Swashbuckling, pirate campaign -- please help

[Dextolen]

I love SA, but then again I love it for the gaming world (of 7th Sea fame). I could give up D&D permenantly for that world if my players were in agreement. I don't know if it would be useful for scavenging for a D&D High Seas type campaign.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Two of my PCs were looking for pirate prestige classes and I showed them both the Freeport Pirate and the Dread Pirate hoping to get some variety. Of course they both took a shine to the Freeport Pirate, curse their filthy hides. I think it was the animal companion that did it. No player who is seriously considering a pirate character can resist having a parrot or monkey on their shoulder.

Aye matey, sure enough, the old captain will be wanting a wee critter of his own. Them's as are pet owners will be the lucky ones.

 

[Desdichado]

I have nothing to add, except "raparte" is an awesome word.

It doesn't have anything on repartee, though.

 

[GlassJaw]

Personally, I think a low-magic setting is better suited to capture the pirate-feel. No doubt your players will conjure up pulpy images of Pirates of the Caribbean or Erol Flynn when they are making up their characters. But if it's just some pirate prestige classes in a traditional fantasy world, it will be difficult to capture that feel.

Part of the fun of a pirate campaign is that nature (the sea) is always against you. Ship-to-ship fighting is also very difficult. But when you can cast water breathing if you fall in the ocean or fireball incoming ships, the stuff that makes the setting cool is lost.

One suggestion I can offer to add and enhance the swashbuckling feel of the game is to employ some kind of action points system. Allow them to spend points to do cool, dramatic stuff, including dramatic editing of the surroundings.

Carl brings up another good point about the flavor of the setting. My vision of a pirate campaign is very cinematic - loose on the rules and thick on the pulp. Cutting a rope and swinging up to the rigging is very cinematic and cool. Casting fly and doing the same? Ehh, not so much.

 

[RichGreen]

I love SA, but then again I love it for the gaming world (of 7th Sea fame). I could give up D&D permenantly for that world if my players were in agreement. I don't know if it would be useful for scavenging for a D&D High Seas type campaign.

I'm planning on having analogues for Britain, Spain, France and Holland in this campaign so might well use some of the background info and maybe even some of the thousands of PrCs from Swashbuckling Adventures.

Cheers


Richard

 

[RichGreen]

Personally, I think a low-magic setting is better suited to capture the pirate-feel. No doubt your players will conjure up pulpy images of Pirates of the Caribbean or Erol Flynn when they are making up their characters. But if it's just some pirate prestige classes in a traditional fantasy world, it will be difficult to capture that feel.

Part of the fun of a pirate campaign is that nature (the sea) is always against you. Ship-to-ship fighting is also very difficult. But when you can cast water breathing if you fall in the ocean or fireball incoming ships, the stuff that makes the setting cool is lost.

I know what you mean. Any PC wizards will come from the Old World (actual name, tbc, but it will be better than the ridiculous "Uropa" Atlas are using in their Northern Crown Setting) where magic is suppressed and punishable by burning on a flaming wheel by the Inquisition. I'm considering using some of the spellcasting classes from Swashbuckling Arcana.

There will be sorcerors, druids and maybe even warlocks among the Aztec-type native peoples of the mainland.

Cheers


Richard

 

[RichGreen]

Swashbuckling Adventures is bigger and brighter than life, swashbuckling heroes, with classes that are a bit unbalanced when compared to most D&D core classes. But they balance against each other just fine - as long as you don't mix it with standard D&D much it is great. Magic is limited, but very powerful inside of those limitations. If you want Errol Flyn and Douglas Fairbanks style pirates this is the better choice.

Skull & Bones is grittier, and I can't help but wonder how well it would mix with Grim Tales. Compared with D&D the classes are perhaps a bit weak, but again are balanced nicely among themselves. Magic is rare and dangerous, and based on Voodoo. If you want Blackbeard, John Rackham, or On Stranger Tides style pirates this is the better choice.

I think the campaign will tend towards the "bigger, brighter than life" side of things, but I do want to use voodoo and Pirates of the Caribbean style ghost pirates.

What to do?

Cheers


Richard

PS Does Mongoose's Book of the Sea use the same naval combat system as Seas of Blood? Is Corsair's the same as Skull and Bones'?

 

[GMSkarka]

PS Does Mongoose's Book of the Sea use the same naval combat system as Seas of Blood? Is Corsair's the same as Skull and Bones'?

CORSAIR features the same ship system as SKULL & BONES, but expands on it with advanced options. The original SKULL & BONES ship rules were themselves expanded from the Open Content rules that appeared in Mongoose's SEAS OF BLOOD.

So, CORSAIR features expanded and advanced versions of the rules from both SKULL & BONES *and* SEAS OF BLOOD. I'm not sure about the BOOK OF THE SEA, as I've never read it.

 

[Banshee16]

I think the campaign will tend towards the "bigger, brighter than life" side of things, but I do want to use voodoo and Pirates of the Caribbean style ghost pirates.

What to do?

Cheers


Richard

PS Does Mongoose's Book of the Sea use the same naval combat system as Seas of Blood? Is Corsair's the same as Skull and Bones'?

Well, you *could* combine the two. If you want "bigger, brighter than life", and voodoo, use the Swashbuckling Adventures rules for most stuff, but use the Voodoo rules from Skull & Bones. They should be interchangeable. They both use D20 spellcasting....it's just that SA uses sorcerers, whereas Voodoo is different. But in both cases, they use a combination of innate abilities, and D20 spells you can get in the PHB.....it's the mechanics of how they cast their spells or get effects etc. that differ. But it does not mean that they are incompatible.

I'd go with Skull & Bones' suggestion that metamagic type feats are no longer available. Both games have a rarity of your typical fireball, lightning bolt, disintegrate type magic, from what I remember. This also works within the setting feel.....magic should be more subtle. I agree with the post above that if your guys can breath water, fly, and throw fireballs, it's harder to make a swashbuckling game.....who's afraid of a pistol, when Shazam here has a wand of 10d6 fireballs?

Swashbuckling Adventures does have a supplement called Midnight Archipelago that has their equivalent of Voodoo in it, which does have redeeming qualities. But I like the flavour of the Voodoo from Skull & Bones better. On the other hand, the rules they've got for fencing etc. that are in Swashbuckling Adventures I find to work better. In the Skull & Bones system, when fighting unarmored, you defend yourself by parrying...but have to give up your attacks to do so. So you can defend or attack, but not both. The SA method is more simplistic, but I think it works better in a game, and makes high-lvl swashbuckling games more feasible, IMO.

The world of 7th Sea is pretty fun to play in as well.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

CORSAIR features the same ship system as SKULL & BONES, but expands on it with advanced options. The original SKULL & BONES ship rules were themselves expanded from the Open Content rules that appeared in Mongoose's SEAS OF BLOOD.

So, CORSAIR features expanded and advanced versions of the rules from both SKULL & BONES *and* SEAS OF BLOOD. I'm not sure about the BOOK OF THE SEA, as I've never read it.

If I've already got Skull & Bones is there enough new stuff in Corsair to justify purchasing it?

Banshee