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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Thyrwyn" data-source="post: 6514327" data-attributes="member: 12354">It sounds like you have a good start. I like the Pirate Kings idea. Based on my experience building and running 4e Pirate campaign, I'd make the following suggestions:1) Whether in the Caribbean or in the Pacific around Malaysia and Indonesia, the golden ages of Piracy shared several distinctive traits: an expanse of uncivilized, resource rich lands/islands, separated by sea from the consuming civilizations. These resources need to be rare or unobtainable in civilized lands (ie: sugar, cocoa, gold, tea...) and some group with money or power within those civilizations has to want those resources. It could be something as simple as land to colonize, or native populations to convert or enslave. What resources does the "Empire" want?2) Have more than one "Empire". I would suggest at least three (ie: England, Spain, and France) with at least one or two minor countries (ie: the Dutch, Portugal) just for flavor. They all hate Piracy, but more pieces means more complications, and more opportunities for the Pirates to cause trouble, make and break deals, and generally be the opportunistic, gold-grubbing rogues we hope they'll be.3) Indigenous peoples: several of them. Whether you use Yuan-ti hidden in the jungles, cannibalistic Wood-Elves, lost civilizations ruled by power-mad necromancers, ancient ruins, Sahaguin filled seas, or anything else that springs to mind - fill your wilderness with exotic dangers.  This will give you an endless variety of adventures. The best part is, since this is a largely unexplored area, you don't actually have to put them on the map until you need them. Just have them in mind, and when the players find themselves taking shelter in a protected cove (seeking safety from a storm, other pirates, or the Empire), you have a surprise ready to go. This will keep your players engaged with the world.The point to having all these competing factions is to give your players enough outside forces to worry about that they will need to rely on each other, and have fun doing it. The more Empires and power groups you have, the more treachery and double-dealing the NPCs will be capable of. The PCs should be allowed to build reliable alliances (unless the decide to antagonize everyone they meet), but beyond that, they should never know who they can truly trust. Pirate King A might prefer Empire Z, while Pirate King B is secretly an Agent for Empire Y.... They know that Pirate King C hates Empire Z, and would never betray them to that Empire, but would happily turn them in to Empire W if he gets the chance.  Lastly, you'll need some ship to ship combat rules.</blockquote>

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