Star Pirates

Welcome to Star Pirates! A Spelljammer campaign.

For those unfamiliar with the Spelljammer setting it is, essentially, DnD in SPACE. Spelljammer is both the name of the setting and the name of the ships which people use to traverse the universe. Each world, or system of worlds, is enclosed in a crystal sphere. Outside of each sphere is the phlogiston. A highly explosive gas! Travelers sail the phlogiston between spheres on great sail ships. Since the phlogiston is explosive the use of weaponry or magic that deal fire damage causes massive explosions that would surely kill the user and anyone near them. Many of the races you are familiar with are represented in this setting as well as many that you would probably not be familiar with.

~~The Plot~~

This will start out as a fish out of water story. You live in a sphere that has had no contact with anyone from outside it. This way players are introduced to the setting in an organic way. You will start the game at the end of a quest to find the fabled vessel of Captain Flint. A legendary pirate who, legends say, sailed on a flying ship. Allowing him to strike anywhere and vanish with impunity. Many think this "flying ship" malarkey is merely exaggeration and allegory. You will find that it is not. Captain Flint was a big fish in a small pond using his spelljammer to terrorize terrestrial ships.

With the procurement of his ship all of space opens up to you and you're not about to settle for crumbs when the stars await you.

You enter the galactic stage at a turbulent time. The two major powers that hold law and order together, the Elven Star Empire and the Alliance of Scale, are deep in a war that has been stretching on for years. Their resources and ships are heavily depleted leaving little to watch and protect their vast shipping lanes.

You've walked in on a Golden Age of Piracy. Pirates are certainly not the worst thing out here taking advantage of the chaos.

~~Details~~

There will be a lot of ship combat in this campaign. But these battles will lean heavily on boarding actions. Your characters taking the fight directly to the crew of enemy ships.

You will gain a crew that will operate the ship in your absents. Freeing players to use their character's abilities directly if you so choose to do so. I do have a system set up for manning points on the ship for when players want to grab the wheel or man a ballista. Think of the ship is a moving base and party pet. The focus will still be on your characters and their actions.

These scenarios will be broken up by a myriad of more traditional adventure set ups that will allow you to explore the phlogiston and the many strange worlds within it.

This will be a weekly game. It will run for four hours 7PM EST to 11PM EST.

~~Morality~~

You will be pirates. Hence the name of the campaign. Most pirates know their reputation matters a great deal when dealing with others. The crews of merchant vessels care not for the riches of their captain or the bounty within their hold. They're just there to make a pay check and aren't about to lay down their lives no matter how much their captain screams for them to do so. That is, if they think you're not going to kill them all. If you get a reputation for wanton murder you give them no choice but to fight you. Making your job much harder and more dangerous. It's far better to be known as puckish scoundrels and thieves than mass murderers.

~~Rules~~

• No Captains
  No player will be titled "Captain". Every decision will be decided upon democratically by the ship's officers (the player characters). I've attempted campaigns where one player held a title over the others and, no matter how much they triple pinky swore not to, they ALWAYS abused that power. I will not make that mistake again.

• Looking for players who are enthusiastic and don't take things too seriously.

• Classes and races from official sources only unless you pass it by me for approval.

• Racist, homophobic, or sexist slurs will result in an immediate ban from the game. Talking about politics is heavily frowned upon. We are here to escape the ugliness of the world.

• Your characters are free to be promiscuous but such scenes will fade to black before we go past PG13.

• No drugs or excessive drinking. We're all here to have fun. But when you need to remind players what's happening every five minutes and they're acting wildly erratically it ruins the fun for everyone else. Only the person on drugs thinks they're fun to play with.

• I cancel games if we have less than four players available that night.

• I have kicked players for being absent too much.

• Applicants will receive a PM from me asking you to friend me on Discord so that I can perform an interview before I invite you to the game.

~~Character Creation~~

• We will be using the 2024 rule set.

• We will start at level 3

• Will be using the point buy system.

• You roll for HP publicly. If you get below the average then you take the average instead.

• Please note that the phlogiston is explosive. Do not make a character designed for Fire damage. This includes guns.

~~About Me~~
My name is Timothy. I've been DMing for about 10 years now. I am not a cruel or hard DM. I'm here to provide my players with fun challenge and adventure. I don't like it when people's characters die. It CAN happen, though. What's an adventure without the threat of death? I will toss in joke characters and plot lines to keep things light. You're flying through space on a sail ship. It's not exactly a serious setting to begin with.