Tell Us About Your Pirate Campaign(s)

[DEFCON 1]

I do have a friend that was intending on running a historical Caribbean pirate RPG using Blades In The Dark soon... but I do not know if he's started it yet.

 

[The Soloist]

During D&D 3e, I did a sandship pirate campaign. The magical ships could skim above the sand of the vast and dangerous Red Desert. It had a Thousand and one nights flavour. The main enemy was a Rakshasa named Djelah Dhoul. The PC were privateers with a Letter of Marque from one of the Sultans to seek and destroy Pirate ships that threatened shipping lanes across the desert. The characters started at the bottom and rose in the ranks slowly as they gained levels and more senior crew died during battle. Sadly, it fizzled out because two of the four players decided they preferred golfing and MMOs.

 

[The Soloist]

I'm currently reading the new Lost Island of the Pirate Queen campaign by Green Ronin for Fantasy AGE 2e. Might run it in 2026.

 

[Richards]

Never a full campaign, but in a previous D&D 3.5 campaign I managed to get the PCs, who had ended up on a spelljamming vessel due to falling prey to a teleport trap while seeking out a notorious pirate's treasure hoard, spending several adventures as "slave-pirates of the neogi" when a neogi deathspider vessel overtook their small spelljammer and forced them to become part of their disposable crew. They had a good time escaping the neogi, wreaking some vengeance against them, and then high-tailing it back home in a new spelljamming vessel they stole (a damselfly, if I recall correctly).

Johnathan

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Has anyone run an actual piracy campaign -- that is, robbing merchant ships and holding nobles for ransom and other crimes?

I was in an aborted version of a Pathfinder AP that did all that stuff. It was aggressively mean-spirited as written and everyone's enthusiasm for it died pretty quickly.

I think for it to be fun at the table, it probably needs lots of intrigue (like with the Black Sails series), faction play (like in Sid Meier's Pirates!) or have tongue in cheek (as in Pirates of the Caribbean and many games of Pirate Borg).

 

[Celebrim]

Pirate Campaign #1: 1e AD&D + house rules heavily inspired by the classic Dragon article "High Seas" by Margaret Foy plus Battlesystem and a lot of other Dragon material.

The rules proved to need playtesting but a few changes made them playable. A very influential campaign that inspired a lot of us that played in it. Loosely set in the Sea of Fallen Stars in the Forgotten Realms but only inspired by the canonical setting. Great age of sail themed where we pretended catapults and mangonels could function rather like cannons to avoid dealing with keys of gunpowder. Highly realistic, perhaps too much so. Would be unable with working adults owing to the bookkeeping and time commitments.

Pirate Campaign #2: Pathfinder 1e, Skull & Shackles. Fantastic opening setup for an adventure is ruined by really random difficulty curve and terrible "we know you don't really want to play pirates" overly simplified rules, poorly thought out ships, overly small setting for a sailing campaign, to say nothing of a lack of internal logic in the setting for even why there would be pirates there. The game tries to pretend it can do pirates as dungeon rooms and what you really want is just normal D&D with pirate things going on in the background. Covid interrupted the campaign but it was winding down anyway owing to the real lack of the game contemplating the need for mass combat or any internal logic.

 

[Reynard]

Sadly, it fizzled out because two of the four players decided they preferred golfing and MMOs.

Ah, the early 00s.

 

[TheFantasyHistorianYT]

I haven't run it, but doing 15-16th century Spanish and/or Portuguese Conquistadors in the world of PlaneShift Ixalan would be lots of fun. Pirates can easily be added into that.

Dragon Magazine Issue #318 had a nice section on how to run pirates as well as a lot of good information on historical pirates. The whole magazine set can be found on the internet archive.

I also have a homebrew for Davy Jones to share while I am at it.

 

[TheSword]

I’ve enjoyed a couple of Pirate campaigns.

I was a player in @GuyBoy ’s Razor coast campaign that ran to conclusion. Level 1-11 IIRC in Pathfinder 1e. He ran it in a magical analogue of real world Caribbean and it was a lot of fun. Lots of exploration, some ship combat, interesting captains, corrupt governors, and mysterious islands. Great fun. I remember were-sharks and a flying fiendish Kraken as a BBEG. It was great fun.

I then ran Skull and Shackles once in Pathfinder and again in WFRP 4e. That campaign does involve actual piracy. Capturing a ship, exploring desert islands, finding a lost treasure, a yacht style race of pirate ships, a pirate council and a search for your own stronghold. There was a lot going on in the campaign and it went very well. We didn’t do book 5 or 6 but again we got to the midpoint of levels.

I’d highly recommend both, if only as settings or for mining.

 

[payn]

First of all, in all my Pirate games, everyone's favorite letter is "R"

I thought it was the “c”?