Gm-less, cooperative, gamist pirate-era RPG

[smc]

The following is an in-progress description of a cooperative, GM-less game I've been working on the last few days. This is very early stage, and I hope to add to and refine the concept in subsequent posts. If all goes well, I will eventually publish the rules in PDF form. Any feedback on what I have so far is greatly appreciated.

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CONCEPT

This untitled game depicts the trials and tribulations of a crew of privateers during the pirate era. Each player is an officer aboard the ship, with one of the players (the Captain) taking on a few extra responsibilities.  The mechanics are fairly abstract, so the game would also work (with some modifications) as a sci-fi RPG with the players on a Firefly-style trade ship.

WHAT'S REQUIRED

A rule book. A few decks of cards. Perhaps some tokens (poker chips) to track accumulated wealth. As the game stands now, 4 players will be required. Howeer, I expect that the rules will eventually be easily adaptable to 2 or 3, and perhaps even solo play.

BASIC MECHANICS

Gameplay is managed through multiple decks of cards. Each player has a deck of cards and an active "hand" that they use to perform actions. Action types are linked to suites, as follows:

Spades = movement, maneuvering, seamanship
Hearts = Leadership, personality, negotiation
Clubs = soldiery, marksmanship, fighting
Diamonds = Guts, physical resistance, bravery

With their ship and crew at full strength, each player holds 5 cards in their hand.  The resolution system is basically the same whether the player is participating in ship-to-ship combat or is trying to romance the governor's daughter. They play a card from their hand and draw a card from another deck (the "Fate Deck") to determine the success of their action. If their action card is greater than the fate card, the action is successful.

In some cases, their action will be opposed by more than fate. For example, in a sword duel an NPC will be trying to act against the player. That NPC will draw fate cards against a set of fixed abilities. To resolve the round, the outcome for both the PC and NPC is resolved simultaneously.

EXPLORING THE WORLD

The players make decisions about what they want to do (With any arguments being resolved by the captain). This can include traveling to port to pick up trade goods, conduct repairs, etc. If they want to take up pirating, they can ply the shipping lanes looking for fat merchant ships. They can travel to unexplored islands and hunt for treasure.  They can hunt for pirates.  The events and encounters they face during any of these actions will be determined by fate card draws, though I've yet to detail this part of the system. I suspect that suites and numbers will combine as a sort of randomizer to see what they encounter or what opportunities they have.

NAVAL BATTLES

I am using ship-to-ship battles as the core of the system, and extrapolating from there to other actions. When it is determined that the crew encounter a ship, they basically see sails on the horizon. To determine the stats for the ship, there is a separate deck (Encounter deck) that is split into the four piles, one for each suite. The captain draws one card from each suite and places them face down in the center of the table (not looking at them).  The suites represent the following stats for the enemy ship:

Spades = sails and maneuverability
Hearts = Commanders and crew
Clubs = Cannons
Diamonds = Hull strength

One final card is drawn from the fate deck and laid face down to determine the ship identity (pirate, merchant, military, etc,) This is determined by suite and perhaps to some extent rank.

At this stage, the players may play leadership cards (hearts) to try to ascertain the identity and strength of this ship before they commit to closing into range. A single fate card is played against their leadership cards. The first successful leadership action always uncovers the identity of the ship (they see which flag it is flying). Any other successful actions will reveal a ship stat (turn over the suite card). The selection of which stat is up to the character who played the action card. After this phase is complete, the players can choose to engage or sail on. However, if the ship is an enemy, that ship may attempt to close on them (I need to determine how this is represented in the mechanics).

Once combat is initiated, the enemy stats are revealed and a fate card is drawn to determine which side has the wind advantage. Black = opponents, red = players. IF the players have the advantage of the wind, they can use any leadership cards (hearts) in their hand as a sailing card (spades) during the first round. If the enemy ship has the advantage, then each of the players will need to pull the highest spade (if any) out of their hand and replace it with a new draw from their deck.

Play then proceeds through a sequence of rounds in which the ships attempt to maneuver and fire on each other. Each player can play a single card during the round, with the suite of the card determining their focus. If a player lays down a spade, he is helping to maneuver the ship. If he plays a club, he is readying the cannons. If he plays a diamond he is rigging the ship to minimize damage and commanding repair teams as necessary. If he plays a heart, he is bolstering the spirit of the crew and improving overall efficiency through his command.

