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Play Like You Have To! => GM Gameology => : woodenbandman January 19, 2009, 03:11:43 AM

: Excellent Pirate Game [3.5]
: woodenbandman January 19, 2009, 03:11:43 AM
I'm generating interest right now for an IRL pirate game. Some minor house rules like crossbows are reflavored and buffed slightly to be guns, and everyone can take ranks of Use Rope, Climb, Balance, Profession Sailor, and Swim. Other than that, though, it's really pretty much open ended. I'm kind of hoping that everyone will go into full blown pirate theme and have characters with eye patches and scars and parrots, but I'd be fine if that doesn't happen.

I'm looking for general advice. In your experience, at what level does ship travel become inviable, and which classes should I ban/nerf to make the pirate motif more believeable, if at all? I'm not exactly dealing with genius optimizers here, and in fact I'd be handing out build advice like candy, but I'm just wondering if there's anything that I should look out for that will ruin the pirate mood if a player were to use it. I think that a ship would outweigh the abilities of a teleportation circle because it allows you to take a ton of stuff.

Also, anyone have good pirate adventure hooks? Stormwrack is going to be used extensively and there will obviously be a tavern or two, but is there any other pirate booty in terms of adventure hooks that I'm not looting?

One problem I've encountered is determining who is captain of the pirate ship. Solution: Slightly more powerful but still defeatable captain NPC to govern the PCs. If they want to take over, then they can mutiny/buy him out/I'll have him die, but they would have to agree on a leader beforehand. If nobody can agree on a leader, then I guess that the crew would have to help the captain out in the fight. This seems like a bit of a railroad to me but if the PCs got into fights over who were to be the leader it would stall the game dead. To avoid leading them around, I'd have to send the PCs to find adventure hooks in the port towns they visit, and report to the captain the ones that they like most.

This is starting as a one-shot which may go somewhere. Starting level could be anywhere from 2 to 5. I really really hate level 1, by the way.
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: Straw_Man January 19, 2009, 03:54:46 AM

  Whichever level teleport becomes available ships become unnecessary, but by then they may feel sentimental.

  The paladin and the ranger always felt like 'on land' options to me, but they may just be biases that can be reflavoured away. The paladin mount needs to go though. The monk makes mechanical sense but it seems odd having them be piratical what with the lawful alignment and all. You could also salt the NPC's with swashbucklers and rogues who silently chuckle at melee classes that have wasted so much time learning to wear heavy armour.
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: BowenSilverclaw January 19, 2009, 08:27:55 AM
Druids, especially with access to Spell Compendium, are house in a campaign that takes place on the open seas.

Flight will ofcourse also be a very strong option to get from one ship to another etc.

: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: woodenbandman January 19, 2009, 12:05:26 PM
That point about teleportation is good, so I think I should either start far before teleportation or just remove those spells. Half the damn adventure is the open seas, so skipping on that seems a bit weak.
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: SixthDeclension January 19, 2009, 12:08:33 PM
You don't have to get rid of the spells, but make them less abusable by shortening the distance, so if someone wanted to teleport to an enemy ship to sabotage it they could, but not across the ocean.
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: woodenbandman January 19, 2009, 12:18:56 PM
I don't really consider dimension door a true teleport spell. So that would stay. I just want them to stay on the ship is all. If nobody wanted to stay on the ship, they wouldn't play a pirate game, would they?
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: Shoggoth January 19, 2009, 12:27:07 PM
Is this intended to be a true pirate game, with looting and pillaging and keelhauling, or is it going to slant more towards a buccaneering adventure?  If the players have a writ from the Lords of Waterdeep to keep the Swordcoast clear of pirates (or whatever is appropriate in your world), then you can maintain the heroic feel and include classes that wouldn't be able to participate otherwise due to class restrictions (Monk, Paladin).

That also provides motivation to stay on the ship.  I suppose you could scry out to sea for pirate ships and teleport there to have fun little pirate killing sessions, but that's the epitome of dull.
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: woodenbandman January 19, 2009, 12:49:48 PM
My idea is that they decide before hand if they're going to be for the pirates or against them. There's going to be basically a big war between the pirates and the people of land, who obviously hate the pirates. I'm thinking it will end up being strikingly similar to the Pirates of the Caribbean story arcs. The PCs will be doing most of the movement in the story. I haven't decided what solutions will be available to their problems that they choose. I'm thinking some possibilities would be to unite the pirate legions to make a stand against the land dwelling nations trying to eliminate them, or try and summon some help, or perhaps enlist the help of sea-dwellers. If they go the good route, then they'll have to, obviously, defeat the pirates, who may try one or more of these things to stop them. Either way they'll pretty much end up leading an army by the end, probably because they either prove themselves more capable than anyone else or because they obtain some power which helps them control the sea, like some artifact of constant Weather Controlling that gives their side an advantage.

