Ideas for a pirate-style setting: Sunken Worlds

[SilverLeaf167]

So, as I just have a feeling my current campaign is going to go horribly wrong in some point (no specific reason), I want to have another ready if I ever need it. Or not actually a campaign, just a setting.

So, I've already decided some basic things about the setting:

Sunken Worlds
History

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Thousands of years ago, due to accelerated warming of the climate, all glaciers (except for magically protected locations) melted and the water surface rose extremely high. Any fixed (many islands were kind floaty, bound with magic) sunk and only one continent remained dry. The rich people, along with some poor ones, survived on ships, but millions drowned. Some druids and clerics also voluntarily stayed behind to protect their sacred locations.

Humans, who had earlier been self-centered and very little traveling, quickly adapted to the situation and began establishing more and more trade overseas. The other intelligent humanoids followed, the seas now scurrying with tons of ships. This however gave the criminals a perfect opportunity to move their business to the wide oceans, where help and law-enforcement are practically impossible to find, quickly at least. Piracy flourished, the seas becoming very dangerous.

In response to this, a powerful, sea-wide alliance was born. It was called SeaCurity (epic pun) and organized crews and ships to hunt and eliminate any "threats to public safety", even though many pirates were quite honorful, avoiding useless casualties and only taking the loot, perhaps even leaving the ships. However, SeaCurity's resources are limited and the pirates are both numerous and crafty, so they can only really focus on the most dangerous criminals.

Geography

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Soutera is the only actual continent, and has a temperate climate with lots of plains, rivers and leafy forests, along with the long mountain range called the Skywall Mountains. The main base of SeaCurity's operation.

Most islands are tropical, sub-tropical or temperate, but deserted islands also exist and some icy islands remain near the poles, reserved by magic. On some remote islands, which get more common as you get further from Soutera, are major pirate towns and villages that provide a moderately safe place for the outlaws. They are generally hidden and protected from detection to keep SeaCurity from discovering them.

Weaponry

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Otherwise the same, with the below weapons added. The Rapid Reload feat can be applied to a firearm in a similar fashion as to a crossbow.

Pistol
Light simple firearm, 2 lbs.
1d8 Piercing, x3 on critical
Standard action to reload
Range 80 ft.
Musket
Two-handed martial firearm, 4 lbs.
1d10 Piercing, x3 on critical
Standard action to reload
Range 140 ft.
Blunderbuss
Two-handed martial firearm, 5 lbs.
2d6 Piercing, x2 on critical
Standard action to reload
Range 50 ft.

Grenade
Splash weapon, 1 lb.
2d6 Piercing, x2 on critical
Throwing range 15 ft.
Explosion radius 10 ft.

Field Cannon
Light artillery, 3 500 lbs.
2d12 Bludgeoning, x2 on critical
Full-round action to reload
Range 250 ft.
Naval/Siege Cannon
Heavy artillery, 5 000 lbs.
3d12 Bludgeoning, x2 on critical
Full-round action to reload
Range 200 ft.

Races and classes

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All races and classes still exist, except that wild species and druids are a little less common due to the lack of land and their mass deaths during the Sinking.

• *As merchants, humans and gnomes are the most common.
  *As pirates, halflings are the most common.
  *On ships, melee classes are the most common (especially fighters and swashbucklers), along with a couple casters (especially clerics, bards and sorcerers). Rogues and other similar classes are also quite usual.
  *Any race or class can still theoretically become a merchant or a pirate.

Religion and astronomy

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I will use the Twelve Olympians for gods, still under construct.

The planet, called just Earth or the World, orbits around a blue sun and has a single moon. The solar system has a single other planet, called Irmano.

System: DnD 3.5
Allowed books: Core (including editions as PHB2), Complete (as Complete Warrior), Stormwrack
Prohibited races/classes: none
Level Adjustment allowed for PCs: yes/depends
Starting ECL for PCs: 5

[Satyr]

I guess you are using D&D?
If you work with 3.5 Stormwrack might be a very helpful resource, as it basically deals with ships and so on.

Otherwise there is a very good book on piracy by Avalanche Press called Black Flags over the Caribbean or something like that, and another one by Green Ronin (which's name I don't know).
Both are more concerned with historical pirate games, but that shouldn't be much of a problem.

And I like the idea of halfling pirates.

[SilverLeaf167]

Thanks, Satyr. Yes, I am playing with DnD 3.5. Adding system info to above post...

Halflings are pirates mainly because of the rogue thing, and they are just perfect with their crafty and jolly nature.

[Greenish]

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Otherwise the same, with these added:

Pistol
Light firearm, 2 lbs.
1d8 Piercing, x3 on critical
Standard action to reload
Range 80 ft.
Musket
Two-handed firearm, 4 lbs.
1d10 Piercing, x3 on critical
Standard action to reload
Range 140 ft.
Blunderbuss
Two-handed firearm, 5 lbs.
2d6 Piercing, x2 on critical
Standard action to reload
Range 50 ft.

Grenade
Splash weapon, 1 lb.
2d6 Piercing, x2 on critical
Throwing range 15 ft.
Explosion radius 10 ft.

