[5e] Spell & Crossbones

[Quickleaf]

Sooo... Kat's father was a fairly infamous pirate with a boat and crew and the such. I have come up with the way that's all been lost but it will be a goal of Kat's to eventually get her father's boat back. Is that okay? What kind of boat would it be, similar to the one you posted earlier - Blackbeards? She may never get it back so it probably doesn't matter too much. Ideas?

Yeah, that's a great motivator to adventure! It would probably be a Brigantine, the most common type of pirate ship in the Caribbean; compared to the one I posted (The Coral Curse, a schooner) it is bigger, has more HP, and better fore/aft firepower, but that comes at the cost of a slight reduction of manuverability/AC and increased draft. It could even have some legendary or magical quality, if you like. I'll leave the name of the ship up to you

 

[Queenie]

That is awesome, even more than I was hoping for. Thank you so much!

 

[Hannerdyn]

Yeah, that's a great motivator to adventure! It would probably be a Brigantine, the most common type of pirate ship in the Caribbean; compared to the one I posted (The Coral Curse, a schooner) it is bigger, has more HP, and better fore/aft firepower, but that comes at the cost of a slight reduction of manuverability/AC and increased draft. It could even have some legendary or magical quality, if you like. I'll leave the name of the ship up to you

So if we destroy it, how much XP do we get?

Just asking for a friend.

 

[Queenie]

:jaw drop: why you dirty stinker... Just remember revenge is a bitch ()

 

[Quickleaf]

So I totally revised the "Roll the Bones" rule and I think it is MUCH more coherent now. Here it is in case you're curious or want to offer feedback...

[SBLOCK=Roll the Bones]
[h3]Roll the Bones[/h3]
You "Roll the Bones" in one of two situation:

• When your character would be killed or when they face a fatal event (like being in a room filled with barrels of exploding gunpowder).
• Spending Inspiration during a conflict. This replaces using Inspiration to gain advantage.

Rolling the Bones involves rolling 2d6 where higher is better and snake eyes is bad; cross reference your result with the Roll the Bones chart below to determine the outcome.

2. Snake Eyes!
Death/Fatal Event or Inspiration: Regardless of the situation, lose a Life and you are removed from the current scene. If in combat, you are left unconscious and bleeding out by your enemies or otherwise incapacitated.

3. Insult to Injury
Death/Fatal Event: Lose a Life and take an Ill Fortune reflecting how you survived.
Inspiration: Suffer disadvantage on your next check, attack, or save. In addition, something unlucky happens, like your weapon breaks, your pistols explodes, you fall into the rigging, etc.

4. Cruel Fate
Death/Fatal Event: Lose a Life and suffer a temporary complication/setback.
Inspiration: Either suffer disadvantage on your next check, attack, or save; OR something unlucky happens, like your weapon breaks, your pistols explodes, you fall into the rigging, etc.

5. Unkind Fate 
Death/Fatal Event: Lose a Life.
Inspiration: No effect. If you wish, you may take on an Ill Fortune to gain advantage (or add your Fame) on your check, attack, or save. This should make sense narratively.

6-7. Fickle Fate
Death/Fatal Event: You may take on an Ill Fortune or lose a Life (your choice).
Inspiration: Gain advantage (or add your Fame) on your check, attack, or save, at the cost of introducing some complication as well.

8-9. Kind Fate
Death/Fatal Event: Do not lose a Life, but you suffer a temporary complication/setback.
Inspiration: Gain advantage (or add your Fame) on your check, attack, or save.

10. Fate Smiles
Death/Fatal Event: Do not lose a Life.
Inspiration: Gain advantage (or add your Fame) on your check, attack, or save. In addition, something fortunate happens, like a flying fish leaps from the sea and knocks your foe aside or you slip only to avoid a cannonball striking where you just were standing.

11. Fortune Favors the Bold
Death/Fatal Event: Do not lose a Life. Instead, something fortunate happens.
Inspiration: Gain advantage (or add your Fame) on your check, attack, or save. If this causes a successful hit, you automatically score a critical. In addition, something fortunate happens, like a flying fish leaps from the sea and knocks your foe aside or you slip only to avoid a cannonball striking where you just were standing.

12. Lucky Sixes!
Death/Fatal Event or Inspiration: Do not lose a Life. An impossible result becomes possible; a fireball doesn't singe you at all, you ride an explosion across the bay, you proficiently wield a weapon you have no idea how to use, you quickly get a ship ready to sail by yourself, etc. Gain advantage (or add your Fame) on your check, attack, or save. If this causes a successful hit, you kill your foe or knock them unconscious with this blow. After resolving this, you immediately gain Inspiration again!
[/SBLOCK]

So, to apply these rules to [MENTION=6777934]Maldavos[/MENTION] off color suggestion... Hugo Van Haan leverages his contacts to blow up a pirate ship currently commandeered by a wicked English pirate hunter who has been giving the PCs grief. Other PCs have secretly removed captives from the ship so it's only the pirate hunter and his evil cronies. Hugo has neglected to mention the explosives to the other PCs and doesn't yet realize the ship belongs to Katerina's father. When that is revealed, with only seconds to go before the detonation, he rushes to the pirate ship to try and extinguish the fuse.

