Sartosa

I agree 6 is great and fair!

Long time no love for pirates.

After running 2 Sartosa campaigns and then adding elements to a Lustria campaign I have some more suggestions.

1--Add Dwarf Fire Bombs to the equipment list. No boarding party should be without some. Gunners in Pirate warbands should be able to take firebombs as well.

2--all Pirate warbands and Hired Swords should have Rope & Hook added to their equipment lists. I realize this makes the Bosun henchman redundant.

3--Gunners should also have the Greatcoat and the Powder Flask added to their lists.

4--The Orc Pirate and Goblin Swabbie. The Orc Pirate should just be equipped with a normal pistol. The Booma gets no love in Indy. Either players forgot/ignored the misfire rule but gleefully used the S5 or forgot the special rules all together. His special skill becomes unnecessary but it never got used anyway.

The Swabbie is too well armed for a swab and unless he is used in a no dual-wield environment, the boot hook is useless. Finally as noted before some of his stats make no sense. He has +1WS and -1I compared to a normal goblin from either Da Mob or the Forest Goblins. Huh?
For both of them gaining access to Pirate Skills is more than enough reason to take them.

Bump since Styrofoamking is in the building. How about that FAQ? Updates?

Starting another Sartosa campaign in a few weeks.

*sigh*... I'll try. I've got a lot on my plate, I'm afraid (I could list 'em, but that might take me ten minutes). If it's not too terrible, do you happen to have an easy list of ACTUAL faqs that I can just answer? If not, I'll dig through my files for the OLD faq I started a while ago.

Yarr! Was hoping that you were doing one from last time.

Main pain of the current campaign--The Friendly Flag. Mainly hate it for the same reasons that I hate the Tactician skill. If it can be used at any time then its just too powerful, etc.

Here be Monsters--as written its confusing and takes little effort to turn it into sacrifice a henchman/shoot the monster/take the treasure.

Pressgang--needs some clarification of how to win. The lads are currently playing until the last swab is pressed then they see who's got the most live swabs, shake hands and start totaling experience. It works for them and causes me fewer arguments.

After that its cut and paste errors and clarity.

Gotcha. I can answer those three before the week's out. Back soon.

Thanks. Like everything else ya got a couple of weeks before we ramp up for Treachery & Greed.

Problems one & three:

How's this for solutions:

Friendly Flag: When carried into battle, it gives the Leader the skill "Tactician".

Solved! Sure, you hate Tactician, but at least it doesn't COMPOUND with Tactician, making it even worse.


Press-Ganged: Hmm. Not how I envisioned the scenario working. How's this:

Scenario Ends when all but one player has routed from the battlefield.

Experience:
+1 to the Leader of the Winning Warband.
+1 to the Leader of the Warband with the most surviving Drunks captured.

Also, I think I sent you this, but I thought I'd repost it just in case. We found the Drunks were dying too damn easy, so I changed it:

Whenever you take a Drunk out of action, he is assumed to be alive, and joins your crew as a Swabbie. The EXCEPTION to this rule is any Drunk taken out of action by a "Critical Hit"- if the finishing blow on a drunk was a Crticial Hit, the Drunk was injured someplace vital, and is not collected, granting no Experience and not counting towards the number of Drunks collected.

This should reduce the number of deaths from 1 in 3 to 1 in 6. Also, if both warbands are 300+, go ahead and give all of the drunks T4- so many years of drinking have deadened their nervous systems!


I'll post the Monster's Cove errata soon, but it's a lot longer... and will need crappy diagrams.

Thanks for banging those out.

Diagrams, sorry man.

Let's see if I can clarify a little. Sorry for the crappy pictures. I may be part of a Webcomic group, but I'm only one of the writers...



HERE BE MONSTERS

MONSTERS COVE

When setting up the Monster's Cove, place a 6” Cove area near the center of the board. This represents the rocky outcrop that houses the creature. There is a natural wall around the area, made of stalagmites, coral or some similar substance, that prevents anyone outside the cove from shooting in, or anyone inside shooting out, regardless of angle. While it blocks all sight, it is considered easy to navigate up close, and thus anyone can climb over at any part of the cove without the need of a “door”. Climbing up the sides of the cove counts a difficult terrain.







