Days of Plunder by Cutlass Arr-dvark

I was waiting for your pirate game to be done before getting into it. I was under the impression it was still a work in progress.

Peace, Errin : )

http://www.1km1kt.net/Errin-Famiglia.htm

Adventuria Online RPG

its work in progress, but i still can use help with flawed concepts and to point things out. I like a shitload of feedback, otherwise i turn emo and write games the world would rather never have. like a zombie game, wich are more numerous than the zombies in them. COMBINED

If there was anything that was missing from most of the pirate games seen so far, it was ship-to-ship combat! Nothing gets me in the mood for swinging a cutlass like blasting a ship with a broadside of cannons! I have wanted to comment earlier, but I only just got time to read the game. This one is going into my favourites, its good :)

"The world is your arena now, Sagat, not the street!"
M. Bison, Street Fighter: The Animated Movie

I'm half way through writing my zombie one pager, and now this pirate side challenge... I can try to pretend now that I won't be attempting to make my own pirate one page RPG. As a fan of the band AC/DC, I always thought they sounded like a bunch of singing pirates... maybe I'll use that as inspiration. What might also be fun is a Bluebeard RPG wherein players can be Bluebeard or his wives. Who knows... I'll have to finish the zombie one pager and go from there.

Peace, Errin : )

http://www.1km1kt.net/Errin-Famiglia.htm

Adventuria Online RPG

Okay, I think I already have an idea what my pirate one page RPG will be.

I was trying to think of a different approach to a pirate game, and then I remembered a story from last year about a cruise ship fending off pirates by using a white noise cannon. I decided white noise weapons would be a factor, but perhaps in a post-modern setting rather than a modern setting. White noise weapons will be very common and more sophisticated. I also thought that the air might be a better medium than the sea for these pirates of the future. That way I could use my amateur knowledge of modern flying devices such as the flying platform, the power parachute, and the cloudhopper, to name a few... no doubt jetpacks will show up as well. The game will take place in the next century, so technology will be advanced but not too advanced. Personal aircraft will be common as will stun weaponry, since body harvesting will be a common practice.

I'm thinking of calling the game 'Sky Pirates' or 'Sky Pirates Of The 22nd Century'. I'm opting for the latter title right now. Even if they're from the future, the sky pirates will say "arr!" and dress like pirates of old. Arr.

Peace, Errin : )

http://www.1km1kt.net/Errin-Famiglia.htm

Adventuria Online RPG

So I just finished my latest submission for the challenge, a somewhat silly zombie one pager called Dawn Of The Dumb.

That means I'm now freed up to start working on my Sky Pirates RPG. I'll probably start the process by sitting down with Days Of Plunder and giving it a thorough read. I too want a strategic wargame aspect to my pirate one pager, but I want a roleplaying aspect as well in that it will be all battles will involve individual sky pirates.

I have thought up one concept so far for this pirate game... using a deck of cards to layout the battle map for air pirating scenarios in the game. Here's what I thought up... a poker deck will be split up into numeric cards (including aces as ones) and face cards (no jokers used). The numeric cards will be laid out to represent the following: 10 aerial levels, with 1 (aces) being the lowest elevated level of air above the ground surface, and 10 being the highest elevated level above ground that can be reached by the common flying devices used in air battles. Each card of a single value will be laid out in a north-east-south-west pattern according to suit (as in spade equals north, heart equals east, etc.) so that each aerial level has a north, east, south, and west quadrant. Pirates will have to be in the same quadrant of the same level in order to do battle, and movement would involving moving up or down one level as well as moving from one quadrant to the next in the same level. The face cards will represent the air platforms or blimp barges from which pirates base themselves in battle, taking off and landing on the various platforms as necessary. A common sky pirate fleet would include the three face cards of one suit representing three air platforms and/or blimp bargs, while larger fleets of six platforms/barges can be represented by six face cards of one color. To represent a barge or platform being in a certain quadrant of a certain level, the face card representing it is placed in a perpendicular pattern (a la dominoes) to the card representing the quadrant of a level.

That's pretty much all I got so far. About all else I know is that there will be dogfights in the air using personal aircraft and the pirates piloting them, as well as melee combat on board platforms/barges when pirates land on them. I'm leaning towards using a d10 and a d4 in this game, so as to randomly simulate finding specific points in the aerial card map if necessary. This game should be a real challenge to me, and will probably be my first two-sided one page RPG. I'm really looking forward to fleshing out this idea more.

