How to Play
The premise of this game is a shared story that we all contribute to as the game goes on. Despite what the title may lead you to believe, this isn't a complicated trade game with currencies and inflation, etcetera, but at its core, it is a game about story telling. While telling the story of your character you will have interactions with other players while I moderate and contribute. Merchants will perform up to TWO actions through an IC in the forum, followed by a brief
Action Report in bold. Your IC can be anything from a short story to a simple missive. For example:
Juan said:
Juan de Mendoza arises to the scent of lush flowers blown in his window from the warm Caribbean Sea... How he hated it here. The Viceroy longed for greater things. He longed for Madrid. For now he would have to try and focus on what to do about the aftermath of that previous day's slave revolt. He rubbed his bearded chin thoughtfully as he tried to decide if he should have them all drowned, or perhaps he could make use of them still.
Juan de Mendoza in Factory, trades slaves to French Settlement in Gulf of Mexico.
Notice how Juan mentioned he was in his factory, not with the fleet. Always clearly state the location of your character in your Action Report. Merchants may also hire mercenary fleets to escort their trade vessels...
Juan de Mendoza hires mercenary escort
After the merchants state their orders pirates may than discreetly PM their two actions to my inbox. State your concise AR as your subject.
Drake said:
Subject: Admiral Drake's flagship fleet moves to Gulf of Mexico, loots juan's slave trade
Admiral Drake's flagship fleet moves to Gulf, loots juan's slave trade Purlple monkey dishwasher.
Afterwards I announce the results in an update along with the current date in the game.
BlackBishop said:
November, 1603
Drake loots Juan's trade convoy in the Gulf of Mexico, wins a wealth of gold and a ship.
Now the pirates may respond however they like...
Drake said:
Admiral Drake, with his fashionably immaculate hair, pillaged and raided the convoy, well, actually his men did. Drake just admired his dashing good looks in a hand mirror.
Thus the turn is now over. By attacking the merchant the pirate has revealed his location and therefore gained a greater chance of being attacked by patrols and vengeful merchants.
The merchants begin the new turn once again, stating their actions first for all to see.
Jaun said:
Juan only smiled when he heard the news from his palace. "adiós muy buenas."
Juan boards flagship fleet, moves to northern caribbean
Trades with Spanish port
Again, after all merchants state their orders, or if they already have orders in mind, pirates email their 2 actions
Drake said:
Drake Return to home port in Northern Caribbean
Notice how Drake only left one action? It's because going into port takes a full turn. Time is needed for ship repairs, bartering, and morale recovery. Every time you port you earn gold, however pirate's locations will be learned unless they port in a pirate haven at a cost. Though the superpowers are able to move freely to port and map locations, players must already be in their home location. For example, if your character is in ECS and his home port/haven is in WCS, your character must move to WCS and make port on the next turn.
I will than, once again, announce the results...
BlackBishop said:
December, 1603
Juan earns a tidy sum in the Northern Caribbean.
Drake's home port suffers from a slave revolt. Miss one turn!
At the beginning of the game, players only start with one fleet and one port or haven. As the game goes on, you will be rewarded with other fleets and property. Beware of disrespectful trade practices - merchant sabotage on other merchants is one thing, but run amok in superpower ports and you may risk angering them.
Merchants may also hire pirates, through a pm, as go betweens to wage discreet wars against a rival merchant, but a better opportunity may present itself to the pirate and lead to betrayal. If a pirate agrees to the secret pact, he must say so in his action pm to me.
Please sign up stating your role as well as info, for example
Drake said:
Francis Drake
Pirate
Age: 28
Haven: The Turk Isles, Northern Caribbean Sea
Bio: The Lord-Admiral of New England
Remember that each player starts out with a base, a port if you are a merchant, a haven if you are a pirate. Unlike ports that automatically generate income, havens generate no income and cost gold each time a pirate docks as the pirate must bury treasure to save it from murderous mutineers (don;t lose your treasure map!) Pirates may instead dock at ports to unload illicit goods for profit and repair and recoup, however your location will be learned throughout the caribbean!