However, he doesn't make it in time and BOOM goes Hugo (along with said pirate hunter and ship)! He "rolls the bones" (2d6), getting a result of 11. Fortune Favors the Bold: Hugo doesn't lose a Life, and instead something fortunate happens for him.

The DM (yours truly) decides that the explosives were improperly rigged to send the explosion upward rather than outward. Hugo takes 7d6 damage and is knocked into the ocean, the pirate hunter and cronies are blown to smithereens, and Katerina's father's ship is only lightly damaged (though now on fire) rather than utterly destroyed.

Et voilá!

 

[Queenie]

Quickleaf, I am not trying to kiss up here, but it's like you made the perfect pirate game. And I feel like the "roll the bones" system could be used for any game with adventure and danger (which should be them all!). It makes more sense to me than "you have advantage." I'm still trying to grasp how that works but this is clear and gives me an exact sense of what I (or the DM) could do with each roll. Can't wait to try it out in game!

 

[Quickleaf]

Quickleaf, I am not trying to kiss up here, but it's like you made the perfect pirate game. And I feel like the "roll the bones" system could be used for any game with adventure and danger (which should be them all!). It makes more sense to me than "you have advantage." I'm still trying to grasp how that works but this is clear and gives me an exact sense of what I (or the DM) could do with each roll. Can't wait to try it out in game!

Hey, thanks! A lot of the basic ideas are from Skull & Bones (so Gareth of Adamant Entertainment deserves big credit as do the folks at Green Ronin); though I did heavily change/enhance things to be more what I wanted and make sense in 5e. Don't know about "perfect", but definitely good, maybe great with you guys as players.

I should get the first post up Saturday sometime. Post your character sheets when you get the chance! I'm excited!

 

[Queenie]

Reading over the encounters, what might a carnival at this time look like? Also, douen sound creepy.

 

[Quickleaf]

Reading over the encounters, what might a carnival at this time look like? Also, douen sound creepy.

Douen are definitely one of the creepier beasties.

Carnival would probably be a mixup of present day Caribbean Carnivals, a medieval Italian carnal parade / masquerade ball (with real monsters!), and a bunch of pirates with guns getting toasted on rum and Dutch gin.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Barrington's backstory written and added

[sblock=storytime]Gaston Emile Sauveterre was born in Rouen, and when he was recruited to work at the Academie Royale des Sciences, his parents were very proud. The Academie Royale brings together the nation’s top arcane minds, and recruits garcons du pays (boys from the countryside) in the belief that they are incapable of understanding the nature of their work. Mostly, that is true. Had Gaston’s name not appeared on one of the scroll fragments he was cleaning up, it is unlikely he would have discovered their larger purpose for his life. Gaston was being groomed as a (mundane) agent for l’Academie. The Academie runs several schools, and their missions are generally successful because of La Divination: with scryers working in conjunction with one of les garcons, their missions (secret surgical strikes at the most influential people of Europe) are consistently successful and ties to the Academie are almost unprovable. The wizards and sorcerers of the Academie are playing a long game. Most of them are elves anyways, so they can afford to do so.

Thomas Milner was born in Greenwich, and apprenticed as a cabin boy. Though not of a naval family, he was dedicated and keen, and (perhaps because of his place of birth) was assigned to the Astronomer Royal himself when the King agreed to send him to witness the Transit of Mercury, which would only be visible in the Caribbean. It was an honour, and Milner – as played by Gaston – was a convincing character who ingratiated himself to the Astronomer. Gaston’s mission was to ensure kill the Astronomer after the observations, and return to Paris with the records, preventing the British Crown from having the information. It would have worked, had the Astronomer Royal not been such a charismatic personality. Through the long overseas voyage, many lengthy conversations won Milner to the cause of the Enlightenment. It was Gaston who then realized the true nature of the Academie, and understood that he could not complete this mission. The Astronomer Royal even invited young Thomas to look at the transit through one of the telescopes they had brought. He was a new man. The voyage completed its observations, and the Astronomer Royal returned to Greenwich, with all his records but without a cabin boy, who was proclaimed lost at sea.

Jim Barrington has served on various ships, and has earned a reputation as a respectful, able worker. He’s been an officer since he was eighteen, and has served as Master Gunner on the Egret, and Quartermaster under Jayne McChul, captain of the Darkness Comes. He is ambitious and a good sailor, a crack shot, and no one else knows that he is being hunted by the French government and the agents of the Academe Royale des Sciences, who know that Gaston (and Thomas Milner) have betrayed them.
[/sblock]