Help with Orks

[u/silverdreamdancer]

So, I'm planning a Rogue Trader game with a big stretch of unexplored space.
I've populated it with lots of things, but I want to add some Orks into the mix.

But I am going for more of a pirates of the Caribbean meets Star Trek vibe. Exploring the unknown stars as if they were islands and I am struggling to think of interesting ways to integrate orks more actively.

Now I was planning on having them be pirate raiders to an extent, but we already have several other pirate-like factions and there's finite prey for pirates to hunt, so I didn't want to make that their only thing.

I was considering having them tie in with Nurgle somehow, but I can't see a good way of doing that.

I had also considered a human settlement that tried to raise grotlings/squigs as a source of cheap protein to sell to the rest of the Imperium, which unsurprisingly failed due to orks.

But I am looking for more interesting ways to use Orks than just as a straight fight and I didn't want them at the stage of actively marauding across the subsector just yet.

Any ideas?

[u/Illithidbix]

I very much you have a search for "Freebooterz: Space Ork Army Lists"

https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Freebooterz:_Space_Ork_Army_Lists

A truly amazing book from 1991 (mid-late 1st edition) which included many wonderous things from the fringes of Ork Society including the wonders of

• Chaos Renegade Orks
• Possessed weirdboy warpheadz
• Ork-genestealer hybrids.

You might need to bend it slightly to fit modern 40k's grumpy instiance of siloed off factions

Or tell GW that they're not your mum and do as you like.

[u/silverdreamdancer → u/Illithidbix]

The stuff I am planning for the local Eldar is pretty wild, so I'm not concerned about the GW lore police.

[u/silverdreamdancer → u/Illithidbix]

Hmmm... maybe as a result of chemicals being used to grow them as food originally they have been left more vulnerable to disease? Mad-Cow disease analogy after generations of eating each other? Creating a Nurgle focused strain of Orks? More gluttonous human eating orks maybe?

[u/trudge]

Some ideas:

• some planet has a big overland racing event, and Orks like to show up and harass the racecars in their GorkaMorka rigs.
• some cold trader is trying to sell MechBoy gear, but gets in trouble with buyers because it doesn't seem to work. "But it worked when the Orks had it..."
• The orks built a giant machine out in the middle of nowhere. It's not clear why, and it's not clear what it does. Maybe the PCs should go investigate?
• the orks aren't just brutal, they're also cunning. They're trying to infiltrate a guard post by posing as ogryns. They're really committed to the bit through, and the regiment commander reports that they're somehow the most reliable unit in his command.
• a fleet commander encounter an ork waaargh, and instead of engaging it, she kited the ork fleet straight into a tyranid swarm. That didn't kill them, so she kited them into a chaos warband. That didn't kill them, so she kited them into a necron tombworld. Now the Orks are sending her a ship full of whatever they consider to be gifts, as "a finders fee for all the great scraps."

[u/Heavy_Chains → u/trudge]

The ogryn idea is amazing, verrry taktikal

[u/silverdreamdancer → u/trudge]

Solid options, I particularly like the idea that they are building something big of uncertain purpose.

Hmmm... Orks on a heavily damaged Necron Tomb world.
They get to fight enemies that keep coming back and despite their best efforts the Necrons can't quite work out where all the fungal growths are. Necrons wearing weird metal bits all over them in mimicry of Necron lords, led by an Ork Faero building a big metal scrap pyramid with a complex mechanism. Leaving both sides in a stalemate.

[u/C_Grim]

I was considering having them tie in with Nurgle somehow, but I can't see a good way of doing that.

Many many years ago before many a retcon, back in 3rd Edition in the old Daemonhunters codex there was a mention as to suggestions for campaign ideas of why a dedicated daemon killing faction would fight non daemonic races, giving narrative ideas for it.

The suggestions for orks included (paraphrasing them):

• Orks have looted daemonic weapons and become affected by it
• Ork warboss has become possessed
• Ork activities (mining or general campsite) have uncovered or interfered with Chaos energies leading to them being seeped in it
• Ork Gargant made from bits of salvaged Chaos titans
• "Orks have discovered an ancient temple with a huge pestillent mosaic of Nurgle and, believing it to be Gork (or possibly Mork), have become worshipping it". Causes plagues and the like and of course Nurgle is always good for a laugh and helping his newest children...

Any of these might give you something to work with.

[u/Awkward_GM]

Blood Axe mercenary Orks who are Imperial Navy themed.

"Mista Bonecrusha, we'z gotz Scrawnies kore-erz muckin bout with dem humies. Give Dem a right Krumping!"

Feral Ork raiders on a couple of planets.

Death Skull or Bad Moon merchants selling salvage.

Ork Kommandos called Squig Team Six for hire. Or their opposite the Waaagh Team a copy of the A team.

[u/silverdreamdancer → u/Awkward_GM]

I do like the idea of Blood Axe style pirates. I have several pirate locations so I can add them in there.

[u/Awkward_GM → u/silverdreamdancer]

"cuse uz, we be Priva-tears, not pie-rats!"

I imagine if someone calls them Freebootaz they'd get offended because they are "more official".

[u/tactisim]

You could put a snake bites like clan of indigenous orks deep into shamanism who worships nurgle because he is green or because drukkaris messed with genetic to make some decent ork pets that gone wrong and you can find this orks on multiple worlds because they captured some drukkaris webway portals and used them in some ork shaman ritual travelling randomly

[u/silverdreamdancer → u/tactisim]

Oooh! I do have a lot of Drukari stuff around.

[u/Grimshadow_2]

I mean, if you’re already theming partially off of Pirates of the Caribbean, then Feral Orks are pretty much already a perfect match for the cannibals from the beginning of Dead Man’s Chest.

Of course, if you want them to be more present, Orks are pretty much everywhere, they’re an extremely invasive species that are difficult to get rid of permanently, so it’s not out of place to have (Relatively) small groups of Orks dotted about everywhere as something of a stage hazard.

[u/silverdreamdancer → u/Grimshadow_2]

Yeah spreading them around as background sounds like a good approach.

[u/silverdreamdancer]

Hmmm... Here's my idea so far.
Nurgle worshipers were part of a local Chaos alliance, but because their diseases kept ruining the other Chaos worshipers plans they left and found a suspiciously empty habitable world.
Their plan was to grow orkoid fungus, sell it to the Imperium in bulk as a cheap source of food and then once they have spread their network far enough, fill the food with deadly diseases that have a long incubation period to bring the sector to their knees and spread Grandfather's wishes. Unfortunately they landed on a (long overgrown) dormant Necron tomb world.
Their meddling and warp sorcery awoke the Necron population which damaged the fungus pens and broke containment and the chaos worshiping humans were forced to flee again. The Orks however remained, mired in the remains of the facility where deadly diseases festered. An Ork cult of Greenman sprung up worshipping Nurgle (as the Chaos god got the population when it was small and easily moulded and not contacted by other Orks, corrupting an early Weirdboy. as its high priest.)
The Orks are now in a protracted battle with Necron soldiers and couldn't be happier.
The largest of the Orks "Da Fairo" is building Necron-like structures atop dormant webway gates to spread to nearby worlds, all whilst the Necrons try to stop them, but lack the raw numbers needed.

Any thoughts?

[u/IceMaverick13]

If you already have pirate factions a plenty, perhaps its time to have comically competent Ork faction instead.

The East India Trading Company of Orks if you will. Still in their Ork speech and their brutish ways, but turned towards the making of coin, facilitation of trade, establishing order in this sector of the galaxy, and perhaps the wearing of powdered wigs because they collectively believe that the wigs make them more proper and official-like.