Who Was Woodes Rogers? Pirate Borg World Building

By JimmiWazEre

Opinionated tabletop gaming chap

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TL;DR:

Woodes Rogers was a Bristol merchant captain turned privateer who circumnavigated the globe, captured a Manila galleon, and still ended up bankrupt and imprisoned. He later reinvented himself as Governor of the Bahamas, using pardons and force to dismantle the Pirate Republic at Nassau. By 1719, he had restored British control, but a handful of dangerous pirates still remained.

Introduction

To understand Woodes Rogers is to recognise two distinct chapters of his life which without a doubt go on to change the course of history for Caribbean piracy. Since Rogers must play a pivotal part in my Pirate Borg campaign - as with Blackbeard, we’ll start with his relevant real history up until 1719 where my campaign picks up.

Early Life

Rogers was born in 1679 in England, to a Bristol mercantile family positioned comfortably at the upper end of the middle-class. His Father, Woods (Not “Woodes”!) Rogers Snr, was a merchant sea captain. Growing up in a major Atlantic port, Rogers Jnr likely gained his seamanship through apprenticeships aboard trading vessels.

Then, when Rogers Snr died he left his ships and business to his son, this gave him a privileged foundation upon which to forge his own career as a merchant captain in the Caribbean in the early 1700s.

Also, as an aside, you might remember Blackbeard being from Bristol too. It is speculated that Thatch and Rogers may have been previously acquainted, which would indeed make for a nice twist, as their stories cross over again in 1717.

Privateering In The Pacific

In 1701 when the War of Spanish succession broke out among the European powers, governments would often issue “letters of marque” to sea captains, permitting them to engage in legal acts of piracy against the Kings enemies and keep a very substantial portion the profits. This activity was known as “privateering”.

For the young Rogers, when he was approached by the legendary explorer William Dampier in 1707 with a proposition to go privateering in the South American Pacific against the Spanish in search of a Manila galleon, the offer proved too tempting by far. And so financed by the high and mighty of the Bristol community such as Thomas Goldney II and Thomas Dover, Rogers would depart Bristol on the 1st August 1708 on a 3 year expedition, accompanied by Dampier acting as his Sailing Master on board the frigate; Duke, and it’s sister ship, the Duchess.

The journey had a mix of highs and lows for Rogers. In February 1709, the Duke spotted a campfire on Juan Fernández Island off the South West American coast which lead to the rescue of Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk. Selkirk would join them on their expedition as a valued seaman and his rescue became the inspiration for the story Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. These events would go on to make Rogers famous upon his return to England.

Some smaller skirmishes then happen for a few months with varying success until mid December 1709, with his crew near mutiny after disease, deaths (including his younger brother Thomas) and losses to capture, Rogers finally sighted the Manila galleon; Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación y Desengaño off the coast of Cabo San Lucas. The Desengaño was a transport ship running between Mexico and the Philippines, caught unprepared for battle with her big guns stowed in the hold.

Worth roughly £150,000 - £200,000 at the time (tens of millions today) this was too much of an opportunity to refuse. As dawn broke the combat was brief, after rounds of returned volleys, and a full broadside from the Duke, the death count stood at 9 on the British side vs. 20 amongst the Spanish. The most severe wound was probably inflicted against Woodes himself, taking a musket ball to the face - shattering his jawbone, which he then (allegedly) accidentally swallowed! Nonetheless victorious, Rogers placed the Desengaño (renamed the Bachelor) under the command of Thomas Dover (It would seem that Rogers collected men called Thomas like I collect Pirate Lego…) with Alexander Selkirk as Master of Sail.

A few days later as expected, the far larger galleon; Begoña arrived on the scene. With Rogers injured, his council of ships elects to tackle this second ship without the Duke and though initially staying back, the Duke soon joins in regardless. However, it was too late, they were beaten off and forced to make a retreat. One of Rogers’ commanders would later remark that ‘with the Begoña’s near impenetrable hull, it was more like they were attacking a castle than a ship’. Counting up the tally - Rogers took a further painful injury to his foot, the Duchess lost 20 men, and the Duke; a full store of ammunition. The expedition limped away.

