Character's creation
To become a Pirate? Nothing's so simple: click on the following thumbnails and sail through this section by the means of the Pirate Sheet which you find also here!
Getting onboard
The Player is free to choose his character's name and gender and to define his background and the skills he has already developped.As regards to skills and their degree of efficiency, an amount of points is allowed to the Player when the Character is created, points that he distributes in order to mould his character into whatever he wants : either a slick and sneaky Pirate, either a brainless juggernaut, either anything else that comes across his mind.
Required informations to play a Zebra Island RPG's character are listed on the Pirate's sheet, which can be edited from the bottom of the page.
A printable version and a « web » version are available.
Character's Identity
It is most simple to fill in this section of the Pirate's sheet : the player has to choose a name, a nickname if he wants to – that can be found, given or changed at any moment afterwards, depending on striking events in his Pirate's life, and on his fame.
In the section called "description", the Player may add any kind of information in order to narrow his character's description : hair, eyes, age, height, scars, overall appearance, etc. This description is of course likely to evolve according to what may happen during the game.
Finally, the "occupations" section will be used to precise what may be called the Character's professionnal occupation. Althought most of Zebra island RPG's Characters are Pirates and Pirates, per se, must be handymen (especially when it comes to handle big caskets full of gold dobloons) in order to get by, it is obvious noone can be an all around expert. That is why this section intends to precise the Character's professionnal fields of excellence : artillery, watch at the crow's nest, etc. However, as we just said, on a Pirate ship, everyone is likely to do a bit of everything, which is not the case for example on a huge navy ship from Bornéo.
Althought the player is free to choose his character's occupation and skills, a list of common occupations and skills that are often associated to them is provided further in this chapter.
Shame Gauge and Health Level
Shame and Health are the two Level Attributes which are managed to cover the vicissitudes of our Friends' Pirate life. The Shame Gauge comes into play more specifically in manageing Duels – between Pirates and according to the Pirate Code. The Health Bar comes into play when managing other types of Encounters or Conflicts. It is also used to determine the Health Level of a Character, thus it can be used in various situations like for instance while drinking (too much?) Grog or after a unlucky fall from a cliff…
The way to use both the Gage and the Bar is detailed in the correponding sections (Cf. for instance in the Chapter dealing with Duels and Encounters). We focus in the present section only on the computation of a Character's Levels at his or her Creation (also covering his or her possible futher evolution).
Shame Gauge
Health Levels
Pirate's Sheet (printable template)
In that section is a template of the Pirate's Sheet in « Web » format to be found, with its unavoidable little skulls to cross out, encircle or simply leave alone…
Pirate's Sheet
Determination of initial Fame
Fame has two components:
- One is linked to the Skill Levels;
- The other to Experience.
The Experience Component is at zero at the beginning. The Players can thus leave the corresponding line empty in each Skill Section. The acquisition of Fame through Experience is discussed in the corresponding chapter further in those rules.
The Component which is linked to Skill Levels is for each Skill Section equal to the sum of the Skill Levels of that Section. Speciality Levels are also taken into account but for twice their value (each Level point counts for two in the sum for Fame). Moreover, the Speciality Levels in Better-Off Ridiculed Than Hanged count for three times their point value.
The sum of the two Components, Section by Section, gives an idea of the Character's Fame for the fields of application of the corresponding Section. The sum of the Sections' Fame Levels returns the Character's Total Fame, which can be written down on the Character's Sheet, under the header « Total of Fame ». The header « Curriculum » will be explained later on, in the chapter regarding Experience and Fame.
The initial Fame of a Character, given the Character's Creation rules and options, thus range around ninety to a hundred points, even slightly more if the Player made more extreme choices regarding Specialities and their Levels.
Please note again that the Skill Levels in Better-Off Ridiculed Than Hanged count for three times their point value and that they sum um positively in the Total of Fame! It is however not usual that a Player chooses a Speciality in that Section at Character's Creation because that kind of Speciality can quickly become a source of annoyance or even a handicap… There will be enough to do to manage that later on in the course of the game! (Where could he well be hidden, our dear specialist in « Fresh Banana Peels and Cream Pies »?!)