This first part in the series explaining Jolly Pirates will focus on player-team setups and possible gameplay scenarios.
Player and Cooperative Team Setups. Differing from mainstream strategy games (say Risk or even Small World), players in Jolly Pirates do not control vast armies and gather resources to sustain or grow them. Rather each player controls 1 or more characters depending on the number of players in the game, and players are often teamed up with others to augment the amount of forces playing against another sizeable force.
In 2-player, each player controls 3 characters and is on his own team. In 3-player, each player controls 2 characters and is on his own team. In 4-player, each player controls 1 (perhaps 2, haven't decided) character and 2 players are on a team. In 5-player, each player controls 1 character and 2 players on a team, while 1 player is on his own team. He is known as the "Hand of the Black Admiral" ("of the Black" is a term used to refer to pirates in the past; the Black Admiral or "Admiral of the Black" was often seen as the leader of the groups of pirates) and is there to punish both of the opposing teams for their disobedience. His victory conditions are different from the other teams. Alternatively, if the Hand ends up being just too complicated, a player on a 2-player team could control an additional character. In 6-player, each player controls 1 character and 3 players are on a team. In addition, there is 1 6-player mode in a scenario where each player controls 1 character and 2 players are on a team. When 1 team is beaten, its players are subjugated, with 1 player getting absorbed into each of the remaining teams. Then 1 of 3-player teams must beat the other.
Scenarios. Jolly Pirates is composed of various scenarios (I am planning on 3 main scenarios) that have generally unique player objectives. The scenarios are in place to both encourage variety in gameplay (and thus enhance replayability), encourage strategic thought, as well as provide more flexibility for number of players. Certain scenarios fit a larger or smaller amount of players better than others do. Thus, at the beginning of the game, players decide which scenario they will do. While I have not picked exactly which scenarios I will include, the following 5 are being considered:
(1) Elimination Match. Objective: All the original characters on the other players' teams are eliminated OR 3 (2 characters a team) /4 (2 characters a team + the Hand of the Black)/5 (3 characters a team) characters on the other players’ teams. Hand of the Black Admiral’s Objective: Kill 3 characters, with at least 1 character being from each of the rival pirate teams. For 2 - 6 players. This is the basic “kill them all” scenario, but adjusted to accommodate respawning characters. There are 2 possible victory conditions: (a) Kill all of the other teams’ original characters. This means that all of the characters controlled by that team’s players at the beginning of the game are eliminated. (b) Kill 3/4/5 characters on the other players’ teams. These 2 conditions balance out the respawning, so that a remaining character does not simply run away and hide for the rest of the game in a corner to help his team achieve victory. However, victory cannot be achieved by killing the same player’s characters a couple of times. It is to your advantage to attack the other player characters.
(2) Base Destruction. Objective: Destroy the Enemy Pirate Ship OR their 2 Campsites. For 2, 4, or 6 players. Instead of having to kill player characters, in this game you have to kill non-player units (NPUs), namely either the enemy’s pirate ship or 2 of their base site tokens. Players of DOTA should be familiar with this idea, although in this scenario you have to defend more than your ancient (the ship), but also your campsites. Needing to defend the 2 NPUs keeps your forces from camping in one spot. Any player characters that die in this scenario can respawn infinitely until the conditions are met.
(3) Kill the Player with the Keys. Objective: Kill the player character on the enemy team who holds the keys, acquire the keys and then take them back to your campsite. For 2, 4, or 6 players. This scenario plans to add a twist on the typical kill the leader (like BANG!’s kill the Sheriff) and capture the flag arrangements; the “leader” is the player character who holds the keys (the flag), a card placed next to the character card and that is visible to all. Each team chooses which of their characters holds the keys first. Once the character holds the keys, he must hold on to them for at least 2 rounds at a time. After that, he can pass on the keys to another character on his team, so that the “leader” to eliminate shifts around. Passing is done by occupying the same space as a team mate. If the keyholder is eliminated, his killer immediately gains the keys (perhaps even if the killer is on his own team?). He then must take the keys to his campsite for his team to win. Player characters infinitely respawn until this condition is met. I am not exactly sure what the item should be –a flag, keys, a map for buried treasure, scandalous letters, or some silly amusing object like an ornate bath brush. Suggestions?
(4) Acquire the Buried Treasure/Medical Supplies. Objective: Teams vie to acquire the most buried treasure; those with the most at the end of the game win. For 2, 3, 4, or 6 players. This is an area control scenario. There are 2 tiles with buried treasure spaces marked on them which will be in the scenario by default. By occupying one of these spaces at the beginning of his turn, a player gains a buried treasure token for his team. There are a finite number of these tokens, which are odd in number. As soon as one team possesses a majority of the tokens, that team wins. If by the end there is a tie (as might be the case in 3-player), the game moves to a quasi-sudden death mode. Tokens are earned until 1 team has more tokens than the others. Player characters infinitely respawn until these conditions are met. I am not certain whether the teams should be trying to get buried treasure (the traditional pirate fiction plot) or medical supplies that had washed up on the island after a ship was taken down (a more historically accurate plot for pirates). What do you think?
(5) Marooned Captain’s Escape. Objective: Team 1--Extract the Captain to your ship. Team 2--Kill the marooned captain. For 2, 4, or 6 players. This scenario is more unusual in that teams have different goals. Team 1 starts on one side of the board and has to get to the other side to extract the marooned captain (a NPU). The ship will arrive in 10 rounds, so they have to survive that long and then get the captain to the ship. Team 2 starts in the center of the board and their goal is to kill the marooned captain before he can get away. Player characters infinitely respawn until one of these conditions is met.
Once a scenario is selected, there is a map diagram provided showing how the tiles should be arranged as a whole (the map’s shape), but not in any particular order (not the map’s content). It also notes each team’s territory. There is also a “recommended map” that tries to arrange terrain features in a more interesting way for the scenario. Players are free to choose to arrange the map however they wish; they make their choice and lay down the map tiles.
Look forward to part 2!
