My friends and I are nearing the end of our latest Dungeons and Dragons campaign, and so we’re turning our thoughts to the future of our gaming sessions. Since it’s been a while since the last time I ran a game, I decided that I would take it upon myself to serve as the Dungeon Master for our follow-up game (we take turns so that nobody gets completely burned out by running a campaign every week).
Now I’ve been a fan of pirates for a long time.
In case you hadn’t guessed…
And the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and the One Piece manga and anime have served to inspire further ideas. So when it came time to come up with something new for our D&D group, there was really only one logical decision. Pirate campaign it is!
We tried to do one of these before, and it was fun, but the group got too big and unstable. This is going to be an invitation-only thing, because with what I have planned, there’s going to be enough going on with all of the NPCs I’ll be running. Right now, it’s in the development and research phase. I’ve attempted to learn from the mistakes of our last attempt, and so I’m putting as much forethought into it as I can.
Influences: As I’ve mentioned, the two big influences are going to be the Pirates of the Caribbean series and One Piece, with maybe a scattering of Terry and the Pirates and Treasure Island (and as much real history as can possibly be crammed down my players’ throats).
Setting: The primary setting is going to be Faerûn, though I’m open to expanding out from there (namely because I love Warforged, so there will be at least some connection to Eberron), probably via Planescape (because I’ve already toyed with the idea of setting at least one session in the city of Sigil). Most of the shipboard action will take place on the Trackless Sea, and it gives me a lot of room to add some details of my own.
Rules: We’ll be running a hybrid rules system, utilizing our favorite aspects from Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 and 3.5 rules and Paizo’s Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. We’re accustomed to a certain level of character power, so I’m having everyone roll a gestalt character as per Unearthed Arcana.
Additional House Rules: All characters get max HP at each level. Spellcasters DC’s for spells are determined by their remaining highest spell slot/prepared spell (this way a 20th level wizard’s fireball spell is far harder to dodge than an 8th level wizard’s). We tend to waive racial requirements for prestige classes as well.
So yeah. I’m going to be spending a lot of free time building NPC pirates and related characters for a while. Goal is to go some time in January. In the meantime, I’m open to any suggestions.
The Swords of the Ancients 
4 Comments
Freaken sweet, I played a pirate campaign before! I played a draku psionic kineticist, and boy did I have fun. We got sent to find all the pieces to this major magic item, and one of them was in a desert tomb. One of my party got bitten by a mummy dog and got mummy rot…then I blasted it and turned it into a pile of cinders. Later I used a sonic wave to break down the doors to a fortress where another piece was held. Some of the best playing I’ve ever done! I’m not much of an actor, so I had trouble in some of my previous attempts to get into character (especially playing lawful good, I suck as a paladin, my mind is too twisty) but this one fit me well. No major suggestions so far, but hope you have fun!
Oh, we’ll definitely have fun. I’m looking forward to crafting crews of rival pirates for them to fight. It’s going to be a blast.
So excited! Can’t wait
Glad to hear you’re still feeling pretty pumped for this.