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Cilvyn
2016-06-20, 08:07 AM
Hello everyone,

Me and a friend are working on an original system. It is losely based on excisiting systems and alot of inspiration of drawn from the 40K systems like Rogue Trader, Dark heresy, but also D&D has it's influence. My question to you is to have a look at it and to feel free to discuss any part of it that I listed below. Everything is welcome! Thank you for your time and effort.


This system is pretty much a historical correct system very alike to the 40K systems. The idea is the players playing sailors, privateers to be exact, in the years 1650-1750. These are not full-fledged pirates, but something like pirates in service of the crown. Again this is very much like Rogue Trader, sailing the void.. uh seas, merchanting, fighting, and what not. Why a privateer and not a normal pirate? Well this way the system can make use of Profit Factor, because the privateer captain has a sponsor. This way the game is not about running from every authority the ship might encounter, money does not really play a part in this game, but players can aquire items with their profit factor. Also a benefactor creates enemies. For example back in the day Dutch sailors received a Letter of Marque that allowed them to capture Spanish ships without being marked pirates in the eyes of their own country. Ofcourse the spanish would see them as pirates and hunt them.

I said a historical accurate system, well this is not entirely true. There are a few things in history that are a no-go in RPGs, one of these religion, the other etnicity and race. Both of these would normally play a huge part in this era. Ofcourse players can choose to let these factors play part in their game, but the system itself will not hint towards them. In the character creation. Also guns... This is the 18th century, not the far grim-dark future where soldiers wear power armor that are hard to pierce by bullets, hell even sci-fi weapons like las guns. A bullet to the chest is fatal most of the time, if survived the wound will propably kill the injured sailor within a few days. So lethality will be a lesser obstacle than reality would normally demand.

It's a D100 system working with % as markers for succes or failure.


Characteristics
Melee Skill - Same as weapon skill as in 40K system
Ballistic Skill - Same as ballistic skill as in 40K system
Strength - Same as in all systems
Resilience - Willpower and toughness as in 40K system or Wisdom and Constitution as in D&D. In a world without 'magic' the power of the mind is less important and can be combines with physical resistance. RES now represents how well one can resist harsh weather, poison, hunger, force of will etc.
Dexterity - Same as in D&D,
Intelligence - Same as in all systems
Charisma - Same as in all systems
Perception - same as in 40K systems

Generate Characteristics
Either roll 2d10+25 or pointbuy 25 on each and 90 points to devide.

This is the same amount as in Rogue Trader. Being 36 the aproximate average for each characteristc. They can be upped with XP as per usual.


The character creation works like in Dark heresy 2nd Edition. for those unfamiliar with it, it works pretty similar to the normal Rogue trader and Dark heresy systems. You progress through stages of the creation in which you make choises that give your character bonusses and advantages to characteristics which eventually lead to a class. In the second edition the class is pretty much removed with the ranks that were formarly part of them. Now everyone can take skills and advances from one pool of options. However your background options determine how easy you can optain these skills, talents and advances represented b aptitudes. These aptitudes that give you 'discount' on purchasing these skills etc. are obtained from the different character creation stages.

Stage 1: Creating characteristics
We covered this part.

Stage 2: Homeland
Normally one would use countries, but since we don't want to actually hint towards etnicity and race, the homelands are broad catagories which can be alot of things of the players chosing.
Homelands give a bonus and a penalty to a characteristic and give an aptitude and determine the amound of HP/Wounds.

Metropole
Born in a city, big or small. Cities are places of innovation although more people die than are being born. You have to be clever to survive as a thief, or earn a living and compete with other craftsmen.
Characteristics: +5 Intelligence -5 Resilience
Aptitude: Charisma/Dexterity
Wounds: 1d5+7

Countryside
Either in a village, farmlands or woodland. These places are mostly stand alone places although with frequent contact between other villages.
Characteristics: +5 Perception -5 Resilience
Aptitude: Strength/Intelligence
Wounds: 1d5+8

Frontier
Either unchartered prairielands or the harsh deserts. Hunting and wars for food and survival.the character is used to the life in clans or tribes in uncivilized enviroments.
Characteristics: +5 Resilience -5 Intelligence
Aptitude: Dexterity/Resilience
Wounds: 1d5+9

Child of the sea
Born either at sea or at a port you know the life at sea and the hard life of rough sailors, either on board or them visiting your town.
Characteristics: +5 Dexterity -5 Charisma
Aptitude: Dexterity/Perception
Wounds: 1d5+8

Noble Born
Raised and nurturedlike treasure. Nobles mostly live just outside the city or resideen at court. You know etiquettes, have connections and are educated.
Characteristics: +5 Charisma -5 Strength
Aptitude: Charisma/Intelligence
Wounds: 1d5+7

Born in Captivity
Either a serf working as a peasant on the field of a landowner or captured as a slave and have worked for a master on the fields or in the household ot even at sea.
Characteristics: +5 Strength - 5 Dexterity
Aptitude: Resilience/Strength
Wounds: 1d5+9

Stage 3: Background
I haven't worked this one out in detail yet but here are the options so far. These options will give yet another aptitude, this time a secondary (There are characteristic aptitides and secondary matching the characteristics, but with different names: Resilience - Defense, Intelligence - Knowledge). Also these background options give about 3 skills each.


