Favorite Pirate city: Freeport vs. Five Fingers vs. Sasserine

[sckeener]

"I'm Brannich Blacksmoke!"

I like Scuttlecove and the silly elements in Freeport killed it for me. I don't have nor seen Five Fingers, so I can't pick it. It might be good since it won some awards. It would need to be dark for me though.....

I'm thinking of using Eric Mona's idea (from Armies of the Abyss) of having the entire pantheon of gods simply be the demon lords......Eric Mona seriously kicks ass.

Dang I never saw that...Eric does kick ass. For my homebrew I've got a Mesopotamia-like area where I have tons of Demon Lords being worshiped. I thought of the idea when I was working on an Egyptian themed game and realized that the evil gods were being worshiped by good people.... (Sekhmet-bringer of disease also wards it off, Set was used to fight evil.) In general the ancient Egyptians had no issues with using evil to fight evil.

Then I thought about Dagon and all the other Mesopotamian gods and thought why not have them be Demon Lords....so I've run with it...

 

[Desdichado]

Dang I never saw that...Eric does kick ass.

Yeah, I saw him briefly during the ENnies ceremony and then the next day when I was in the dealer hall kicking around in the Paizo booth. It was all I could do to not run up and tackle him and start making out.

So, he didn't get to be mauled by a totally straight, middle-aged man who long ago traded in his six-pack for a keg. I'm sure he's kicking himself with disappointment.

 

[Desdichado]

I'm kinda taking my time with the latest Freeport book (although I'm already fairly familiar with the Freeport concept, so a lot of it is "review" for me) but one thing strikes me. It's a pirate themed city, but it's missing a lot of the classic tropes of pirating movies and stories. The setting is written on the assumption that you're going to be spending a lot of time in the city, or the surrounding islands. It could really use, say, some rules for ship to ship combat, or other typical "piratey" things, and some section of the sourcebook would be well spent with adventure hooks of things that you can do while you're at sea.

Pirates who just sit around in town all the time aren't really very piratey, IMO.

 

[catsclaw227]

... The setting is written on the assumption that you're going to be spending a lot of time in the city, or the surrounding islands. It could really use, say, some rules for ship to ship combat, or other typical "piratey" things ...

I think they wanted to keep mechanics out of the book to make it setting neutral. I imagine that in their system specific source books they might have some rules for things like this, but I am not sure. I am waiting to see their d20 book, and have yet to get their True20 rules, though it's already available.

... and some section of the sourcebook would be well spent with adventure hooks of things that you can do while you're at sea.

Pirates who just sit around in town all the time aren't really very piratey, IMO.

Very good point.

There are a fair number of hooks embedded in the text, though it's more a case of using your imagination as a DM and not so much a case of a section called "Adventure hooks".

 

[Desdichado]

Yes, the book is full of adventure hooks.

Mostly for stuff that takes place in town, though, is my point. Which I don't have a problem with, but it just occured to me that if I run a Freeport centered campaign (which possibly I will do, soon) and it want it to feel piratey, I need to have some reasons for the characters to spend time at sea, or it won't feel very piratey. And I need stuff to happen to them while they're out there.

I wonder if I can loot Skull & Bones for some quick and dirty ship to ship combat rules. I haven't read that in a long time and I don't remember what they're like.

 

[Wik]

What was the recent Dungeon adventure, not tied to the AP?

It's in the second-to-last Dungeon mag (#149?). It's a low-level adventure that involves intelligent magical items fighting a proxy war against each other. Pretty cool adventure, actually, although the Sasserine placement seems almost done as an afterthought, which is unfortunate.

 

[catsclaw227]

I wonder if I can loot Skull & Bones for some quick and dirty ship to ship combat rules. I haven't read that in a long time and I don't remember what they're like.

Does Stormwrack have anything? And if I recall, there was a really good Bastion Press book about seafaring stuff (or was it Mongoose?).

I guess, for ideas, you can certainly look at the Savage Worlds books Pirates of the Savage Main and 50 Fathoms

 

[Treebore]

I perused Pirates Guide to Freeport and Five Fingers extensively at GenCon, and was pretty evenly split. PGtF was probably easier to drop into a stock setting, and it has the history (good and bad). Five Fingers just reads really really well. I defy anyone to sit down with that book and not want to play in that city.

I ended up getting neither at GenCon, but I'll probably end up getting both eventually. Given a choice, I'd rather play in Five Fingers, though.

I have always hated, outright HATED, steam and firearms being in my fantasy. Iron Kingdoms changed my mind. Five Fingers appeals to me most, but since I own the stuff for all 3 cities I am not missing out on anything.

 

[CaptainChaos]

I'd say Buccaneers of Freeport will likely address your desire for more piratey adventures for Freeport.

http://www.greenronin.com/freeport/2007/02/

"At the moment two of these [setting books] are in design. The first is Cults of Freeport, which will detail many of the city’s vilest organizations (including the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign). The second is Buccaneers of Freeport, which provides a pack of vicious pirates for use in your games and includes full details on their crews and ships."

 

[Greg V]

My favorite pirate city?


Highport.

Amen, brother. Beware the yellow sails.