Pirate Hero

[itsalwayssunny]

Anybody ever use the Hero System for a pirates-type game (set in the Spanish Main or elsewhere)? If so, how did it go and do you have any tips? I'd love to get a pirate game going sometime.

[brionl]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

Your best bet would probably be using Fantasy Hero, and leaving out the magic spells & dragons. Inclusion of ghosts, zombies, mermaids, etc is up to you.

[GoldenAge]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

The closest we ever got was a Star Hero: Space Pirate game. The characters were awesome and the game had lots of potential, but it never had a chance to take off (pun intended). After only a few games various elements brought it to an end.

 

I would second the Fantasy Hero approach to a classic pirate game. Pretty easy.

[itsalwayssunny]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

I don't have Fantasy Hero, just the basic 5th edition of Hero System to work with.

 

The main thing for me would be the various ships--do they have that sort of thing in Fantasy Hero?

 

This would be a magic-free setting, more like real pirates than Johnny Depp pirates.

[Ternaugh]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

I've used elements in one of my FH settings, which used a bunch of stuff from the 3rd edition Campaign Classics book, Pirates. It's a bit dated, but does have some useful material, including some ship information/layouts. Most of the weapon information has been superseded by the Hero System Equipment Guide.

 

I also added a few house rules to make heavy armor less effective. First of those was to assume that firearms had an automatic AP vs armor. Second, I increased the encumbrance penalties for armor (making a Conquistador-look sectional defense popular for some). A late addition to the campaign was the concept of Combat Luck (6E 110), which worked extremely well for non-armored swashbucklers.

 

We found that firearms are effectively a one shot weapon due to reloading time in most Hero combat, so it was common for those who could afford it to have a couple of pistols, and then a sword for when the bullets ran out. You can find more information about early firearms in the Hero System Equipment Guide starting on p. 48.

 

Ours was more of a high magic campaign with swashbuckling and clockpunk bolted on, so one of the players had a character who could use magic to "keep his powder dry" as well as a penetrating mist to dampen the gunpowder of the enemies.

 

I'd also point out the Hero System Martial Arts book for a great treatment of Fencing (p. 29), Capoeira (p. 26) and Dirty Infighting (p. 27), which could easily play into a cinematic pirate game.

 

JoeG

[itsalwayssunny]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

I've used elements in one of my FH settings' date=' which used a bunch of stuff from the 3rd edition Campaign Classics book, Pirates. It's a bit dated, but does have some useful material, including some ship information/layouts. Most of the weapon information has been superseded by the Hero System Equipment Guide.

 

I also added a few house rules to make heavy armor less effective. First of those was to assume that firearms had an automatic AP vs armor. Second, I increased the encumbrance penalties for armor (making a Conquistador-look sectional defense popular for some). A late addition to the campaign was the concept of Combat Luck (6E 110), which worked extremely well for non-armored swashbucklers.

 

We found that firearms are effectively a one shot weapon due to reloading time in most Hero combat, so it was common for those who could afford it to have a couple of pistols, and then a sword for when the bullets ran out. You can find more information about early firearms in the Hero System Equipment Guide starting on p. 48.

 

Ours was more of a high magic campaign with swashbuckling and clockpunk bolted on, so one of the players had a character who could use magic to "keep his powder dry" as well as a penetrating mist to dampen the gunpowder of the enemies.

 

I'd also point out the Hero System Martial Arts book for a great treatment of Fencing (p. 29), Capoeira (p. 26) and Dirty Infighting (p. 27), which could easily play into a cinematic pirate game.

 

JoeG

 

Wow, thanks for all the info. It's super useful because two of my favorite settings are the two that seem the produce the fewest playable RPGs: pirates and Westerns.

 

I had such high hopes for "Aces & Eights" but (to me) it seems like it's all about crunching numbers and looking up sub-clauses of Rule 346.5(, plus I didn't care for the "What If?" setting.

 

Anybody ever play the "Pirates of the Spanish Main" RPG?

