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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Razjah" data-source="post: 6071271" data-attributes="member: 98806">You could always try to force the PCs to make difficult decisions. I think combining some of Bagpuss and Radiating Gnome's ideas would work. You can have the soldiers moving though the town, forcing people into the church before they burn it while the pirate ships and fighting forces are trapped outside the blockade (the empire lured them out with a false carrack or treasure ship). Now the PCs need to decide to help the trapped people or take a ship to the attack the blockade from the rear. When the empire's fleet cannot hold the blockade and begin to withdraw- the party can pursue them to protect the town's secrecy or help save people trapped by damaged buildings, injured from fighting, or the citizens trying to repel the empire's ground forces.If the party does well here it could be a great way to get them a ship, perhaps a small captured frigate or corvette. Then they can being to unite the pirates under one banner to better stand against the empire. Once they have proven themselves they may be given larger ships and begin building their own fleet. The climactic battle could involve the party on the flagship of the pirate fleet or on multiple vessels each controlling different aspects of the engagement.    A hook to find the empire's base? Capture some off the blockade ships and decipher their maps, letters, orders, and a pilot's rutter. "A rutter was a small book containing the detailed observation of a pilot who had been there before. It recorded the magnetic compass courses between ports and capes, headlands, and channels, It noted the sounding and depths and color of the water and the nature of the seabed. It set down the how we got there and how we got back: how many days on a special tack, the pattern of the wind, when it blew and from where, what currents to expect and from where, the time of storms, and the time of fair winds; where to careen the ship and where to water; where the were friends and where foes; shoals, reefs, tides, havens; at best, everything necessary for a safe voyage." -Shogun by James ClavellGive the party charts for the pirate seas, a rutter to get to the empire's port, and orders from the enemy to burn everything the party loves to the ground and they'll go at the empire. The last part alone could work, look at Star Wars- it worked for Luke.</blockquote>

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