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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
What's your view on a pirate-driven campaign?
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<blockquote data-quote="GrimCo" data-source="post: 9774473" data-attributes="member: 7044462"><p>You can run a pirate-themed campaign in 5e, but it’s not a great fit without some serious adjustments. The rules are built for land-based, small-party adventures, so naval combat and ship management rules are underdeveloped. The few official rules for sailing (like those in <em>Ghosts of Saltmarsh</em>) are pretty bare bones from what i read, leaving most of the exciting ship-to-ship action up to the DM to invent.</p><p></p><p>5e default is high-magic which clashes with the gritty, swashbuckling style many pirate stories aim for. Spells like <em>Control Weather</em> and <em>Water Breathing</em> remove the tension of sea travel and storms, and by mid-levels, characters become so powerful that danger and desperation fade away. Also, classes are designed for epic fantasy heroes, not the rough, morally gray scoundrels who thrive in pirate tales.</p><p></p><p>Exploration and resource management are barely supported by the rules. Long voyages, supply shortages, and ship upkeep don’t have meaningful mechanics and some of that can be circumvented by magic. The economy is based on getting stuff that gives boost to personal power of character (aka the magic items) while in the same time, make money past certain point useless, so rewards for plunder, smuggling, or trading cargo are not there in meaningful way. Crew and morale systems are nonexistent, so running a ship with dozens of NPCs usually boils down to flavor text.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Last, but not the least, 5e lacks mechanics for the intrigue, betrayal, and social maneuvering that define great pirate fiction. If you have group that can do all that by pure role play, great. If you have group that would like some mechanical backing, tough luck.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="GrimCo, post: 9774473, member: 7044462"] You can run a pirate-themed campaign in 5e, but it’s not a great fit without some serious adjustments. The rules are built for land-based, small-party adventures, so naval combat and ship management rules are underdeveloped. The few official rules for sailing (like those in [I]Ghosts of Saltmarsh[/I]) are pretty bare bones from what i read, leaving most of the exciting ship-to-ship action up to the DM to invent. 5e default is high-magic which clashes with the gritty, swashbuckling style many pirate stories aim for. Spells like [I]Control Weather[/I] and [I]Water Breathing[/I] remove the tension of sea travel and storms, and by mid-levels, characters become so powerful that danger and desperation fade away. Also, classes are designed for epic fantasy heroes, not the rough, morally gray scoundrels who thrive in pirate tales. Exploration and resource management are barely supported by the rules. Long voyages, supply shortages, and ship upkeep don’t have meaningful mechanics and some of that can be circumvented by magic. The economy is based on getting stuff that gives boost to personal power of character (aka the magic items) while in the same time, make money past certain point useless, so rewards for plunder, smuggling, or trading cargo are not there in meaningful way. Crew and morale systems are nonexistent, so running a ship with dozens of NPCs usually boils down to flavor text. Last, but not the least, 5e lacks mechanics for the intrigue, betrayal, and social maneuvering that define great pirate fiction. If you have group that can do all that by pure role play, great. If you have group that would like some mechanical backing, tough luck. [/QUOTE]
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What's your view on a pirate-driven campaign?
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