Avast, me hearties,
If ye be running a pirate campaign, how would ye run it?
Would it be as historical as old blackbeard?
Or as fictional as old long john silver, by gum?
What would ye use as cliches and memes? Would ye play it for laughs, or would ye know that only a scurvy landlubber thinks that the life of a king o' the sea is a matter for laughter?
Would ye make it non-magical, or would ye opt for fantasy elements?
Yar, I don't normally bank by fantasy with me piracy, but them swashbuckling Elves be good eatin if you're lost sixty days in the sargasso and down to yer last biscuit, yarharrharrharr!
So what be yer opinions, ye buck-kneed fancy-lads?
YARPGPundit
Salgari's Black Corsair had it right, says I!
Uhm. "arr!"
I would do it as fictional as ..uhh.. "be" possible.
You (flips through refernce materials) "scallywags".
Fantasy? Me pirate hearties do yeaaarn for the fiction that be made of science. A fine, three-masted solar corsair on the hunt for a rich haul of Denebian doubloons for me, by thunder!
Get yourself a pirate name!!! (http://gangstaname.com/pirate_name.php)
Were I to make such a game and have the running of it, sure and I would borrow from history. But the flash of the cinema, ahh, that's too good to just leave in the bilge.
Articles of Agreement would be a necessity - just as much as swinging off the chandeliers, floggings for failure, the stink and sweat of the crew, pulling the carpet out from under the foes, and making yer exit from a daring heist by leaping out from a window.
There be a show that has just the right "tone" for me - the gritty and awful as well as the flash of cinema, though it be a landlubbery one. That be Plunkett & Maclean, mateys.
Exalted says I! And damn ye who be hating, I says it still! Duels on the rigging with the very sons of Triton! A fine mix of matters nautical and fantastical, bucko!
Mates! Flames incomin! To arms and Devil take the hindmost!
But if it's ideological conherency ye be cravin', Iron Heroes calls to me, its honeyed voice pullin' me over like the Sirens 'emselves.
(I love this holiday.)
Quote from: fonkaygarryExalted says I! And damn ye who be hating, I says it still! Duels on the rigging with the very sons of Triton! A fine mix of matters nautical and fantastical, bucko!
*Spits*
Where be then the terror and wonder of the sea, if Davy Jones himself be no more than the thrill of a moment, and the storm itself holds no terror, unless it contain some beastie?
I'll see my own black heart on the deck here before I give in to such as this!
Damned I may be, but I'll give yer choice the hate you seem to so richly desire.
Quote from: Levi KornelsenWere I to make such a game and have the running of it, sure and I would borrow from history. But the flash of the cinema, ahh, that's too good to just leave in the bilge.
Articles of Agreement would be a necessity - just as much as swinging off the chandeliers, floggings for failure, the stink and sweat of the crew, pulling the carpet out from under the foes, and making yer exit from a daring heist by leaping out from a window.
There be a show that has just the right "tone" for me - the gritty and awful as well as the flash of cinema, though it be a landlubbery one. That be Plunkett & Maclean, mateys.
YARRR! You have a woman's Articles of Agreements! I'll wager those articles never held up to a gaming group based on competitive traditional play! Me smells the stink of the Storygaming on your breath, matey! Sail ye back to the Forge, me hearty!
From now until the end of this foul day, yer name be Cap'n Blacktheory McStorygamer! YAR HAR!
YARRRPGPundit
Quote from: RPGPunditYARRR! You have a woman's Articles of Agreements!
YARRRPGPundit
OMG Black Adder/Tom Baker reference!
Quote from: RPGPunditYARRR! You have a woman's Articles of Agreements! I'll wager those articles never held up to a gaming group based on competitive traditional play! Me smells the stink of the Storygaming on your breath, matey!
I drinks what I likes; call it poison if ye will. But if ye think ye've got the stones for a round of vinegar talk with Blacktheory, then I've no choice but to think you an addlepated, soft-handed boy fit best for throwing down to the unnatural and premise-laden pleasures of me dark crew.
Quote from: RPGPunditSail ye back to the Forge, me hearty!
