Ahoy there, ye landlubbers! It’s the Halfling crew of the SS SFH here to cut yer jib and keel yer haul…with the role playing game “Privateers & Gentlemen”! Published in 1982, this box set from Fantasy Games Unlimited has sailing ships, mutinous crews, rotten boroughs….but surprisingly few pirates? We delve into the books with the assistance of (brevet) DM Mark from the Tabletop Radio Hour podcast. He’s knowledgeable, informative, and most importantly has read the “Heart of Oak” miniatures rules the ship combat is based on in the RPG!
No cabin boys were harmed in the making of this podcast, not even with belaying pins!
Links mentioned in this show:
Fantasy Games Unlimited – Privateers & Gentlemen
https://www.fantasygamesunlimited.net/product-category/pg/
Heart of Oak miniatures rules on DTRPGDTRPG
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/736/Age-of-Fighting-Sail-Heart-of-Oak?it=1
Privateers & Gentlemen on BoardGameGeek
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/7779/heart-oak-naval-miniatures-rules-age-fighting-sail
Privateers & Gentlemen on DTRPG
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/82553/Privateers-and-Gentlemen?src=hottest_filtered
Saucer Seekers
http://entireprizeenterprises.com/saucerseekers/
Tabletop Radio Hour
https://tabletopradiohour.wordpress.com/
zortic
http://entireprizeenterprises.com/zortic/
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3 Responses to “Episode 14: Privateers & Gentlemen”
Listening to the show and all I could think was how awesome a Franklin’s Privateers campaign would be. During the revolution the colonies had no navy to speak of. To adress this, Benjamin Franklin was authorized by the Continental Congress to recruit private ships and issue letters of mark for commerce raiding against British merchant shipping. There were strict rules regarding conduct during these raids which after a few months most captains and crews ignored in their greed for loot and prize money, in one case actually attacking an American ship.n Sounds like my group.
My high school friends used to play Wooden Ships and Iron Men. I vaguely recall playing it once or twice but I’ve never played high seas RPG adventures. The game sounds about typical for those years. It seemed that the more detailed, and “historical” they were was somehow deemed better so the content isn’t surprising. I agree, it needs zombies, and voodoo, just saying!
Thanks for the various points of view and laughter in the many podcasts. Your sense of fun makes me smile, and laugh along with you.
All the best,
There were two adventures released, both in 1984. “The King Over the Water,” by Williams and J. Andrew Keith, and “Decision at Djerba,” by J. Andrew Keith.
‘The King Over the Water’ makes mention that Jon Williams is releasing a series of novels set in the period, and a quick check of Amazon shows that to be a 5-book series: “To Glory Arise,” “The Tern Schooner,” “Brig of War,” “The Macedonian,” and “Cat Island.” What I DIDN’T know was that Jon Williams is Walter Jon Williams, the author of the sci-fi book “Hardwired,” which was the basis of a Cyberpunk 2020 module.