I DM for tons of people younger than me. In general, younger people are smart and well-informed. Most that I meet are pretty good with pop culture references. I can't imagine any of them thinking that a pirate-themed campaign would involve "a merchant ship that put up no fight, and they got loot of like 200 barrels of pickled fish." I mean, that's just a weird idea - why would anyone want to play that campaign?
To be clear, the merchant shipping campaign is my idea of a more traditional pirate game. Pirates, in general, capture trade goods as "treasure", not ships full of 100 trillion gold coins. And a pirate game where the characters get trade goods of value, like furs and whale oil, can be quite fun...for the right group.
My current Grade 9 campaign is, in fact, pirate-themed. First, working for a patron they tracked down the source of raids on their patron's interests, which turned out to be a new pirate faction. Then they travelled to an established pirate outpost to try to learn more, having to prove themselves in a fighting put to get a bit of credibility. Then they had to find a sunken wreck to recover an artifact needed to infiltrate the island of this upstart pirate crew, which they are currently in the process of doing. Tomorrow, they will likely take on the nominal leader of these pirates, only to discover that his real master has another plan.
So, all adventure but not really any pirating? See when someone says "pirate game" to me, I'm thinking of piracy: theft on the high seas, I don't think "sunken wreck with treasure and a kraken". I would call the sunken wreck type thing just a "sea" or "naval" or "nautical" campaign. But I don't think of pirates being "arrr, we be fighting a kraken to gets a magic item!".
So......seems likely the players mean "sea adventure" NOT "pirate adventure".
None of these concepts was difficult for Grade 9s to understand. I suggest that you are kind of over-thinking what "pirate" or "secret-agent" means in order to cast aspersions on your group's cultural knowledge for not being the same as yours. If you have, as it seems, such a low opinion of them, why are you going to be their DM?
Well, I see the over thinking as just different thinking.
You sure “know” a lot about how this group of people you’ve never played with play. Maybe try giving them a chance?
The whole point is "giving players a chance", just does not work for me(and them).
If they’re in their late twenties to mid thirties there’s a good chance they have fond memories of Spy Kids, Kim Possible, Totally Spies. For more adult-oriented media, maybe Burn Notice or Kingsmen. If they play video games, likely the Hitman series, maybe the Metal Gear series.
Ok, now this list might be helpful....and the only thing I know on the list is Burn Notice.
No, no, no. Strategy is nowhere near what they’re probably thinking of. Pirates is pretty much synonymous with swashbuckling action adventure. You’ll bore them to tears with naval strategy.
So many people are saying they mean "swashbuckling adventure" when they say "pirates".....
They may not know who Errol Flynn is, but that’s the stuff they’re probably looking for. Fencing, fighting, chases, escapes, torture, revenge, true love, miracles, and all other manner of derring-do. Good chance they want to follow a mysterious map to a secret, possibly magical island to find some sort of treasure, perhaps before some rival group of pirates do.
Now see this is exactly the disconnect I'm talking about. They don't want to be Pirates, they want to be Swashbucklers.
I mean, Pirates of the Carribian is 100% their benchmark. And you should probably watch at least the first three if you want to get a sense of what “pirates” means to them, if not more, because they get significantly more gonzo after the first one.
I've never watched a whole movie, but I would guess the "pirates" don't steal, murder, take prisoner people and worse things.....
Also, like, just because they haven’t specifically seen the media you referenced, doesn’t actually mean they won’t be familiar with them. The tropes and conventions have worked their way into the cultural zeitgeist such that the players will likely recognize them when they see them, even if they don’t know specifically where they originated. That goes for secret agent media too, and, like every other genre. Us folks who grew up with the internet are constantly steeped in a mass media pop culture soup. We’re familiar with references to source material we’ve never actually seen, just through memetic osmosis.
This is why I try to figure out what they have seen.
Does it matter? If they only want to play D&D, they’re probably not going to care about whatever pirate or spy game you dig out of whatever box.
I was looking for some rules o add to the game.
I would suggest you run what YOU want. Then at least one person is having a good time! Seriously, watch your players and see which bits they enjoy (smiling) - do more of that - and which bits they don't (glazed eyes) - do less of that.
I'm trying to avoid this.
In "my" Pirate game they would attack a merchant ship and get 200 barrels of picked fish, and when I ask them what they will do with their prize their answer would be like "we search the ship for treasure gold coins then sink it!" Assuming they don't just outright slaughter the sailors and sink the ship in the first attack.
