obvious action is the opposite of the last - instead of convincing the captain that they're the right man (or woman) for the job, they convince him the others are incompetent.
Because of the open-ended nature of this scenario, instead of a tailored experience detailed below there is a lot of different setting info for the vessel, a listing of every other crewman and their loyalty to Dreadbeard as well as their personality, and some ideas for various events that could occur on the high seas throughout the scenario to spice up the four crewman's (your player's) machinations.
Also below is a full description of Dreadbeard, his likes and dislikes, what he's looking for in his successor.
This scenario ends whenever you feel Dreadbeard has enough info to make up his mind. The players can end it prematurely (by losing the vessel, all or all but one dying, or one of them taking control of the ship etc.) but given the nature of this scenario, that's to be encouraged. Just don't let it drag on if you feel people are starting to lose interest.
Finally, it's worth noting for this scenario that Dreadbeard's decision can seem like favoritism towards a player if the GM makes it too arbitrarily. Be sure to use your knowledge of Dreadbeard to make the decision you think he'd make in the same situation, and avoid showing any signs of bias to the players.
The Characters
Boatswain Jeffrey Benjamin
Jeffrey Benjamin is the boatswain of the ship. The crew he has the most influence over are the sailing crew. The items of the ship he controls include all of the ropes, the flags and pendants, sailing during combat, and the schedule and watches. Jeffrey is also in charge of discipline on the vessel, and is 3rd in command.
Gunner Lindsey Williams
Lindsey is the gunner of the Vanquisher, in charge of the powder stores, the cannons, and the gun deck. He has the most influence with the gunnery crew. He is 4th in command, though considered of equal rank to the boatswain.
Doctor George Smith
George is the ship's Doctor, in charge of the medicinal supplies and the crew's overall health. Only the cook reports to the doctor, though he's popular with most of the crew. He's outside of the traditional command structure, as he was pressed into service - however he's taken well to a life of piracy.
Lieutenant Fraser Thomas
Fraser is the ship's lieutenant, first mate, and second in command. He's the captain's deputy, not directly in charge of any of the crew, but considered to be in command of all of them. His responsibility is faithfully executing his captain's orders, and keeping his captain safe.
The Theme
This scenario's theme is power and perception - how far will one go to seize power, how much are they willing to risk, and how important perception is to power.
The Setting
Below you'll find details about the ship, as well as list the crew and their duties, who they report to, their loyalty, and what they respect in a leader. Also below is detail on the captain himself. It'll be up to the players to figure out this information on their own through conversation with the various crewman, though they'll each start with the knowledge of one man on the ship they can definitively trust. The Lieutenant can trust the Quartermaster, the Boatswain can trust John, The Doctor can trust the Chef, and the Gunner can trust Sean.
A note about the crew's loyalty: Each crewman is loyal to one or more folks, but that can change over the course of the scenario. As the characters do things, weigh how that effects the men's opinion of them based on what they respect in a leader, and use your best judgement to adjust accordingly.
Throughout the scenario, have the loyal crew or the newly loyal crew show signs of their loyalty to your players. Have them pass notes, or make curt but telling nods. Also, show how the crew are feeling about certain decisions in the way that they act towards them. Basically, drop as many hints as possible as to the crew and the captain's opinions of the players, since this game is all about perception.
Captain Dreadbeard
Captain Dread Beard is a fearsome man, standing 6'3" tall with a large barrel chest. His face is intricately tattooed with Egyptian symbols, and he has a long knotted red beard that hangs just below his navel. He is always armed, always armored, and is rumored to only sleep for four hours at a time, and never the same time. He's chaotic and unpredictable.
