Drinking. What pirate game would be complete without rum? Rum barrels were placed throughout the terrain. Each pirate could use one impulse to take one drink if they were adjacent to the barrel. One drink gave the player one Debauchery Point. Make note of the number of drinks each figure has had (note the "drinking" section of the pirate card sample). However, each drink requires a "Drunk Roll". Players roll a D6; if the roll is equal or less than than the number of drinks the figure has had, then the figure is now drunk. Subtract one from each skill. Once both skills have reached zero or less, the figure is now officially blotto. Tip it over; he or she is unconscious. Note that unscrupulous opponents can then gain some easy Debauchery Points (see scoring in the section below) by wounding the comatose character. After a failing a drunk roll, the number of drinks the character has already had is erased, and the drunk roll starts over again.
An example might help clarify matters. Suds Mackenzie takes all three impulses to drink, the greedy sot. The first drink sees Suds roll a "3". Since the roll is greater than the total number of drinks Suds has taken thus far, Suds is not drunk. The player marks "one" down on Suds' game card. Suds takes another draught. This time the player rolls "2". Bad news - since the roll is equal or less than to the number of drinks Suds has made, Suds succumbs to the evils of alcohol. The player lowers Suds' skills by one each, which fortunately still leaves his skills above zero. The total number of drinks Suds has taken is now erased. For his final impulse, Suds takes yet another wee droppie. Another roll of "2" is produced, which is greater than the new running drink total of one, so Suds feels no more ill effects from his dipsomania.
Initiative For ease and speed of play, initiative was determined by player, not by figure. Aimed shots were dispensed with, since it seems to promote a "sniper" mentality among some players. Not only does this slow the game down, but it seemed very "unpiratish".
Scoring Players were awarded "Debauchery Points" for certain acts. At the end of the game, points were totaled to determine the winner. For period colour, I bought a couple of bags of the gold foil wrapped chocolate coins that seem to appear around Christmas and used these as the Debauchery points. I threw the players a coin for each point earned. Participants became quite enthusiatic when they realized that they were playing for chocolate (distributed from a toy treasure chest no less!).
1 point per wound on opposing pirate. As mentioned above, comatose drunk pirates are an easy source of wound points.
1 point per drink. There are some risks; refer the drinking rules above.
10 points for dragging a gold treasure chest successfully off the opposite edge of the table. Two treasure chests were placed roughly in the centre of the table. Yes, four pirate crews, two treasure chests - not that your players will need any excuse to fight, but a scarcity of gold won't hinder matters. As an inspiring example note the corpses piling up in the picture to the right. One figure (living) can carry the gold, but at a -1" move penalty.
1 point for roleplaying each figure. This is completely optional, and points are awarded entirely at the capricious whim of the referee. Some actual examples for which points were awarded - Mustafa, the Moslem pirate did not let alcohol touch his lips; "Sods" Mackenzie, whose figure is sculpted drinking from a bottle, certainly did let alcohol touch his lips and stayed by the rum barrel until he passed out; Captain Redbeard, a maniacal psychopath, decided to charge every enemy sailor he spotted, despite the numerical disparities (that's a shot of one of his melees below); saying "Arrr" a lot and leering at wenches.
Character Modifications Rather than create a "generic" pirate for every player, I tried to look at each individual figure and try to create a slightly different character for each, that played slightly differently.
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For example - pirates missing a leg were reduced to 2" movement per impulse. Pirates with a hook in place of their hand were unable to reload their pistols...but received a bonus for HTH combat. The aforementioned "Sods" Mackenzie had a bottle to his lips; naturally he received a +1 modifier to his Drunk Roll, since he'd had so much practice. Other pirates were given various bonuses for HTH, or ranged combat, or a -1 modifier to their opponent's morale roll since they had such a terrifying reputation. The possibilities are nearly limitless. The point is to create some individual, colourful characters; not just Pirate Crewman #3.
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Player Charts
Although I've created a set of player charts for Fire & Steel, I also have assembled a set of F&S player charts specifically for Debauchery, Rum and Bloodletting. Besides containing all the standard F&S charts, it also includes the Drunk Rule and the Debauchery Point table. It's in pdf formant and available for download.
Below are some pictures that were taken during the playtest. You get a much better idea of the GW Mordheim buildings that were used. Just click on the thumbnails to view larger and better photos.
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