INSIDE THE COVE

There are three parts of the cove: the Pool, the Inner Ring, and the Outer Ring. Any model that climbs the wall and enters into the Cove is automatically considered to in the Outer Ring- he can't be outside the Outer Ring and still see the Monster (sorry, you can't have it both ways!) We recommend the Outer Ring be about 1” wide (or a little more). While not necessary, a 1” elevation is also nice.







The Inner Ring is the area that is touching the edge of the Pool. All models in the Inner Ring are considered “In Base contact” with the Monster, even if the actual base of the Monster is too small to touch the all of the warriors' bases- this makes it a very dangerous place for both man and monster! The Inner Ring should be at least 1” wide. A warrior must be in the Inner Ring to Disturb the water or to Steal from the Monster's treasure.




The Pool- This is the area the Monster resides in. Treat the entire area as the Monster's Base- this represents the monster thrashing about, as he ducks in and out of the water. No player may voluntarily enter the Pool, but if a warrior one falls in, it is treated as Deep Water. If a model drowns in the water, and the Monster is not killed by the end of the scenario, then the drowned model is removed from the roster- no doubt eaten by the beast! The monster will never leave the Pool, and is immune to any spells, effects, or Psychology that would attempt to move him.




FIGHTING & SHOOTING

Warriors in the Inner Ring are allowed to attack the Monster in Hand to Hand combat. Models in the Outer ring are allowed to shoot at the Monster. Daring warriors may attempt to shoot at the monster, even if the monster is in contact with friendly models. For every hit scored against the monster, roll 1D6:

1- Hits a Warrior

2-6 Hits the Monster

Subtract -1 from the score for every Warrior in combat after the first.

(For example, if there are 4 warriors in combat, you hit a warrior on a roll of 1-4... not quite worth it!)

[Note: Yes, we are aware that you gain the +1 to Hit for shooting at a large target, only to hit your Non-large warrior in the back... it may not be fair, but that's life!)







The Monster will attack those around him, starting with the models in the Inner Ring. If there are no warriors in the Inner Ring, then the Monster will start making attacks against models in the Outer Ring. Even though it is attacking these Outer models in Hand to Hand, the Monster is not actually in base-contact with them- it represents the monster lashing out with its tail or long neck. This does not count as a new charge, unless the monster has not fought any models in the Inner Ring previous to attacking (ex. Someone disturbed the water and ran away, without the monster actually attacking anyone yet.) Note that the monster will attack models in the outer ring as soon as there are no more models in the Inner Ring- which means if a Monster has 5 attacks, and it takes the last fighter in the Inner Ring out of action with a single attack, it will lash out with the 4 remaining attacks against the shooters in the Outer Ring. Models in the Outer Ring, (if not knocked down, stunned, or taken out, of course), may continue to Shoot at the monster, or may move into the Inner Ring to attack the monster in Hand to Hand Combat.




CHARGING

Use the slightly modified “Monster Surface” table:




1 ENRAGED! The monster surfaces immediately after your turn, and gains a turn of its own. It will charge all models in the Inner Ring- or, failing that, will charge all models in the Outer Ring (these attacks hit at a distance, so models on the top may still shoot at the monster during their turn.) Also, the monster gets 1D3 extra attacks against the model that disturbed the water.2–3 Hungry- The monster surfaces immediately after your turn, and gains a turn of its own. It will charge all models in the Inner Ring(all of them at the same time!). If there are no models in the inner circle, it will lash out attacks against models in the Outer Ring (these attacks hit at a distance, so models on the top may still shoot at the monster during their own turn.)
4 Slow Rise- The monster surfaces immediately. Models in the Inner Ring must attempt to Charge it, but may only make a single attack. Likewise, any models in the Outer Ring may make a single shot each against the Monster- this happens after models “charge” into combat, so use the rules above for shooting into a “monster combat”.
5-6 Bubbles- The monster’s down there, sure enough, but he stays under this turn.





