This campaign outline was designed for goblinkin characters, making it suitable to PC's and GM's who want to try something very, very different from the typical Spelljammer campaign. The original outline was for a PBEM campaign that never materialized, but the concepts can easily be incorporated into any kind of Spelljamming campaing.
Blood on the Tusk: An Adventure for Goblinkin - a mid-level, 2nd edition, post-Cloakmaster Cycle AD&D E-Mail Game in the Spelljammer setting.
Initially, the game would take place entirely within a scro fleet, so mostly goblinoid races will be used for PCs.
Each player will command one spelljamming vessel and it's crew. The captain will be the player's primary character and interact with the other primary characters through counsel meetings, semaphore signalling, etc. The lead character, preferably a charismatic scro, will be the acting squadron commander, but the command and control will be a constant challenge as each player will ultimately determine what his/her ship does. Each player will have at his/her disposal a whole ship's crew worth of characters from differing races to draw from in case of landings, commando missions, attempts at diplomacy etc. NPCs from the crew may challenge the captain at times for control of the ship, so it helps to detail as many PCs as possible on the ship to enlist on the captain's side in times of potential mutiny. When a captain dies, the player chooses a convenient and able replacement among the player's crew.
Those players that choose a large, powerful ship may find it undermanned or greatly damaged from a previous engagement with the elves. Those that choose a small ship may find they escaped much damage from the past battle with a full crew and provisions. Also, players that choose high levels for their captain and character contingent may find a smaller crew or more challenges to authority. Special outfitting of ships will be handled on a case-by-case basis. The DM will work with the player to iron out the details towards complementing the other players' ships to create a well-rounded squadron of vessels. Characters can advance past level limits by doubling the experience needed for the next level, then tripling, and so forth. The more initial players, the larger the squadron will be.
Ship to ship combat will be very important and hopefully be in 3-D using GIF files of hex maps and vertical coordinates. The spelljamming arms race is at the stage where combat has been weighed toward boarding actions after preliminary exchanges of long-range weapons, mainly the normal seige engines.
The IEN is experimenting more with using its flitters as ordinance delivery systems and ballista platforms besides just reconnaissance. This development could turn the tide of the war against the scro with massed volleys softening up humanoid ships for the armadas and man-o-wars to follow.
Fighter-to-fighter combat is yet to be. Spirit warriors and zwarths may still exist in the arsenal a few fleets, as well as an occassional, loyal bionid, and the elven Kintiara with their teleporting boarding tactics and other vehicles (gadabouts, peddleships, greatswans, etc) are still a force to be reckoned with as marines go. The goblinoids are beginning to extensively use trained scavvers as counter weapons. The larger ,elven capital ships using crowns of the leviathan are rare but most anything elven that is on the Spelljammer webpages exist. Most of the other weaponry, equipment and other gadgets not of elven make on the page are still in the R+D phase and are rare or nonexistent.
The overall campaign will have a military feel with the squadron of player ships desperately trying to avoid getting hunted down by the IEN while attempting to turn around the unfavorable outcome of Goblins' Return/Heart of the Enemy. Ships will need replenishing and repair and replacement crews > will need to be recruited and trained. Safe bases to go ashore will need to be established. Diplomacy and alliances will need to be made as well as hit-and-run raids and perhaps piracy to supplement ship stores. Underlying tensions of the goblinoid alliance may come to the fore as well. If the DM sees a player's participation drop off to nothing, common in PBEM games, then the ship will turn NPC with the PC assumed to become victim to a succession struggle for captaincy.
Evil: The Goblinoid Ideology
Since most of the PCs should be evil, this campaign will follow these guidelines:
This scanario will challenge traditional definitions of heroism and villainy and is an experimental application of the alignment system. Players who have qualms about playing evil as defined by AD&D probably shouldn't apply. Also, players who care not for exploring the given roles but are rather taken to exhibiting shallow characterization and vulgarity in e-mail posts probably won't fit in. Rather than make a list of "can-and-can't post"s, the DM will leave it to the player's discretion to reserve the details of say, the fate of noncombatants, for speculation. There should be nothing more graphic than what is already in a TSR novel and the DM will send word to a player who begins to go beyond that.
It might be helpful to see this campaign from the perspective of nationalist movements in the real world to end the dominance of a social order that has put their races at the bottom of the pecking order. The Imperial Elven Navy can be seen as the dominant "World Powers" and the scro and their ilk are like the Third World masses from which leaders emerge to elevate their kind and remove the yoke the subjugation. Other ways to see it are as the clash of opposing ideals for dominance of the multiverse, or that what is traditionally termed "good" cannot be defined without the existence of "evil", it's opposite, making such conflict a necessary part of the multiverse. Probably the best preparation one can do is read the short story by Roger E. Moore entitled "Vision" in the Realms of Infamy anthology regarding a goblin community.
Lawful characters seek a more orderly, disciplined, military organization to their captaincy while chaotic captains rule by strength of personality as well as brute strength like a pirate captain of the Spanish Main. Neutral captains calculate which guidelines to operate under to gain advantage. Alignment changes are possible through extensive role-playing challenges.
Possible PC Races and Pre-Generated Characters
Background
There is not a scro here that can't kick the goblins' backsides back to the front. There is not a scro here who genuinely thinks the elves currently have the upper hand. And there is not a scro here that wants the elves to be confused about that fact, either.
When you someday take leave to go on your pilgrimage back to Dukagsh, you'll be visiting your tribe, perhaps sire a few more scro to fill the ranks. You will also return to tell your progeny that the you made the elves beg before you sank canines into their jugulars. You'll tell your kids you made the enemy wish that they bred as much as you, rather than quibbling and pining as to who should be their lasting mate. For the elf clings to his life for centuries, fearing what's inevitable and making his existence more than what it truly is: a pathetic, self-absorbed life. Not the type anyone should want running wildspace. They don't sleep because they might forget what delusions they have about themselves.
But you will teach them to sleep, many for good. For after you are finished with them, those that happen to survive will have nothing redeeming to dwell upon in their rest. We're going to remind them about Borka their despicable petitions to their gods for the destruction of that planet. We're going to remind them about Armistice and their lack of warrior's honor. More importantly, we're going to remind them of the temples of Dukagsh they've razed and the colonies they have exterminated.
When we enter the sphere and catch the elves' lackeys stealing one of our weapons, you will remind the elves that lived through the first war what revenge is. You will teach them the word in scro. For the scro are patient teachers and will not accept defeat. It's inimical to our nature.
"We WILL rendezvous with one of our own and secure the marauder, reoccupy the Gammaro base, and take it right to Lionheart and wherever else the elves choose to cower. Rest assured, under the Eyes of Dukagsh, everyone here will do their part. That is all."
(elven transcription received through scrying of a certain Captain Ptoen briefing his unit before entering Moragspace in the midst of the 2nd Unhuman War )
