I'm running a pirate-y themed game on Saturday. I need some ideas for pirates.
It's a swashbuckly game of D&D, set on a sort of faux carribean setting with many gods, guns and scant non-humans. Three cultures (based off of Vikings, Cordobans and Chinese cultures) contest this area, in the shadow of a declining aztec themed elven empire.
What suggestions do you have for pirate games? And in particular for an introductory game?
Zombie pirates. You can't go wrong with zombie pirates.
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...there was a thread on D&D pirates a few weeks ago...
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What suggestions do you have for pirate games? And in particular for an introductory game?
Do you mean an introduction for the campaign, for people new to D&D or for new roleplayers?
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"50 fathoms" by Great White Games is a plot-point campaign, one can convert in trad D&D. Non-humans, giant semi gods and squid magic in an archipelago anciently cursed...
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What suggestions do you have for pirate games? And in particular for an introductory game?[/QUOTE]
Start them off in Tortuga, or some Tortuga eqivalent. Get them in a bar brawl and let them be all swash-buckle-y. Get them into the idea of cinematic and over the top combat. They should probably make an enemy of another pirate captain, or pirate crew, or officers on their own ship, for the drama later. Then maybe the fight gets broken up by the authorities, so you can introduce an implacable Pirate Hunter, who will dog their every move for the rest of the game. A nemes-nemesisi-neme- a bad guy. Then throw in the Curse. Since your gang has probably seen Pirates of the Caribbean, change this up a little; use the Black Spot, a pirate tradition that marks the bearer out as a betrayer of pirates, to be killed on sight. So now the Other Pirate Crew is after them, as well as the Pirate Hunter.
Throw in some islands of cannibals, maybe a ghost ship laden with spanish gold, and you're done.
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I can't find any of my previous versions of this through the Google search of the forum archives... It was originally for Buffy as may be readily apparent, but the ideas may still prove helpful.
Pirates Of The Caribbean season one.
Characters
In a PotC series, Elizabeth and Will would be Cast Members (Jack Sparrow comes and goes bringing trouble in his wake and being reliably unreliable as an ally, like Spike in Buffy season 5) but with a new Cast I'd suggest:
Someone with an inroad into Colonial high society (The Slayer as a spy could have that)
Someone with ties to pirates
Someone low-class for lots of class conflict fun
Other possibilities include an active (as opposed to bookish NPC) Watcher, someone linked to local magic like a witch or a seer, a scruffy urchin type who knows the alleys of the docks...
For a Big Bad, I'm a great believer in starting with a vampire in Season One. And a vampire pirate is just right.
The astute among you will note that I've modelled the development fairly closely on Buffy season one. I'm just wacky that way!
1.01 Welcome To The Caribbean
In which our heroes gather as a result of an external force, such as an attack by a shipful of vampires. This spills over into...
1.02 The Maelstrom
I'd envision a purposely straightforward introduction to the format and the characters, bringing on a possible Big Bad and all.
1.03 Sea Witch
A bizarre series of storms is decimating shipping, preventing trade (and piracy, for that matter) - but one particular fleet seems to be able to get through. Could it be that someone's using magic as a form of unfair trading practice?
This would be a Monster of the Week episode mixed with the seaborne adventure classic of a really big storm.
1.04 Up From The Depths
Fish Monsters From The Deep Want Our Women! And they're about to learn why that's a bad idea.
A twist or two could be thrown in, but there's nothing wrong with Deep Ones running amok and getting their scaly asses handed to them.
1.05 Shall We Dance?
A grand gala ball at the Governor's mansion. An opportunity to dress up, have a night off from battling evil, and end up battling evil anyway.
The Big Dance Episode, with all the mixed signals and romantic confusion, the added fun of a low-class character having to blend in while a high-class character has to maintain her secret identity even while some threat is stalking the halls.
1.06 Ghost Ship
Reports come in of a missing ship adrift next to an uninhabited island, and our heroes go to investigate...
Yes, it's an obvious idea. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing.
1.07 Secrets
A startling revelation about one of the characters distracts our heroes from a nice simple attack by monster assassins.
What the secret is depends on the characters, naturally.
1.08 As It Is Written
A book of spells, a threat to the world in the wrong hands, has come up for grabs, and our heroes have to travel to Tortuga in a pirate ship to retrieve it.
A chase-the-McGuffin plot, with the chase leading into lawless pirate territory and all the fun that brings.
1.09 The Great Game
Our heroes face a foreign spy who uses magic to gain information.
A "Smart MotW" episode, where the "villain" isn't evil so much as excessively patriotic. She has a selection of useful powers for spying, such as invisibility, climbing up walls, sleep spells, and of course some major ass-kickage.
1.10 Bedlam
A curse falls on Port Royal, driving people mad in some horrible, funny, or horrible-funny way. Nightmares come to life, a love spell run wildly out of control, being struck mute or bursting into song, to pick four examples purely at random (ahem). And, naturally, it affects at least some of the Cast.
1.11 The Hunt
A new captain arrives to take over the pirate-hunting fleet, rather cramping our heroes' style as they have to get to Tortuga to deal with an impending demony crisis.
Another "secret identity" episode, with the added fun of throwing in someone dashing and heroic for our heroine to protect and the guys in her life to envy.
1.12 To The Heart Of The Storm
Our Big Bad looses the combined forces of Big and Bad, a sea serpent swims towards Port Royal, a flotilla of undead pirates sails on the city, and more, and worse...
The "everything hits the fan" season finale, where chaos reigns and the battle gets more involved and dangerous for everyone.
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Zombie pirates. You can't go wrong with zombie pirates.
Or Zombie-Ghost-Demon Pirates!
(See "Secret of Monkey Island" and sequels.)
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