7th Sea and Pirates of the Spanish Main

[Deleted]

admin said:

I think if I wanted to run a pirates game I would opt for 7th Sea or Pirates of the Spanish Main, two RPGs already set up for the genre.

Finarvyn, Can you tell us about these two games, are they fairly old school in nature or are they later than that? With would you play first and why? I love pirates, but have never been in that type of game.

[Finarvyn]

What these games have in common is the fact that they are quick and easy to run, which is part of what I like best about OD&D. Not too many rules to memorize or modifiers to look up. As to whether they are "old school", recent discussions have made me rethink my own definition and I prefer not to decide at the moment. Perhaps once our group discusses the definition of OS a bit more....

Anyway, 7th Sea was put out by AEG games about 10 years ago or so. It uses a nice "roll and keep" system where players get to roll dice based on their attribute and skill. It's very cinematic and runs fast, even with skills and such. The system is somewhat universal in that ship combat is run the same way as personal combat (ships get similar attriubutes that correspond to guns and maneuvering and so on). I've seen the basic system used for science fiction as well as swashbuckly fantasy.

Pirates of the Spanish Main is a sourcebook for the Savage Worlds rpg, which I own but have never really gotten "into" for some reason. Someone more familiar with SW would probably be better equipped to give a full review, but they have some well-written books with nice artwork. Several players on DF swear by SW as being a great system which is fast-paced and easy to run. (Again, no personal experinece here but lots of people say I'll like it.)

Hope that helps.

[coffee]

I notice a lot of people throw about the phrase "fast paced" as if it were some kind of absolute. I've seen cases of systems (including some of the more complicated AD&D procedures) being resolved quite quickly and other systems (including even Seventh Sea, which I ran for a while) being bogged down by the players' own dawdling.

One DM of my acquaintance used an ordinary egg timer (the falling sand kind) and when a player couldn't make up his mind he put the timer out. If the sand ran out, that player just "stood there in uffish thought". I liked it immensely (but then, as a player, I tend to pay attention and already know what I'm going to do when my turn comes around...)

As to Seventh Sea, I'd run it again if I had players who would accept it for what it was, and not over-analytical AD&D 2nd ed types who had to beat the system to death and pregnant dog about how they'd rather be playing AD&D!


But to bolster Fin's description, I have to say that the mechanics of 7th Sea are easy to use. I had run the game, and then stopped for about six months. My roommate at the time was one of my players, and we had another over for the evening. One of them suggested we play, and before I even got out the books I was rattling off the procedures and such (since they were all pretty short and pretty well ingrained in my memory.)

I'm still not sure if it's old school or not, but it had the potential to be a fun game!

[Finarvyn]

coffee said:

I notice a lot of people throw about the phrase "fast paced" as if it were some kind of absolute. I've seen cases of systems (including some of the more complicated AD&D procedures) being resolved quite quickly and other systems (including even Seventh Sea, which I ran for a while) being bogged down by the players' own dawdling.

I'm still not sure if it's old school or not, but it had the potential to be a fun game!

Yes, I should have stated that the mechanics were such that I didn't have to remember much. That's a big bonus for me, as I hate to slow down a game while I look stuff up.

And I'm not sure if 7th Sea counts as "old school", either, but it sure is fun!

[coffee]

admin said:

And I'm not sure if 7th Sea counts as "old school", either, but it sure is fun!

It could be considered Old School if you include in Old School a definite portrayal of a character (i.e.; almost like acting) as a part of Old School. It does fall down on the built-in campaign setting front -- I didn't feel entirely comfortable with it. It tried to cram too much of human history (the Reformation all the way up to Napoleon?) into too short of a span.

But the mechanics were simple enough to stay in the brain for months without use, so that's a definite plus on my part.

[coffee]

Oh, and I just noticed how the software edited my Bravo India Tango Charlie Hotel into "pregnant dog". LOL!

Wonder what it'd do with "whinge"?

[serendipity]

I loved 7th Sea, though we didn't deal much with the odd magic. The quasi-historical background helped most of my group get into their characters without a lot of preparation. We weren't even all on the same side; oblivious noblemen mingled unknowingly with pirates and were occasionally put in the hold when action took a nefarious turn. "It's for your safety; we're being attacked by pirates," they were told. There was enough political intrigue that everyone had lots to do. Definitely great entertainment.

[greentongue]

A little off topic but,
If you accept Savage Worlds and like pirates, 50 Fathoms is a great setting for using both.
=

[Finarvyn]

THREAD ARISE!

Has anyone else noticed that 7th Sea is currently in kickstart for a second edition? John Wick has re-acquired the rights to the game and wants to bring it back.

[tkdco2]

I have a bunch of the sourcebooks of the different nations, but I was never able to find the core rules. The sourcebooks were pretty interesting. I do have the d20 version, however.

[Finarvyn]

I'm the other way around. I owned the core rules and a bunch of sourcebooks and eventually sold most of my collection and only kept the core rulebooks. The sourcebooks were neat but the key info I needed was already in the core rules and I found that too many sourcebooks just made the world seem too "heavy" to me. I've often wondered if I should have kept everything becasue it's a fun world, but what's done is done.

I also have the d20 core rulebook. Never played it, but I always thought I'd thin it out and adapt it to OD&D.

I have mixed feelings about a 2nd Edition. The first was fun but the new one is supposed to bring in "modern" design elements and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. The original "roll and keep" rules were pretty fun already.

[tkdco2]

I don't recall ever playing the d20 version either. I bought the sourcebooks because I was going to adapt some of the material to my HERO System campaign, which was also a swashbuckling game (albeit mixed with some Wuxia). Unfortunately, the campaign only lasted 2-3 sessions.