Setting aside system considerations, how would you run a cinematic Space Pirate campaign? By cinematic I mean that the space pirates aren't really evil; they may plunder but it's done with style and daring. And how do you get from just opportunistic raids on cargo ships to more interesting, complex goals?

I'd make sure the goals are clear that the Space Pirates are not evil, just well greedy, and have panache.

After that I'd give them a need to find out who to hit--either a predictive computer, a psychic, investigators, bribed officials, whatever, I prefer the later two, because that means people involved who might need help of a particular brand of panache.

I'd also consider the previous lives of these characters, tangle them up in complicated lives. Lives where they have enemies, allies, and more importantly relatives who they can interact with and who they cannot summarily kill. Make these people bothersome, and get them caught up in those relatives choices and errors.

Give them rival band of pirates--maybe some vile sorts, people who kill everyone, and who either place the blame on the not-evil pirates, or who threaten their livelihood, and/or both. Make sure they snub the heroes two--leaving messages that rile them up when they find a ship already taken.

I would use a similar setup to the historical (well, no doubt romanticised a bit but you get what I mean) Buccaneers. Colonists who live at the frontier, mining asteroids or sorting out debris from past wars, who have to join forces against a bigger, aggressive entity. You could also have them flee their homeworld for being unjustly accused of crimes or otherwise persecuted.

Captain Blood in space, basically.

Captain Harlock?
http://www.cornponeflicks.org/harlock/harlockmain.html

A fan trailer for the movie?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLsRXO24izk&feature=related

I would definitely use 7th Seas for the RPG.

I'd make the space pirates into privateers, with letters of marque from the "protagonist" government, assuming the setting has one, and give them instructions to carry out raids against the enemy's shipping. Of course they'll be up against the enemy's well-armed merchants, their space navy fleet, and of course the other side has privateers of their own. It's a big galaxy, and It's Dark Out There....

I would look to the real history of the area to draw on to come up with realistic motives for 'heroic' (or at least passably protagonistic) space pirates.

The real age of piracy took place in the midst of a tremendous land-grab by the various sea-faring imperialistic European powers of the time, including England, France, Spain, Portugal, the Dutch, etc.

These technologically advanced powers slaughtered and enslaved the native peoples of the Caribbeans (Named for the Carib Indians, also look into the fate of the Arawak Indians under Columbus).  They brought in more slaves from Africa, and treated them abominably as well (look into the Maroons).  Then you have the cast-off members of the invading nations (look into the original meaning of Buccaneer).

Add in the practice of impressing, and the way the various European navies treated their own lower-class sailors.  Compare that with the typical sailing terms offered aboard pirate ships.

I think its very easy to make the case that pirates can be looked at as freedom fighters, heroic rebels against the vicious forces of squabbling empires.

It wouldn't be hard to portray that milieu in a space opera setting.  I'd probably go for something like this:

Sometime in our future, but far in the past of the setting, there was a great human diaspora.  Call it the First Great Human Empire... which ultimately collapsed and fell into ruin, leaving scattered human colonies isolated in the void of space.

A group of nearby systems, or perhaps several terraformed worlds in the same system, the Core Worlds, recently re-discovered FTL drive, and have been locked in a kind of cold war, as they seek to dominate by exploiting galactic resources. While they have frequent skirmishes, they have never had the will to completely exterminate each other.

Early in their expansion, they discovered a system of humans in a technologically primitive state, who have also deviated significantly from standard humanity physically.  These people, let's call them the Cimmarron, are considered to be subhuman by the Core Worlders, and are exploited as obedient slave labor.

Farther away, close to the limits of the Core Worlders' sustainable FTL drive, lies the rich expanse of the Strand, a group of materially wealthy systems, all close to one another, occupied only by other regressed human cultures, also genetically deviated from the norm.  These people, the Birac, the Karawa, and others, are either peaceful, or no military threat to the aggressive and technologically adept Core Worlders, and have been subject to attempted genocide, relocation, enslavement and exploitation.

The Core Worlders are busily rummaging through the systems and worlds of the Strand, seeking out lost technology, mining the asteroids for valuable ore, experimenting with native life for new drugs, importing soldiers to establish military dominance, and building settlements to contain their surplus population.  Cargo and passenger vessels, sometimes escorted by warships, travel back and forth along the lines of stressed space between the Strand and the Core or Cimmarron, traveling the Great Triangle.  The predictability of their path, however, makes them subject to interception.  

The mechanics of FTL are such that any two stress drives in close proximity neutralize the space warp effect, dropping both ships out of stressed space until the stress drive can be brought online again.  Typically only military ships have the speed and maneuverability to accomplish an interdiction maneuver, but a civilian vessel piloted by madmen who place little value on their own lives could achieve the same.

