Blackbirds: "Plunder Points"

[Jeffrey Miller]

Here's my first public draft of the reward system I'm tumbling around for Blackbirds.  In essence its very much an attempt to reward players for the behavior that is Good (in terms of this particular game) -- narrative contributions, group communication, etc -- while encouraging them not to squirrel away rewards by offering tangible benefits to actually using these little cookies.

Has anyone come up with a term that properly describes these sorts of mechanics?

I'd appreciate any generalized reaction, of course, but also I have some specific issues in mind:
-   does the conflict between hoarding and spending these points feel forced?
-   What sort of player behavior does this encourage?
-   Does this come close, at all, to promoting PC participation in the narrative?
- the name issue.  I dislike Plunder Points, but for whatever reason "Booty" doesn't sit right with me either.. any thoughts? There's always one or two stats that just make you cringe..

Plunder Points
[Doubloons, maybe? Booty?]

Plunder Points are awarded by The Admiral at the beginning of each session (or when she deems appropriate).  These points are given, as a whole, to The Crew, and it is their task to decide how to divvy them up.  Pirate crews of old were run as miniature democracies, with complex contracts and charters that controlled how booty would be shared out amongst the men.  While we certainly don't expect you to have a degree from Harvard to scribe out complex Plunder Point sharing systems, we do encourage players to use this as an opportunity to further both their characters and the story.

The Admiral awards a number of points to The Crew that is unequalably divisible;  5 times the number of players minus 1/2 the number of players is a goodly amount. It is up to The Crew to decide who receives what shares, who's case for an extra point or two is more compelling, etc.

Players are encouraged to use these points as the pirates of old spent their booty - with reckless abandon!  Plunder Points are usable in a variety of ways.  Most commonly, they are used to activate Special Bonuses granted by the Plunder you've chosen for your Pirate.  See the entries in the Plunder section for an accounting on the various Bonuses and how they operate.

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example bonus powers:
gold earring - You manage to encompass both swarthy, masculine edginess with an exotic allure.  This is a look for the Pirate on the go. (  *  ª  +1©  §)
Special Bonus: This gee-gaw seems to make members of the opposite sex swoon.  Spend a Plunder Point to receive two extra cards during any Contest in which your opponent might conceivably be attracted to your character.

hook* -- Whether lost to an alligator or a dare, you've made lemonade with lemons, cultivating an entire image around the frightfully wicked implement that's taken the place of your hand.  People tend to leave you alone in bars, and answer questions much more freely.  (  *  +2ª  +1©  §)
Special Bonus: The hook, properly sharpened, is a great boon to climbing.  Gain an extra card for each Plunder Point spent (up to a maximum of 3) when scaling vertical faces, walls, cliffs, trees, ships rigging, idols, etc.

peg leg* -- When the mizzenmast came down in the Nor'easter 5 years ago and shattered your leg along with the deck, your shipmates left you for dead in Montego Bay.  You'll show 'em.. you'll show 'em all!  (  -1*  -2ª  +2©  §)
Special Bonus: What most people don't know is that your peg leg is actually hollow.  Spend a Plunder Point to declare that you have any reasonable (as determined by The Admiral) item of suitable size stashed away in there "for just such an emergency".
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Plunder Points can also be used in order to deflect damage during combat, at the rate of one Plunder Point for each successful Touch whose effects you wish to nullify.  Simply declare that you are spending Plunder Points in this fashion, and note down any remaining damage as normal.

Finally, Plunder Points are usable to inject your story ideas into the narrative as told by the winner of Contests.  At any time during the winner's narration, if you would like to modify or inject your own modification or version of events, declare that you wish to seize control and make your Offer; the amount, in Plunder Points, that you are willing to spend to inject this fact.  This amount can range from 1 Plunder Point to as many as you care to Offer.

If the narrating player wishes to, they may accept your change and incorporate it into their story.  For this act, they receive in compensation the Plunder Points you put on the table for the change.  If they disagree with your proposal, the narrating player has the option to counter your change by paying an additional Plunder Point above what you offered.  You then have the option of making a further counter-offer by raising the stakes again and returning the challenge to them, or to accept their narrative.  If you accept their version of events and back down from the challenge, you receive the points Offered, as the narrating player receives all Offered Plunder Points should they accept your interjection.  

This back and forth wagering to gain control of the thread of narration can go on until someone backs down and allows the story to progress.  If a third or fourth person wishes to get in on the act and offer their own ideas, they can do so by anteing up an amount of Plunder Points above the last Offer.

Players who end the game session with zero Plunder Points, as well as the player with the most Plunder Points, will receive a +1 bonus to any Ability for the duration of the following session.  This bonus is temporary, and can be applied to either the normal Ability score or the Adverse score, as you wish.

The Admiral, too has a pool of Plunder Points with which to influence events, activate powers, and save the villains.  The Admiral beings each game session with an amount equal to 3 X # of players.

Finally, remember that Plunder Points do not carry over between sessions.  Use them, or lose them.

[Torrent]

First off.. I like the feel of this game from what I've seen across threads.  Pirate movies and books are some of my favorites of the type.  I will try to attach my thoughts to the appropriate threads.

Dubloons(DB): I like this name; especially because the Admiral can easily cut circles from yellow tagboard or spray pennies for more atmosphere.

Regaining DB:  The only place I can see in the text about how to get more in game is by accepting someone else's narration.  If they are also used for activating Plunder, I think there will a dwindling pool as the game goes on.

Narrating against the Admiral:  Until the very bottom of the post, I couldn't see how you could do any of this DB manipulation with the Admiral.  Does he have the same ability to offer DB with facts into other's narrations?  Also, what happens to the DB that get spent by any party.  Do the players expenditure buffet the Admiral's pile?  What happens with the Admiral spends them on the behalf of the NPCs (Non Pirate Characters???).  