What Dreadbeard wants in a captain is someone just like him. Someone not afraid to take risks for treasure, someone with a healthy amount of greed. He also wants someone that is loyal to him above all others, even the crew, and someone willing to sacrifice himself for the ship. The ideal candidate is bombastic, loud, obnoxious, and not at all agreeable - but still beloved and feared. Dreadbeard also wants someone who shares his secret faith in the ancient sun god Ra, so people showing veneration for the sun will be favorably inclined by him. He'll also need to drop hints throughout the experience about the wisdom of the Egyptian people, and will take great offense at anytime if anyone refers to them as "primitive" or "savage". Besides that, he'll want someone who is a fierce warrior, and someone who thinks up unconventional or interesting battle-plans (whether they work or not). One thing Dreadbeard cannot stand is false flattery or insincerity, the hints of these things will have him calling insubordination. Has a single daughter on shore, who he's attempting to marry off to someone wealthy. Lastly, the captain respects the loyalty of the crew, so if any one individual shows that the crew would be most willing to follow him, the captain will factor that into his decision.
The Vanquisher
The Vanquisher is a Sloop, around 50 feet long with 12 cannons. She has a crew of 22 men, just enough to sail the vessel and man all of the cannons in combat. She's not designed for boarding actions until after another ship surrenders, and is more suited to picking off individual ships than laying siege to convoys. There is room below deck for men to have secret conversations, a small mess, captain's quarters, first mate quarters, then the crew quarters where everyone else sleeps in hammocks. There is a powder storage area, and a food storage area.
The Crew
- Jenkins: Quartermaster, reports to the Lieutenant and is in charge of the nightwatch. Loyal to the Lieutenant, indifferent towards all other crewmembers. Knows a little bit about everyone, but not too many details (no knowledge of their loyalty, but he knows who they report to etc). Respects the Lieutenant.
- John: Sailor, reports to Boatswain. Loyal to boatswain, then captain. Knows all about the sailor crew, except for Matthew's secret traitorous feelings about the captain. Respects the Boatswain.
- Chef: Chef, reports to the Doctor. Loyal to the doctor first, then the captain. Knows a bit about the gunnery crew, particularly knows all about Matthew. Respects the Doctor.
- Sean: Gunnery mate, reports to Gunner. Loyal to the gunner, secretly despises everyone not on the gun crew - particularly hates the captain. Knows about everyone on the gun crew except for Ronald. Respects the Gunner.
- Jacob: Sailor, reports to Boatswain. Hates boatswain, loyal to the captain first, then the Gunner. Knows the gunnery crew. Respects cruelty.
- Michael: Sailor, reports to Boatswain. Loyal only to the captain. Knows no one on the ship well. Respects stoicism.
- Matthew: Sailor, reports to Boatswain. Loyal to the boatswain, secretly hates the captain. Knows the chef well. Respects order.
- Shawn: Gunnery mate, reports to Gunner. Loyal to the gunner first, then the boatswain, then the Captain. Doesn't trust the Lieutenant. Knows Crow well. Respects bravery.
- Renard: Sailor, reports to the Boatswain. Loyal to the Lieutenant only. Knows the Quartermaster, and Michael and Jacob well. Respects authoritativeness.
- Ronald: Gunnery mate, reports to Gunner. Loyal to the captain only, fanatically. Knows no one on the ship well. Respects the captain.
- Alexander: Gunnery mate, reports to Gunner. Loyal to no one, accepts bribes. Knows about Ronald. Respects greed.
- Erik: Sailor, reports to Boatswain. Mute. Loyal to Jenkins, knows no one (and can't talk anyhow.) Respects caution.
- Oscar: Marine, reports to Quartermaster. Always heavily armed, best sword-combatant on the ship. Currently loyal to the captain, but in love with the captain's daughter. Will side with whoever can make that happen. Respects romance.
- Joshua: Marine, reports to Quartermaster. Coward, loyal to whoever holds the whip or intimidates him. Knows Oscar well, and knows Oscar's secret. Is a gossip, will share this info with anyone who threatens him. Respects strength.