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You Could Have At Least Bought Me Dinner First

On his way home, severely wounded, low on supplies and generally not in a great place, Rogers stopped off at the Dutch port of Batavia in what is now Indonesia to have a musket ball surgically removed from the roof of his mouth, to top up on supplies, and to sell off one of the lesser prize ships in his small fleet; the Increase, to make the return journey simpler.

Unfortunately, from an English legal perspective, this area was under the lawful monopoly of the East India Company (EIC), and Rogers’ unapproved independent trading activity there constituted a major no-no. Any non-essential trade undertaken by Rogers opens him up to the EIC having a legal claim to all the proceeds from his voyage.

When he finally docked back in England on 14th October 1711, a combination of paying compensation to the EIC, paying off his loan plus interest to his Bristol backers, the Crown taking its cut, and finally losing a lawsuit brought about by his crew over unpaid shares, Rogers was only left with about £1,600 in proceeds from the venture (Roughly £300,000 today).

This was both significantly less than he would have made had he simply remained a merchant captain, and more importantly, not enough to pay the cost of his business and private debts incurred whilst he was away. As a result, “National Hero”; Woodes Rogers, ‘the legend who successfully circumnavigated the globe’ was declared bankrupt and briefly imprisoned for not paying his debts… and a year later to add insult to injury his wife left him after their fourth son died in infancy.

What should have been a glorious, if not bittersweet swan song for Rogers was turned into a nightmarish betrayal at the hands of accountants and lawyers.

Divide & Conquer

Alright, alright - I’m getting to the Golden Age of Piracy now. Calm thee sen down! I just wanted to make sure that you understood Rogers’ position. He’s financially taken a massive hit, and frankly, life has kicked him hard in the happy place - but he’s gained a strong national reputation as a man who can deliver, and as a proven sea commander.

In The Republic of Pirates, Colin Woodard describes Rogers as “courageous, selfless, and surprisingly patriotic [and as a man who would empty] his pockets in support of projects he believed would further the public good”. This is perhaps the reason that despite the hardship that befell him at the hands of the English system and life itself, he would restore his standing and fortune with a plan to rid the Caribbean of pirates on behalf of King and country.

Using his considerable fame, influence, and network, Rogers petitions parliament for an opportunity to reestablish the English colony of the Bahamas, placing himself as governor and being granted a share of any profits in exchange for ending the pirate republic at Nassau and reestablishing the fort and garrison to secure the port from the Spanish.

To say that the method he proposes for this raises some eyebrows in court would be an understatement. Rogers wants King George to offer a pardon to all and any pirates in Caribbean. He knows that this will split the pirate community and that any pirates who remain will be severely weakened by their drop in numbers.

It’s approved. Seven ships, 100 soldiers, 130 colonists, a stack of King’s Pardons, supplies, religious pamphlets, three Royal Navy escort vessels and of course - the newly appointed governor of the Bahamas; Woodes Rogers all set sail from England on 22nd April 1718 for the Caribbean.

The Pirates of Nassau had months of warning prior to Rogers turning up, indeed many had already decided which way they were going to land on the matter, and two distinct factions appeared. On one hand, those who sided with Benjamin Hornigold favoured honestly accepting the pardon - having only turned to piracy out of desperation in the first place, whereas those aligned with Charles Vane’s fundamentalist vision of being free men and women preferred to either reject the pardon outright, or accept it dishonestly, and return to a life of piracy as soon as was convenient. In this regard, even though he had not even arrived at the Caribbean yet, Rogers’ plan to split the pirates was already coming to fruition.

Why Nassau Mattered

At the height of the Golden Age of Piracy, Nassau was the closest thing pirates had to a capital. With no strong government, a sheltered harbour, and access to major shipping lanes, it became a haven where pirates could repair ships, recruit crews, and spend their plunder freely.

Whoever controlled this port effectively controlled whether piracy in the Caribbean could thrive or be strangled.

