A footnote on pirate games

    One of the hallmarks of the pirate genre, besides being a very classic DnD structure (hero chooses to pursue some adventure hook or is tossed into it by fate, goes through ever more difficult challenges that result in the loss of more and more resources, then stumbles upon the final challenge and completes it with creativity and ingenuity to get a shit ton of treasure that is in inexplicably spent before the next movie adventure), is how much freedom the main character has. Their actions drive the story. Without their interference, nothing happens- no pirate movie if the pirate is stuck in jail with half a bottle of rum, the movie starts when they use that bottle to hold a guard at ransom and break out of jail and onto the rowboat with the old fisher and her daughter.

    So the first most important component is agency. For a classic nautical adventure game, characters should be given situations, not plotlines. The experience is made more rewarding when the players get to do exactly as they please, and live or die by their own hand. Otherwise, the whole thing feels inorganic, which is anathema to the way an adventure should unfold, particularly in this idiom.

    The other component is creativity. When you think to pirate media, the memorable moments are when the eponymous character makes use of the available resources to turn the tide. I have been running a pirate game for the past 6 months or so (which I will get to in a moment), and the same is true of an RPG. Instead of building in "ways out" or making the players reliant on the dice to do cool things, spend your time giving them tools. Describe the ropes and rigging on the ship about to plunge off the edge of the earth, hand the players a bag that miniaturizes anything put into it, describe a crack in the jail wall with a bundle of sticks in it. Create these little treats, and (this is important) DON'T GO INTO IT KNOWING HOW THEY'LL BE USED. Play the game and enforce consequences as normal, even letting the players miserably fail, and let THEM be the drivers of the creative use of these resources.

    Now, all that leads to the thesis: pirate games thrive on flexibility. In the plot, in the way that tools are utilized, and, in my opinion, most importantly, in the mechanics. If the players feel like they're in a system where the main way they can have agency is pushing mechanical buttons, like 5e, the game won't feel as organic and spontaneous as it has to. My pirate game started in 5e, and the further I hacked it away from 5e to get it run faster and more flexibly, the more my players have leaned in the the tropes and created memorable moments. Recently, I made the switch to MARROW, and that really made me see this issue in a lot of clarity, because the amount of freedom and agency the players have is so much higher, and that increases the engagement, as well as the drama.

That's all some nice talk, but how do you integrate it into your game? Well, here's a bulleted list:

    -Transition to a lightweight system. 5e works for many things, but it only serves to hamper here. Try something new, like GLoG, Black Hack, ICRPG, or any number of other lighter games.

   -When you're building your adventures, create a branching path with options with what happens if the players either succeed or fail in a given scene, with enough notes to flesh out the secret third option players always find. Be receptive to change- this flexibility and non-commitment to victory will be what will emulate the genre best.

    -Build tools into your encounters. Don't be literal or outright about it- a potion of health is a decent tool, but a strength potion is a much better one, and a potion of flight with a 7-second duration is even better. Give the players things that even you don't know how you would use. Let them use these things creatively, and be sure to reward them when they do it with mechanical advantages.

    -Let the players drive the story. Let them make up their own adventure hooks ("I heard there was a treasure below a volcano put there by a mad iron golem named Smee Shamil"), choose between multiple paths ("do we help the baron or kill him and hold his daughter at ransom?"), watch the world around them change to their actions and not the other way around.

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    Let my experience improve your game, and help you run the best damn nautical adventure you can. Let me know if you think of anything else down in the comments below. Thanks for reading, and happy gaming.