PIRATES, DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR HAVEN LOCATION WHEN YOU SIGN UP, include it in your email with your first actions
Try and keep sailor morale in mind. Prolonged voyages without port will result in mutiny, disease, and chance of being discovered by enemies, which all equate into sailor morale.
Possible Actions
Note that Merchants can take part in pirate activities and vice versa - though once merchants gain enough notoriety, their property will be seized and they will turn pirate. A pirate, however, cannot become a merchant and any trade they do in port will be announced in the public thread by me. Also note that trade will not yield the same bonus as merchants who are the more skilled traders of the two.
For example, Say we have a player who has created merchant Riley. Riley has obtained a wealth of gold and operates a hemp plantation in his home port of Corpus Christi, Gulf of Mexico. He has a trade route with a neighbouring port that produces rope from his hemp. Riley has an influx of hemp and ordered his armada to trade hemp products for gold in hopes of achieving a wealth of gold.
This is all well and good, and this paragraph gives us a detailed picture of who Riley is and what he is doing. His IC may look something like this;
Riley said:
Riley stood in his estate overlooking his vast hemp plantation. The rains had yielded an influx of hemp and he was eager to unload it in New Orleans and Biloxi. In hopes of building his wealth to a vast fortune, Riley set out from his home port of Corpus Christi, and sailed to New Orleans. New Orleans would pay a good price as they need the hemp for rope production. Riley expected to get as much as 120 gold pieces for each crate. Thereafter he would sail to Biloxi and unload the rest of his hemp, thus driving prices down in that port of a rival hemp merchant, and stealing some of their wealth. The thought of his rival left penniless and without a plantation brought a smile to Riley's face.
This is a great IC. It gives us a detailed account of Riley's business and a little insight into his character, but from a GM point of view it is a garbled mess. There is way too much information that I don't need and makes things overly complicated for me to moderate his actions. That's why we have Action Reports. Riley can dumb everything down to basics to make my life easier, this way we get a great IC and my job is easy.
Riley said:
Riley stood in his estate overlooking his vast hemp plantation. The rains had yielded an influx of hemp and he was eager to unload it in New Orleans and Biloxi. In hopes of building his wealth to a vast fortune, Riley set out from his home port of Corpus Christi, and sailed to New Orleans. New Orleans would pay a good price as they need the hemp for rope production. Riley expected to get as much as 120 gold pieces for each crate. Thereafter he would sail to Biloxi and unload the rest of his hemp, thus driving prices down in that port of a rival hemp merchant, and stealing some of their wealth. The thought of his rival left penniless and without a plantation brought a smile to Riley's face.
RILEY TRADES IN FRENCH PORT GULF OF MEXICO
RILEY SABOTAGES PLAYER'S PORT
Like I said, this isn't a complicated economy simulator, but a game about telling a story. Here we have the story behind his actions, and the simple statement of what those actions are so I may simply moderate. Well done, Riley! Let's imagine that Riley succeeds in his sabotage. Overt attacks on rival merchants and superpowers are viewed as being a Pirate Action. Riley has now acquired notoriety, and unless he can dispel some of his infamy, by doing Trade Missions for Missionaries, Superpowers, Natives, Riley is in danger of becoming a Pirate. Merchant players can hire pirates discreetly to sabotage rival merchants while not gaining notoriety. But beware, pirates can't be trusted. Pirates can do missions for Jesuits and Natives too, but they will not lose notoriety.
Blackbishop said:
Riley has flooded Jaime's port with cheap hemp! A vast wealth of gold has been taken from Jaime and given to Riley. Tales of this misdeed have spread across the Caribbean. Riley is now a swashbuckler and in danger of being known as a pirate captain!
If a player ever bores of being a pirate they may retire their character and start anew as a merchant character.
Actions are really limited to your imaginations - the core of this game is your story, so whatever actions fit your ICs are fine by me, just don't over complicate them in your AR.
) deeds will have been spoken in the halls of the rulers of the various superpowers
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