 Goto [ Index ] |
But that's neither here nor there.
Skull and Bones provides a d20 system and setting based around the golden age of piracy in the Caribbean.
The book starts out with four chapters on character creation. An S&B character will be different from a standard d20 character, having contacts and fortunes and optional backgrounds.
PCs can sacrifice their 4 bonus Skill Points to start with a background. This will give the PC two ranks in two skills related to the background, and a bonus/penalty for charisma rolls with various people, as well as free contacts.
Fortunes are also double sided elements; some are neutral, with positive and negative elements, some are either positive or negative. A character can have up to four fortunes, but if they choose any good fortunes, they must also have an equal number of bad fortunes. So you can have 4 normal fortunes, but for a positive one (such as 'Parrot Perch'), you must take an ill fortune such as an enemy or obligation.
Skull and Bones also includes a number of new character classes. There's a pair of sea based ones (Buccaneers and Sea Dogs), a musical character (Shantymen) and a pair of magic users (Bokors and Hougans). There's a set of six new prestige classes, three of which are fencers, two advanced sailing classes (the Officer and Warrant Officer), and the Mystic Navigator, who can create new islands out of thin air.
Magic Users have significantly fewer spells; a Bokor can only cast once fifth level spell per day, taking 2d8+5 damage in the process. To cast a 7th or 8th level spell, which he can do once a month, he must permanently sacrifice d6 hp.
The fencing PrC's are interesting, although you have to wonder how many PCs will be an established member of one of the fencing schools; it's not like this is 7th Sea, where it's expected. It's also amusing that a PC can be a member of a school whose secret 10th level super ability is actually useless in game.
There are a few new rules in S&B to make it more proper for a swashbuckling game. A rule for Parrying is a little complicated; it's essentially completely useless for characters without multiple attacks, since a parry uses up an attack in the character's next combat round; with the addition of feats, this can become confusing.
Damage is handled differently in S&B from standard d20 games; damage comes first off of a character's hit points, and is then applied to their constitution. Hit points are healed at much higher rates; if he hasn't taken any constitution damage, a character with a good constitution bonus can be healed back to maximum in a few minutes.
Characters who suffer grievous wounds (more than half their constitution)may suffer an affliction, which may be a scar, or the loss of a limb or eye, or worse.
Rolling the Bones and the 'lives' mechanic also add to the swashbuckling atmosphere. During moments of great drama and danger, a pc can Roll the Bones. Depending on the result of the roll (2d6), they will either suffer (and lose a life) or prevail. PCs start with 3-6 lives, although with the right Fortunes some can have up to 9 or as few as 2.
Pirates also have an attribute called Fame, which is pretty much what it says. Once per game session, a pirate can add his Fame to a skill or attack roll after it's rolled. Fame ebbs and flows during play, gaining for success and losing for failure.
Fame also affects a captain's Sway, which he uses to keep his crew under control. A drunken crew that's recently taken a hefty prize is significantly easier to sway than a sober poor one.
Sway seems like a very good mechanic to use for any campaign that would require PCs to maintain discipline over variously ruly NPCs. Fame could also be adapted to most d20 systems instead of various static reputation systems.
The Voodoo magic of Bokors and Hougans is also outlined. There are rules for the spellcasting abilities of the two magic using classes, and for the use of the Loa, powerful Voodoo spirits. Bokors have a list of Wanga (spells) that goes up to 8th, although many spells are altered to reflect a lower magic setting. Magic Missile is a third level Wanga, while Fireball is a fifth level Wanga. That's one of the ones that the Bokor can only cast once per day, and causes him 2d8+5 damage.
The spell list for Hougans only goes to level four, and after that they must request 'favours' from the Loa. These can be a variety of higher-level spells, or unique requests.
At this point in history, Christian miracles no longer function, unless a character holds a holy relic. Several of these are described in the book. Of course, for a character to cast spells, they must have levels of Cleric or Paladin, both of which are disallowed in this game.
A full chapter is dedicated to sailing. It outlines positions on a boat, describes a number of ships, gives rules for naval travel and combat, how to staff a boat and run it with a full or skeleton crew (but not a crew of skeletons), and the treacherous weather and tides of the Caribbean.
The GM section includes suggestions for running Troupe style games, and a few campaign suggestions, as well as chapters on plunder and monsters (human NPCs, monstrous adversaries, and templates for zombies). The book wraps up with a Caribbean Gazetteer, an adventure, and a ten-page appendix of all the book's charts and tables.
Overall, Skull & Bones is a very enjoyable book, but a little mis-leading. It promises a book of swashbuckling horror, but while there are a lot of swashes being buckled, there isn't much horror. Magic elements seem secondary, and the book's sample campaigns are all but one completely bereft of any supernatural elements. The enjoyable introductory fiction is about a ship manned by zombies, but there's no discussion about how to run such a campaign.
The sailing chapter, for example, has not even a sidebar on how to man a ship with the walking dead. While the power to resist "Skeleton Crew" puns is admirable, that is the sort of info that would be useful.
As well, the book seems a little over-enthusiastic when it comes to the margins; taking up a full fifth of the page, they're mostly wasted space, aside from a few instances of sidebars. They don't even follow Hero's lead and use it for overflow for art. Squeezing the margins a bit might have left space for more horrific aspects of the game.
There also seems to be a glossary missing. What, exactly, is The Account? It's mentioned several times in the course of the book, but never explained.
The index is also less than totally satisfactory; for example the book's Legends of Piracy are scattered among the index. It would make sense for them to be together so there was some way to know which pirate legends were in it, and where they were.
My biggest quibble of the book is this: It's spelled Boatswain, folks. Sure, it's PRONOUNCED "bosun", but that isn't here, and it isn't there. You pronounce it 'fone", but it's spelled phone.
The book is a great source for playing pirates, and it would also be useful for running a straight naval game, which is one option the book supports more strongly than you would think. But it's not quite as horrific as it hopes to be.
