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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pielorinho" data-source="post: 5221277" data-attributes="member: 259">Great idea, Danny!  I'll look up Turtledove; alt-history is absolutely the route I'm going here.So I talked to some folks elsewhere, and someone made a good but devastating point:The orchid plot kind of sucks. It's random, it's DM fiat, it relies on PC actions being very specific, it doesn't really fit the theme, and it has a zero pirate percentage rating.So I'm tossing that, on their suggestion.  New intro adventure:The players must tell me why their character is willing to board the Jesu de Nazarene for Hispaniola in September 1679.  It's a merchant ship carrying fine goods to the Caribbean, but is also outfitted for semiwealthy passengers and is especially recruiting the intelligentsia who will need special care for instruments, books, etc.When the ship nears Hispaniola, the captain will warn passengers  about the danger of pirates, and the first time they see the sail of any  other ship, he'll tell passengers to go into their quarters for their  own safety as the crew prepares anti-pirate measures.Secretly, the captain deals with the Haitian slavetraders.  They've got need of educated slaves and will pay him a premium for any such slaves he delivers, especially if they have the gear they need for their profession.Once passengers are in quarters, he and a gang of rough sailors will go cabin-to-cabin and capture the passengers, binding them for an almost immediate handover to the slavers.  (He figures doing it this way lessens the damage to the cargo and lessens the chance of any sort of revolt).Unfortunately for his plan, that first ship that he sees actually IS a pirate ship, and as he tries to capture the PCs, the first cannons will fire.  PCs will then get their first real decision of the game:  facing attack by pirates and capture by a vicious captain with his toughs, what will they do?So that's the new opening adventure.  Ideas?First session will probably happen in Seville, ending with PCs boarding the ship.  Here I'd like fun scenes (not necessarily combat--this could be a zero-combat session), interesting characters (including ship crew, captain, fellow passengers, and people in Seville), that sort of thing.  Definitely nothing that would take more than a session to resolve.Second session will involve the voyage, which should be pretty nonthreatening until that big scene.  Ideas about life on a ship would be great, especially thoughts about sailor customs that could prepare the PCs for life in the Caribbean.  Also, ideas about specifics for the attacking pirates would be great.  I would like for everyone up to this point, except the PCs, to be non-supernatural, although they could work for supers or have items from supers or the like.</blockquote>

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