I am inspired by reading this discussion on one of the most beloved science fiction pirates of recent times: Malcolm Reynolds, captain of the Firefly-class ship Serenity. That first paragraph sums it up: Loyalty, honor, and morality are luxuries to a pirate, luxuries that ultimately cost a lot. As a GM running a pirate game on my Monday nights, this is an interesting challenge. How do I capture these aspects in my game, since these kind of moments are where the crew and captain will be tested?
Firefly captures one of these moments perfectly, as mentioned in the referenced paper. Mal steals medicine for a vicious, evil man, finds that it is being taken away from sick woman and children, returns the medicine and money for the job, and ultimately gets hunted down and punished by the buyer. This sort of scenario definitely works for a bunch of pirates.
Another scenario I am fond of using is taking a situation when one of the PCs is acting ruthlessly and I add a female to the mix. For example, on Friday nights, Don the magnificent was questioning a prisoner and becoming pretty vicious with it. The first bandit prisoner was a man, but when he went on to the second, she was a woman. As talked about in Emergent Play, this scenario generates some potential bleed. Sure, Don the Magnificent with his neutral alignment in a world where generally gender bias is extremely limited maybe shouldn't really care about the gender of his adversary, but his player does and it bleeds into his character, either by accident or by choice. In this situation, the woman also noted the markings on the cavalier's uniform and stated that she knew he would not allow her to be hurt. This combined with the gender-based bleed allowed the NPCs to be released unharmed. Did this cost the party anything? In reality, no. They had already gotten all the information out of the two prisoners that I had intended. The challenge for me next time is to make these types of scenarios have a greater cost.
One situation that has been brewing for months now in rumors in my pirate game is a potential adversary named Caliana of the Waves. Caliana is a paladin of Umberlee, the Bitch Queen, a chaotic deity of the oceans. Caliana has taken Umberlee's mastery of the oceans as her code. She is out to make sure that any who attempt to take power on the seas (implied as being power taken from Umberlee) are punished for their arrogance. Caliana, a woman, travels aboard a warship with female clerics and a male first mate psionicist. The attacks have already been described to the group. When she attacks, her first mate jumps psionically to the ship, lets loose a psionic burst that incapacitates the crew within a radius of him, and then he jumps back. Caliana's vessel attacks the now partially disabled victim ship and boards it. The oncoming slaught of clerics not only fight well but can heal each other at will. For the PCs, there is little that can be done to fight it. Caliana is borderline mad and cannot be reasoned with. Her ship is faster and outguns most ships. Her army is absolute. The battle is much like the oncoming army in Serenity Valley. When push comes to shove, will the flagship Zelbinion come to aid the Celestial Kyte that holds the PCs, or will it too cut losses like the Browncoats backing up Mal?
The other two powers on the edge of the pirates scenario are the slavers and the powder runners. The slavers take people and imprison them on their ship, either as rowers or crew, or as merchandise to be sold. With the PC crew made up of several former 'slaves', either of the "bought and sold" variety or of the "shanghai'd crew" variety, running across their first slave ship is going to be an experience. What makes it more interesting is that the captain of the Celestial Kyte is new to them, and they don't know what to expect him to do. Similarly there are the powder runners who have a stranglehold on the trade of black gunpowder throughout Western Faerun. Take one of their ships, which won't be easy, and you get a literal boatload of black powder fortune, but you run the risk of being hunted down or banned from black powder. Taking such a ship with its defenses and nearby escorts will not be without cost either.
The ongoing story of Captain Jacen is also another scenario to test the PCs. He wasn't lost, as thought, to the blast and the sea. Rather him and Owlbear were taken by water-dwelling creatures through a portal into who knows what. Someday word might reach the Kyte that he is alive. Will they risk ship and life for loyalty to recover him? It reminds me of a Malcolm Reynolds quote:
Mal: "I'll take the shuttle in closer. Zoey, ship is yours. Remember, if anything happens to me, or you don't hear from me within the hour... you take this ship and you come and you rescue me."
Zoey: "What? And risk my ship?"
Mal: "I mean it. It's cold out there. I don't wanna get left."
