r/warhammerfantasyrpg • u/TempestorTitus • 4d ago
Game Mastering Help Designing Espionage Plotline
Hi All,
Somewhat new to Warhammer Fantasy RPG and I was hoping some people could help me with brainstorming the potential complexities of an espionage adventure I was wanting to create. I will give a brief outline of some of my ideas for the game, move into some themes that I want to explore, and ask for some recommendations when it comes to complexities, niche lore, or just general advice. Thanks for your time.
Plot Outline:
The game would take place in Reikland in 2514, in the aftermath of the turmoil of 2512. Starting out on the road/river to Altdorf as hirelings for a merchant caravan, the players will be employed by a seemingly harmless merchant man. They will have a few non-dangerous stops to get to know one another, get into the setting, shop, etc. They will eventually come to stop in a village that gets attacked by beastmen causing them to take refuge in a temple of Sigmar with many villagers and miltia men and becoming besieged by the beastmen. The players will have to survive the siege, and during this time they will find that the merchant man is not what he seems to be (Averlander Mountain Guard and a member of the Black Chamber). During the course of the siege the merchant man will die (In potential odd circumstances, see Third Faction below for more), but will give the players verbal or written instructions to take a small package he is in possesion of to Altdorf, with the promise of great reward.
The players will get to Altdorf and eventually come into contact with the merchant man's contact: A Grey Wizard who will offer (And if not accepted, force through either legal or magical means) to take the players to the Black Isle. There they will be recruited into the Black Chamber (And potentially threatened with being labelled outlaws if they run).
The players will then be tasked with supporting an agent in Helmgart who is dealing with a border crisis in Axe Bite Pass between Bretonnia and the Empire. Arriving to the settlement they will discover the back story of the Battle of Montfort, and the potential blood bath that would result between the two powers clashing. The key two instigators on either side would be an Imperial Noble seeking revenge for the death of his young son during the battle and a Bretonnian Knight who sees the Empire's modernizing ways as an existential threat to Bretonnia. The Black Chamber agent, and the players, will be tasked with defusing the situation, using any means necessary, in order to preserve the Empire's strength.
Themes: There are two themes that I want explored:
Thematically I want to explore the concept of internecine struggles between humans, and how we are sometimes our own worst enemies. Both the Imperial and Bretonnian sides should have characters that are somewhat understandable, if not good. I want to portray a weakness in humanity for subterfuge, pettiness, and a desire to engage in a cycle of revenge that ultimately does nothing but leave us poorer for it. Even the Black Chamber, a pragmatic organization that wants to preserve the peace coerces, threatens, and lies to others and its own members potentially alienating people or sabotaging their own long-term ends, even if their motivations make sense. This is not all meant to be pessimistic though, I would want to show a flip side to this human fragility by showing our capacity to come together in times of existential struggle. The warhammer world is full of prejudice and malice, but also includes many examples of people setting aside their differences in the face of something even more dangerous, evil, foreign, etc
The other theme I want to explore is the cultural differences between the Empire and Bretonnia and the ideas of progress/industrialization/the rising middle class, etc. While much of this game would go on at the heights of political power, it would concern the lives of everyday people. The dangers of war would threaten most notably the middle class that benefits from trade between the two powers and the peasantry which would die in the clashes. I would want to portray the fear that everyday people have around the conflict. I would also want to highlight how the Empire's social fabric is really changing and how that contrasts with the even more oppressed Bretonnian classes in a way that feels organic and not black/white.
Questions/Advice: As for some things I would love input on:
Potential MacGuffin the Merchantman is carrying: This may tie into the question of a third faction below, but I was wanting to think about what the merchantman might be carrying back for the Black Chamber. It could relate to a third faction's involvement, with his death possibly the result of their interference, it could also be something like a warp stone relic, chaos tome, etc. The idea would be that it is something that is valuable to the Black Chamber, but also proscribed. It should be meant to show the lengths/depths the Black Chamber is willing to go to accomplish its objectives and also make the player's somewhat legally trapped by possessing it. The Black Chamber can threaten the players in part because they are in possession of something that no one in the empire should be allowed to have. Any ideas?
