Ron Lundeen
Contributor
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As I mentioned in the thread about lycanthropy rules, I'm writing up an alternate adventure path for Skull and Shackles called Bloodlust Corsairs. Bloodlust Corsairs uses two rules variants: the first is Lycanthropy, and I'm reworking that a bit based on the good discussion in that other thread.
The second rule uses your ship as a location in each scenario. This really foregrounds your ship as an important part of each scenario. In full disclosure, I intend to produce two versions of Bloodlust Corsairs: one with this rule, and one without it.
Ship Location
For the Bloodlust Corsairs adventure path, you do not use the fleet card and cannot choose your ship in each scenario; your ship is specifically identified, and it serves as one of the locations for you to adventure in (although your characters need not start on your ship). The rules for “Ships and Plunder” in the Skull and Shackles rulebook are modified as follows:
The Ship As A Location
Lay out your ship card along with all the other locations you lay out; it is also a location. The deck for your ship location is always 2 random barriers and 7 random plunder cards, rolled on the Plunder Table (your ship is filled with booty!). Add a villain or henchmen to the ship location, just like you would at any location (as enemies sometimes sneak aboard your ship). You can encounter cards at your ship’s location, as it is a location.
Any character at the ship location is “on a ship” or “commanding a ship;” characters at other locations are not “on a ship.” This is true regardless of whose turn it is.
The “When Commanding This Ship” power is always available to any character; there need not even be any character at the ship location to use this power.
The check to close the ship’s location is the “Check to Defeat” listed on the ship card.
When the ship location is permanently closed, examine all the cards remaining in the location. Banish any banes, then shuffle all the boons and put them face-down under the ship card itself. Those cards cannot be encountered; they are plunder cards you earn if you win the scenario. Even if some rule makes you re-open the ship’s location, leave those cards under the ship card.
When the ship is permanently closed, characters at the ship location may, instead of their exploration on their turn, examine the top card of any location deck.
Encountering Other Ships
You can encounter a ship at any location; you do not need to be commanding your ship (that is, at your ship location) to encounter a ship.
Plunder Cards
You stash a plunder card whenever you defeat a ship or whenever else a card tells you to, just as in the basic rules. You might also sometimes have to banish a plunder card. When you would stash or banish a plunder card, it matters whether the ship location is open or closed:
If the ship location is open: When you stash a plunder card, roll on the Plunder Table and put a card of that type on the bottom of the ship location without looking at it. If you would banish a plunder card, examine the top card of the ship location; if it is a boon, banish it; if it is a bane, shuffle it back into the ship location instead (and don’t banish anything).
If the ship location is closed: When you stash a plunder card, roll on the Plunder Table and put a card of that type underneath the ship card. If you would banish a plunder card, banish a random card under your ship.
At the end of the scenario, gain all cards under your ship as loot.
Structural Damage
When you ship is dealt Structural damage, the characters must discard cards to reduce the amount of Structural damage to 0. If all characters have discarded all their cards, any remaining Structural damage is ignored. Ships are never wrecked, and the back of the ship cards is never used. Any effect that would automatically wreck your ship is ignored.
Seizing Ships
If you seize a ship, banish your current ship and replace it with the ship you seized.
Movement Restrictions
Your ship is critical to coordinate your movements around the Shackles. You can move from your ship to any other location. You can also move from any location to your ship. You cannot move from any non-ship location directly to another non-ship location unless one of the following special rules applies:
Connected Locations: If the scenario identifies any locations as “Connected,” you can move from one of these connected locations to another without first heading back to your ship (this generally means the locations are on the same stretch of land, or are connected by a bridge, ferry, or similar).
Lycanthropes: If you are in your hybrid form (see the rules on Lycanthropy), you can swim easily from location to location; you treat all locations as connected.
Although these movement restrictions can be limiting, pirates have a tendency to stick together. If you are playing with more than one character, the following additional movement rules apply:
Out to Sea: When you move to your ship on your turn, any other character that is not on your ship can immediately move to your ship as well. (They hurry onboard from wherever they are.)
Going Ashore: When you move from your ship to another location, any character that is on your ship can immediately move with you to the location you move to.
Effects that restrict movement still apply—if something prevents you from moving, you can’t move; if something is preventing another character from moving, that character cannot move.