Pirates

Frame · Adventure and travel thematic

Freedom at sea, plunder and danger – leaving society’s rules behind and making your own.

Design question – Imagine your game is about pirates. What is plundered, who is the captain – and does the pirate code still hold?

Associations

• Typical Activities – Exploring, Raiding, Navigating, Trading (fencing loot)
• Typical roles – crew hierarchy (captain), rivalry between ships, code
• Typical spaces – sea, islands, ports, ship as mobile base
• Typical conflicts – raiding, discovery, treasure hunt, sea battle

Atmosphere

adventurous, dangerous, romantic, free

Coherence

Implied Activities: Exploring, Raiding, Navigating, Trading (fencing loot). Mechanisms: Pick-up and Deliver (transporting treasure), Area Control (sea zones), Dice Rolling (sea battles), Variable Player Powers (roles on the ship). Ludic Organisational Structures: conflict order (pirates vs. navy, pirates vs. pirates), economic order (dividing the loot).

Compatible with

• Playfulness (AT-10)
• Whimsy (AT-12)
• Confrontation (SI-01)
• Uprising (SI-05)
• Neutrality (SO-04)
• Cult (SO-07)
• Mob (SO-08)
• Island (SP-01)
• Outer Space (SP-20)
• Middle Ages (TM-03)

Tension with

• Teahouse (TH-07) – Pirate captains negotiate the peace treaty in a Japanese tea house. Rough seafaring culture meets ritualized politeness – who holds out the longest?