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

[Ragnar69]

For rules on sea combat I recommend Salt&Sea Dogs from Kenzer, for interesting combat options Iron Heroes from Malhavoc.

 

[Greg K]

Fighters 2 skill points/level a problem?

1. Use the thug variant of fighter from the phb (3.5/p.110) as a guideline. Give up your medium and heavy armor and limit the weapons the fighter is for more skill points. Gain 4 skill points per level and a few extra skills as class skills.

2. Rogue
3. Swashbuckler

 

[Nyaricus]

Well, for those of you who don't like the d20 Swashbuckler class, give this bad boy a spin: Shadowfoots Swashbuckler. It's a class made on the WotC boards and is a *much* better varient than the under-par 3 Level WotC class. Check it out

As for the thread itself, neat! I've been reading a bunch of neat threads here lately

 

[Khuxan]

Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions. I currently play with Action Points, and my campaign setting has elements from Eberron. I will have to check out Iron Heroes. bento is right that "[my] message to not necessarily mean run a better pirate story, but instead take some of the "fun-ness" [I've] seen in the movie and inject it into the spirit in [my] game."

One idea I've been working on is giving the PCs 'effective gold' - basically, their equipment becomes magical because of what it's been through and its spiritual connection with the characters themselves. Then I can save the loot for unique, plot-advancing magical items.

 

[specks]

One idea I've been working on is giving the PCs 'effective gold' - basically, their equipment becomes magical because of what it's been through and its spiritual connection with the characters themselves. Then I can save the loot for unique, plot-advancing magical items.

You may want to check out Weapons of Legacy from WOTC. It takes an existing magic item and makes it stronger as you gain in levels at the cost of skill points and/or HP.

Have fun

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Describe you actions in combat (with flourish!)
This I think is the biggest issue to making combat more interesting.
Far too often its 23 on my attack
That hits, roll damage
14 points of damage
It dies

Add some description.

 

[ruleslawyer]

Absolutely!

That is the single most important thing you can do to make your fights more cinematic; take the numbers out of the description, or at least minimize them. I've given my players an injunction to do the same; I don't want to hear "I take a one-square step and then Power Attack for 10, using the leaping attack stunt"; rather, I want to hear "I step forward and take a flying leap at my opponent, swinging with all my might!" The numbers will speak for themselves.

Incidentally, Aust, I think James Randi is one of the coolest people ever. Thanks for making me look him up!

 

[hong]

Be wary of this. In a piratey game, most of your PCs are likely to be Rogues and Fighters, right? Well, then you're rapidly approaching the case where everyone's using tumble, and tumble ceases to be particularly interesting - it becomes a ubiquitous die roll you have to make before acting. That's not so grand.

Iron Heroes (2005) is the one true ftr+rog game. All others are just imitations of the real thing.

 

[Remathilis]

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.

QFT.

The biggest trick to getting your players to take risks is to minimize the chance of failure. This might seem counter-intuitive, since the other shoe is the feeling PCs can do with impunity. So, make sure risk/counter risk is skewed toward rewarding actions that further the tone, while punishing those that don't.

For Example, take the Will/Jack fight in the blacksmith's shop. The jumps from rafter to rafter? Make it DC 10, with anyone missing by 5 a chance to hold on (str 15) or fall. Balancing and dueling? 15 balance, miss by by 5 a chance to grab the rail, etc. However, if "Will's Player" decided to fight every mook hanging from a rafter, start penalizing him for it (ranged attacks? Blowguns?)

 

[Deadguy]

That is the single most important thing you can do to make your fights more cinematic; take the numbers out of the description, or at least minimize them. I've given my players an injunction to do the same; I don't want to hear "I take a one-square step and then Power Attack for 10, using the leaping attack stunt"; rather, I want to hear "I step forward and take a flying leap at my opponent, swinging with all my might!" The numbers will speak for themselves.

Whilst in principle you are correct, you still need to say what game effects you are aiming for ("5 foot step and Whirlwind Attack...") for clarity. And the numbers have to be communicated some way too ("you take a resounding blow on the head from his mace, and for a moment the world swims out of focus and is filled with a roaring that turns out just to be the thumping of blood in your temples... 12 points of damage"), else the mechanics break down. The danger of padding out each attack and manoeuvre with lots of descriptive text is that the whole process slows down to a crawl and potentially becomes confusing.

For myself I prefer a brief descriptor except for significant attacks, where I - and the player - can be a little more creative. But the mechanical elements are always given first and the description elucidates their effects.