Merchant
Military
Court
Criminal
Church
Scholar
Craftsman


Stage 4: Lure of the Sea

This is just another stage which will give some talents and a skill or two.

Fame and Fortune
New Horizons
Vengeance
Renown
Fear
Duty Bound
Drown the past


Stage 5:Role of the Ship
As said before, there aren't actual 'classes' or 'careers' in this game except a name for them. This game works with roles, which give a number of aptitudes, skills and talents. From this point all 'roles' are pretty much the same in terms of advancing in ranks. The aptitudes determine how much XP is needed for the character.

Captain
Quarter master
Surgeon
Boatswain
Master Gunner
Carpenter
Chaplain
Clerk


Stage 6: Spending XP and buy Armor

Character Advances: (Each advance gives +5 to the characteristic. progression through every previoud step on the table is mandatory to purchase the next.)

Matching Aptitude
Simple
Intermediate
Trained
Proficient
Expert


two
100
250
500
750
1250


one
250
500
750
1000
1500


zero
500
750
1000
1500
2500



Characteristic
Aptitude 1
Aptitude 2


Melee Skill
Melee Skill
Offence


Ballistic Skill
Ballistic Skill
Finesse


Strength
Strengt
Offence


Resilience
Resilience
Defence


Dexterity
Dexterity
Finesse


Inteligence
Inteligence
Knowldde


Perception
Perception
Fieldcraft


Charisma
Charisma
Social






This table shoul;d actually under Character Creation: Stage 6, but for the sake of putting the information closer together I listen it together with the Skills itself. So again skills can be purchased with XP. The table shows howmuch it costs per skills with the matching amount of aptitudes.

Skills come in four ranks which give bonuses or penalties to the die roll.
Unknown: The character is not trained in this skill, but can use it with a -20 penalty. This only applies to skills that are not specialist skills.
Known: The character can use it without the -20 penalty. So he gets a +0.
Trained: the character gets a +10 when using the skill.
Experienced: The character gets +20 when using the skill. it replaces the bonus from being trained.
Expert: The character gets a +30 when using the skill, it replaces the bonus from being experienced.



Matching Aptitude
Known
Trained
Experienced
Expert


two
100
200
300
400


one
200
400
600
800


zero
300
600
900
1200


Here you can see the characteristic the talent is based on and what Aptitudes are needed to buy it. Not all the aptitudes are perfectly clear yet.


Skill Name
Characteristic
Aptitude 1
Aptitude 2


Acrobatics
Dex
Dex
Finesse


Awareness
Per


Athletics
Str


Ciphers
Int


Charm
Cha
Cha


Commerce
Cha
Cha


Consealment
Dex


Command
Cha
Cha


Common Knowledge
Int
Int


Craft
Dex
Int


Deceive
Cha


Disquise
Cha


Dodge
Dex


Endurance
Res


Insight
Int
Int
Social


Intimidate
Cha


Interrogation
Res


Linguistics
Int


Medicine
Int


Navigate
Per


Scholastic Knowledge
Int


Stealth
Dex


Sleight of Hand
Dex


Survival
Int


Swim
Str


Operate
Dex


Parry
MS





This section has not yet been worked on much.. there are just a few talents for now. I still need to skim other systems for more.


Talent Name
Description


Sea Legs
No penalty in rough seas and storms and sea-sickness


Weather Eye
plus to spotting seals/land on sea


Weapon proficiency
improvised, Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun, Melee, Exotic


Armor proficiency
Leather, Metal. Depending on the kind of armor a requirement of a certain STR bonus. Normally one does not wear alot of armor at sea, but some checkplates and leather is used.




This section needs alot of work. Untill now I have listed a few firearms, but nothing very particular yet.


This section needs alot of work still and is quite an extensive part of the system. This part works pretty much like Rogue Trader, although this is no space ship, but a sailing vessel. It can be assembled with ship points which are obtained by making the Letter of Marque.

These are the steps for the creation of the Letter of Marque. It works pretty much the same as the Character Creation. Each stage will give Ship Points and Profit Factor Profit factor will be used for purchasing everything. Sphip points can be spend on parts of the ship.


Benefactor
Fortune and Fate
Acquisition
Contacts
Warrant renown



Essential parts of the ship:

Hull
Rigging
Steering
Swivel Guns
Command Deck
Crew Quarters


Besides the essential parts there are alot of things that can be added to the ship or modified.


