D&D General Talking to Players

[MGibster]

I think even real life pirates would be pretty annoyed by a cargo of pickled fish!

While everyone prefers gold, the ill gotten booty of bold buccaneers was typically in the form of trade goods like sugar, tobacco, furs, etc., etc. i.e. Getting something mundane like a cargo of pickled fish is the expected norm.

 

[Charlaquin]

While everyone prefers gold, the ill gotten booty of bold buccaneers was typically in the form of trade goods like sugar, tobacco, furs, etc., etc. i.e. Getting something mundane like a cargo of pickled fish is the expected norm.

Sugar, tobacco, or furs, absolutely. Pickled fish though? I mean, maybe, but probably a pretty disappointing take. Now, spices like nutmeg or cloves, that’s the real good stuff.

 

[Hussar]

Sugar, tobacco, or furs, absolutely. Pickled fish though? I mean, maybe, but probably a pretty disappointing take. Now, spices like nutmeg or cloves, that’s the real good stuff.

Let’s be honest here. We give gold as a reward FAR too after. Most lairs shouldn’t have any treasure at all. But that’s zero fun.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Sugar, tobacco, or furs, absolutely. Pickled fish though? I mean, maybe, but probably a pretty disappointing take. Now, spices like nutmeg or cloves, that’s the real good stuff.

As an added bonus, it makes the ship smell nice.

 

[Umbran]

Counter part for spies, and Black Sails for pirates…

We can really subvert the tropes for pirates and go with Our Flag Means Death.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Let’s be honest here. We give gold as a reward FAR too after. Most lairs shouldn’t have any treasure at all. But that’s zero fun.

I don't know, I can think of plenty of rewards you can find that aren't straight cash.

"There's different kinds of treasure mate."

 

[MGibster]

Sugar, tobacco, or furs, absolutely. Pickled fish though? I mean, maybe, but probably a pretty disappointing take. Now, spices like nutmeg or cloves, that’s the real good stuff.

If we're talking golden age of piracy, to the best of my knowledge, there wasn't a thriving pickled fish trade centered around the trianguar trade routes. And maybe I shouldn't be thinking golden age of piracy in the Caribbean, but that's what most Americans think of when we think of piracy. The point is that most of the booty captured by pirates will be in the form of trade goods because that's what their targets are carrying. If barrels of pickled fish are valuable enough to bother shipping from one part of the world to another, then it's something pirates can steal and sell at a friendly port.

Let’s be honest here. We give gold as a reward FAR too after. Most lairs shouldn’t have any treasure at all. But that’s zero fun.

In Pirates of the Spanish Main, the Savage Worlds RPG based on that weird miniatures game you punched out of credit cards, pirates would start get cabin fever and start losing morale while out at sea. When they returned to port, they had the option of spending their ill gotten gains on carousing to get rid of the cabin fever. Really fit the pirate theme.

 

[Charlaquin]

If we're talking golden age of piracy, to the best of my knowledge, there wasn't a thriving pickled fish trade centered around the trianguar trade routes. And maybe I shouldn't be thinking golden age of piracy in the Caribbean, but that's what most Americans think of when we think of piracy.

Right, that’s exactly my point.

The point is that most of the booty captured by pirates will be in the form of trade goods because that's what their targets are carrying. If barrels of pickled fish are valuable enough to bother shipping from one part of the world to another, then it's something pirates can steal and sell at a friendly port.

Yes, trade goods make sense. Pickled fish just doesn’t seem like a valuable trade good in a Golden Age of Piracy context.

Obviously in a D&D context you probably want to be doing something more exciting than attacking merchant ships for trade goods though.

 

[MGibster]

Obviously in a D&D context you probably want to be doing something more exciting than attacking merchant ships for trade goods though.

Pickled kracken?

 

[Vaalingrade]

Aren't D&D Kraken sapient for some reason? Wouldn't want to eat that...

 

[pukunui]

Pickled kracken?

Hunting and killing the kraken in order to pickle its meat and sell it could be a fun adventure!

Aren't D&D Kraken sapient for some reason? Wouldn't want to eat that...

And yet no one seems to have a problem with mounting dragon heads on their tavern walls or using their scales, skin, and bones for weapons and armor.

 

[Baron Opal II]

They, had never heard of Get Smart, Chuck, La Feem Nikita, Alias, Covert Affairs, Burn Notice, Homeland, Citidel, Old Man or Patriot.

They had never heard of Errol Flynn(no surprise) or any ' sailing ship' movie like The Bounty or Cutthroat Island...and had never seen Black Sails.

