|
My PCs are going to be visiting a CE pirate haven area in the near future. I'd like to give the place some texture and play up the savagery and lawlessness. I've already got Blood Pig (arena sport) and Knivesies (bar game) from Pathfinder to work with. Anyone know of anything else similar I could use? I thought of two more gladiatorial events*, but I'm looking for more.
*Bow rush: two teams, one armed only with shortbows, the other armed only with spiked gauntlets. Between them, a landscape not altogether unlike a paintball field, with numerous obstacles to hide behind. Last team with a surviving member wins. This is often the purview of professional gladiators.
*Desperation: Starts out with two teams of equal size, armed with their choice of melee weapons. Once one team is defeated, it becomes a last-man-standing contest. The final survivor is usually shot to death by arena staff (typically while standing atop some sort of "winner's platform" to give the crossbowmen a good, clear shot). This is played only with prisoners or slaves who don't know what the game entails going in, hence the name. They're originally told that if their team wins, they get to live. Then the rules change while they're on the field.
|
|
I'd suggest a way for them to have their own form of "law". Perhaps there's a setup for situations where guy A and guy B are accusing each other of the same crime, one of them actually did commit it. So its decided by 1 on 1 combat, the victor is declared "innocent" and the loser "guilty", and subject to punishment if he survives.
Similarly, take a bit of inspiration from the Count of Monte Cristo, and allow one man who was caught and is guilty a chance at freedom by combating a single random opponent. alternatively, he could be running a combative gauntlet of sorts. After all, what's he got to lose?
Remember, with such brigands, the only crimes recognized are crimes against the crew.
Perhaps a sport called 'Swimming with the Sharks' where folks swim the harbor, which is full of man-eating sharks thanks to the tons of refuse and corpses that get tossed into it. Maybe as a punishment, maybe as a sporting event, or maybe as a religious festival to propitiate Dajobas (or Sekolah/Umberlee). Swimmers get a spear and a dagger and their swimtrunks and its hey ho off we go!
|
Give them something like rooster-fighting. Each PC has to buy a creature and have it fight in the pits. When the time comes to fight, they get to run their monster.
Not sure what level the PCs or the Pirate Haven are at, but you could do something as easy as CR 1 creatures, or as complex as mid-range.
Plus, things could get really fun depending on what the players have their monsters do. Think of how great it would be to hear pirates screaming "ARGH, RUN FER YER LIFE! BASILISK ON THE LOOSE!"
I am in no way encouraging this in real life.
EDIT: I should mention, to amuse ourselves when there is no time for a real game, my group sometimes rolls a random encounter table and matches their monsters up, gladiator style. Great fun.
*Bow rush: two teams, one armed only with shortbows, the other armed only with spiked gauntlets. Between them, a landscape not altogether unlike a paintball field, with numerous obstacles to hide behind. Last team with a surviving member wins. This is often the purview of professional gladiators.
-The spiked gauntlets are locked onto the forearms of the gladiators. It keeps the teams using their assigned weapons.
-This makes for a great betting sport
*Desperation: Starts out with two teams of equal size, armed with their choice of melee weapons. Once one team is defeated, it becomes a last-man-standing contest. The final survivor is usually shot to death by arena staff (typically while standing atop some sort of "winner's platform" to give the crossbowmen a good, clear shot). This is played only with prisoners or slaves who don't know what the game entails going in, hence the name. They're originally told that if their team wins, they get to live. Then the rules change while they're on the field.
-Wow. Evil. Remind me not to vote for you as supreme emperor.
Maybe serve orphan stew?
Maybe make 2 NPCs or PCs duel to the death, with the winner getting a zombie slave made from the loser?
Maybe line the streets with those cages full of starving men, like what's-his-name was in in Willow. And make it a crime to feed them.
Some kind of law-and-order system that punishes folks by lopping off their hands and feet--gotta have some kind of reason for hooks and peglegs! Can also poke out eyes and pull out teeth.
|
|
*Bow rush: two teams, one armed only with shortbows, the other armed only with spiked gauntlets. Between them, a landscape not altogether unlike a paintball field, with numerous obstacles to hide behind. Last team with a surviving member wins. This is often the purview of professional gladiators.-The spiked gauntlets are locked onto the forearms of the gladiators. It keeps the teams using their assigned weapons.
-This makes for a great betting sport
Yeah, this was intended to be the betting sport.
-Wow. Evil. Remind me not to vote for you as supreme emperor.
*Desperation: Starts out with two teams of equal size, armed with their choice of melee weapons. Once one team is defeated, it becomes a last-man-standing contest. The final survivor is usually shot to death by arena staff (typically while standing atop some sort of "winner's platform" to give the crossbowmen a good, clear shot). This is played only with prisoners or slaves who don't know what the game entails going in, hence the name. They're originally told that if their team wins, they get to live. Then the rules change while they're on the field.
You'll note I said it was a chaotic evil area. >:) The region is known as "the Blood Isles".
|
|
Maybe serve orphan stew?
Maybe make 2 NPCs or PCs duel to the death, with the winner getting a zombie slave made from the loser?
Maybe line the streets with those cages full of starving men, like what's-his-name was in in Willow. And make it a crime to feed them.
Some kind of law-and-order system that punishes folks by lopping off their hands and feet--gotta have some kind of reason for hooks and peglegs! Can also poke out eyes and pull out teeth.
I have something like #2 in my LE nation. They execute you by putting you in a magically-hardened (and guarded) glass jar in the town square and letting you die of (depending on the whim of the magistrate) starvation, thirst, suffocation, drowning, or boiling depending on what is or isn't in the jar with you.
|
|
If you have guns, you can put 20 of them on tables in an arena, one of which is loaded, and let two guys scramble for them.
Hah, that reminds me of the scene in Desperado where Banderas and a bad guy run out of ammo and they're the only two left alive in a bar. They start scrambling for a gun and can't seem to find a loaded weapon for the longest time.
|
|
If you have guns, you can put 20 of them on tables in an arena, one of which is loaded, and let two guys scramble for them.Hah, that reminds me of the scene in Desperado where Banderas and a bad guy run out of ammo and they're the only two left alive in a bar. They start scrambling for a gun and can't seem to find a loaded weapon for the longest time.
The moral of this story is that hand-to-hand combat techniques are useful even in an age of firearms. If you're in that situation, the proper response is to rush your opponent ad kill them bare-handed.
|
|
Give them something like rooster-fighting. Each PC has to buy a creature and have it fight in the pits. When the time comes to fight, they get to run their monster.
Not sure what level the PCs or the Pirate Haven are at, but you could do something as easy as CR 1 creatures, or as complex as mid-range.
Plus, things could get really fun depending on what the players have their monsters do. Think of how great it would be to hear pirates screaming "ARGH, RUN FER YER LIFE! BASILISK ON THE LOOSE!"
This is perfect!