Armory (More space, better weapons)
Copper bottom (less maintenance)
Reinforced Rigging (faster ship)
Crow’s nest (better spotting)
Swivvil Guns (against boarding)
Rail Guns (Fore, aft, port starboard)
Medical bay (better medical care)
Kitchen (better food is better morale)
Longboats
Crew equipement (stronger crew is better fighting)



Again thank you for reading and commenting. To make an entire system it requires alot of knowledge and helpful imput from others with their own expertise (English is not one of mine :smalltongue: )

Kind regards,
Cil

Final Hyena
2016-06-20, 09:38 AM
It needs more blackjack and hookers.

Stage 2: Homeland
These all gives a total of +0 to your characteristics, two aptitudes, but some get +7, 8 or 9 wounds. Unless there is a more subtle advantage to one characteristic/aptitude over another perhaps an extra +1 or 2 on characteristics to make up for the smaller wounds.

Noble Born
Raised and nurtured like treasure. Nobles mostly live just outside the city or resideen at court. You know etiquettes, have connections and are educated.
Characteristics: +7 Charisma -5 Strength
Aptitude: Charisma/Intelligence
Wounds: 1d5+7

Cilvyn
2016-06-20, 11:54 AM
That's indeed somthing I'd forgotten. I'll see what I can do to balance them better. Thanx!

I have another question which stands aside from the system mechanics really. As I stated I want to avoid actual references to some aspects from history. However I am not sure if I should let the time frame 1650-1750, go entirely and nations for that matter as well? I could ofcourse make nations like: The Crown (NOT England) The Republic (NOT The Dutch Republic), The Empire (Not Spain). It would demand a alternative timeline though and a new worldmap (Just of a coast with alot oisland which is NOT central Amerika's. So my question is short is should I keep to 'our' history and nations and just let them excist eithout really doing much with them, or should I rework the world so it wil be eutral for players?

Final Hyena
2016-06-20, 01:10 PM
Make sure you balance them properly, hookers are a CR20 encounter!


You have two main types of players/DMs to consider. Most people don't know too much about history (it's a massive topic after all), but some people know a lot about specific areas, and a game set within an "accurate" 1650-1750 setting is likely to attract those people. Those that know things in detail are likely going to want most things (or at least the big events) to be spot on, whereas the unfamiliar are less likely to care.

You can bring out the old "history is decided by the winners" theory that just because the history texts say this happened doesn't make it so, never the less you can only bend historical "facts" so far.

Then you have the issue of DMs and players creating a story that fits within the setting, not to mention predetermined events...

My suggestion would be for you to have a timeline (whether real or fictional) and state that GMs can pick a point to start from, but after that the timeline is yours to play with.

With regards to real or fictional I don't know nearly enough about the time period to discuss whether you should keep it real or fictional. What you want is good scenarios for plot hooks for adventure, if you can remake the world to better suit what the game needs do so, if you don't need to you can go for something historically accurate.

If you do re imagine the world make sure you do not call a major faction norks. :smallbiggrin:

Berenger
2016-06-20, 01:27 PM
I can't really add anything on the "real world" vs. "fictional world" question, since this should be decided according to your personal taste, but if you decide to go fictional world and are stumped with the maps, this may be of use:

http://donjon.bin.sh/world/

http://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/world/

Cilvyn
2016-06-20, 01:33 PM
My suggestion would be for you to have a timeline (whether real or fictional) and state that GMs can pick a point to start from, but after that the timeline is yours to play with.



I think this would work very well.


@ Berenger: Thanks for the links!

Final Hyena
2016-06-20, 01:58 PM
You likely want a general timeline with several distinct points that each lead into a different theme of campaign. So for example you have the general all out hostility, many different factions are on the cusp of war allowing you to get some experience with several before choosing a faction you would prefer to stick with throughout the future turmoil or find out who you can abuse to further your own organisations goals or try and achieve peace. Another would be when one faction has a huge level of control resulting in a star wars galactic empire situation for those rebellions, smugglers and imperial investigators. Another might be an earlier period where the factions are still in an early expansion stage and so try to mostly ignore each other, only fighting in subtle ways.

Also an important thing to consider is that a "faction" is not always a country, it could be trading or mining companies or even smaller merchant enterprises for instance. Just as a war is not always a battle of soldiers with swords but can be a war of commerce or supply. Hell supply often is for military wars!

Cilvyn
2016-06-20, 04:05 PM
Factions:

The Crown (England)
The Empire (Spain)
The Republic (Netherlands)
Western Trading Company (Any West-India Trading Company)
Several islands with their own local government.


But this is mostly something for later, I feel the mechanics are more important. I mean it is good to have a general outline of the setting, but that is not what concerns me most

Bob Broeze
2016-07-22, 03:59 PM
Will there be combat on sea? If so is this system already made? If not i Have some ideas.