The Core Worlders, in their attempt to gain economic dominance without entering open warfare, offer 'letters of marque' to private individuals or corporations with the wealth to construct armed vessels.  Unfortunately, the occupation of the Strand has gone on long enough that a vast collection of rogue Core Worlders, escaped Cimmarron slaves, and enraged Strandsmen have acquired and learned how to operate ships.  They take advantage of the letters of marque to escape judicial punishment by the various competing Core  World powers in the Strand, and even run their own illicit bases, in seldom-visited systems, space stations well away from typical navigation routes, abandoned asteroid mines, and other such disreputable locations.

Adding to the chaos, there are other worlds and systems in the vicinity, which may lack the height of technological power possessed by the Core, but still desire to influence the struggle taking place in this part of the Galaxy.  There are rumors of stranger things beyond the borders of this sector.  The Cimmarrons have been nursing a secret... some Cimmarrons can access psychic powers, which they refer to as Loas.  These may be some sort of psychic gestalt, or possibly a network of First Empire Transdimensional AIs, accessed through latent nanotech implants.  The Strandsmen too have stories of powers, possibly distorted memories of ancient war machines, answers to the riddle of the collapse of the First Empire.  The Core Worlders may have opened up a much larger can of worms than they realize.

***

Thanks for the inspiration, it's always fun to riff on an idea.  Hope that was useful to you!

See, coming from a Star Wars background, my first thought is "Make them pirates fighting against the tyranny of a ruthless Imperial Power." The raid solely against the Empire, or companies that directly feed the Imperial Machine.

If the system is corrupt, then a good man may have to turn to a life of crime, to ease his conscious. The problem is, he will find himself surrounded by the unfortunate, the greedy, and the mad.

Suceeding against those obstacles and odds, are how legends are made!

Quote from: Spinachcat;587435A fan trailer for the movie?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLsRXO24izk&feature=related

That was the most badass boarding action I've ever seen.

Thanks everyone. I'm pretty sure I'll be using Bulldogs! for this.

Here are some random thoughts.

1. Stipulate with the players before the game starts that we are talking cinematic pirates, daring and stylish rather than brutal and opportunistic.

2. Make the targets of the raids, the authorities and corporations unlikeable

3. The focus of the campaign should shift from day to day raiding to pursuing the big prize (the equivalent of treasure map) or some other larger goal at some stage, but that can probably be left to emerge organically.

4. Needs a random encounter system which include both good things like targets of opportunity as bad things like pursuing Navy vessels.

5. Might want to have some sort of Reputation mechanic for the ship, maybe something to measure crew morale. I think Rogue Trader had something like that.

6. Need to keep track of wealth somehow, ideally in an abstract way possibly tired to reputation. Bulldogs! already has something on wealth but it might need to be expanded upon.

7. The Bulldogs! method of having a NPC captain created collectively by the players should work well.

8. Cultivating informants (thanks Tim) among port officials should be a pretty component and helps take the action off the ship.

Quote from: The Traveller;587544That was the most badass boarding action I've ever seen.

Queen Emeraldis never looked so good.

You might also look at some of the mechanics and tools for the Serenity RPG, since the show/movie and the game very explicitly deal with these themes and the idea of ship-as-character.

Quote from: Spinachcat;587435A fan trailer for the movie?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLsRXO24izk&feature=related

I need new pants! Is that for a real movie that is actually going to be released some day? (A fan movie from what I understand)

Captain Harlock made frequent appearances in my Legion of Super Heroes campaign.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Novastar;587513See, coming from a Star Wars background, my first thought is "Make them pirates fighting against the tyranny of a ruthless Imperial Power." The raid solely against the Empire, or companies that directly feed the Imperial Machine.

If the system is corrupt, then a good man may have to turn to a life of crime, to ease his conscious. The problem is, he will find himself surrounded by the unfortunate, the greedy, and the mad.

Suceeding against those obstacles and odds, are how legends are made!

Back when I was trying to wrap my head around Starblazer Adventures, my wife was particularly curious about RPGs but adamantly refused to intrude upon the "boys' night" dynamic of my established gaming groups.

So I cooked up a space pirate campaign based on the story of Zheng Yi Sao. Which IMHO would make an absolutely kick-ass 1980s SF comic if you ask me: a noble and beloved admiral betrayed and murdered by a corrupt stellar empire, and his vengeful widow commandeers his fleet and goes on to become one of history's most infamous pirates.

I didn't get to run this but I sustain it would make a pretty cool game.

Quote from: vytzka;587601I need new pants! Is that for a real movie that is actually going to be released some day? (A fan movie from what I understand)

According to the author's comments, it's just an ongoing fan project to make the trailers.