Governor Of The Bahamas

On the 24th July 1718 Woodes Rogers in the Delicia and his company of vessels sailed into the region of Nassau. The Captain of the Rose, Thomas (ofcourse!) Whitney was sent to recon the harbour. There he met a warning shot from one Captain Charles Vane in a captured French Brigantine. Whitney deployed a flag of parley, and approached Vane with some trepidation to demand why he had fired upon His Majesties ships.

Vane’s response was a letter to be delivered to Woodes Rogers, in which he threatened to violently defend himself, unless the King’s Pardon also came with a guarantee that Vane’s ill-gotten gains would not be seized, and that his attempts to fence them off would not be interfered with.

In truth, Vane was only buying time. He was effectively trapped in Nassau’s harbour with his French brig and his loot, and he needed to formulate a plan to escape. At 2am on the morning of the 25th July 1718 Captain Vane’s French Brig was launched towards the English ships blockading the harbour, fully aflame, cannons double-loaded. As the last pirates on board jumped over the side, the Royal Navy was in full panic, crew were being scrambled, anchors hauled, and sails loosed. The Navy ships under Rogers broke ranks to avoid what was essentially a floating bomb making its steady way towards them.

Free to make rapid preparations for departure, Captain Vane was greatly amused several hours later as the Navy returned just in time to witness his escape alongside his crew of some 90 men, and booty in a nimble sloop (according to Colin Woodard) called the Katherine - slipping directly through their fingers.

Despite the escape, Nassau was lost. Rogers took control of the island, repaired the fort, and re-established it as a British military outpost. Pardons were issued. Some, like Benjamin Hornigold, accepted and even turned pirate hunter in service of the Crown.

By 1719, the Pirate Republic was finished, but piracy itself was not.

A handful of key figures still remained at large:

• The defiant and unrepentant Charles Vane

• A newly risen, and already unstable Calico Jack Rackham

• The soon to become infamous Anne Bonny and Mary Read

Woodes Rogers Timeline

1679 | Born in Bristol, son of a merchant captain

Early 1700s | Inherits family business, becomes merchant captain operating out of Caribbean

Aug 1708 | Departs Bristol with William Dampier on privateering excursion, circumnavigating the globe to the Pacific South America to capture a Manila galleon

Feb 1709 | Rescues Alexander Selkirk from Juan Fernández Island. Inspires story of Robinson Crusoe

Dec 1709 | Captures Manila galleon; The Desengaño worth £200,000. Severely injured in battle via gunshot to the face

Dec 1709 | Retreats from combat against Manila galleon; The Begoña and decides to return home

1710 | Makes port at Batavia for facial surgery, and to sell ‘the Increase’ in affront to the monopoly of the East India Company

Oct 1711 | Docks at the Thames, London, England. Is quickly faced with legal disputes, robbing him of the proceeds from his privateering excursion.

1712 - 1713 | Imprisoned for debts, and released

1717 | Makes plans to restore control of Nassau from the grip of the Pirate Republic by issuing King’s Pardons

Apr 1718 | Sets sail for Nassau with retinue of Naval warships and transports

Jul 1718 | Arrives in Nassau, allows Charles Vane to escape, but brings many pirates to heel including Benjamin Hornigold

1719 | Restores fort and garrison at Nassau

Conclusion

For my Pirate Borg campaign, Rogers represents order clawing its way back into a lawless sea, backed by merchants, soldiers, and the Crown. But his victory is incomplete. The pirates who remain are more desperate, more dangerous, and with fewer places left to run.

Hey, thanks for reading - you’re good people. If you’ve enjoyed this, it’d be great if you could share it on your socials - it really helps me out and costs you nothing! If you’re super into it and want to make sure you catch more of my content, subscribe to my free monthly Mailer of Many Things newsletter - it really makes a huge difference, and helps me keep this thing running! If you’ve still got some time to kill, Perhaps I can persuade you to click through below to another one of my other posts?

Catch you laters, alligators.

