Piratical Product Poll....

[GMSkarka]

Adamant Entertainment publishes Buccaneers & Bokor, a piratical d20 ezine. The first six issues concentrated primarily on support for the Skull & Bones rules and campaign setting, which we designed for Green Ronin: Early 18th-century Caribbean, with voodoo and the like added.

However, starting with the next issue (#7), we've decided to broaden the 'zine's appeal by including more material suitable for a piratically-themed standard d20 fantasy campaign, as opposed to the concentration on historical fantasy.

Which is where the hearty crew here at ENWorld comes in -- what sort of stuff would you like to see? What material would you find useful for running pirates in your fantasy campaigns?

 

[tonse]

Well, I think the most needed of articles would also be the toughest to do well: Piracy tends to be fairly humanocentric. I would love to see how other races espouse the piraty lifestyle. Submarine-faring dwarves, rafting orcs with really mean firebombs, sea-elves ridding the oceans of scum (non sea-elves) while making some gp in the process. That kind of stuff..

 

[GMSkarka]

Well, I think the most needed of articles would also be the toughest to do well: Piracy tends to be fairly humanocentric. I would love to see how other races espouse the piraty lifestyle. Submarine-faring dwarves, rafting orcs with really mean firebombs, sea-elves ridding the oceans of scum (non sea-elves) while making some gp in the process. That kind of stuff..

That's one of the ideas that we're considering -- although at this point, we haven't decided if it's going to be a general "non-human pirates" overview, or broken into more focused race-specific articles.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I'm not totally sure what things you've already been putting in the e-zine, but one thing that would be really neat would be a "target of the month." A fully mapped-out ship, including crew (especially key crew, captain, first mate, etc) and cargo (for loot purposes). It could include a few plot hooks, as well as info on using the ship as a vessel of war, rather than as a merchant vessel.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm not totally sure what things you've already been putting in the e-zine, but one thing that would be really neat would be a "target of the month." A fully mapped-out ship, including crew (especially key crew, captain, first mate, etc) and cargo (for loot purposes). It could include a few plot hooks, as well as info on using the ship as a vessel of war, rather than as a merchant vessel.

I love this idea and I think each of the PHB races could use an article (although not half-elves, probably) as well.

 

[GVDammerung]

I'm not totally sure what things you've already been putting in the e-zine, but one thing that would be really neat would be a "target of the month." A fully mapped-out ship, including crew (especially key crew, captain, first mate, etc) and cargo (for loot purposes). It could include a few plot hooks, as well as info on using the ship as a vessel of war, rather than as a merchant vessel.

Oh gods, this would be fantastic! The more involved or different deck plans for each the better.

Along the same lines:

Pirate ships w/ deckplans and basic crew positions described as NPCs
Pirate hideouts (e.g., Blackbeard at Ocracoke)
Pirate havens (e.g., Port Royal) (Freeport is there first but there are lots of possible variants)
Cities pirates could raid (e.g., Portabello)

Along fantasy lines:

Piratical airships
Undead pirate types (not just skeletons or zombies with eye patches)
Pirate gods (as opposed to simply gods of the sea) (Freeport really falls down here)
Nonhuman pirate types

Of note, if you had something of an Adamant Fantasy Pirate Setting lots of greater opportunity for detailing such would appear. Freeport may seem to occupy the field but I think there is room to manuver.

YMMV. In any event, your Skull & Bones and Corsair are FANTASTIC products and I'd look forward to anything else you might do along similar lines, fantasy or no!

Parting thought - release a compendium of the ezine material as a print product?

 

[GMSkarka]

Of note, if you had something of an Adamant Fantasy Pirate Setting lots of greater opportunity for detailing such would appear. Freeport may seem to occupy the field but I think there is room to manuver.

Hmmm...something to consider. Although, I suppose the new Savage Tide adventure path from Paizo also fills this niche....

In any event, your Skull & Bones and Corsair are FANTASTIC products and I'd look forward to anything else you might do along similar lines, fantasy or no!

Thank you very much for the compliment!

Parting thought - release a compendium of the ezine material as a print product?

If it seems that sales demand it, then yes.

 

[LordMelquiades]

Cool idea. What I'd like is a good, gaming-focused overview on "how ships work", covering such things as:
* what kinds of ships would a typical (or atypical) FRPG have?
* what are the differences between them?
* how many crew does each need? What do these guys actually do?
* what's life on board like, for crew and for passengers?
* how close to shore can these ships get? Do they need harbours? How do they get people to shore if not?
* assuming standard levels of magic, how does this change the whay things work?
* what happens when the idiot party wizard casts fireball below decks?
* what happens when the summoned earth elemental punches a hole below the waterline?

As well as this, simple, elegant, flawless rules for shipboard combat etc of course...

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

How about pirate enemies- hunters, privateers, naval personnel, etc. If the PCs are pirates, they're going to have the authorities coming after them. Pirate hunting enemies would make a good change of pace from the typical undead and sea monsters that a campaign would see, and might also provide a chance for some politics and intrigue in the case of war.

I'm not much interested in a full setting myself- I already have fantasy settings that I could drop pirates into, and Skull & Bones would be my choice for a "full" pirate setting. Drop in tools like target ships, havens and towns, treasure maps, etc would be more useful. Also adventures- anything from short seeds to full campaigns.

EDIT: In addition to just typical D20 stats for ships and hunters, stats for a ship-to-ship combat system would also be helpful, presumably using the one in S&B or Corsair. In a similar vein, locations could include "set pieces" which complicate ship combats, such as a series of reefs, attempting to take a natural harbor or cavern, etc. DMs could then set the pirates and hunters (whether PCs or not) wherever they like.

 

[Pinotage]

As others have mentioned, anything along the lines of making pirate stuff more 'fantastical' by actually incorporating all the fantasy stuff into the pirate theme.

Pinotage