Font of Inspiration: Swashbuckling Edition!

[Cernor]

With my current campaign coming to an end within the next few sessions, I've decided that I want to try changing up the genre of my game. While I've run (moderately gritty) high-fantasy games for the last couple of years with a reasonable amount of success, the fact is that I'm getting rather bored of the constant escalation of the game, going from one (potentially) world-shattering event to the next. The goal is to run a less serious swashbuckling-style campaign with a new cast of characters... Unfortunately, I have no clue where to start!

So here's the question: what books, movies, or other media would you suggest watching for inspiration? So far, I can only think of the following:

• The Three Musketeers
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• The Princess Bride
• Indiana Jones (to a lesser extent)

Your input would be greatly appreciated!

[Mith]

Zoro is the only one I can think of missing from the list off the top of my head.

[RazorChain]

Most of the books of Rafael Sabatini, his most famous work are about Scaramouche and Captain Blood.

Then you have the Scarlet Pimpernel by Orczy.


For inspiration you can always check out The 7th Sea, which is a rpg about swashbuckling.

[Dr paradox]

"The Adventures of Robin Hood" with Errol Flynn! Especially the climactic battle.

[TheCountAlucard]

I'm a tad puzzled at how you started with "gritty" (def: tough and uncompromising, containing or covered with grit) as your premise and got "world-shattering."

[Cernor]

I'm a tad puzzled at how you started with "gritty" (def: tough and uncompromising, containing or covered with grit) as your premise and got "world-shattering."

I'm using the term "gritty" to convey the tone of the game. From a quick Google search, "A gritty description of a tough or unpleasant situation shows it in a very realistic way."

As an example, the initial premise of the campaign was that the party were hired to investigate odd occurrences during the middle of a civil war. Instead of saying "You are brought to the castle and meet with X", I said "A crowd of crying women stands in front of the castle asking all passersby if they've heard news of their sons, missing in action after the last skirmish. Their crying is still audible as you are brought to X."

The situations of fantasy campaigns have fairly dark ramifications which I tried to make known (balancing that with not making the game absurdly GRIMDARK!).

Similarly, when the party was considering handing over a (not entirely innocent) man for execution in exchange for a favour which would help their town over the coming winter, the decision was complicated by the fact he was crying and begging them not to do it.

And the "world-shattering" bit is a consequence of the fact that as the party becomes more powerful they need to deal with commensurately powerful enemies... They're now at the point where the fates of entire countries hang in the balance during their adventures, and it will only get grander in scope from here (or they'll feel like they're fighting things below their pay grade). Does that clear things up, or did I start rambling a bit? I do that sometimes...

[TheCountAlucard]

I'm using the term "gritty" to convey the tone of the game. From a quick Google search, "A gritty description of a tough or unpleasant situation shows it in a very realistic way."

…

And the "world-shattering" bit is a consequence of the fact that as the party becomes more powerful they need to deal with commensurately powerful enemies... They're now at the point where the fates of entire countries hang in the balance during their adventures, and it will only get grander in scope from here…

Sure, sounds realistic to me. Doesn't seem at all contrived that the baddies conveniently lined up in order of how easy it is for PCs to take them down.

[RazorChain]

I'm using the term "gritty" to convey the tone of the game. From a quick Google search, "A gritty description of a tough or unpleasant situation shows it in a very realistic way."

As an example, the initial premise of the campaign was that the party were hired to investigate odd occurrences during the middle of a civil war. Instead of saying "You are brought to the castle and meet with X", I said "A crowd of crying women stands in front of the castle asking all passersby if they've heard news of their sons, missing in action after the last skirmish. Their crying is still audible as you are brought to X."

The situations of fantasy campaigns have fairly dark ramifications which I tried to make known (balancing that with not making the game absurdly GRIMDARK!).

Similarly, when the party was considering handing over a (not entirely innocent) man for execution in exchange for a favour which would help their town over the coming winter, the decision was complicated by the fact he was crying and begging them not to do it.

And the "world-shattering" bit is a consequence of the fact that as the party becomes more powerful they need to deal with commensurately powerful enemies... They're now at the point where the fates of entire countries hang in the balance during their adventures, and it will only get grander in scope from here (or they'll feel like they're fighting things below their pay grade). Does that clear things up, or did I start rambling a bit? I do that sometimes...

That's the problem with power inflation

[Cernor]

Sure, sounds realistic to me. Doesn't seem at all contrived that the baddies conveniently lined up in order of how easy it is for PCs to take them down.

Hey, I resent your allegations! My PCs work hard to insult, steal from or otherwise antagonize increasingly powerful forces!

[Mutazoia]

• The Pyrates by George McDonnald Fraser (book)
• Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan (Highly recommend the Kevin Klein version) (movie)
• The Pirate Movie (Slightly modernized version of the Pirates of Penzance with a touch of adult humor)
• The Court Jester (movie) (My Favorite movie of all time)
• Yellowbeard (movie)
• The Crimson Pirate (movie)
• Ice Pirates (movie)
• Nate and Hayes (movie) (My favorite pirate movie, BTW)
• The Princess and the Pirate (movie)
• Jack of All Trades (TV Series) (Starring Bruce Campbell)
• Eric the Viking (movie)

I listed some of the more light-hearted sauces.

[Malfunctioned]

If you access to it, even though I think it's pretty obscure, try and get a hold of the the RPG Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies, it's a great game that's made for this kind of thing and has about 10 pages of inspiration too.

I'd personally recommend Stardust by Neil Gaiman, The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope (and the respective films), The Scarlet Pimpernel and Treasure Planet.

[Thinker]

The Princess Bride, Treasure Island (the Muppet version works fine), and Captain Harlock come to mind.

[BarbieTheRPG]

The Hangover.

Make it crazy comical to an extent they don't understand. The key of comedy is it's so real and unusual it's funny. The key I offer you is whatever is important to the characters - give them the opposite. Then add NPCs and wild unexpected encounters that make no sense.

They'll make their own plot if you do it right.

[GungHo]

There are also plenty of opportunities to make things serious when you need a change of pace or want to introduce real stakes. Black Sails (series) is a pretty serious take on what's otherwise interpreted as a pretty non-serious genre with political ramifications of what it means to defy an seafaring empire.

Also, a lot of Swashbuckling (and chivalry) motifs advanced into Westerns (and Easterns...), so you can also steal from things like The Magnificent Seven (Samurai).

[Mutazoia]

Forgot Pirates of Darkwater (series/cartoon)