- "Crow": Rigging Sailor, reports to Boatswain. Not loyal to anyone, but willing to follow courage. Knows Shawn well. Respects freedom and trust.
- McGee: Gunnery mate, reports to Gunner. Loyal to the gunner and captain equally, knows Alexander well. Respects compassion.
- Thomas: Gunnery mate, reports to Gunner. Loyal to the Lieutenant, then the Gunner, then the Captain. Knows Renard. Respects bloodthirstiness and violence.
Below is the list of events and occurrences that can and should happen on the boat as opportunities for the players to prove their worth to the captain, or get rid of their rivals. Feel free to mix and match these, switch what watches they occur on, or otherwise make up your own. Use your best judgment when these events happen, to make sure that the players all have an opportunity to act, and that the decisions they make although having consequences aren't too overly dire for them. Killing off any of the PCs randomly or due to bad luck would not be in the spirit of this particular scenario. In all situations, although the captain is technically the one who should make these decisions, he'll consistently defer to one of the four NPCs, asking for his "advice" and invariably going with it even if he disagrees. He's gauging them via this method for leadership.
The watch schedule. First things first, before starting the game have the Boatswain's player decide on a watch schedule - there are three watches, dawn, day, and night. The nightwatch is always commanded by Jenkins, the only other rules are one of the four PCs, Jenkins, or the captain has to be awake during each watch, and each watch must be attended to by at least 7 men. Men can work either one or two watches, but the men who work two watches will inevitably feel over-worked, which is liked by some (those who respect strength or cruelty) but not others (those who respect compassion etc.)
Whale! The ship is nearly capsized by a large angry whale during first watch. Repairing the ship will cost them time and money, or they could go on damaged. Other decisions to be made : Do they kill the whale or Let it go?
Booty ahoy! A small merchant vessel appears through the fog during second watch, it appears to be damaged. It could be a trap, or it could be a lucky find. Turns out it's the latter, a hurt and weakened crew that will rather instantly surrender, and a lot of treasure to be had. The decisions to be made here include : do they fire on the ship before attempting to get them surrender? If so, then the already badly damaged vessel sinks and the plunder is lost. Do they kill the crew? Do they keep them in the hold to be sold as slaves? Do they let them go on a dingy?
Abandoned Isle A small island appears during third watch, turns out to be the remnants of an old island prison. Currently it's a base for a small group of smugglers, who could be easily taken (or bartered with). What do they do?
Booty ahoy 2! A small merchant vessel arrives during first watch, this one heavily armed for a merchant vessel. A tough fight, but a valuable prize if taken. How do they handle this situation? If the ship is damaged, this could be a very dangerous fight indeed - one where one or more of the NPC crewman can die.
Disease! A sickness plagues the vessel, as men start to grow ill. Drop several of the crew off of the watch schedules as they succumb to comas. The Doctor needs supplies or many men will die. Another larger more heavily armed pirate ship is willing to trade them, but they're being extortionists about the price - how does the crew handle it? If they fight they could win if they're smart, but casulties will likely occur.
Pirates! A similarly sized and crewed pirate vessel attacks without warning during third watch. How do the men fight back? The other pirat'es captain mistook them for a merchant vessel which is why they attacked - how does the crew handle this misunderstanding?
Ransom! A small dingy is spotted, with a young woman aboard. It turns out she's a governor's daughter from France, extremely beautiful. She'd run away from home, and now she's the pirate vessel's prisoner! French Navy ships are pursuing her, how does the crew handle this situation?
Pirate Hunters! A large and powerful pirate hunting dreadnaught attacks off the coast of a coral-reef driven island. Although the reefs may be a safe spot to hide, they're dangerous too, and in a straight up fight the pirate ship would certainly lose. How do they try to escape, by running, hiding, or fighting?
That's it for this scenario - good luck to all of the ship's crewman vying for the role as captain.
Let me know what you thought of this scenario by E-mailing me at Msturnbull@comcast.net
See you next month!