Another sort of thought I had on this is some sort of shared pool.  Perhaps under certain situations the players have a common pool that they can use and spend into.  Maybe if players have some common property (the ship, hideout, captian or something) (reference to Orkworld in the common property idea), they can use this common pool to essentially buy Plunder for the ship.  

I guess I missed it in the earlier thread, how do players buy more plunder?  Is it mechanically linked to DB, or are they more narrative objects that take on mechanical meanign when a player decides to keep them?

Keep going, I think I could actually get my group to play this for a bit.

Torrent

[Jeffrey Miller]

Torrent, thanks for the great feedback - I'll keep my replies in the appropriate threads.

Regaining DB:  The only place I can see in the text about how to get more in game is by accepting someone else's narration.  If they are also used for activating Plunder, I think there will a dwindling pool as the game goes on.

The special bonuses granted by Plunder and activated by Doubloons (originally caled Plunder Points, I've since shifted to Doubloons) are fairly specialized in application - a pair of extra cards when climbing, a more narrative effect here and there, etc.   Giving out 5 might be too few;  I've been thinking that 10 is a more appropriate number to go into the first playtest with.  Its really a prop to encourage participation, with just a touch of being a limiting factor on those who'd "take over" the narrative.

I think I'm ok with the dwindling supply problem for two reasons - first that excess Doubloons don't carry over from game to game, nor are left-overs used for any sort of "who won" calculation.  In addition, they're not used for any sort of "power-up purchase", so there isn't any reason to horde Doublons.  

Second, The Admiral has a supply of Doubloons from which to interject her own facts of narrative;  the role of The Admiral is to manage the narrative thread, to manage the pulse, the ebb and flow of the game, not to control.  The make-up of this pool from which The Admiral can draw from is still something I'm pondering, whether it should be a bottomless pool, or a limited pool, the quantity of which would be determined based on the number of players at the table (5 per player sounds about right).  A limited pool appeals to me more at the moment, as you can then do things such as have the Doubloons spent by the PCs end up in this pool, etc

With a fixed pool, the only danger seems to be managing the flow of Doubloons as they are "bought" and "spent" ? a kind of closed economic system comes into play, with social contract implications that work against hoarders.  I'd like to work out some good non-zero-sum solutions for Doubloon expenditure at some point?

What happens with the Admiral spends them on the behalf of the NPCs (Non Pirate Characters???).  

Another sort of thought I had on this is some sort of shared pool.  Perhaps under certain situations the players have a common pool that they can use and spend into.  Maybe if players have some common property (the ship, hideout, captian or something) (reference to Orkworld in the common property idea), they can use this common pool to essentially buy Plunder for the ship.

I knew I should've posted the ship rules! ;)

In short, ships are simply more Plunder ? they have a base set of modifiers for each suit (the suits are remapped ever so slightly to fight attributes of a sailing ship.)  For example, a small sloop with very few guns might have a -3Clubs (Fighting) as sloops have very few and generally quite light cannons.  When a player wishes to engage in combat using the ship's weaponry (or otherwise engage in combat where the combat attribute of the ship was/is important in some fashion), they use their own Fighting ability and apply the modifiers of the ship.

In a way, what I want ship combat to be about is Star Trek;  its assumed that, outside the application of the most obvious technological differences, starship combat in Star Trek (and Star Wars, and in most pulpy sci-fi) is dependant upon not the gizmos, gadgets, and armaments of the ships, but the actual ability of the people involved.  One of the greatest starship combat scenes, in Star Trek II, is about the struggle between Kirk and Kahn, not the Enterprise and the Klingon ship..

The ship could also be a common property (yes, Orkworld is definitely an inspiration in group creation ideas!)  Whenever players want to use their ship to travel from one point to another, the ship itself has to be activated  at the cost of 1 Doubloon from each player who will be taking advantage of the ship (Pirate ships being a democracy, after all..)  Players can invest, at the beginning of the game, up to 1 Doubloon each, in the ship, and that pool stays with the ship from game to game, and can power any of the Plunder bonuses the ship carries,  bonuses related to combat, speed, handling, supplies on board, secret compartments in the hold, unnamed but present crew members, etc.  Spend 5 Doubloons that the ship holds to add a piece of Plunder that is specific to the ship itself ? a shiny brass cannon that has great range (adds an extra trump suit in combat), or Fine Sails, which raise the ability attached to speed of the ship, or Sturdy Whale Boat, which might allow (for a Doubloon) pirates to row ashore outside of a harbor, etc.

I guess I missed it in the earlier thread, how do players buy more plunder?  Is it mechanically linked to DB, or are they more narrative objects that take on mechanical meanign when a player decides to keep them?

I really didn't want to set up a situation where players "buy" more Plunder.  I envision a situation where players, once they have their starting Plunder, act like pirates, keeping their eyes open for loot!  I'm reworking the Plunder system a bit this weekend, stripping the list down from 40-odd items to 12-18 of the most interesting pieces that represent both the flavor of the setting as well as the possibilities of the special bonuses supplied by Plunder (I really need a word/phrase for this, but Plunder Powers just doesn't fit..)  Additionally, I'm working on guidelines for the group as a whole to create new pieces of Plunder that are relatively balanced (without getting obsessive about game balance).  With this in place, a player could find, say, a brass bell, and thnk "hey, I want that!" and grab it, work up some special bonus power for it, and in the next game choose whether or not it is one of the three pieces of Plunder they wish to apply to their character for that session.

Keep going, I think I could actually get my group to play this for a bit.

Thanks for the compliment! ?

-j-