Recap for reference: 1. Your party should be underdogs 2. Violence has to be outweighed by cleverness 3. Give your PCs a patron 4. Prepare period insults in advance 5. Villains should be introduced as rivals before they're developed into foes 6. Build encounters to have multiple goals and take place in interesting settings. No fight should be on open ground, and no fight should have a single objective.
How can it be that this is 2020 and every single one of your tips is FRESH and insightful? Finally something more than travel between towns by ship instead of horseback. Thank you!
A darker take on the pirate RPG genre I love, that maybe doesn't get enough love is Pirate Borg. I recommend checking it out to anyone who wants to take their swashbuckling with a little bit of HP Lovecraft on the side.
These tips are top notch! They work for change of pace and flavor to in your fantasy game. In my low-fantasy campaign I have used patrons to great effect. And I love encounters where it feels like the PCs are split up on different duties/objectives. I am starting a campaign of with Creep, Skrag, Creep, and was wondering if I could take into a Pirate/seafaring direction--this helps a lot. 🏴☠⚔🏴☠
In every practical sense, the first two are terrible advice. Your players aren't going to want to play in a game whose world constantly looks down on them and they arent allowed to make a difference in without pulling teeth, and in most systems its nearly physically impossible to capture that and have encounters be fun or even winnable. 5e for example isnt about being smart or tactical, its literally a war of attrition simulator where managing resources long term is what youre supposed to do.
I think there are a lot of genres where players are more locked down. Star Wars for example - dodging the much stronger Empire is key to that setting. And lots of Vampire games are all about politicking your way through a very hierarchal group of powerful elders. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I do think pirate games need some of that element to feel “right”. Agree that capturing players is tough in any system though!
I vastly disagree. Cleverness over violence is how old school games, even old school D&D used to work, and you can still see that in modern OSR games. Whether you dislike that sort of system or love it is subjective, but there definitely are a ton of people out there who love that sort of experience. Just look at the recent reneissance of old school games, or stuff like Blades in the Dark, where PCs literally start out barely a step from starvation.
Imagine that you Must run a game that way - PCs as underdogs and cleverness over violence. Brainstorm ways in which you can make that work. The two things that got me out of hack and slash mode were (a) a DM who allowed situations where we faced vastly superior enemies (e.g. that old guy with a knife collecting the bridge toll is actually a retired 17th level fighter) and let the dice fall (no fudging), and (b) realizing that con jobs for loot was way more lucrative and safer than fighting for it. I always choose my battles, cherry-picked for the ones with the most reward and the lowest risk. Let someone else tackle the minions while I run away with the treasure chest.
Do you have any thoughts on how develop the NPC crew to be more unique and interesting parts of the campaign? I've had a hard time making shipboard life feel seafaring. (Also, any plans to restore your website?)
Website is back up, after a series of SSL battles yesterday! My approach with a crew (in a longer game) is to actually let the players in on the fun. I randomly generate about 1-2 faces per player (using something like artbreeder) and then ask them to define why that person is important to them on the ship. This creates a great feeling of a “familiar” crew, and lets you as a GM use them as plothooks, redshirts, etc - where the players actually care what happens to them.
Thank you! Facepalm for not thinking of this. On a larger ship I could make some of the "familiar NPCs" be the gunnery, marine, carpenter or other masters. I'm off to research some tiny subplots around gambling and superstition and rivalries among the crew.
