jossbo

In terms if crew positions, mine might not be the most realistic but are designed to give the players interesting roles and ways to effect things.

The Captain - gives orders, makes in-the-moment tactical decisions

The Quartermaster - in charge of the crew and keeping them fed and watered, in charge of rum rationing as well

Lookout - doesn't seem like much, but if you put a PC with high perception in that role, you'll spot stiff better

Cook - has a big effect on the morale of the crew

Shantyman - perfect role for a bard. Also has a big effect on morale and can inspire great feats from the crew with performance checks.

Bosun - in charge of maintaining the ship, when repairs are needed, etc.

There is a pirate code that they are expected to follow. Captain Verse insisted on this when he helped the players take their ship. Its quite long but the big points are:

• All booty must be shared equally, with tge Captain and the officers getting two shares each.
• All major decisions must be decided by vote (such as whether to take a prize, where to burn a ship or take it...). The crew may even vote out their captain if they dislike how the ship is run (although in practice I'd likely just do a good old mutiny).
• No one may steal from another member of the crew, on pain of being marooned, keelhauled, or killed.
• No murdering each other, although fights are tolerated within reason. If they get really bad they must be settled ashore.
• you can't leave the rew until you've at least helped the make a prize.
• No freeloading, everyone pulls their weight

Generally the pirates work together, and if there was a local pirate leader that would be Captain Verse. Some go rogue or shun the pirate code, like the BBEG pirate captain Blackfin, who's crew are mostly undead and who has no allegiance other than to his Demon Lord, Orcus. Verse has done a great job of uniting at least rhe pirates in the Western regions of the Isles, and hopes to lead an uprising against The Company and start a pirate republic.

The Southern Isles are in the location that The Pirates Isles are in vanilla DnD, I just thought the original name was lame. I have used some of the original lore for some of the islands, but mostly it's my own stuff. That means the surrounding powers are Sembia, Turmish, These, Aglarond, etc. Yo be honest I've not put a lot of research into those. The Isles attract a sorts of folk from all sorts of places.

The Southern Islands Company are a proxy for the Turmish government, and it is them who patrol the islands looking for pirates.

The most famous pirate hunter is probably Commadore Roger Todgeson. He has a long standing enmity with Captain Verse, a pirate captain who has the lofty goal of ousting the Company and starting a pirate republic. Currently he is on his way to Thatch, a town in the Western region, and the place most newcomers to the Isles make landfall The party are also on their way there. Captain Verse feels it is time to try and liberate the town and has asked the party to come to his aid. The Company sense unrest is afoot and have call s Commadore Todgeson to help sure up their forces. The party and their crew, along with Verse and his own crew, will try to take the town before he arrives, and then defend it on e he does.

The last pirate to be caught and killed... hm... I'll say that would be Captain Jack Chaffinch. He was taking a prize out East when he ran into Todgeson's ship. They fought valiantly but were overwhelmed and when Todgeson arrives at Thatch he'll hang him up in the Harbour as a warning nitnto resist him. Chaffinch's ship sails with Todgeson, having been captured. Could they take the ship back ? Apparently he'd managed to take a Theskian treasure galleon before being caught himself. Could be the gold is still in its hold, just waiting for greedy pirates hands to reclaim it!

I have cannons in the setting, just cos I wanted the players to be able to use them, cos fun! I've developed a way of doing ship-to-ship combat that has been working quite well.

I balance the encounter with a manageable number of enemies to match the party, and maybe one or two named NPCs. They battle it out while the two crews fight around them. The crews go in with a set strength rating that translates to a modifier. At the start if each round, both crews roll a d20 and the loser takes one away from their modifier. I determines the starting mod for the players by assessing morale if the crew, how well fed and we'll armed they are, etc. I use the results to add flavour to the battle. So it's like the party are fighting some of the crew, but I'm simulating a larger battle around them. If their crew is losing, the PC cam use their actions to affect the larger battle and swing it back in their favour.

Each turn, each ship can move its movement speed and fire cannons/ballet's on either side. The players can use their actions to do these things or, if they have enough crew left, they can give orders to have them do it.

Makes are still very useful aboard ships cos they can do stuff like create a gust of wind for a burst of speed, or create a fog cloud for visual cover. Also fireballs!

There are tales of buried treasure, maps with a marked 'X', etc. But currently there is a greater prize which some of the crews and functions are frantically searching for. One particularly viscous and evil pirate captains, a sharkman necromancer named Blackfin who, along with the Southern Islands Company itself, is one of the BBEGs of the campaign. He is in the employ of the demon Lord Orcus.

You see, a great hero stole the Wand of Orcus, and then was lost while passing through the Isles. Blackfin has been promised great power if he retrieves it for his master, so he is raising an undead army to find it. He's also made an alliance with the sahuagin, a local population of aquatic arseholes.

Signature dru k would of course be rum! Particularly spiced run, sometimes mixed with ginger beer and lime (which is a real cocktail called a Dark & Stormy)

Sade havens... there's the idland of Oresk, on which is the hidden treetop hideout of thw pirate queen Anne Bonny. She's beautiful and ferocious, and most of her crew are in love with her. There's also Tortuga, a town built onto the back of a great Zaratan (giant turtle). The zaratan makes them powerful, so the SIC have not been able to bully them into economic submissions like other places. The players managed to convince the council that runs Tortuga to ally with the pirates when it comes time to topple The Company.

Exports are exotic food and spices, and gold from a mine on one if the islands. But the placement of the Southern Isles makes them a hub for trade. It is by far the quickest route for many neighbouring nations, it takes a long time to sail around them. So many still take their chances with the pirates.

People come to the isles to disappear, or in the hopes of adventure and fortune on the high seas.

The Southern Islands Company (SIC) is basically a stand in for the East India Company. They wear red coats and speak with posh English accents, and are basically a private army, owned by a merchant company, who in turn operate with the blessing of their home government. They are a human colonial force. There are developed towns with a merchant class, who do quite well, and an underclass made up of pirates, other races and the indigenous people of each island. The Company takes a cut of all the food that, is grown, and have recently begun increasing their cut to the point that the underclass are going hungry (and getting angry). The indigenous people are treated the worst, some sold into slavery others just worked like slaves.

The local pirates stand in opposition to them and its mostly SIC affiliated merchants who get raided. The SIC do their best to hunt down the pirates, but they are spread quite thin, particularly in the Western parts of the Isles.

There is a black market run by the pirates to sell their booty, and a lot of the goods end up back in the hands of the company, either trough seizure or through the more corruptible Company men.

Good vid, lots of nostalgia. But i think Duke Nukem 3d should be in there. And Blood!

That's hilarious. Did the player fall for it, or were they just RPing the barbarian really well?

I'd never seen this. Will definitely be watching it all!