When the Monster first appears, it is considered to charge all models on the Inner Ring simultaneously. unless it goes through it goes through a “Slow Rise” charge, in which case the fighters in the Inner Ring charge it. Likewise, if the Monster takes out all models in the Inner Ring and starts attacking models in the Outer Ring, it does not count as a charge- it's already in range to begin with!

Nice job with the graphics, etc.

thanks man!

Oh and happy birthday early! I'm out of town starting tomorrow. Have a great day!

Thanks much! The version posted above does changes things quite a bit, but I think it makes it a fair fight for both shooty and stabby warbands.

So, I'll try to dig into the old FAQ files and dig out any other answers I had, but in the mean time, were there any more questions/comments? By this point, you've played more Sartosa than *I* have!

One thing I was going to take another look at was the Ghost Pirates. Maybe do away with the Ld test , and let them automatically move through terrain (the Ld tst for walking on water stays... after all, this IS a water-based setting.)

Another critique was that the Undead Pirates, after a point, became ran by Human Cursed. To fix that (and make them more unique), I was thinking about the Cursed, when they gain TLGT, having to take go through the Rite of Blood, the Rite of Mind, or the Rite of Soul. The first makes them slightly Ghoul-like, the second slightly Skeleton-like, and the third slightly Ghost-like. Not enough to turn them 100% Undead, but enough to give them some flavor.

Heh. New thought... if you're starting a new campaign, wanna be Guinea pig for the old "Personality" rules we came up with ages ago? I can send it to you.

We really like the Sartosa, what can I say?

Thanks for working on the FAQ or Errata or whatever. I'm jammed against a design meeting at the moment but I'll e-mail you over the weekend.

Resurrecting this thread before I finish the errata

Von Kurst wrote:

4--The Orc Pirate and Goblin Swabbie. The Orc Pirate should just be equipped with a normal pistol. The Booma gets no love in Indy. Either players forgot/ignored the misfire rule but gleefully used the S5 or forgot the special rules all together. His special skill becomes unnecessary but it never got used anyway.

No offense, Von... I love ya like a brother... but that's kinda lame. "We never actually used the rules, but we found out that we don't like them" kinda makes no sense.

How's this:
Booma Pistol Strength: 5
When shooting the gun in the Shooting phase, you do NOT roll for misfire on a natural roll of 1. Instead, after declaring your target, roll an artillery dice for range of the weapon. That is the range the weapon has this turn. On a roll of misfire, roll on the Blackpowder misfire chart.
When shooting in hand to hand combat, do not roll an artillery dice- a roll of 1 to hit misfires as normal.


Personally, I like the idea that the Orc would have an "orcy" weapon - something more random and dangerous than the normal variety.

Quote :

The Swabbie is too well armed for a swab and unless he is used in a no dual-wield environment, the boot hook is useless. Finally as noted before some of his stats make no sense. He has +1WS and -1I compared to a normal goblin from either Da Mob or the Forest Goblins. Huh?
For both of them gaining access to Pirate Skills is more than enough reason to take them.

A much better complaint. I'm not sure why he has WS3... maybe I was thinking that he needed a slightly higher stat line, due that he costs more than the average goblin.

As for the Initiative, I think that was my mind floating back to the WFB 5th Edition day... why, when *I* was your age, ALL goblins had Initiative 2... and we had to roll our dice uphill two miles in the snow... both ways!

How does base goblin stats sound?

StyrofoamKing wrote:

No offense, Von... I love ya like a brother... but that's kinda lame. "We never actually used the rules, but we found out that we don't like them" kinda makes no sense.

How's this:
Booma Pistol Strength: 5
When shooting the gun in the Shooting phase, you do NOT roll for misfire on a natural roll of 1. Instead, after declaring your target, roll an artillery dice for range of the weapon. That is the range the weapon has this turn. On a roll of misfire, roll on the Blackpowder misfire chart.
When shooting in hand to hand combat, do not roll an artillery dice- a roll of 1 to hit misfires as normal.


