Ahrrrr mateys, this here treasure map will bring us to the lost gold, and whatever may have been keeping it lost all these years.

Swash the buckles and set sail for the high seas in the tradition of Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power. Broadsides and boardings at sea, and a king’s ransom in booty awaits in Bloode Island – the 1PG game of piracy and swashbuckling.

Bloode Island is one of the many 1PG games by Deep7 that I love pulling out for pick-up games at geek social gatherings. 1 page of rules, and the rest of the PDF is adventures – perfect for a quick game with a few friends.

Once again, it’s straight into random character creation for this game. As with the rest of the 1PG games, everything but a character’s skills are determined randomly. Which suits me fine, since I have no idea what kind of character I want to make – let’s see what stereotypes pop up from the generator.

Characters in this 1PG game have the following ability scores: Sturdiness, Looks, Craftiness and Brains. Each has between 3 and 5 skills under it. To determine the ability scores for a character, I roll 1d3 for each stat in order. I get a character with average Sturdiness and Brains, high Craftiness, and dirty poor Looks.

For his background, we find out that he’s a Merchant (+1 to the General Knowledge, Languages & Con skills, and +1 to his Presence stat). And his status is… that he’s been Press-Ganged! (and gets +1 Drinking)

Now I get 1d3+3 skill points to spend to increase the various skills (there are 3-5 skills for each stat). I get the maximum of 6 points and get to work making a crafty sod who always manages to look like crap. I’ll give him 1 extra point of attire so he can put on airs in finery, bring up his Con to 5, along with a point in Gambling, and two in Oratory. I’m thinking of him as something akin to the character that Mark Sheppard played in Firefly – Badger. He probably uses some fancy honorific in his name just to make himself feel superior.

Next we get to his Presence. This stat is a mix of Charisma and mental well being. When he fails a Guts roll, he’ll lost Presence. He also gets +1 Presence for being a Merchant. The d6 likes him and he starts with 6 Presence. And of course there is Guts, which you roll against when the shit hits the fan. He’s not a man of high bravery, our press-ganged merchant – with 2 Guts.

He gets 2d6+5 Blood (hit points) (15), and then it’s time to figure out his Notoriety. Notoriety is determined by rolling a d6 4 times – once against each of his attributes. If any roll the attribute or lower, he gets one point of Notoriety. Only his Brains roll succeeds – so he has a Notoriety of 1, and it has to do with his brains… maybe his excellent diction and vocabulary that he likes to use while talking to the other press-ganged members of the crew?

And so there we have “Sir” Nicolas Sheppard, press-ganged ex-merchant and definitely not ex-conman.

Badger from Firefly

“Sir” Nicolas Sheppard
Background: Merchant
Status: Press-Ganged!

Sturdiness 2
Drinking 3
Fighting 2
Pilot 2
Shooting 2
Swimming 2

Looks 1
Attire 2
Pose 1
Seduction 1

Craftiness 3
Agility Feat 3
Con 5
Gambling 4
Performing 3
Repair 3

Brains 2
General Knowledge 3
Languages 3
Technical Knowledge 2
Oratory 4

Presence: 6
Guts: 2
Blood: 15
Notoriety: 1