Furry Pirates: Swashbuckling Adventure in the Age of Piracy
by Lisa Breakey and Bruce Thomas
Atlas Games
P. O. Box 131233
Roseville, MN 55113
176 pages, perfect bound
ISBN: 1-887801-72-3
$22.95
Review by Lisa Padol
This game was not written for me. I knew this from the beginning. When Joshua Kronengold, my friend and lover, went to GenCon with a list of items I wanted to review, Furry Pirates was not on it. Neither was One Shots; I'd paid hard cash for that as soon as it came out, and I was not disappointed. But Josh didn't know this, so he tried to get me a review copy. John Nephew had either sold out or knew he was going to sell out of One Shots, but, perhaps not wanting to send Josh away empty-handed, gave him a copy of Furry Pirates. Josh pointed out that I would hate it; John just said that not all reviews can be positive.
So, I have a copy of Furry Pirates that I have been unable to get through. This is not necessarily a reflection on the game; it was not written with me in mind. It was written with Furry Fandom, whatever that may be, in mind. It was written for folks who like complex level systems: The rules are a throwback to the old days of D&D. I remember those days with nostalgia, but I have no desire to go back to those rules. I do not -get- furry. I just do not understand the attraction of playing an anthropomorphic animal that has only cosmetic differences from a human being. I also felt like I was coming in to the middle of an ongoing story, even though this is not the case: The authors made it sound as if the game Furry Outlaws were an earlier chapter of a story set in the same world as Furry Pirates.
The world of Furry Pirates is our world during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with two differences. Everyone is an anthropomorphic animal. I'm not sure what the predators eat, but this is minor nitpicking on my part. Magic exists. Despite this, the history of the world is almost identical with the history of our world. I just don't buy it. For me, the only parts of the game that are useful are the maps.
But there is nothing wrong with this. One of the most admirable things about the gaming industry is that it can accommodate all tastes, not just mine. I recognize that there are folks who are fans of the Furry, and who either do not mind or who prefer complex systems, and these are the people for whom the game was written. It could be used as a straightforward pirate game with humans, instead of anthropomorphic animals, also presuming that the complexity of the system is not a problem. In either case, you are certainly getting your money's worth: The book is packed full of text detailing the mechanics and the background of the game.
Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)
