Quote:
Originally Posted by DAT
Was thinking about doing a Fantasy Swashbuckling Pirate game. The 7th Sea was mentioned by some folks online, but they didn't really give a clear impression if the game was any good.
So for anyone who is familiar with The 7th Sea:
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My qualifications are minmal but no one better suited seems to be rushign forward so I thought I'd speak up.
I bought the 7th Sea Player's book many years ago (like 20) and was not personally satisfied with it and put it away so thoroughtly that I have no idea where it is.
From what I remember it was dice pool system (and probably like Legend of the 5 Rings whcih the designers did before 7th Sea). It was definitely on the far end of non-simualtionist with allegorically named attributes like Panache.
I think it may have had "Drama Dice" too. I now soem people who played 7th Sea before I joined their group and they some times mention it but they haven't dragged it out in the 18 years I've played with them.
I've dealt with other dice pool systems since and I think (from what I remember and have heard) 7th Sea that swashes get buckled whn you've got Drama Dice to spend or whatever the bennies were called bt may ahve been duller when those ran out.
The setting was a pseudo-European continent with lots of places for the Player's splats to be from but kind of dubious for pirate havens or ocean-going trade either.
Magic was based on which splat you belonged to and was fairly limited from what I recall.
By modern standards the mechanics were rather abstract by my reckoning, probably too complex for what you got from them and generally dated by current standards.
Personally I'd use either Gurps because I know it and it covers everything better than its' competitors or I'd use whatever edition of D&D had an adventure that covered what you want.
Coincidentally I played through a long (16 levels) Pathfinder game that was centered around pirates and while it may have had D&D-isms you don't want the mechanics didn't get in our way. I was the chaplain, surgeon and carpenter of the pirate ship The Lady of the Stars which mostly meant that I was the one to crucify the skeleton of one of our enemies on our anchor. Some one with more artistic talent put that image on our Jolly roger.
https://paizo.com/store/pathfinder/a...ullAndShackles
This was the (1st edition) Pathfinder Adventure Path that the GM used and I'd probably rate it as serviceable.
What this shows is that if you can run a good swashbuckling magical pirate game with some versions of D&D then system doesn't really matter much.