u/Appropriate-Market-2

Hey everyone!

I'm planning to run a Warp travel session next week, but I'm a bit short on ideas for events, encounters, or small adventures that could happen aboard the ship.

I'm familiar with how the Warp works and how twisted and bizarre things can get. I was thinking about taking inspiration from the events in the Rogue Trader video game, but I'm not sure if that's the best approach.

What I want to avoid is simply reading a short description of some strange event and then telling my players they've arrived at their destination. I'd like the journey to feel more interactive and meaningful.

How do you guys usually handle Warp travel? Any ideas or experiences you'd like to share?

Hey, how’s it going?

So, for context: my brother and I were looking for a group to join when we found a Facebook post from a DM looking for players for a Shadowdark West Marches campaign.

We didn’t know anything about the system, just that it was inspired by early tabletop RPGs: fast character creation, simple mechanics, and somewhat challenging combat.

We started looking through the classes, the core book, and supplements. We found the Ras-Godai class and both saw its potential. I’m a big fan of Asian culture—especially Japanese—so I didn’t hesitate and made one. I rolled great stats and got to roll twice on the Black Lotus table. On top of that, being human gave me plenty of skills, and I started with 12 HP thanks to the vitality talent.

My brother wasn’t as lucky at first, but he still got a strong ability and good rolls: he started with 18 Dexterity and the ability to put someone to sleep or paralyze them with a gaze.

I wasn’t doing badly either: 17 Dexterity and high Constitution.

Long story short, our party—a mushroom man who wants to die (no idea why), a magical turtle, and two ninjas—accepted a mission to track down a kidnapped/traitorous guard. We searched his quarters and found a journal showing his descent into madness, along with a necklace tied to a pagan deity similar to Beelzebub.

We set off in a rowboat toward the mainland (the city where we take quests is located on a distant island). At first, everything went smoothly: we ate our rations, and despite how weird the group was, we managed to cooperate.

Our first encounter was with some sirens. The turtle man got hypnotized by one of them, and so did my brother’s character (I forgot to mention names earlier: Bayushi Aramoro and Bayushi Kobayashi, respectively).

The fight started terribly: four sirens, each making two attacks per turn, and rolling well. The turtle goes down. My brother goes down. That leaves just me and the mushroom. The mushroom manages to draw their attention, giving me chances to attack with advantage, and I take down two.

The remaining sirens roll morale, but thanks to one of my abilities (something like “Terrifying”), any creature that rolls morale and sees me has to beat an 18 or flee. They fail and retreat. Also worth noting: we really only fought three, since one had been put to sleep by my brother and sank.

After that, we got everyone back up, rolled well on healing, and tried to rest. Every rest meant a random event roll from the DM… and something did happen.

Two giant vulture-like creatures appeared, each taking up four squares. I used my chain whip to tie one by the leg and throw it into the sea—the DM allowed it. We prevented one from fighting, and the other missed its attacks. My brother hit the second one with his whip and rolled a critical: on the DM’s homebrew table, it resulted in the creature’s beak being broken, so it could no longer attack with it.

The mushroom man shot it in the eye and finished it off. The other fled after failing its morale check.

Finally, we reached a small island, thinking we could rest… we were very wrong.

On the shore, we found dead guards, shields hanging from trees, and a man tied to a tree, tortured, with broken hands and clear signs of recent suffering.

The group stayed behind looting while I explored a path leading up a hill. I rolled a natural 20 on perception and spotted traps—someone was definitely living on the island. I rolled stealth (22 with my +3) and moved forward.

I saw overturned wagons, stakes with heads on them, and defensive structures. I also spotted two guards.

This is where things get good.

For those familiar with the Ras-Godai: it has Smoke Step, which lets you teleport to any place you can see.

I decided to take the risk. I teleported behind one and decapitated him with my ninjato, dealing double damage from surprise (I think it was around 14 damage). The second one was still surprised, so I killed him too before he could raise the alarm, using my chain to decapitate him.

I got lucky—the damage was just enough.

I moved further in and found a camp with about 10 deserters. One of them rolled well and noticed me, raised the alarm, and I used Smoke Step to escape and regroup with the party.

We made a plan: my brother hid in a tree overlooking the path, the turtle and the mushroom hid behind rocks, and I acted as bait.

Four guards arrived first—we killed them all. Then five more and a sergeant showed up. I fought on the front line and was left with 3 out of 12 HP.

The turtle tried to cast spells… failed. Used luck… failed again. He didn’t land a single spell the entire session.

We managed to win, lowered their morale, and they fled. My brother captured the sergeant. We interrogated him and learned there were still about 11 enemies left. We planned to bring them back to the guard for a reward.

But we were in bad shape: no Smoke Step, no spells, low HP across the party.

So we took the rowboat and moved away from shore to rest, bringing the sergeant with us.

The DM rolled on the random event table… and something incredible happened:

The waters turned golden, the air became warm, and a golden carp appeared—the Kami Seiyu, Lady of the Tides. She asked for our help to cleanse a village and blessed us for bringing justice to the seas. We each gained 2 luck, rested, and ate well.

The next morning, we returned. The deserters had fortified themselves and were clearly terrified (they hadn’t slept all night, afraid we’d come back).

Our plan now is to take out a few of them stealthily before facing the boss—a guy wielding a massive greatsword.

And that’s where the story currently stands.

It’s my first time playing Shadowdark, and I loved it. The DM gives us a lot of freedom, and the Ras-Godai class creates some amazing possibilities.

Hope you enjoyed the story. It’s been a while since we had such a fun session.

If you want to share your own stories, I’d love to read them.

Cheers.