PIRATES!

My gaming group, Secondhand Lions, is big into pirates right now.  We originally were bitten by the pirate bug (would that be scurvy?) after playing in a few gigantic nautical games at Recruits presented by some most excellent fellows from Arkansas.  Their pirate blog can be found at Fist Full of Seamen.

Anyway, our group's adventures started with a Halloween game set on a boat using modified Heroquest rules.  The results of that game and the further adventures of those characters are already chronicled on my friend Ken VanPelt's blog, The Penny Whistle. 

I decided to start my own grand campaign.  Inspired by such high adventure tales as Sinbad, the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and numerous pulp adventures, I started crafting my campaign using Flashing Steel (FS).  FS is a stand-alone gem of a rules set from Ganesha Games based on the Song of... series of miniatures skirmish-level rules.

Here's what I gave to the players, along with a scrap of a map:

The 100-Finger Archipelago.  Comprised of islands made mainly of stark, volcanic stone with dense jungle growth, they are the stuff of fantastic stories and fearsome legends.  Gleaming treasures, phantom ships, terrible creatures from the depths and other tales are murmured throughout the ale houses in the region.  What truth lies within the archipelago?  Few dare to find out and even fewer return to tell their tale.

                The Governor of Port du Lion has taken an interest in the archipelago.  The rumors of vast treasure, most notably of the dread pirate Jon “the Marked” Haworth, are too much for the Governor to ignore.  He hires you to explore the islands, map both their locations and contents and return with Haworth’s treasure.  Anything else that is found is pay for your troubles.

                Initially not interested in such a venture, you were quickly convinced to agree to the expedition at the end of bayonets and sabers.  Now, with the islands just making their way into view, you glance at the contingent of marines that are ‘military advisers’ and wonder for the thousandth time what you did to have such bad luck…

Game:

                The players are to explore the 100-Fingers archipelago for Haworth’s lost treasure trove and return it to the governor of Port du Lion.

 More on the first adventure shortly...