Personally, I like the idea that the Orc would have an "orcy" weapon - something more random and dangerous than the normal variety.

Actually I do too. I was just saying the rules got no love because people would either not use them at all or conveniently forget the down side. I did use the orc pirate and goblin swab in our last 2 campaigns and I found the Booma pistol rarely misfired, which is odd considering how poor my animosity rolls are.

StyrofoamKing wrote:

A much better complaint. I'm not sure why he has WS3... maybe I was thinking that he needed a slightly higher stat line, due that he costs more than the average goblin.

As for the Initiative, I think that was my mind floating back to the WFB 5th Edition day... why, when *I* was your age, ALL goblins had Initiative 2... and we had to roll our dice uphill two miles in the snow... both ways!

How does base goblin stats sound?

Sounds good. Can he get a rope and hook?

Nearly done with the add-ons. Was reading the Haunted Wreck scenario and got kinda inspired:

NEW DP
DIRK AND REG RAZIG – the Brothers of Spite
This pair of brothers sailed from Sartosa to the West Inds, scouring the seas for gold and jewels on their twin ships, the Sea Hag and the Kelpie. After one particularly fierce battle with an Estalian Man o’ War, the brothers took in their biggest haul of gold yet… but at the cost of the Sea Hag. The two brothers were forced to share the same boat all the way back… and the close proximity of each other with the massive treasure drove them and the crew into a green-eyed frenzy, until everyone on the vessel was slain! In death, the two brothers continue to voyage between the New World and Sartosa, laying in wait for any pirate foolish enough to attempt to steal their final take.

Hire Fee: Dirk or Reg may be purchased for 70gc each, with +35gc upkeep each. You may hire them both at the same time, without requiring two Initiative rolls.
May be Hired: Any Chaotic, Skaven, or Undead warband. Dirk and Reg may be hired by opposing Warbands, and have no problem fighting each other!
Rating: Reg and Dirk raise the rate by +50 points each.
Pirate Captain Dirk Razig
M WS BS S T W I A L
3 3 3 3 4 2 3 2 8
Weapons and armor: Cutlass, dagger, brace of cursed pistols, toughened leathers. He also has a Pegleg (see the Sartosa equipment section for rules.)
Special:
Undead: Causes Fear, Immune to Psych and Poison, No Pain. Unlike most skeletons, Dirk may run.
Cursed Shot: Unlike normal cursed pistols that only hit on 6+, Dirk’s pistols will always hit on a 4+, regardless of penalties. The target must be within range as normal.
Brotherly Love: The brothers, even in their cold, undead state, still feel some bit of lingering hatred for each other. This can be used for their advantage, or for their own destruction. If the Brothers start a combat phase in base contact with each other, they both gain+1 Attack. However, you must also roll 1D6 each combat phase they are together and able to attack: on a natural roll of one, the brothers forget their real targets and spend the rest of the phase attacking each other! You may control them as normal next turn.
If the brothers are hired by different players, they gain +1 Attack each turn when in contact with their brother, but will always attack their brother while their brother is still standing.

Pirate Captain Reg Razig
M WS BS S T W I A L
4 3 3 4 4 2 3 2 8
Weapons and armor: Cutlass, sword breaker, toughened leather. He also has a Parrot (see the Sartosa equipment section for rules.)
Special:
Undead: Causes Fear, Immune to Psych and Poison, No Pain. Unlike most skeletons, Reg can run.
Wraithblade: Reg’s blades are overflowing with vile power. Whenever Reg rolls a 6 to hit an opponent in hand to hand combat, he will automatically wound. You may roll “to wound” as normal to see if he has caused a critical hit, but even a failed “to wound” roll will still result in a wound if a natural 6 was rolled to hit.
Brotherly Love: See the above rule.

