Set Sail… For Adventure!
UPDATE THINGY:
So did everyone want to do normal pirates or sky pirates? Or should I write up what both would be like first and then people choose? Thanks, I'm bored at work and want to do something creative.
Rules: Thinking of using Warhammer 40k now... not sure. I like the combat system a bit more as well as the talents and skills.
Back Grounds:
Chosen by players during character construction. These reflect generally your character's up bringing. They give a certain set of skills to start with and in some cases talents, if it doesn't list talents then they are rolled randomly.
Society Born: You were born in one of the major powers, England, France, Spain, or the Holy Roman Empire. This reflects someone brought up in a "proper" setting.
Skills: Speak Language - Whatever matches your country of origin, Common Knowledge your country, Common Knowledge Special: For England, France, etc, pick one of the other countries or religion. For Spain and the Holy Roman Empire it is religion, Common Knowledge Pick one.
Talents: 2 Random
Native (Africa, Islander, etc): Taken from your home as a slave, you have freed yourself and now are part of the crew.
Skills: Speak Language - Native tonuge, Speak Language - Choose any, Survival.
Talents: Resistant to Disease or Strong Willed, One Random
Arabic: A traveler form a distant land.
Skills: Speak Language - An Arabic one, I'm not looking these up, Speak Language - Any one, Common Knowledge Arabic, Common Knowledge: Choose a major power.
Talents: 2 Random
Port Born: A bastard child of semi-globalization.
Skills: Speak Language - Any 2, Common Knowledge - Any one
Talents: 2 Random
Chinese: You come form half-away across the world, just what happened to make you a pirate? A pirate crew makes you feel much more at ease then being in these white devils' cities.
Skills: Speak Language - Chinese (either dialect), Speak Language - Any one besides tribal, Sailing, Acadmic Knowledge: Asia.
Talents: Seasoned Traveler, 1 Random
Stats: Stats are rolled and then assigned. After rolling but before assigning a player may move around up to 10 points from one stat to another, but can take not more then 5 away from a stat.
The Occult: It exisits, spells and what not. It is not very common but enough that people will buy trinkets and what not. The further away from civilzation the better magic tends to work.
I'm not really sure how widespread I want general occult crayness to be as I fear it make take away from the flavor. I at least want to put in stuff like ancient treasures, undead, giant sea monsters, stuff like that. I think the idea is that the world is not yet defined, and is becoming defined by those currently exploring it.
Expect the Catholic Church to be very active.
The Hook: (HA!) I was hoping to get some input from the players on this (on the talk page). Pirate empire? Seeking anicent lost treasure? Revenge for a fallen captain?
Rules: I'm almost 90% sure I will use a varent of the WHFRP system. Some changes are going to be slightly revised character paths and different starting skills based on where the character comes from.
Players will be able to pick someone from anywhere. Asia, Africa, Europe, Native American, Islander, Arabic, whatever.
Action Points: So far what I have in mind for this idea is as follows... You can use all your re-rolls for the evening to perform a feat of Swashbuckling... Swashbucklery? Anyway, you can spend all your re-rolls and whatever the action you take, you perform it. I'm not sure about this yet, as I don't know if we want these amazing things happening everytime, part of being a pirate is failing, and it makes for a good story. But I WILL put in a system to allow auto-success actions.
Reason for this is, while failing is good for a story, sometimes it makes for a great story if a character does something he has been building up to. I'm thinking of putting in a rule where the said action must be great, it must be witnessed by a number of people, this way it can't just be used for some mundane action. Again this is something I'm playing around with.
FATE:
A pirate’s life is about freedom, movement, unrestrained life. However there are some binds that not even these free and easy souls can escape. The stars. While a pirate might say they do not believe in the laws of man, that land living is decadent and full of meaningless gestures and courts, one would be hard pressed to find a pirate who did not believe that the stars hold sway over man.
Fate, which seems too many to be an avoidable string of events or event. But, this is not quite the case. Rather it is an event that will trigger specific things to happen. It is up to each person to decide what to do when the moment arrives. The choices made can make the difference between a pirate hero, and a monster pirate.
So this game mechanic I thought up today, then realized it is a bit like the one in place in our current fantasy game. There will be times when the characters are presented with a choice, and depending on what they do, will shape the way the world turns so to speak. Before such choices I will let the players know that this is a “Fate Event”. I will not, however, tell the characters what will happen, or even hint at, the results of their choice or choices.
Story: The characters will start out under the command of one Captain Phillip the Bold. A gentleman pirate who is known for his daring raids, flamboyant swordsmanship, heavy drinking, and fine dress. The name of his ship, and the players’, is The Red Rover (yes named after the child’s game), and it is well known for breaking through blockades due to her speed.
Phillip being the way he is of course has his own rival, and that would be Sir Joseph Keenly. He has had a number of run-ins with Phillip and has made it his personal vow to capture Phillip then return with his head.
I will let the players choose where they start.
Other personalities of note:
Borus the Boar – Friend and ally of Phillip, he uses a large mace in combat and is known to break through his opponents’’ weapons with his swings. His ship’s name is “Wild Thing”.
Von Rictenhous – A pirate of German descent. He is known to be very active around the English Channel as well as Northern America. He has a reputation of being no nonsense and is rumored to have broadsided one of his own ships that resisted his orders. His quarter master is a odd fellow who is rumored to dabble in the dark arts. His ship’s name is “whatever the German word for King is”.
Selin the Sea Witch – A mere myth? Most who have spent very little or no time on the sea would say so. But no pirate with an ounce of experience would dare say she doesn’t exist. Stories of her seem to be over a hundred years old. If you believe the tales of her, her ship is made entirely of seaweed and she commands a host of strange creatures and men. On top of this an eerie thick fog is always said to come right before her ship makes an appearance.
It is said that she seeks out those she wants something from, or appears when someone is looking for her and she knows they have something she may want. If her name is mentioned in the Caribbean on certain islands, the speaker of the words, and all his crewmates, will find themselves at spear point and told to get off the island.
Her ship is known as the Siren’s Kiss.
Ruthless John – A younger pirate whose name pretty much sums him up. He is nasty in combat, he curses and swears more then any other pirate, he has numerous scars, and it’s once said he cast anchor just to burn down a village because a passing resident looked at him wrong. Many other pirates say his bark is far worst then his bite.
Bahir – A Muslim pirate who is very active in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. He is known for wearing very flashy clothes laced with jewels and gems. He also has an impressive fleet of 3 ships. His personal ship is called “The Gem Hunter” and has 65 guns. The other 2 ships are called “Last Resort” and “Star Taker”. He is known for being overly dramatic.
Other Ideas:
Things that can be done to change it up.
Air Pirates - Look up Skies of Arcadia, all the usual stuff but a bit more techish, steampunk like. The air pirates from Tailspin would be a good example as well.
Magic - As noted, introduce magic, but this would deffently be more like Conan or WHFRP magic.
Dune Pirates - PA + Pirates, you have a machine that like... goes on sand, or something stupid like that. I dunno, at this point throwing anything out there.