Ah, it has been more'n a month since I dropped anchor there, and many more since I plundered their coffers of thinking for my own. Methinks the time by right again; though their manner of charting this roleplaying sea be strange and given more to scrivenry than to more honest larceny, yet there be islands on their charts I have rarely seen on any other.
If ye don't arrange for some black-hearted cur to bring yer mates some grog durin' session, yer looking at a right mutiny, sure as me name's Captain Bloodpiss Zachary, Known Devil To Th' Spanish Galleons and Scourge O' The HMS Nobilis!
And no crew maylike I've ivver sailed with wot don't know magic and sorcery got no place on a brig! And sure as you scurvy-mouthed swabs fear the name o' old Dread-Nought Piss-Ear Gygax Greyhawke, ain't no magic nor missle alike wot can stand fair with a sharp cutlass through yer poxed gob.
<"Ship Ahoy!">
Yar! That looks like the French Corvette Quatrième Édition. Mister Toombs, nice as you please, bring 'er round an' clear the deck fer action! HOIST THE BLACK FLAG, DAMN YER EYES!!!!
Clearly, the GM and players should be strictly prohibited from being sober during a pirate campaign.
Quote from: KnightskyClearly, the GM and players should be strictly prohibited from being sober during a pirate campaign.
We'll be usin' a special form of conflict resolution here, me hearties. That there be your six-sided die. And those ten cups there be your shot glasses, with a "+1" on each them. Now, you're facing down the peril of a kraken.
Show me a roll of seven or better!
Best way to run a pirate campaign?
In space.
With ninjas.
Also fit dinosaurs, robots, cowboys, monkeys, and zombies in there somehow.
Maybe some time-travel.
Yar, so all this said and done, me swarthies, which system would ye use for yer Pirate Campaign?
Methinks I may use True20 in all likelihoods, but I would also heartily recommend ye finest of gaming books for the life of the sea, GURPS Swashbucklers! Yar har!!
YARRRPGPundit
Quote from: Levi KornelsenWe'll be usin' a special form of conflict resolution here, me hearties. That there be your six-sided die. And those ten cups there be your shot glasses, with a "+1" on each them. Now, you're facing down the peril of a kraken.
Show me a roll of seven or better!
AVAST! That thar be the sweetest dice mechanic this old dog has laid eyes on since I first seen an "exploder" d6!
You may have no taste for the briny deep of Creation, but a right fine thinkin' man be thee, says I.
AHAHAHAHARR! Grog and wenches for all!
I did the talk like a pirate crap last year out of respect to steve jackson, who likes it. Now he can kiss my ass.
As to pirates, there was, I heard, a good pirate game a long, long time ago, during the fabled Golden Age of Gaming back in the 80's (Hey, at least something good happened in the 80's to counter the reign of that prick reagan) called "Pirates and plunder".
A copy of that might help.
Another idea might to be crack open a history book about pirates and find out some of the truth re them. Example: Most pirate ships were very democratic, with the whole crew voting on what course of action to take next. Also many pirate ships ran honest cargo runs and sometimes served as privateers.
During the war of 1812 a french pirate played a major role in the war between america and england.
Pirates were in it for money, and as such were as much businessmen as fighters. So a good pirate game should have some practical econimics in it as well. There were even "pirate ports" like the fabled Port Royale where all sorts of adventures could happen.
As for me, I'd rather do my pirating on a starship with warp drives, stealth tech and beam cannons than a creaky wooden tub with sails and blackpowder guns, so how about a space pirate thread?
Quote from: Dominus NoxAs for me, I'd rather do my pirating on a starship with warp drives, stealth tech and beam cannons than a creaky wooden tub with sails and blackpowder guns, so how about a space pirate thread?
Well, why don't you start one?
RPGPundit
Quote from: RPGPunditWell, why don't you start one?
RPGPundit
Ohmigod, a good idea from pundy?!?!?!
Well, it had to happen sooner or later. (:teehee: just kidding.)
Skull & Bones. Or freeport D20.
Aye Skull and Bones be good, voodoo magic and cannons, yah can't have a good pirate tale without cannons and first man that mentions Sinbad is walking the plank I tells yah!
I think ICE did a pirate game once called "Run out the guns!" if that helps anyone.