Peace, Errin : )

http://www.1km1kt.net/Errin-Famiglia.htm

Adventuria Online RPG

Well, theres always zeppelins and biplanes for the traditional sky pirate. (Crimson Skies and Tailspin come to mind.) Are you going for retro-future (rayguns and cutlass) or future future? (ray sword & cutgun)

I'm trying to use at least some of these rules to make a sub hunting game. Won't be a one page though - the description of of the differences between type VII, IX, and XXI Is already half a page without anything else. (VII turn faster, IX have more torpedoes and a bigger deck gun, and the latter are just plain terrifying.)

So far, I've got notes about surface vs underwater running, torpedo range, and I plan on giving the destroyers the choice between depth charges and hedgehogs. Rather than hidden movement, it works out as either

A) ships move first, subs second,
B) ships are plotted, subs are free move or
C) a hybrid, where all get plotted, but subs also have an allotment of free move to shift around after that.

Even if you see everything in game, there are some unknowns about u-boat positioning. Hopefully it will work well enough to eliminate the need for separate board and a referee etc.

Actually, this would be my second or third attempt to write a sub game. I know you have an interest in this time period, so do you have any suggestions or things you'd like to see?

There is a fine line between hobby and obsession. I seem to have lost sight of it some time ago.

White noise guns, personal flying devices, guys that say arr... Personal blimpcraft (such as mini-zappelin) would be common, and perhaps there would be larger blimps or air platforms that the sky pirates use as a launching base. Planes will be passe, but advancements in synthetic fabric allow for quick and easy replication of past fashions... which is why the sky pirates will be dressed like ye olde pirates. Arrr.

I'll probably finish up my zombie game, then get to work on the sky pirate concept. I think this will be a one pager will be a real challenge to me, as it would involve me writing in a genre I'm not used to, and I'll probably make a more technical system than I usually do. We'll see what I end up with. Oh, and LOL at ray swords and cut guns.

As for your sub hunt game... I enjoy games of that sort, but I can't say I'm that knowledgible in the actual history/details of such real life sub hunts. I probably know the games better than the reality! That being said, my 'advice' is that what I have found makes these games enjoyable is the diversity of seacraft available to the players. The more varieties of ships, the more the game becomes a sort of chess match. You seem to be on the right track with what you've already mentioned. The more you include stuff like depth charges and hedgehogs, the better. Will radar be a factor? Or is this a game that takes place before the invention of radar? Is there even such a thing as sonar? It might be cool to have a game that incorporates radar and sonar into the sub hunt. That or giant squids...

Peace, Errin : )

http://www.1km1kt.net/Errin-Famiglia.htm

Adventuria Online RPG

The convoy commander has surface detection and underwater. As the date advances, the two get better. (I probably won't include Naxos/sub radar at the scale the game is at) Furthermore, the escorts have a choice of speeds - a slow speed to improve tracking (sprint and drift tactics) and high speed for quick movements. Depth charges will give the targeted sub a few inches of free movement after use, since they historically blinded the destroyers when deployed. Part of the design will probably be some sort of flow-chart/tracking sheet to keep everything straight.

I'm still considering some technical possibilities. LuT & FaT pattern running torpedoes, and acoustic homing weapons. Almost all WWII torpedoes had sever problems initially as there was little testing preformed on expensive weapons during the 1930s, so there might be a rule for that. (Some estimates run up to 40% failure rate!) Perhaps with a bit more research, US & Japanese subs will appear.

Oddly enough, I don't think aircraft will show up in game - this is about the actual convoy intercepts, not the hunt on a whole. There is a possible metagame feature where a commander draws cards to get certain events (Mechanical breakdowns, prior intercept of the wolf pack etc.)

I want the game to be historically accurate - perhaps enough to be a teaching tool to some extent. However, I also want it to fall inline with the many hours I spent playing "WolfPack" on the family's 386 PC. (which is not one of the more accurate sub games) Either way, it gets complicated.

While I will try to be a stickler about the sub types (albeit not the subtypes... VIIB vs VIIC etc.) escorts will probably be a more generic two or three Destroyer/Corvette, not directly linked to historical classes.

U-boat Aces has proven to be an excellent resource, along with the old standbys of Uboat.net, and Nihon Kaigun for the IJN.

There is a fine line between hobby and obsession. I seem to have lost sight of it some time ago.