 

--Kap

[Beast]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

If you can find a copies of

ICE's Campaign Classic Pirates(back when ICE printed Hero Stats with their stuff)is a great resource

granted it is done in 3rd ed

ICE's "Run out your guns" is also a great resource(a stand alone ICE "Role-Master lite RPG)

 

I have both of these

I also have books on QE1's navy(stuff from 1525 to 1603)about 50 yrs earlier

I'm up in Pasadena(L.A.) we might be able to work something out

 

Anybody ever use the Hero System for a pirates-type game (set in the Spanish Main or elsewhere)? If so' date=' how did it go and do you have any tips? I'd love to get a pirate game going sometime.[/quote']

[Beast]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

I also have Western Hero(4th ed)

I have played in low fantasy HS and also 7th Sea(heck John Wick was a Seadog at RPFS with me back in the 90's and I'm in Pirate Nations)

 

 

Wow, thanks for all the info. It's super useful because two of my favorite settings are the two that seem the produce the fewest playable RPGs: pirates and Westerns.

 

I had such high hopes for "Aces & Eights" but (to me) it seems like it's all about crunching numbers and looking up sub-clauses of Rule 346.5(, plus I didn't care for the "What If?" setting.

 

Anybody ever play the "Pirates of the Spanish Main" RPG?

 

--Kap

[Susano]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

I'd love to do a Pirate Hero book. My research into Blackbeard showed just how fascinating the era was.

[itsalwayssunny]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

A Pirate Hero book would be pretty neat to have. It would save me a ton of work.

 

I probably won't get a chance to play a pirate game for a while as I already have a couple of superhero ones running on Hero Central, but it would be a lot of fun.

[Susano]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

Barring a Pirate Hero book, I can recommend these non-Hero System books as excellent resources:

 

Breakey, Lise and Bruce Thomas. Furry Pirates

Cordingly, David. Under the Black Flag: The Romance And The Reality Of Life Among The Pirates

Gilbert, Henry. Pirates: True Tales Of Notorious Buccaneers

Lee, Robert. Blackbeard: The Story Of Edward Teach, The Real Pirate Of The Caribbean

O’Sullivan, Stephen. GURPS Swashbucklers, 3rd Edition

Sanders, Richard. If A Pirate I Must Be...: The True Story Of “Black Bart,” King Of The Caribbean Pirates

Talty, Stephan. Empire of Blue Water: Henry Morgan And The Pirates Who Ruled The Caribbean Waves

[itsalwayssunny]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

Barring a Pirate Hero book, I can recommend these non-Hero System books as excellent resources:

 

Breakey, Lise and Bruce Thomas. Furry Pirates

Cordingly, David. Under the Black Flag: The Romance And The Reality Of Life Among The Pirates

Gilbert, Henry. Pirates: True Tales Of Notorious Buccaneers

Lee, Robert. Blackbeard: The Story Of Edward Teach, The Real Pirate Of The Caribbean

O’Sullivan, Stephen. GURPS Swashbucklers, 3rd Edition

Sanders, Richard. If A Pirate I Must Be...: The True Story Of “Black Bart,” King Of The Caribbean Pirates

Talty, Stephan. Empire of Blue Water: Henry Morgan And The Pirates Who Ruled The Caribbean Waves

 

"Furry Pirates"!

[Susano]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

"Furry Pirates"!

 

Yeah, the game engine is junk, but the sections on the geopolitical world (and famous personalities) is pretty spot on. It also goes into detail on Asia, which most other RPG swashbuckler books set in that era ignore.

 

Also, when Mythic America finally comes out, it'll have a 300+ point 6E Blackbeard, a pirate template, notes on pirates and lingo, and a short history of at least a half-dozen real-world pirates of the era.

[brionl]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

I don't have Fantasy Hero, just the basic 5th edition of Hero System to work with.

 

The main thing for me would be the various ships--do they have that sort of thing in Fantasy Hero?

 

Nope. There is a chapter or two on sailing ships in The Ultimate Vehicle and Hero System Vehicle Sourcebook though.

[itsalwayssunny]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

Nope. There is a chapter or two on sailing ships in The Ultimate Vehicle and Hero System Vehicle Sourcebook though.

 

I'll probably just have to make stuff up based on library research.

 

I can't afford to buy whole books of stats just to get a little bit of what I need, especially if I'll still have to adapt it.

 

Plus I don't really like the Hero sourcebooks that much except for "Champions" (5th edition).

 

--Kap

[megaplayboy]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

There was a supplement on Pirates for 2nd edition FH and Rolemaster put out by ICE in the early 90s, IIRC. It was the third or fourth book in a series that included Robin Hood, Mythic Greece, Mythic Egypt and Vikings.

[Susano]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

There was a supplement on Pirates for 2nd edition FH and Rolemaster put out by ICE in the early 90s' date=' IIRC. It was the third or fourth book in a series that included Robin Hood, Mythic Greece, Mythic Egypt and Vikings.[/quote']

 

Yeah, I used to have that. It was... okay.

