If you're in a hurry to play…

Haven’t you ever dreamt of becoming a pirate, letting the mark of your keel and guns, your sharp sword and keen word through the adventures of an unknown world?

You haven’t… No kidding?! Well… Time to get to the doctor! Anyway, it doesn’t matter, all you have to do is read what follows and then set sail on the spur of the moment : this one pager (okay, that’s a double pager but who cares ?) will take to a smashing start into the known world as a pirate (or a twaddle teller) by revealing the basics of Zebra Island’s game mechanics, so you can thereafter get to the sea, plunder, insult, drink and build a reputation ! (this way for the full site !) So pour yourself a good ol’ grog (or an apple juice) and let’s get started !

If you want to have a good start as a Pirate or Privateer roaming the Known World of « the 90's », forget the stuff here, which is of interest only to a Twaddle Teller and find one for yourself and your pals!

A self-respecting Twaddle Teller – or Game Master – should, for the sake of his Players, lay hands on:

• An atlas of the Islands and Archipelagos;
• A History of Sea-Faring;
• Pirate games and tales;
• A voodoo handbook (optional).

A material for the Twaddle Teller to study well and organise at will, without forgetting a hint of humour and derision to avoid his or her Pirate-Players get bored / ***.

If it appears too heavy a task, no need to worry, our on-line Wikizebra™ can be used as a base.

Apart from his name, look and opinions (Create your own Pirate Sheet, to keep yourself warm!), a Pirate has to have Got a nerve!, a good Constitution and possibly some Power. To each Attribute is assigned a Level between 1 and a maximum of 10, either randomly or by allocating 1 point in each and 12 at will among them three.

A Pirate's guts are made of three Gauges: Health, Shame and Voodoo, which are best filled up. The maximum start Level for each depends respectively on Constitution, Got an nerve! and Power, as follows:

Attribute Level	Gauge Level
1 or 2
3 to 8
9 or 10

Finally, our already dearest Pirate acquired skills, which we divided into six categorie with a Level from 0 to 10. The categories relate to the places where they come in particularly handy (this is, however, not limitative): Tavern, Hold & Deck, Wardroom, Harbour, Desert Island, Hoomfo. 20 + 1 point per Skull in any of the Gauges are allocated among them, as follows:

Initial Fame amounts to the sum of all Skill Levels.

Starting at Level zero, Ridicule is part of Fame and accounts for the Pirate’s most far-reaching failures.

Here's the link to go into details: Become a Pirate !

When the result of an Action isn't obvious, the Mastery Level is = Attrib. + skill. + 10 – Difficulty, where a regular Difficulty is 10. In case of an Opposition, Difficulty = Opponent’s Attrib. + Skill. If the d20 returns less than or equal to the Mastery Level, this is a Success; 20 is always a Critical Failure, 1 a Critical Success.

When Attrib. = Got a nerve! Fame and Ridicule can affect the result (see in the next sections).

After a Critical Success, if the d20 returns under 10 – Skill, one point is added to that Skill (Experience).

In case the Pirate falls or takes a blow, take off a Skull from the Life Gauge – two on a Critical Result or if the Pirate is in an extreme situation. When the Gauge is empty, the Pirate is dead or at least left as such. Some care is needed! The regular recovery pace is at one Skull per week / per day if he is properly cared for.

Any Voodoo activity, successful or not, consumes a Voodoo Skull. Recovery rate is one Skull per day.

They’re useful to prevent bloodsheds… which would be good business for Gouvernors!

All you need for a duel is two Pirates, their Witness and three random sequences of words (Verbs, Adjectives, Nouns). From each group a word is drawn and one has to be the fastest to combine those words to insult the Opponent who in turn has to quickly find an adequate retort.

Witnesses and potential Spectators (Twaddle Teller) decide who won that Insault and the winner gets a Bonus from 1 to 5 for the following Sword Fight. The following table shows the consequences for each of the Duelists: