October 27, 2023: Scurvy Buggers - Found Family RPG With Pirates!

Shed blood, shed tears, follow your flag and your heart wherever they lead in the Golden Age of Piracy . . .

Now on Kickstarter is the first published game by our Car Wars line editor, Irene Zielinski. It's Scurvy Buggers from 9th Level Games; it uses the Polymorph system, and if you like Our Flag Means Death, you want this!

(Steve thwacks self on head, gets out of Marketing Writer Voice.)

Seriously. This game is going to be fun. I had the privilege of reading the first draft, and it was awesome. (Yes, I like Our Flag Etcetera; need you ask?) This is NOT a game that I, personally, could have written, and I like it all the more for that. No beans are counted and very few numbers are crunched. This is about relationships (good and bad), about roleplaying and found family, and, yes, of course, about bloody murder in the Caribbean!

It's a troupe game. Someone else may be playing "your" character in the next session, and you'll get to enjoy their interpretation of your creation. Because it's a Polymorph game, there are four character classes, but they don't limit what you can do . . . they just showcase what you do best. Your "stats" have to do with your relationships with your fellow crew members. Some of them have your back. Some want to put a knife in your back. And some of them hardly know that you exist, personally, but they'll still interact with you to help their friends, spite their rivals, or, because they are pirates, just for the Hell of it.

You'll play as a Genteel, a Dauntless, a Stalwart, or a Menace. You'll test your Savvy, Swagger, Blood, and Guts to perform a piratical feat or protect a comrade-in-arms. Or, as Master of Chanties, you'll pose the night's problems and help the bold pyrates work through it and triumph, or at least retreat in good order, or at least survive in hiding on a desert isle. Whatever. Pirating, 'tis a rough trade.

And take a close look at the cover. There's more there than meets the eye.

-- Steve Jackson

PS - As the creator of Evil Stevie's Pirate Game, it is my distinct pleasure to welcome Irene into the secret League of Pirate Game Designers. This club is so secret that we haven't gotten around to notifying the other members. but members they be and we thanks them for their services. Arrrr.