[itsalwayssunny]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

There was a supplement on Pirates for 2nd edition FH and Rolemaster put out by ICE in the early 90s' date=' IIRC. It was the third or fourth book in a series that included Robin Hood, Mythic Greece, Mythic Egypt and Vikings.[/quote']

 

Unfortunately I haven't seen that for sale anywhere and I wouldn't want to invest in it without seeing it first. A lot of the supplements for Hero System I find pretty useless for my particular needs. And the other fellow didn't exactly post a glowing review.

 

Have you used that supplement? What's in it, did you find it valuable/useful?

[Ternaugh]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

Unfortunately I haven't seen that for sale anywhere and I wouldn't want to invest in it without seeing it first. A lot of the supplements for Hero System I find pretty useless for my particular needs. And the other fellow didn't exactly post a glowing review.

 

Have you used that supplement? What's in it, did you find it valuable/useful?

 

I just pulled out my copy again to take a look. Interestingly, both megaplayboy and I were wrong about which version of the rules it used. According to a paragraph in the FH character creation section, it was written using 4th Edition rules, which makes sense for a book released about a year after the BBB. I had used only the stuff that seemed appropriate for my game, so I had ignored a lot of the background material.

 

Here's what's inside:

 

The first chapters cover character creation (first for RM/MERP, then for FH). While it assumes that you would be using FH, you could probably get away with not having the book, especially if magic is rare/non-existent in your game. There's a discussion about running characters at different power levels (which never really worked in my games), a section on fencing styles (with martial arts packages), notes on skills, Package Deals (which can be used mostly as-is in 5e/5er, though you might want to rewrite them to fit your game), magic, and equipment (which should work as is under 5e/5er).

 

The next two chapters covers the world and information about daily life and the history of the setting for players. The next chapter briefly lists various types of ships, with a few helpful illustrations to illustrate the various types. Next chapter is combat, and it contains information about both personal combat and ship to ship combat, with stats for the ships at the end of the chapter.

 

The next section is mainly a gazetteer with brief descriptions of the various locations, and a timeline of events.

 

The last section is aimed at the GM, and includes advice on setting up a campaign, or using the material in an existing campaign. There are also sample characters, including both historical and fictional characters. These are adequate, but tend not to be as detailed as 5e/6e characters. Sample adventures fill out the rest of the book.

 

A glaring omission would be ship deckplans. There's really only a simple diagram of the top deck of a sloop (in one of the adventures), so you're pretty much on your own for the rest of the ships.

 

If you don't plan on purchasing additional books, this would most likely provide you with a starting point to create a campaign. Be warned, though. It's a pretty dry read (as are most ICE books), and definitely doesn't have the style of a work like Pirates of the Spanish Main. If you do want the book, your best bet is probably used on Amazon (see my earlier post for a link).

 

JoeG

[Susano]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

I just pulled out my copy again to take a look. Interestingly, both megaplayboy and I were wrong about which version of the rules it used. According to a paragraph in the FH character creation section, it was written using 4th Edition rules, which makes sense for a book released about a year after the BBB. I had used only the stuff that seemed appropriate for my game, so I had ignored a lot of the background material.

 

Here's what's inside:

 

The first chapters cover character creation (first for RM/MERP, then for FH). While it assumes that you would be using FH, you could probably get away with not having the book, especially if magic is rare/non-existent in your game. There's a discussion about running characters at different power levels (which never really worked in my games), a section on fencing styles (with martial arts packages), notes on skills, Package Deals (which can be used mostly as-is in 5e/5er, though you might want to rewrite them to fit your game), magic, and equipment (which should work as is under 5e/5er).

 

The Fencing Style rewritten for 5/6E:

 

http://surbrook.devermore.net/herosource/ninja_hero/martialarts.html

[Ninja-Bear]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

Itsalwayssuuny How about this for a Pirate Template?

 

4 WF Com melee, early firearms, and early emplaced Weapons (which would represent cannons)

1 TF Large Wind-powered Boats (optional is rafts, sm rowed boats, lg rowed boats, sm wind powered)

3 Navigation

4 Swimming +2" (or maybe a ps skill instead?)

2 KS: Sailing Procedures 11-

2 AK: Ports of Call 11-

2 AK: Oceans 11-

3 Choose one of the following: Breakfall (sea legs), Climibing (going to the Crows Nest, Gambling, Paramedic, Streetwise, Trading, KS: Sea Legends (You may not have mermaids, but that doesn't mean the pirate doesn't know alot about them, and curses too!)