I am considering a couple of things for this reveal of action cards. One option is to have the players reveal their cards simultaneously, and to not allow discussion of who will play which card. The "gamey" excuse for this is that in the chaos of battle each player needs to act on instinct. This can be supplemented by perhaps giving the leader a chance to ask a yes/no question of one player each round ("Do you have any spades higher than 8") and to make a single order based on the result of that question. Alternatively, the players might just play and reveal action cards one at a time. This will need to be tested, and I'd appreciate any early thoughts. The overall idea is keep each round from turning into everyone discussing what cards they have in their hand and what they plan on playing. It may be a non-issue, but it seems like it might be more fun/interesting to force the players to consider their options individually and hope that their decision meshes well with the rest of the officers.

Whatever the case, once all cards have been played they are placed in the center of the table by suite.  There may be more than one card for a certain activity (i.e. two characters played spades). A single fate card is drawn for each category/suite. This fate card doesn't need to match the suite -- it is the number that is important.

Fate cards are also drawn for each category for the enemy ship.

The results of the round are resolved in the following order:

1) Determine the results of any spades (sailing/maneuvering) cards for the players and NPC ship. Any successes (fate card lower than a card played by the players or the NPC stat) means that the ship has manuvered into firing position

2) Check the clubs. If the ship is in firing position, it has the benefit of a full broadside attack. If it failed to maneuver successfully, the attack is less effective (mechanics not yet determined)

3) Check the diamonds. Successful diamonds allow the ships to resist, negate, or perhaps repair damage. I am still working on actual damage resolution. What I want to do for PC's is to have them remove cards from their hands on successful hits. If they've taken damage (abstracted as damage to the ship and crew) they will have less cards in their hand. The default is 5, so after they've taken a few hits each player might have only a maximum of 3 cards in their hand. Their options become more and more limited, but a lucky card can still save the day. Once their hand is emptied, the game is over. Their crew has been killed or they've been sunk. For NPC ships, I am uncertain how to deal with damage. I certainly don't want to have to worry about swapping out their stat cards with lesser cards.

4) Check the hearts. A successful leadership card allows the player to discard an unwated card out of their hand and draw another. If the enemy ship has a successful leadership round, then each player needs to discard their own highest leadership card (if any) and draw another to replace it.

Once the round is resolved, the next round begins.

OPTIONS AND ENHANCEMENTS

Naval combat will also include things like grappling and boarding and special maneuvers. Mechanics for this haven't been explored yet. Perhaps it will use high value action cards (i.e. face cards). Aces might do something really special.

There might also be ways to play with having cards stack (i.e. ranks in sequence) and to give some leadership cards the ability to negate a bad fate draw. Overall, I want to give players the opportunity to avoid runs of bad luck if they are willing to spend the cards.

At the end of the round, the officers draw a new card to replace the card they played, up to their current maximum (five for a healthy ship).

SCALING FOR OTHER ACTIONS

The same basic system described for naval combat will be used in battles between opposing troops and even individual duels. The meaning behind each card is just scaled appropriately. For example, In a personal sword duel, spades represent footwork and agility - maneuvering in for an effective sword strike.

Other, less complex actions will require only a single suite. For example, trying to find a decent price on cargo at a port is governed by the leadership suite. The officer will only play a leadership card if he is performing this activity.

WHAT'S THE POINT

The basic goal of the game is to collect money through trade, treasure, captured cargo, bounty, etc. Perhaps missions will be made available from authorities as well, with payment upon successful completion (the mission type determined by a card draw). I am undecided as to whether this is oriented towards single-shot or campaign play (or both). There is certainly opportunities for incorporating character advancement rules (start with a limited deck with low cards, and trade up for higher cards). Perhaps the players start with a small ship (3 cards in their hand) and work up to larger ships (5, even 7 cards).

WHAT'S MISSING

Obviously this is only a start. There are some major holes in gameplay at this point, which I'll be trying to sort out (hopefully taking into account any feedback I get on the state of things so far). I also want to try to work in a bit more actual RPG into the game design. I think this can be accomplished by giving officers some traits to set them apart and by creating more opportunities for cooperation and conflict between officers.

QUESTIONS

Does this interest you? Does it sound fun? Does where I am heading with the basic mechanics make sense? Does there seem to be enough strategy and decision-making to balance out the fairly high luck factor of fate cards? Any ideas on how to represent damage on NPC ships under the naval combat rules I've outlined above?