Can I Make My Games More Like Pirates of the Carribean?

[Khuxan]

[possible spoilers]

Watching PotC and PotC II has made me realise how boring combat is in my D&D game, and I was wondering if people have any ideas how to make it more interesting. Thoughts I've had:

• Interesting Enemies - Don't make every combat against a particular type of enemy, but have them as a constant, palpable and thematic threat.
• Interesting Places - Run-down windmills, a wicker ball hanging in a canyon, the deck of a ship, and so on.
• Different Difficulties - Throw very weak and extremely powerful enemies at the PCs, allowing them to triumph absolutely against some creatures, and be forced to run and hide with others.
• A Living World - Have changes in the world around the PCs affect them.
• A Sense of Time - Have situations where the PCs must act quickly.
• Description - Describe things in detail, both to immerse the PCs and allow them to use unconvential techniques to destory/defeat their foes.
• Moral Greyness - Have the PCs fight foes that are as good as they are.
• Use Interesting Magical Items - Sparrow's hat might be a hat of resistance +5 and protection +3, but no one really cares. It's his magical compass that affects the story.
• Include the Unexplained
• Recurring Villains

Does anyone have any more ideas?

 

[Hussar]

One issue with a pirates campaign in particular is that DND rules blow chunks when it comes to ship to ship combat. I've got just about every ruleset out there and tried them all. None of them work worth a damn IMNSHO. DnD combat, when you get into the small hundreds of combatants that fight between two large ships, just doesn't work.

So, you have two choices. A. Do ship to ship combat cinematically a la Heroes of Battle. This isn't a bad choice IMO. Let's you focus entirely on the players and simply places everything else in the background. The downside of this is you are taking control of things from the players, particularly if they happen to be captaining the ship.

B. I've been toying with this idea, but I have yet to make it work. Convert ships to a single monster type. Let's call it Ship. Calculate out the hit dice and the like based on the number of crew and the size of the ship. Run the combat as two Ships fighting, rather than breaking it down into individual battles. I'm not sure if this would work or not.

 

[wayne62682]

Eberron caters to almost all of the themes you mentioned... no, I am not shilling for the setting because you can do that sort of thing in ANY campaign, but Eberron seems to WANT you to.

My advice is to make the combats more cinematic.. try to use some of the things you mentioned, maybe not exactly but the themes... I told my DM after my group all went to see PotC II that "THIS is how a D&D game should be run" and he agreed totally, so hopefully he will start to do it.

 

[CCamfield]

Another issue is that D&D arguably does not provide enough skill points. For instance, a fighter cannot afford all of Climb, Jump, and Swim without an Int bonus! And that's still leaving out Balance and Tumble and probably other physical skills I'm momentarily forgetting.

Not to shill Iron Heroes but it has skill groups, and mechanics for setting up special conditions of a fight, and stunt rules.

Or you could look at other games that have a more cinematic intention from the start. That's digressing though

 

[Henry]

Step One -- sit down and have a heart to heart with your players about the changes you wish to institute in the game, and the mood you want to accomplish. Get on the same page, and listen to their suggestions if they have any.

Step Two -- check out Barsoomcore's Swasbuckling Cards. They offer players a chance to pull out something very cinematic in a given combat, and non pirate-specific.


Step Three -- De-emphasize magic. Possibly allow direct purchase of certain bonuses through a point-based system instead of foisting out wealth. Purchase the abilities of a ring of protection, or cloak of resistance, on a point for point basis, just as if you were handing out wealth. Allows you to hand out less wealth, AND still let your PCs improve.

Step Four -- Take magic items totally out of the hands of the players. Reintroduce them as mysterious plot-breakers with their own rules. Hence Capt. Jack's Compass, the Aztec Gold, Davey Jones' heart, etc.

Step Five -- good luck.

 

[Warehouse23]

Another approach is to re-tool "Action Points" into something more like the Feng Shui stunt bonus. Rather than using action points to improve a low roll before the DM announces player failure, require players to spend an action point, _as a bonus to ensure success_, when they try to do something nifty/cinematic. That will get them thinking about adventure, rather than failure, when they roll the bones.

Also, refer to dice rolling as "rolling dem bones."

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Lots of players are conditioned to expect that if they take chances, they'll be slapped down, so you need to let your players know that they can loosen up and try things, and if they roll badly, you won't just kill their characters. Action dice, as per Eberron might be a good way to help give the players some cushion or comfort zone in their swahbucklery, too.

Talking to the players as Henry suggests is great advice - sometimes players just don't get the idea of a "tone" change until its spelled out.

 

[Janx]

Keep things moving. Throw one combat encounter right after the last one, do not let the PCs catch their breath.

As one of my friends said during the movie, this looks like it was written by our DM. Nonstop action.


The biggest challenge with non-stop action is to incorporate a chance to heal (since D&D balance assumes the party uses its healing between encounters, and few can survive 4-5 combat encounters without any healing).

It'd also be good to allow villain speeches. Perhaps adding the "Deliver Monologue" card to the swashbuckling deck would be a good idea.

 

[Umbran]

Another issue is that D&D arguably does not provide enough skill points. For instance, a fighter cannot afford all of Climb, Jump, and Swim without an Int bonus! And that's still leaving out Balance and Tumble and probably other physical skills I'm momentarily forgetting.

Well, it doesn't seem to me that any of the movie characters are pure fighters anyway. Accepting that most of the physically oriented characters will take some, possibly many, levels of rogue is not unreasonable.

And for much of what you want, you may not need to go all the way to Iron Heroes. Malhavoc's Book of Iron Might may be sufficient for much of the action.

 

[Hussar]

Mooks. Lots of them.

Think about it. In those action movies, the heroes mow down hordes of peons without breaking stride. Not every combat has to be a real challenge. Let the PC's shine. Heck, let them absolutely GLISTEN on occasion. Most enemy pirates are going to be 1st, 2nd level commoners anyway. Don't worry if the PC's go through them like a buzz saw. It's just the appetizer anyway.