 

Possible Disadvantages

Dis feature: Hooks and Peg legs

Phy lim: for the appropriate hooks and peg legs

Hunted: by the English (or Law) capture/hanged

Phy lim: Lives Only for today

Reputation: Pirate Scum

Social Lim: Pirate and or Racial (don't know how "realistic" you want to go with it)

 

For a side note, have you checked out Hero sytem genre by genre? Its in the free links it does have a paragraph or two about Pirate Hero, but there are some other goodies to glean from it. I believe the online version in Pupl hero has an Explorer template.

 

Let me know if this helps.

[Susano]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

For my Mythic America book, I start with Blackbeard and go from there. Each listed character has a template for his archetype, the pirate one is as follows:

 

PIRATE TEMPLATE

Abilities

[b]Cost	Ability[/b]
2	AK:  The Caribbean 11-
3	Climbing (DEX Roll)
2	CuK:  The Brethren Of The Coast 11-
2	KS: The Maritime/Privateer/Pirate World 11-
2	Navigation (Marine) (INT Roll)
2	PS:  Knot-Tying 11-
3	PS:  Sailor (INT Roll)
2	TF:  Small Rowed Boats, Large Wind-Powered Boats
5	WF:  Common Melee Weapons, Early Firearms, Ship’s Cannon
3	3 points’ worth of Skills from the following list:
Acrobatics, Charm, Concealment, Fast Draw, Gambling, Interrogation, PS:  Predict Weather, Stealth, 
Streetwise, Trading, Weapon Familiarity, any Background Skill
[b]Total Cost Of Template Abilities:  26

Complications
Value	Complication[/b]
15	Hunted:  naval forces (British, French, or Spanish) (Infrequently, More Powerful, Capture/Imprison/Kill)

[b]Total Cost Of Template Complications:  15[/b]

 

There's more, but you'll have to wait for the book to see it.

[megaplayboy]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

The Fencing Style rewritten for 5/6E:

 

http://surbrook.devermore.net/herosource/ninja_hero/martialarts.html

 

IIRC, there's about a half dozen major styles or "schools" of fencing--Italian, French, English, Spanish Circle, maybe German? Probably could toss a "cinematic" style on top of all that, and some fancy parkourish/acrobatic moves and "specials"(autofire, ap, invisible attack, desolid(effortless dodging?), etc.)

[Susano]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

IIRC' date=' there's about a half dozen major styles or "schools" of fencing--Italian, French, English, Spanish Circle, maybe German? Probably could toss a "cinematic" style on top of all that, and some fancy parkourish/acrobatic moves and "specials"(autofire, ap, invisible attack, desolid(effortless dodging?), etc.)[/quote']

 

There is a German style that uses the schalger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_fencing). In addition, HERO System Martial Arts goes into some detail on the styles you mention. My material is based on the styles given in the 4E Pirates book. I think Steve and I also mentioned various cinematic stunts under Options in HSMA.

[itsalwayssunny]

Re: Pirate Hero

 

Itsalwayssuuny How about this for a Pirate Template?

 

4 WF Com melee, early firearms, and early emplaced Weapons (which would represent cannons)

1 TF Large Wind-powered Boats (optional is rafts, sm rowed boats, lg rowed boats, sm wind powered)

3 Navigation

4 Swimming +2" (or maybe a ps skill instead?)

2 KS: Sailing Procedures 11-

2 AK: Ports of Call 11-

2 AK: Oceans 11-

3 Choose one of the following: Breakfall (sea legs), Climibing (going to the Crows Nest, Gambling, Paramedic, Streetwise, Trading, KS: Sea Legends (You may not have mermaids, but that doesn't mean the pirate doesn't know alot about them, and curses too!)

 

Possible Disadvantages

Dis feature: Hooks and Peg legs

Phy lim: for the appropriate hooks and peg legs

Hunted: by the English (or Law) capture/hanged

Phy lim: Lives Only for today

Reputation: Pirate Scum

Social Lim: Pirate and or Racial (don't know how "realistic" you want to go with it)

 

For a side note, have you checked out Hero sytem genre by genre? Its in the free links it does have a paragraph or two about Pirate Hero, but there are some other goodies to glean from it. I believe the online version in Pupl hero has an Explorer template.

 

Let me know if this helps.

 

 

Thanks, but I'm actually looking for information on the ships. Characters are the easy part to make up.