Field Cannon
Light artillery, 3 500 lbs.
2d12 Bludgeoning, x2 on critical
Full-round action to reload
Range 250 ft.
Naval/Siege Cannon
Heavy artillery, 5 000 lbs.
3d12 Bludgeoning, x2 on critical
Full-round action to reload
Range 200 ft.

For matters of determining proficiency, this is a simple rule: anyone who gains proficiency for daggers can use a pistol, anyone who gains prof. for a longsword can use a musket and anyone who gains prof. for a greatsword can use a blunderbuss. Taking proficiency as a separate feat doesn't grant proficiency for the corresponding weapon. These are just basic rules, not maybe exactly correct.

It would be much more elegant to just say that Pistols are simple weapons, while muskets and blunderbusses are martial weapons. I think they could all be simple weapons, and you might want a feat for faster reloading.

All races and classes still exist, except that wild species and druids are a little less common due to the lack of land.

Druids do very well in the open seas or underwater, and well, a sea is just as natural setting as a forest.


And yeah, have a looksee in the Stormwrack, for it is quite excellent for piratical settings.

[SilverLeaf167]

Made the changes to the weaponry section.

Another reason for the lack of druids was their mass death during the Sinking, as the inhabitants call it.

[Xuc Xac]

Another reason for the lack of druids was their mass death during the Sinking, as the inhabitants call it.

Why would a druid who can turn into a fish or an otter or other swimming animal drown?

[Urpriest]

Why would a druid who can turn into a fish or an otter or other swimming animal drown?

What did Noah's Flood do to combat evil fish? It's a fantasy game, it's allowed to use mythological logic occasionally.

[Marnath]

The druids drowned in the cataclysym because the OP said so. However, i agree that in the meantime the few aquatic druids will have raised a mighty order to replace the former forest/mountain/desert etc druid orders. Nature must be protected, and now that nature is a lot more water than land, the druidic societies must adapt. I see aquatic druids being very helpful in naval combat, to breach ships under the waterline and get all kinds of large fish and things to save sailors from drowning.

*edit Guns should really take at least a full round action to reload. Proficient users historically got about 3 shots off a minute. Unless we're saying these are a bit more advance and use cartridges. In which case it's still a full round action, going by d20 moderns rules for reloading a gun with an internal magazine.

[avr]

Could I suggest the E6 variant of 3.5e? There's nothing like heavy-duty magic for wrecking a nautical game.

It also makes your guns continue to matter later on.

[AdamSmasher]

That, and only druids of level 5 and above can actually wildshape. That's supposed to be like, what? 5-10% of all druids? And you can't even remain wildshaped all day until like level 8.

So, yeah. It makes perfect sense for sea-druids to be rare, unless you're using aquatic/amphibious races.

[Marnath]

That, and only druids of level 5 and above can actually wildshape. That's supposed to be like, what? 5-10% of all druids? And you can't even remain wildshaped all day until like level 8.

So, yeah. It makes perfect sense for sea-druids to be rare, unless you're using aquatic/amphibious races.

Oooohh, yeah. I totally forgot that most people in the world suck at what they do compared to the PC's. So, ummm.....how numerous are the aquatic races in this world? Maybe they have a strong druidic tradition?

[Xuc Xac]

*edit Guns should really take at least a full round action to reload. Proficient users historically got about 3 shots off a minute. Unless we're saying these are a bit more advance and use cartridges. In which case it's still a full round action, going by d20 moderns rules for reloading a gun with an internal magazine.

I see no reason why gun rules need to be stricter than any other weapon rules. If an archer can grab a fistful of arrows and shoot them at once, the gunner can load and fire every round.

[Tyndmyr]

Ever seen 7th Sea? It's literally the best pirate-style setting ever made. Rip off it shamelessly.

[Dairun Cates]

Ever seen 7th Sea? It's literally the best pirate-style setting ever made. Rip off it shamelessly.

7th Sea better watch its back. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...

Yeah. You're right.

[SilverLeaf167]

Druid thing: In fact, I'm planning of making an underwater hidden druid society. And yeah, they all definitely can't Wild Shape.

Guns: I think this is just fine. They aren't that much stronger than crossbows and most people in the world will prefer guns anyway, so I don't see a reason to make them so hard to use.

The average pirate captain will be about 10th level and the average minion about 5th. Stronger crews exist, of course. The players also start at ECL 5.

[Frog Dragon]

I recommend checking this out. It's a community project with a similar idea. It kind of died of, but we did get a lot of material in before it happened.

[SilverLeaf167]

Thanks Froggy, I have already seen that topic earlier. Quite interesting, although I probably won't need/use most of it. As land still exists in reasonable amounts and no races/classes were actually annihilated, I don't want to make it too complicated by adding too much stuff, especially stuff that has been created to replace lost resources.

I have however gotten this basic idea: special crystals/gems that can be infused with magic in multiple ways. Thus, they can

1. act as scrolls, wands and/or staffs
2. be used to channel permanent magical effects
3. be moved from place to place.

The channeling thing means that, for example, if you cast Light on a crystal, it will act as a torch until some other spell is channeled. All spells can't be channeled in this way.
The moving thing basically means that if you have multiple weapons with slots for crystals, you can move a single crystal around to apply its effect on whichever weapon you're using.