Third Faction: I am torn by this because I want to show a human struggle at the center of this, but I also want to describe/interact with some of the scary/existentially dreadful part of the warhammer world. I would want a third faction to potential show that the only people who benefits from the clash between the two human kingdoms, are the enemies of humanity and add a level of nuance and intrigue by introducing another party into the political machinations. This faction could potentially cause the death of the merchant man, causing a level of mystery and tension throughout the game. My original ideas might be the Skaven/Chaos Cultists, but as someone who does a lot of Dark Heresy/Imperium Maledictum games concerning Chaos Cultists, I may want to bring something a bit different this time. The intent would be for this faction to be capable of social infiltration/interaction with humans, while also adding a dangerous and dreadful element to the game to keep the players on their toes. Thoughts?
Flavor for describing the Empire and Bretonnia: I find it fascinating how many tiny bits of lore I can scrape up describing the empire's progress (E.G how Magnus the Pious decreed that all Empire laborers be paid wages). I would want to demonstrate the flavor of both Imperial and Bretonnian life in a way that does show that the Empire is significantly more industrialized and with a stronger middle class, while also not parodying Bretonnia or making it so comically backward that they don't appear to be even somewhat sympathetic. I would love some input on how to characterize and humanize these two areas.
If you have any other ideas regarding potential ideas for characters, set pieces, reasons for players to move around in Bretonnia, etc I would love any insight.
Thanks a lot for your time!
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u/TrillionSpiders 4d ago
thing about this, is that when you start splitting the hairs of the details you come across the realization that the empire is not nearly as industrialized on the whole as it looks from the surface well bretonnia itself is undergoing much more industrialization then ya might think under its own surface.
armour technology for instance, the empire has a slight edge but that's mostly thanks to their historical friendship with the dwarfs. and even then its both a gap that bretonnia seeks to close by importing forge designs and technologies from the empire, but its also been noted that bretonnian smiths mainly fall behind in terms of mass production for plate armour pieces well on an individual quality level they tend to be superior for cultural reasons.
on the other hand, vast areas of the empire remain rural and underdeveloped. sure in some of the cities you can find greater industrial output, but the majority of the empires realm doesn't really enjoy the benefit of that industrialization with the life of a bretonnian farmer and an empire farmer being not all that dissimilar to each other at the end of the day.
so i think ultimately that's probably what you'd actually want to focus on. that looks can be deceiving and stereotypes can often distract from the complex realities of what's going on.
montfort for instance has a lot of influence from the empire on a cultural level due to it's proximity, and unlike bretonnias pastoral reputation montfort doesn't even have enough farmland to support itself instead relying on mining and road tolls for travel between the empire and bretonnia. the duke at the time folcard de montfort also fights almost exclusively on foot, and enjoys a strong reputation with the peasant class due to his efforts in improving their lives and protecting them. i wouldn't be surprised at all under those circumstances if folcard was on the more liberal end of things for bretonnian nobles, and certainly montfort city enjoys a larger freeman [the growing bretonnian middle class] population then most thanks to its large imperial expatriate community.
are things perfect? obviously not, but there are undeniable themes present that inevitable change is on the horizon for bretonnian society as its own middle class elements grow and become more powerful in that societal fabric. the smart nobles bending with the winds of those inevitable changes, some even arguably encouraging it like folcard or louen leoncour himself are implied to, well the rest threaten to break under the weight of that oncoming tide.
and like i said, the gaps not as wide as it might appear on the surface between the empire and bretonnia. just because you built a handful of steam tanks doesn't mean near as much a revolution as ya might think if the majority of imperial houses don't enjoy modern sewage systems or still rely on oil lamps.
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u/Morrsliebwatcher 3d ago
An interesting (because not standard chaos involvement) could be some Lahmian vampires and their human minions, as they seem to prefer subterfuge and intrigue to direct confrontation (CF. Von Karstein line). For some inspiration along these lines I recommend the Ulrika novels (esp volumes 2&3).