They have a potential to be pretty much any alignment that they want, but I'd like them all to agree, or at least work together, because it might screw up the party dynamic.
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: Shoggoth January 19, 2009, 01:00:50 PM

They have a potential to be pretty much any alignment that they want, but I'd like them all to agree, or at least work together, because it might screw up the party dynamic.

Yeah, this is definitely one of those games where you NEED to have a sit down with the group and talk about what the game will be about, what the party will be like, and how everyone will approach it.  A group character creation session is a must, especially if you want to have the players take certain roles on the ship (captain, botswain, pegboy, etc.)
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: woodenbandman January 19, 2009, 01:03:06 PM
I'm currently coordinating the leadership of the party right now (well, not RIGHT NOW) over facebook. Basically, NPCs would be doing most of the drudgework like swabbing, but one guy could be in charge of, like, lookout, or fixing the rigging, or the driver, or the navigator.
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: Straw_Man January 19, 2009, 04:01:55 PM

  Unless they explicitly say its okay, don't have an NPC in charge of them. Most times PCs resent it and will pcharalan to take out that NPC asap.
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: woodenbandman January 19, 2009, 06:51:53 PM
Yeah, but then also they could potentially get mad at the PC that messes up. I'm thinking maybe have an NPC, but have control of him float around among the players. No PCs get mad at each other, and the players can easily vote to change leadership. Thoughts?
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: veekie January 20, 2009, 09:06:50 PM
Well, you could have an NPC 'leader' with the players as his advisors and brains, the decisions are ultimately theirs, the NPC is there to be the tiebreaker when everyone wants something different and wouldn't settle.
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: woodenbandman January 20, 2009, 09:35:06 PM
Yeah that's the idea. They will basically be under his orders, but the person controlling him shifts. The plan is that they will be sent into towns to find adventure hooks. They don't necessarily have to bring back all the ones they find. For instance, they find an item quest and a mysterious island quest, and they decide amongst themselves where they want to go. They decide which hooks to bring back, if multiple, and then the person in charge of the captain decides where they want to go, in the case of 2 or more hooks brought back.
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: woodenbandman January 21, 2009, 09:55:52 PM
Wow, looks like this campaign is going to happen! I hope for the best. No builds explicitly planned out yet, but it looks like it is going to go through. I'm implementing bonus skill points for sailing skills so that stupid characters can participate too. Also, certain sailor skills will be class skills always for free. These skills are balance, use rope, climb, swim, profession(sailor), knowledge(geography), profession(siege engineer), and survival are class skills, always, and each character gets 2 bonus skill points to spend on these skills only each level. Now, players can still specialize in a skill, so that one guy doesn't do every ship-related job, but everyone can still use some sailing skills.
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: RobbyPants January 23, 2009, 07:35:22 PM
Cool.  Let us know how it works out!
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: woodenbandman January 23, 2009, 07:40:48 PM
It looks like it' should be pretty good, we're deciding to start at level 6. No cleric, so far. Looks like party has a confirmed artificer, barbarian, and scout. And yes, the artificer is a good player, not just a clown. I mean, I could defeat him in an arena match, but it'd be pretty hard.

We also may have up to 2 other people joining us, one will almost certainly play some form of guy who has a big sword.
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: woodenbandman January 24, 2009, 01:56:15 AM
Currently making NPCs and adventure hooks for the game on sunday. I'm going to make a few focused on running and gunning, and a few focused on Killing With Swords.

Captain currently looking at a Bard5/Marshal1/Dread Pirate1, 1 level higher than the PCs. They can still kill him, and he probably wouldn't outshine anyone, but he's there to be helpful.

There'll be a cleric gunner archer, maybe like level 5 knowledge devotion cloistered cleric, but I'm not sure what else. Some ideas for NPCs under level 5? I probably don't want to bring something too powerful, because the PCs are stuff like scout and barbarian. I might bring a swordsage as a villain, though.
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: RobbyPants January 24, 2009, 10:42:57 AM
Well, swashbucklers really fit the bill here, and they won't outshine anyone.

Although if I were playing in your game, I think I'd play a swashbuckler/rogue daring outlaw, both for fun, and because it seems like you'd be less likely to run into crit-immune baddies.
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: woodenbandman January 24, 2009, 08:00:53 PM
I've so far made the captain, a guy focused mostly on ranged sneak attacks with guns, an Anthropomorphic Huge Shark Psychic warrior 2, and now I'm thinking of making a crewmate with Vow of Poverty, just to shake up the pirate archetype a bit. He'll be in the pirates because he's fighting against the tyranny of the horrible evil empire trying to shut the pirates down, the lesser between an annoyance and a great evil, if you will.