A suggestion--

Quote :

DIRK AND REG RAZIG – the Brothers of Spite
This pair of brothers sailed from Sartosa to the West Inds, scouring the seas for gold and jewels on their twin ships, the Sea Hag and the Kelpie. After one particularly fierce battle with an Estalian Man o’ War, the brothers took in their biggest haul of gold yet… but at the cost of the Sea Hag. The two brothers were forced to share the same boat all the way back… and the close proximity of each other with the massive treasure drove them and the crew into a green-eyed frenzy,

until one fateful evening when a squall caught them. Dirk's bosun fell out with one of Reg's crew over the proper securing of a line. Blows were struck, a man fell overboard. The crews turned on each other like madmen. The blood mad sailors sought only to kill and maim with no thought of the safety of the ship. The storm gathered strength and fury as the two brothers sought each other amid the carnage. Dawn's light found a derelict ship crewed by corpses. Since then the legend has grown of

Quote :

two undead brothers [who] continue to voyage between the New World and Sartosa, laying in wait for any pirate foolish enough to attempt to steal their final [prize].

Good addition.

@Von Kurst... you really have this story telling down pat don't you! Sounds good.

@Styro... looking forward to the update.

So, in about a day or two, the first draft of the "Sartosa Errata," "Sartosa Add-Ons", and "Sartosa: Locations" will be ready for viewing. At this point, I must ask you, dear Boringtonians, should I:

1. Iron out bugs privately with Von Kurst and Master, and have a glossly and neat product to show to people, 99% done. It's cleaner for you guys, but would potentially leave more blind spots (and I don't feel like doing a Sartosa errata #2 any time soon.)

2. Put a rough draft version on Styroheim, for all to see. If people want to comment, they'll send it to me or post it on the Boring Forum, and eventually any concerns will be ironed out. (So, it would be a "C&C" document, but you'd have to go copy/pasting back and forth to cite certain passages.)

3. Post each document in a loooooong thread on this board. This would require a huge amount of posts and would incite tons of "nit-picking". But many hands make light work... and 12 pairs of eyes could catch a hella more mistakes and holes than 2 or 3.

Which shall it be, folks?

Option 2 seems like the easiest option all round.

Holy frickin' cow... I just reread the original Pirate Warband and realized that when I was doing the rules for swabbies, I was doing them ALL WRONG. Look at this:

Otherwise, the Hero has resisted the siren’s song of the sea, and is forced to become a Swabbie (see Swabbies below). He is stripped of his equipment and weapons; these are handed out as the player desires. He does retain any skills and keeps his original characteristics, but can only be re-armed with the weapons listed in the Swabbie equipment list.

By looking at the stats in the warbnad, I assumed that meant a swabbie always had swabby stats... but those were probably provided by Tim for the One-Off games (pirates start with 3 free swabbies.)

This means that instead of a cheap throw away character, you have a potentially super-strong henchmen at your disposal! Admittingly, he might run away pretty easily (if he's taken ooa and you rout, you lose him), but it makes swabbies less of a throw-away and more of an advantage.

So, we have 3 options:

1. Ignore this completely, and play with the set stat for swabbies. Probably more balanced, but less fun.

2. Implement this across the board. Swabbies are now a hot commodity.

3. Make this the "Sartosan Pirate" ability (meaning, Sartosan Pirate swabbies keep their stats, all others use the generic stats). This would give them a huge bonus- to counter it, all human pirate warbands start with with swivels.

Thoughts on this earth-shattering revelation?

I think you should just implement the rule as it was supposed to be in original warband. The (few) times I played with the pirates, I found them to be a little on the weakish side, especially compared to normal human mercenaries, so this might give them a good boost. Plus, as you said it, swabbies will be a usefull member of your warband not only cannon-fodder.

I'm lost. What has changed? The rules have always read that way in the original and in your expansion. Quoting the most recent errata document:

Quote :

Otherwise, the Hero has resisted the siren’s song of the sea, and is forced to become a Swabbie (see Swabbies below). He is stripped of his equipment and weapons; these are handed out as the player desires. He does retain any skills and keeps his original characteristics, but can only be re-armed with the weapons listed in the Swabbie equipment list.

Even knowing this all I've ever captured is a starting Cabin boy. Woof.