The Jade Osprey

Welcome and thanks for your interest.

Game information

• This will be a one-shot game. I expect the adventure will take 6 - 12 months to complete.  

• The rules are attached to this post. We are using an all-pirates-and-witches PbtA hack I made called Archipelago.

• We will be playing using the Part 1 rules (no playbooks, core rules only), as the aim is to pressure-test the core mechanics before I finalise the playbooks.

The Setting
One way or another, you’ve wound up in The Archipelago - the new crossroads of the world. Scattered among the Far Seas, her thousands of islands conceal valuable luxuries, strange magics and ancient mysteries.

Here, there are prosperous port cities, built on lucrative and perilous trade routes. There are sprawling free towns, their ramshackle harbours bustling with black market dealings. Some islands boast fortified naval bases or governor’s mansions, their towering walls pockmarked by recent cannonfire. But most of the islands remain yet uncharted, unnamed, and unexplored: the occasional ruins of long-lost civilizations undisturbed except by the prowling of undiscovered creatures.

All the great powers of the old world are scrambling to gain control here, but none can establish more than a foothold in the changeful and dangerous waters of the Archipelago. And while those authorities flounder and founder, more lawless enterprise flourishes. And that's where you come into this story.

Somehow, you've found yourselves the owners of a ship, and your crew picks up what work it can. You're a band of adventurers, just trying to make your way in the world. Some days you are a merchant, other days a mercenary or a messenger. But the great powers brand you all pirates, because you sail under your own flag, and you recognise none of them as your master.

You're a motley crew: aristocrats and artists, smugglers and jugglers, castaways and stowaways, and maybe a witch or two thrown in for good measure. In seas as magical as these you can hardly do without them.

You sail together for freedom, fortune and fame, because to do otherwise - to stop and let The Fates catch up with you - in this place means death or worse. Surrounded by treacherous seas and even more treacherous sailors, you have alighted on a single truth: if you don't want to end up in Davy Jones’s Locker, you need a fast ship, a good crew, and enough treasure to keep the whole thing afloat for another week

The Set-up

You can see the first post in the main forum, which sets up the adventure. Read this before you apply.

Applications

To apply, please provide a short character proposal:

• Name

• Headshot art for in-character posting

• A brief personality description

• A brief backstory of how you ended up as a pirate (or a witch in a pirate crew)

• There's no need to select an Archetype or a Ship's Position from a mechanical perspective, but you can use the names as inspiration and optionally tell me which you see your character as most aligned with.

  • If you want to play as a witch that's great, just note you'll have to express it through flavouring the core moves as magic, since we won't have any spell moves available in this adventure.

• One (or more) of the crewmates held hostage is very important to you personally. (Or at least, it matters that they don’t die for some reason). Tell me who they are and why (this can be a secret if you like)

We will be creating shipmate and company bonds once the players are chosen.

Questions?

Please feel free to ask questions in the question forum or DM me directly.