He might work as a daring outlaw, but I'm thinking that he'd need some sort of a mystical feeling, maybe he'll be the ship's Spirit Shaman or a Monk or Paladin or something like that... Maybe a Spirit Shaman/Prestige Ranger or a Cleric/Prestige Paladin.

I know that VoP is gimp, of course, which is why I'm trying to set him up with a strong base class. Gotta give him some gimpage so as to not outshine anyone.

I haven't decided whether the Anthropomorphic shark should be a protagonist or an antagonist yet. I'm torn between whether I want to take advantage of his scary physique and the fear that he could instill in the PCs, or the humor that could be gained by introducing such a scary brute and having him introduce himself with a jovial "G'day, mate."
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: RobbyPants January 25, 2009, 10:15:10 AM
If you want a mystical feel, there are a lot of ways you can go, often with a single level dip.  This is even better if you're not trying to optimize your NPCs; that opens up a lot of options.

Sorcerers represent innate magic, which could spice up any character type.

If you wanted a monk, you could further change it with the Sacred Fist or Enlightend Fist PrCs.

An aquatic druid type could work really well.  We're always used to seeing land-based animal companions and summons, but this need not be the case.

I know that VoP is gimp, of course, which is why I'm trying to set him up with a strong base class. Gotta give him some gimpage so as to not outshine anyone.
Well, my understanding is that VoP is only gimped becuase it isn't as flexible as having your own gear (assuming you have a choice) and it puts you behind the WBL power.  Of course, in a stingy game, VoP can be much stronger comparitively.  That being said, you could always tweak the table a bit to put VoP characters on par with everyone else in your game.
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: woodenbandman January 25, 2009, 01:44:46 PM
So far he's a Monk/Spirit Shaman going into Sacred Fist next level. I've got plans for him.

His AC is really high, 24, and he has Combat Expertise. He'll mostly be dealing with touches, whether they're Touches of Black Ice, or casting Vigor or Cure spells.
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: RobbyPants January 25, 2009, 02:33:13 PM
He'll mostly be dealing with touches, whether they're Touches of Black Ice, or casting Vigor or Cure spells.
Touch of Golden Ice?  As in ravishes and afflictions from BoED?  Nice against a lot of evil, living opponents.
: Re: Potential Pirate Game [3.5]
: woodenbandman January 26, 2009, 02:46:14 AM
Oh those players! They totally failed to destroy the Evil ArtifactTM and instead tried to take it and use its power for evil, after tricking a Bralani Eladrin and thus earning the ire of the entirety of the Olympian Glades of Arboria, then captured the guy who sent the guy who sent them on the quest, then killed the exalted monk, and broke the spirit of the bad guy who works for the Evil Company.TM

It was great. I think that this was one of the greatest sessions I've ever run, and I'm sure I'll get better from here. It's always a joy to see players come into their own, especially if death and destruction are involved. Plus, now they get to be pirates with the entire free world after them. They will pretty much have the market cornered on evil deeds. This is turning out better than I'd planned. Only kinda disappointed that they skipped some of my encounters, but I can always throw those back into the mix later. Mainly the Drowned, the Living Cone of Cold, the 10th level Necropolitan Hadozee druid with animal companion, and of course, the new villain the Bralani Eladrin Swordsage2.
: Re: Excellent Pirate Game [3.5]
: RobbyPants January 26, 2009, 09:21:39 AM
Awesome!  I bet they loved the look on your face, too.

Never underestimate the ability of the players to have motives you would never possibly anticipate.
: Re: Excellent Pirate Game [3.5]
: woodenbandman January 26, 2009, 01:34:23 PM
I think that this campaign has a good 4 or 5 more adventures in it, unless they want to go fucking all out and level up to high enough levels to conquer the 7 mounting heavens. THAT would be a campaign for the ages!

Party is a Feral Merfolk Scout4, a Draconic Ninja3/Monk2, but he's strongly considering changing into a Swordsage, a Goliath Mountain Raging Barbarian aimed Frenzied Berserker, Wolf Totem, though I'm going to talk to him about taking Lion Totem from CC as well, and the players who missed the session, a Warforged Artificer who crafts things at a ridiculously low overhead, and the Warmage-aimed-Eldritch Knight. We also might have one other guy join as a character X, which is undecided now. The players who made it and I all had a fantastic time, it was all hilarious and I think we'll be doing it again in a few weeks.
: Re: Excellent Pirate Game [3.5]
: blacklitelust November 10, 2009, 04:07:08 AM
Btw, not to revive this topic, but anyone who revisits this idea may wish to consider banning certain types of magic. Primarily, the school of magic that contains Teleport. This will force the players to play the pirate game and allow for interesting encounters when an NPC shows up with one of those spells...