The dilemmas are simple in nature: how much of the luxuries of honor, loyalty, and morality are you willing to give up for gold and reputation? I will highlight some of these struggles in the coming sessions of my pirate game. As always, I am sure I will be amazed by my players and their PCs.
Firefly captures one of these moments perfectly, as mentioned in the referenced paper. Mal steals medicine for a vicious, evil man, finds that it is being taken away from sick woman and children, returns the medicine and money for the job, and ultimately gets hunted down and punished by the buyer. This sort of scenario definitely works for a bunch of pirates.
Another scenario I am fond of using is taking a situation when one of the PCs is acting ruthlessly and I add a female to the mix. For example, on Friday nights, Don the magnificent was questioning a prisoner and becoming pretty vicious with it. The first bandit prisoner was a man, but when he went on to the second, she was a woman. As talked about in Emergent Play, this scenario generates some potential bleed. Sure, Don the Magnificent with his neutral alignment in a world where generally gender bias is extremely limited maybe shouldn't really care about the gender of his adversary, but his player does and it bleeds into his character, either by accident or by choice. In this situation, the woman also noted the markings on the cavalier's uniform and stated that she knew he would not allow her to be hurt. This combined with the gender-based bleed allowed the NPCs to be released unharmed. Did this cost the party anything? In reality, no. They had already gotten all the information out of the two prisoners that I had intended. The challenge for me next time is to make these types of scenarios have a greater cost.
One situation that has been brewing for months now in rumors in my pirate game is a potential adversary named Caliana of the Waves. Caliana is a paladin of Umberlee, the Bitch Queen, a chaotic deity of the oceans. Caliana has taken Umberlee's mastery of the oceans as her code. She is out to make sure that any who attempt to take power on the seas (implied as being power taken from Umberlee) are punished for their arrogance. Caliana, a woman, travels aboard a warship with female clerics and a male first mate psionicist. The attacks have already been described to the group. When she attacks, her first mate jumps psionically to the ship, lets loose a psionic burst that incapacitates the crew within a radius of him, and then he jumps back. Caliana's vessel attacks the now partially disabled victim ship and boards it. The oncoming slaught of clerics not only fight well but can heal each other at will. For the PCs, there is little that can be done to fight it. Caliana is borderline mad and cannot be reasoned with. Her ship is faster and outguns most ships. Her army is absolute. The battle is much like the oncoming army in Serenity Valley. When push comes to shove, will the flagship Zelbinion come to aid the Celestial Kyte that holds the PCs, or will it too cut losses like the Browncoats backing up Mal?
The other two powers on the edge of the pirates scenario are the slavers and the powder runners. The slavers take people and imprison them on their ship, either as rowers or crew, or as merchandise to be sold. With the PC crew made up of several former 'slaves', either of the "bought and sold" variety or of the "shanghai'd crew" variety, running across their first slave ship is going to be an experience. What makes it more interesting is that the captain of the Celestial Kyte is new to them, and they don't know what to expect him to do. Similarly there are the powder runners who have a stranglehold on the trade of black gunpowder throughout Western Faerun. Take one of their ships, which won't be easy, and you get a literal boatload of black powder fortune, but you run the risk of being hunted down or banned from black powder. Taking such a ship with its defenses and nearby escorts will not be without cost either.
The ongoing story of Captain Jacen is also another scenario to test the PCs. He wasn't lost, as thought, to the blast and the sea. Rather him and Owlbear were taken by water-dwelling creatures through a portal into who knows what. Someday word might reach the Kyte that he is alive. Will they risk ship and life for loyalty to recover him? It reminds me of a Malcolm Reynolds quote:
Mal: "I'll take the shuttle in closer. Zoey, ship is yours. Remember, if anything happens to me, or you don't hear from me within the hour... you take this ship and you come and you rescue me."
Zoey: "What? And risk my ship?"
Mal: "I mean it. It's cold out there. I don't wanna get left."
The dilemmas are simple in nature: how much of the luxuries of honor, loyalty, and morality are you willing to give up for gold and reputation? I will highlight some of these struggles in the coming sessions of my pirate game. As always, I am sure I will be amazed by my players and their PCs.
I have never been i a campaign where the players were pirates, quite a few campaigns where we were little better than bandits. great article by the way.
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