I have a hard enough time getting them to use regular english:D
|
I picked up The Pirate Primer. I used it quite a bit for the first couple of sessions, but I haven't used it as much lately.
One of my players also bought a copy. He uses it to flesh out the Buccaneer (Gunslinger version) mystifying jargon ability.
I do voices very well, if I say so myself. Most people from the Shackles have differing degrees of "Int'l Talk Like a Pirate Day" speech with varying degrees of Cockney, proper English, Irish and Scottish accents. I use some of the slang from "Pirates of the Inner Sea" when I can remember it. Mwangi people have a South African or Carribean way of speaking. Chelish people have a Spanish accent. The few encountered Andorrens have a New York or Boston accent.
My players rarely put that much effort into voices, so it's mainly me voicing the NPCs. The PCs just have their player's voices, for the most part. The ratman's player sometimes tries to make his voice sound low and slimy, for lack of a better word. Maybe like how you'd imagine a cartoon rat would talk, haha!
|
|
We've transplanted Skull & Shackles to the coast of Arcadia. I have the Chelaxians standing in for the Spanish, and the Hellknights acting as Conquistadors. I've been thinking about putting a Spanish twist on Chelish names, too.
I'd love to put Bloodcove at the mouth of a huge river, say it was colonized by Galt before the Troubles began, and have it's citizens call people "cher" and say things like "I gah-ron-tee". Unfortunately, I'm afraid one of my players would find his sense of immersion broken by a fantasy New Orleans. It's too bad, because I think Huey Long would make a great inspiration for an Aspis Consortium leader.
|
|
All excellent ideas, KarlBob. I presume that the Shackles are set in Arcadia's equivalent of the Caribbean Islands
Yes, I'm using a pseudo-Caribbean setting. Tide charts and sailing distances become simple when there are real-world equivalents. Google Maps: Havana to Grand Cayman. Done and done. Now I just need to place the islands from the Shackles map into approximately the right positions. I would use a map of the real-world Caribbean, and just re-name the islands, but one of my players feels that it would break his immersion. He's worried about thinking "We're going to the Florida Gulf Coast, I mean the Shipwreck Coast."
Are Chelish colonies referred to as the Chelish Main? Could you imagine Asmodeus missionaries in Arcadia trying to convert an Aztec/Mayan-like civilization?
I hadn't thought of "the Chelish Main". Great idea; consider it stolen.
It's almost funny how easy it is to make the Conquistadors into villains when they become Hellknights, and they're traveling with priests of Asmodeus.
Another of the players in our group pointed out that not all Hellknights are evil. (He played a neutral Hellknight in another campaign.) I've addressed that by saying that the neutral (and a few good) Hellknights are there, trying to restrain the worst excesses of their fellows. Whenever the pseudo-Aztecs fight back, though, the Queen gives the evil Hellknight Orders more authority to pacify the area.
Actually, I'm hoping to use the Hellknights to give my fractious party a common enemy. So far, only one party member is interested in being a full-blown pirate, attacking ships and raiding villages. They're setting sail from Rickety's in tomorrow's game, so the campaign could still go in many different directions from here.
Having Bloodcove colonized by Galt could also allow you to add Cajun French to your campaign. Changing the name of the continent from Arcadia to Acadia. Acadia Ocean? Perhaps the residents of Bloodcove refer to the continent as Acadie?.
I might steal the Acadie idea, too. The possibility to add Cajuns to the ethnic mix in the Shackles was one of my strongest motivations to substitute Bloodcove for New Orleans. I'll float the idea tomorrow, and see if it passes the "immersion-breaking" test. (Incidentally, that concern makes me glad I'm not running Mummy's Mask. Adding one tributary to the Nile isn't a very effective way to camouflage the Egyptian inspiration of Osirion.)
Razor Coast has the loa Baron Samedi and his wife “Maman Brigitte". I will try my best to imitate Trinadad-born actor, dancer, choreographer, artist, and photographer Geoffrey Holder who portrayed a fictional Samedi in Live and Let Die.
Another loa performance worth reviewing before a game is Lance Reddick as Papa Legba in American Horror Story: Coven. I thought his performance was the one of the most chilling elements in the show last season.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Has anyone come up with Golarion specific turns of phrase for the Shackles? I don't mean lifting "authentic" pirate lingo. I mean, made up something pirates on Golarion would say that has no real world parallel.
For instance in my game, people in the Shackles often derisively refer to Queen Abrogail II as "Young Abby".