2018/08/27

OSR: 2 Pirate Captain Triads

NPCs in groups of threes. I'll probably wite a few more of these posts. It's a good format. Just enough detail to get started or to drop into an existing world.

Don't overload  your pirate campaign with them. One triad is often enough.
Alexander Shatohin
Anastassia Friedrich
Murat Gül

Baron Jacob Rail

Mercenary in the endless wars of the Old World. For his skills he was enobled; for his crimes he was hung. Yet, legend says, he walked off the gallows cart, stole a ship, and took to the sea. Whatever the truth of it, the Baron is a

HD: 5
Appearance: pale, scarred, dour. Clothes a few decades out of fashion.
Voice: never more than a choked and hateful whisper.
Wants: to revenge himself upon the Old World powers. Sinks ships and burns colonies. Not interested in loot (beyond paying his troops), prestige, or mercy.
Morality: black-hearted evil, but never for its own sake. Likes to prove a point. Bloodily.
Intelligence: educated soldier. No literary pretensions, but a practical philosopher with dark thoughts.
Armour: as plate (is actually plate; very rare at sea).
Move: normal.
Morale:12
Damage: 1d8 sword/1d8 sword or 1d8 pistols (2)

The Baron cannot be killed by anyone who has taken a person's life. Their attacks will still hit and appear to wound, but no blood will flow. The flesh will slowly fuse. The Baron knows who to fear and is perfectly willing to sacrifice his own sailors - ex-soldiers all - to ensure no innocent crosses his path.

The Red Revenge
A galleon of ancient make, in chipped red and black paint.
Speed: 4
Masts: 3
HP: 100
Crew: 50 HP
Marines: 30 HP
Cargo Capacity: 4
Main Weapons: 2 Port & 2 Starboard Cannon Broadsides, 1 Prow Chasers
On the first turn of combat, the Red Revenge may move at Speed 6.

Isobel Martins

Her Wexlish father's ship was trapped in the high arctic pack ice while seeking a safer route to the riches of Yoon-Suin. Her mother was an ice witch and leader of an ancient empire of skin and sinew. With a foot in both worlds, yet belonging to neither, Isobel turned to piracy. She raids seasonally from a secret fortress above the rest of the world.

HD: 3
Appearance: unusual face, round, narrow blue eyes, black-grey hair.
Voice: soft, slightly mumbled. Wry sense of humour. Excellent judge of character; reveals flaws without mocking.
Wants: gold, rare worked goods, iron.
Morality: kind-hearted but all too aware of human nature.
Intelligence: always plays the long game.
Armour: none.
Move: normal in all terrain.
Morale: 8
Damage: 1d6 dagger.

Isobel knows all the Workings listed, along with the following: speak with whale, steal skin, blindness.

Icetusk
A low cutter with sharp-cut sails, crewed by strange wind-tanned sailors from the north. Fires constantly burn below decks, protecting a piece of pure ice from the very top of the world.
Speed: 5
Manoeuvre Bonus: +5
HP: 30
Masts: 1
Crew: 10 HP
Marines: -
Cargo Capacity: 2
Main Weapons: 1 Prow Chaser
The Icetusk may automatically use the More Sail Manoeuvre each turn, in addition to any other Manoeuvres.

Special Action: Douse Fires: the chill of the primordial ice is allowed to flow into the sea. The sea becomes cold. Frost forms along lines and railings. The wind howls. Superstitious crew might panic. Reroll the weather.


Luc Jumeau

A Valoch  privateer with legal power to sink enemy shipping. Operating beyond orders or supply lines, Luc is an opportunist and a cunning opponent. He will rob anyone who isn't Valoch.

Appearance: disheveled, stringy hair, smells faintly of cat piss.
Voice: rattling, descending into coughing fits when agitated.
Wants: prestige, beautiful women, power, eternal life and riches.
Morality: wouldn't shoot a kid unless he really had to.
Intelligence: decent pirate, terrible businessman.
Armour: none.
Move: normal.
Morale: 7
Damage: 1d6 dagger or 1d8 pistols (4)

Saint Lucille
A well-worn frigate with tattered sails. Remarkably generic.
Speed: 4
Manoeuvre Bonus: -10
Masts: 3
HP: 100
Crew: 50 HP
Marines: 20 HP
Cargo Capacity: 6
Main Weapons: 2 Port & 2 Starboard Cannon Broadsides

Shimmer
A small corvette used as bait or for flanking strikes. 
Speed: 4
Manoeuvre Bonus: -10
HP: 50
Masts: 1
Crew: 20 HP
Marines: 10 HP
Cargo Capacity: 3
Main Weapon: 1 Port & 1 Starboard Carronade Broadsides

What Links Them?

There's a Tarraconese treasure convoy moving towards home. Jacob wants to sink it to prove a point. Isobel wants to steal it. Luc also wants to steal it. No one pirate has the power to manage their aim alone.
Rodolphe Calcine
Murat Gül
Alexander Shatohin

Camille de Pazan

Tarraconese explorer turned pirate. Very eccentric. After visiting the Yellow City, adopted an ambiguous gender, scandalous haircut, and foreign gods. Other say there never was such a person; Camille is a spirit in human form. The truth is stranger still. Camille made a deal with a god, or something close to a god. Remade beautiful, in their mind's image, strong and clean and free of mortal worries. For ten years, ten days, and ten hours, Camille is free, but when time runs out their end will be horrific.

