Wicked Pirates

Hey Troels.

First off, that's a great question and I'm delighted to answer it, whether you go on to buy the game or not.

I wouldn't say that the pirates in Poison'd ARE evil. Instead I'd say that they HAVE some things: each pirate has some capacity for violence, based on how life has treated him; some capacity for trust (in both directions - to trust and to be trustworthy), based on his own sense of himself as a human being; and some dissatisfaction with his lot in life (sometimes DEEP dissatisfaction), based on the above plus his ego plus his sense of justice.

You can already start to see the combinations: one pirate has a vast capacity for violence but is basically trusting and hopes for better for all; another pirate has the same capacity for violence but trusts no one and will turn on anyone who stands in his way; another isn't capable of such violence but will stand beside you when you need him; another has a weak stomach and preys on others' trust to serve his own vainglory.

And THEN, you don't play out the business-as-usual of these pirates' lives. The game starts at a moment of upheaval - the old captain's just been killed, there's a power vacuum and some urgency to fill it, it's an opportunity for all the individual pirates to strive for better (whatever "better" means to them individually).

Some individual characters will divide the world into meat and meat-eaters (a characterization of evil I can really get behind, by the way), absolutely. Others won't, when it comes down to it. One of the cool things is, when the game starts and you look at the characters, it's not at all clear which will be which. You have to play to find out.

-Vincent