Host a movie night, or recommend some shows. "This is what I'm thinking of, are we on the same page?"

 

[Micah Sweet]

Hunting and killing the kraken in order to pickle its meat and sell it could be a fun adventure!


And yet no one seems to have a problem with mounting dragon heads on their tavern walls or using their scales, skin, and bones for weapons and armor.

Dragons in Western civilization were not originally presented as Intelligent creatures, but as fantastic animals. Trophy displays are thus acceptable from that point of view.

 

[nevin]

Dragons in Western civilization were not originally presented as Intelligent creatures, but as fantastic animals. Trophy displays are thus acceptable from that point of vi

depends on your view of western civilization for example celts thought dragons were divine and very intelligent. But western civilization till the last 100 or so years thought trophies of saints were acceptable to show so I don't think Dragon heads would be an issue even if they were intelligent.

 

[pukunui]

Dragons in Western civilization were not originally presented as Intelligent creatures, but as fantastic animals. Trophy displays are thus acceptable from that point of view.

Yeah, I've pondered reverting dragons into fantastic animals in my D&D games. The Dragon Age franchise did that.

But western civilization till the last 100 or so years thought trophies of saints were acceptable to show so I don't think Dragon heads would be an issue even if they were intelligent.

Good point!

 

[Vaalingrade]

And yet no one seems to have a problem with mounting dragon heads on their tavern walls or using their scales, skin, and bones for weapons and armor.

I do. I really, really do.

Especially when 3e came out with that thing in their brain where all the magic hangs out, so the PC were just straight cutting out people's brains for money.

 

[bloodtide]

Update

Well, they talked to my Spelljamming group and were told not to do a pirate game with me. We did not have a spelljammer game this week because of the holiday....guess I'll ask them what they said next week.

So, they still were not sure. So they asked me what game I thought they should do. I said as I'm a classic DM, lets do a classic game. After all, it's exactly why I have a youngling Spelljammer group in the first place.

Giving them a couple choices....they picked: Slay a Dragon. None of them had ever done a slay dragon adventure. So they finalized their characters. I tossed in the part where their parents were successful dragon slayers and give them a freindly ghost and a pocket dragon(both looking to kill the adventures dragon).

We had enough time to start with introductions. Then the kobolds showed up to claim the PC's home town "in the name of the dragon". They killed those kobolds. Got some advice from their retired parents. They headed to the next town to consult a dragon sage....but found that town was already claimed by the kobolds...and the sage was in jail. They figured out that killed the kobolds was a good idea and was going to 'hurt' the dragon. They fought a kobold brute squad, and left off trying to decide if they wanted to spring the sage from jail or not.

And....so far, it's going good. Though I get the feeling my Spelljammer group give them advice on "how to game with me", but it's all good as it's working out.......

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I don't know, I can think of plenty of rewards you can find that aren't straight cash.

"There's different kinds of treasure mate."

There are prizes all around you if you're wise enough to see them!

More seriously, this is one of those worldbuilding things that I personally like to think a lot about. Why would there be treasures in the places the party goes? My answers thus far have been:
Long-lost ruin or long-buried site recently revealed/rediscovered, so the party are among the first to see it in thousands of years
Planar location difficult to escape from, so it has a lot of loot that no one has been able to pull out before
Long-held enemy strongholds, so any treasures there were stored there purposefully
Recently-built enemy encampments, so any recovered treasure is likely the spoils of "war" (really, just minor conflicts)
Straight-up payment for services rendered, whether private individuals or dignitaries drawing from the royal vaults
Trade goods! Haven't used this much as treasure per se, but it's implicitly in the background

For one of the other settings that exists only in my head--a "post-post apocalypse" world, where society is just beginning to recover the heights of its ancient past--the answer is very simply that there are TONS of ruins and crypts and hidey-holes from the Dark Age (also known as the Ice Age), where ancient kings were buried and the knowledge of the ancients is kept. The PCs are thus part of the first (or perhaps second) generation of heroic adventurers both brave and equipped enough to actually survive delving into these places. Places that the ancients usually didn't want anyone delving--sometimes for good reasons, often just "stay away from our stuff."

 

[pukunui]

Though I get the feeling my Spelljammer group give them advice on "how to game with me"

Nothing wrong with that!

I'm glad you've managed to find something they are enjoying. Thanks for the update. I hope it continues to go well for all.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

And....so far, it's going good. Though I get the feeling my Spelljammer group give them advice on "how to game with me", but it's all good as it's working out.......

As pukunui said: as long as it's working out, that's what matters. Though I am mildly curious what the other group said and how that might be shaping this group's behavior!