HD: 3
Appearance: pale, poised. Cropped hair. One earring, sparking green. Large ornate red and gold sword. 
Voice: accented, wry, mocking. Subtle echo.
Wants: to live the good life. Likes visual pleasures. Beauty to be seen and heard, not eaten or touched.
Morality: oscillates between superior piety and desperate obsession.
Intelligence: a decent sailor, navigator, and merchant. Seems smarter because of their alien nature.
Armour: as chain (dodging like a snake).
Move: 1.5x normal.
Morale: 8
Damage: 1d10+2 Sword of Sunset. Silver blade lit by dim orange reflections. Can harm ghosts, spells, or intangible things. Alerts the wielder to supernatural effects. Anyone struck must Save or become fascinated with their wound and the sensation of it for 1 round. The sword can also be used to direct specially carved cannonballs.

Bad Habit
A lorcha (junk-rigged Old World hulled ship) in blue, white, and gold. Extensively customized by Camille.
Speed:5
Manoeuvre Bonus: -10
HP: 50
Masts: 4
Crew: 30 HP
Marines: 10 HP
Cargo Capacity: 5
Main Weapon: 1 Port & 1 Starboard Cannon Broadside, 1 Prow Chaser
The Bad Habit cannot be Swamped.

Special Action: Directed Cannonball. Choose 1 weapon. The next time the weapon fires, it automatically inflicts a critical hit instead of normal damage. This Special Action can only be used every other round.

Handsome John

Wexlish pirate. Likes to make people compliment his looks then toss them to the sharks "fer lyin' ". Prefers shore raids, where his fearsome appearance and enormous stature have the greatest effect. At sea, any ships he captures are stripped bare. Officers and rebellious crew are hanged from the rigging and the ship is left to drift as a grisly warning.

HD: 5
Appearance: famously ugly. Hideous bristling beard, mismatched eyes, deep scowl, three good teeth.
Voice: barely intelligible, guttural, menacing.
Wants: gold, immortality, a fever-dream empire.
Morality: none whatsoever.
Intelligence: cunning, with a vile knack for saying just the right thing to the right person.
Armour: as leather.
Move: normal.
Morale:10
Damage: 1d8+1 sword/1d8+1 sword or 1d8 pistols (4)
Handsome John can shoot with 2 pistols in the same round. His infamous barbarity may require a Morale check or a Save vs Fear.

Handsome John keeps a noose on his belt. It's just another trinket, but he does sometimes use it to strangle people. Anyone he strangles is trapped in the noose as a very weak ghost. He can interrogate the ghosts with a bloody ritual. His crew think he does it just to frighten them and they're half right.

Petition 

An old slaver ship with hidden gunports and a surprising turn of speed. Handsome John keeps it polished and trimmed.
Speed: 5
Manoeuvre Bonus: -10
Masts: 3
HP: 100
Crew: 50 HP
Marines: 20 HP
Cargo Capacity: 6
Main Weapon: 2 Port & 2 Starboard Carronade Broadsides. Only 1 is visible at a distance.

Special Action: Hoist the Colours. When Petition reveals its true colours and hoists Handsome Jack's flag (three white skulls in a noose), any enemy ship must make a Morale test or make no Manoeuvre or Special Actions in the next round.


Lord Salivar Flare

A very pious Tarraconese noble. Possibly too pious; he believes he is a reincarnated prophet sent to scourge the world of false idols. His self-funded fleet of extermination roves the waves, sinking or forcibly converting anyone who crosses his path. Inquisitors and missionaries spread in his wake, yet some believe Lord Flare has gone mad and must be reigned in.

HD: 2
Appearance: young, bewigged, heavily coated in lead makeup. Elaborate gold costume.
Voice: reedy but confident declarations and pronouncements.
Wants: to glorify his god and serve his divine will.
Morality: pious but focused. Wants a harmonious world. Will burn everyone to make it so.
Intelligence: not bright or cunning, but educated and well advised.
Armour: none.
Move: normal.
Morale: 12
Damage: 1d4 bludgeoning. Has people to do violence for him.

The Divine Word
A true ship-of-the-line, designed for calmer waters and fiercer wars. Some ships thunder. The Divine Word screams lead death. A militant cathedral.
Speed: 4
Manoeuvre Bonus: -15
Masts: 3
HP: 150
Crew: 60 HP
Marines: 30 HP
Cargo Capacity: 8
Main Weapon: 3 Port & 3 Starboard Cannon Broadsides.

What Links Them?

The god-thing, the Mirror Bird. A fat black nightbird with a huge sagging mouth and bulging red eyes. Looks like it's the size of a robin, but as you get closer it gets larger way too quickly, as if the world was folding around it, telescoping inwards. It's really the size of a cottage.

It only feeds on ghost moths and there are no ghost moths in the high plateaus. Not anymore. So bring it some and it will grant your wish. It reflects your mind, your fears, and imposes conditions you fear and hate. Your own monkey's paw. Your own curse. It's just a bird, after all.

Camille knows where it is and how to feed it. Handsome John wants it to make him an emperor, an untouchable tyrant, and he might know where to find ghost moths. Lord Flare wants to burn it alive and make sacred oil from its molten flesh.

2 comments:

  1. I love these! One question: you say Isobel knows all the Workings listed, but I didn't see any Workings listed. Does that mean she knows all 20 Workings of the Weather Witch class?

    ReplyDelete