What's a Pirate's Fame!?
One separates two components of a Pirate's Fame and these are:
- Firstly, the direct sum of the Pirate's Skill Levels for each Skill Group, then added up together for the whole individual.
- Secondly, a result of Experience in a way as we will explain shortly after.
For each of the two components of Fame, the totals of Fame of each Skill Group are summed up to form the overall Fame of a Character, including the « Better-Off Ridiculed Than Hanged » Group. The two components of that Group belong to the Fame total of the Character.
Interpretation: the components linked to « Better-Off Ridiculed Than Hanged » tend to work in an opposite way to the others but looking at the global picture of the Pirate, they contribute to his or her Fame… for the better as well as for the worse! Our dear Pirate friend may well be famous for being a first-rank skilled hunter of wild oxies and piggies but nonetheless for being more a carboniser of meat than a buccaneer in any sort of way…
We will quickly see however that Ridicule-based Fame not only has advantages…
The meaning of Fame
What is roughly the meaning of the Skulls to be found and (if applicable) circled in the Skill Sections or in the « Experience & Fame » box of the Pirate's Sheet? The following simple chart gives a hint about it:
| Number of circled Skulls | Magnitude of Fame |
|---|---|
  | Local Fame(At the scale of an important town or an island…) |
| Regional Fame(A Pirate known in a whole country or an archipelago, which is already a good deal of Fame!) |
| Worldwide Fame(Our Pirate is famous in the whole Known World and will leave his mark on History…) |
| Legendary Fame(Actually, it is not sure that any Pirate in History did achieve such a level while still living… So… What are you waiting for!?) |
Though a strict application might be difficult, sometimes even cumbersome, one understands now how the Game Master can decide to use - or not - the Skulls of a Character for a given Roll of a dice. For instance, a Fame Level of a single Skull will well be omitted if the Character is currently far from home. On the other hand, after a longer stay in the same place, the Skull Bonus can progressively be applied in that new place.
It is working in the same way for a Regional Fame at a wider scale.
The Level of Worldwide Fame (three Skulls) is applicable in all the Known World. However, it remains clear that the Character is better known in his or her home town and land.
The Level of Legendary Fame (four Skulls) grant the Character a Fame as that of the Captain Lamarck since he disappeared or that of the Hinokibayashi lineage. Even at that point, there may remain remote places where he or she never went and therefore is not so well known. However, the Character's name arouses a reaction everywhere in the Known World.
Some drawbacks of Fame…
To be renowned rather « rocks » of course… However, Fame also precisely means becoming a famous Character - a Pirate, hope we! – the face of whom is probably quite well-known…
So, that will not only be for fans and autographs but also mean being challenged to Duels and annoyed by harbour authorities and other such sea and land police forces…
Obviously, Fame can refrain some candidates from challenging and duelling but, on the same time, those who are not impressed are sometimes also renowned and, much more surely, powerful and battle-hardened. Thus Fame is an asset which is hard to keep and that even more when undeserved!
Well, all that is to be managed, once again… with a whit of sense! And applying the indications already given: it goes without saying that a Pirate of Worldwide Fame cannot make it without a Ship, if not a Fleet, and Skills which match the challenges ahead because he or she is probably wanted in many places of the World. There are maybe also some (rare) direct competitors who will not hesitate to provoke and challenge him or her to grow their own Fame at the expense of his or hers… We let you imagine, if anything of the sort be possible, what it would be for a Pirate of Legendary Fame…
Regarding the difficulties of being renowned and to make it simple, keep in mind that the most difficult Fame rank to live with is probably the Regional Fame, followed by the Worldwide Fame. Indeed, Regional Fame is the lot of still a great number of Characters and competition is fierce! Upon that, none of them has yet got the build to oppose the police or armed forces of most of the Countries of the Known World… But is not an eventful life precisely the lot, if not the passion, of any Pirate who wish to deserve the name?!
