Arh Matey !

Kyorou

Banded Mongoose
I'm considering starting a Pirate Isles campaign. I was wondering if anybody here did.

I'm afraid it could be hard to keep the distance in this kind of campaign, once every "classical" kind of plot (treasure hunt,...) has been used once.
 
Oh, I don't know. I ran a pretty good murder mystery on a ship in a Conan campaign at one time. Just about any plot can be done shipboard that can be done elsewhere.
 
Kyorou said:
I'm considering starting a Pirate Isles campaign. I was wondering if anybody here did.

I'm afraid it could be hard to keep the distance in this kind of campaign, once every "classical" kind of plot (treasure hunt,...) has been used once.

Water unites - land divides. You can go farther quicker by boat. Inland campaigns can be facilitated and enhanced by shipboard adventures. Messantia is an excellent base!
 
The pirate setting can be just that--flavour and background while in fact just about every kind of Conan type adventure could be used--from strange haunted ruins to savages on the border to whatever. At least 4 Conan classic adventures start off with pirates! Don't worry, just get the setting and prepare to enjoy yourself.
 
VincentDarlage said:
Oh, I don't know. I ran a pretty good murder mystery on a ship in a Conan campaign at one time. Just about any plot can be done shipboard that can be done elsewhere.

Sounds like "Mutiny", an episode of "Hornblower". Might have to steal that idea, Sir!

Kyorou said:
Well I guess I'm going to give it a try. And another book appears on my shopping list...

Trust me, you're in for a treat! Pirate Isles is one of the best Conan sourcebooks. It had everything you'll need, and so much more.
 
I bought this suppliment when it first came out, but have not used it yet. Eventually, when the group makes its way over to Argos, I'm sure I'll digest the material and come up with some interesting things for the group to get wrapped up in :twisted:
 
Personally, I love pirate campaigns. As a matter of fact, the Conan campaign I am running right now is pirate based. The players have just set sail with a Argosean she-pirate, quite by accident mind you, and are in for a discovery of "things man was not meant to know" on the fringes of the known world. :twisted:

Dagon here we come! (For those who follow Cthulhu) :twisted:
 
I did run a pirate campaign. It went very well to start with, and in all the setting, flavour and group was excellent :) . Pompous Zingaran nobles, sneaky Barachan sailors, murderous Darfari knifemen: it had it all. I'm no d20 buff however, and in the end I wound up so entangled in the rules that I gave it a rest. (In the middle of a boarding action against a Stygian galley).

My problem was that I started out from level 1, and already at lvl 2 or 3 the characters comandeered their own ship and took to the high seas to start a life of loot and plunder. The ship combat rules however are balanced for level 6 upwards. Now, I generally go for a fast and loose GM style when it comes to rules, but I did feel that I needed some kind of backing to succesfully run ship to ship battles.

Apart from that it was an excellent campaign: starting out with a pulpy shipwreck/zombie/adventure island scenario and continuing in a fast and loose fashion (I GM:ed with very loose reigns) with negotiations with the Barachan brotherhood, messantian merchants and some creepy foreshadowings. What I found to work really well was keeping a set household of familiar npc faces on board the ship, as well as intrigue and cloak and dagger on shore in Messantia and later Kordova.
 
Bjorn the Barbarian said:
Personally, I love pirate campaigns. As a matter of fact, the Conan campaign I am running right now is pirate based. The players have just set sail with a Argosean she-pirate, quite by accident mind you, and are in for a discovery of "things man was not meant to know" on the fringes of the known world. :twisted:

Dagon here we come! (For those who follow Cthulhu) :twisted:

Just had a thought--as a different kind of pirate adventure someone could adapt the Innsmouth adventure from Call of Cthulhu to Conan. Basically a ship perhaps puts into a small fishing port following a storm, needing repairs. However the inhabitants are VERY strange and disturbing. Soon the pcs want to leave--fast! However on reaching a safer nearby port they are hired by an agent of a local nobleman/king who wants to raid that place, and is hiring privateers to burn it to the ground...
 
Bjorn the Barbarian said:
Aholibamah,

You just gave away my plot, almost to the letter.

That's scary. Guess the reference to Dagon gave it away. :twisted:

That's amazing, my campaign featured deep ones too Guess it just comes naturally. :shock:
 
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