Who Was Blackbeard? Pirate Borg World Building

By JimmiWazEre

Avast, ye scurvy opinionated tabletop gaming chap

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TL;DR:

Blackbeard’s career lasted barely two years, but in that time he captured a slave ship, blockaded Charleston, outplayed governors, accepted a royal pardon, and died in a last stand at Ocracoke.

Introduction

I’ve bitten the bullet and and I’ve agreed to run a couple of one shots for Pirate Borg. One’s for my regular group, and the other is a group of people I met in a local online community. This is all well and good, but it got me thinking more about Pirate Borg lore.

Not a problem, when it comes to thinking about things - pirates are definitely up there for me as hot property.

So in this post I’m going to cover the known real history of Blackbeard, complete with some reasonable assumptions. Next time, I’ll take that timeline and append my Pirate Borg nonsense to it so you can see how this all fits in with the Dark Caribbean setting.

Enjoy.

The Real History of Blackbeard

Surprisingly, there’s not actually much known about the life of Blackbeard, and much of his early life is genuinely unknown, whilst that which is well documented only covers his brief but legendary career during the golden age of piracy.

Early, And Somewhat Sketchy ‘Facts’

Real Name

The first question we have to ask is who actually was this dude? Well, based on surviving legal documents, maritime reports, and inter-colony correspondences; Blackbeard’s actual name was Edward Thatch. Or maybe Edward Teach. (Or maybe Barry).

Hang on Jimmi, we’ve only just started - why are we uncertain already? Well chum, because we don’t actually have any recorded signature from Blackbeard, and all the records are from some third party writing about him, and he didn’t exactly go around the place signing up for membership cards and leaving a nice first hand paper trail for us. Rather, he’d have introduced himself verbally. Probably whilst on the deck of a ship on a windy day with some juicily broad South Western British accent, delivered to people who were far too terrified to be paying too much attention to detail.

Under those circumstances it’d be easy for someone to mishear his name. Not to mention that the common sailors he’d have been talking to were unlikely to speak English fluently, or be literate. And then even, the semi literate ones who did hear his name correctly, and could understand him - there’s every chance that they wrote his name out phonetically, and spelled it wrong, or that the reporting Clerks did so later on after hearing weeks old verbal accounts.

And it gets even more unreliable, I’m afraid. Typically Pirates don’t give away their real names because they didn’t want to bring trouble for Mummy and Daddy Blackbeard back at home. So both Thatch and Teach - it’s entirely possible that Blackbeard used them both as aliases, and maybe his real name was Barry. But - I don’t like that. It’s a dead end. So to sound informed, I’ll just acknowledge that it’s a possibility, and then move forward with the historical best guesses. ‘Blackbeard’ was already his alias, and it was cooler than a penguin’s arse - he didn’t need any more.

Place of Birth

In a 1724 book called “A General History of the Pyrates” is published by someone calling themselves ‘Captain Charles Johnson’. Alas, this was a pen name, and the real author’s name is again, hotly debated. Anyway, the book profiles various 18th century pirates, including Blackbeard, and it names him as being from the major Atlantic port town of Bristol, UK. If we skip forwards to today, historians have found records of the surname “Thatch” appearing in British parish records around 1680. “Teach” is nowhere to be seen.

This all fits: the name, and a link to a maritime location. Then the date; circa 1680 puts him around his thirties and forties which is reasonable. I’m happy so far.

Pre-Piracy Career

This part is almost entirely speculative. You see, Blackbeard was renowned as a skilled pirate. That’s a command of sailing, of combat, and psychological intimidation. It therefore makes sense that he picked these skills up somewhere in advance of his piracy career, and the most obvious place to do so would have been through operating as a Caribbean privateer in the era 1701 - 1714.

Privateers were seamen operating with the explicit written permission of the state to do pirate things, as long as they were only acting against the state’s enemies. At this time, that was the Spanish and the French as a result of the War of Spanish Succession.

Interestingly though, we’ve got two ingredients for our next piece of educated speculation. The first: Blackbeard was a skilled pirate - as above, and the second: “Edward Thatch/Teach” is not mentioned in any records as being a captain on any privateering expedition. If he was a captain, he absolutely would have been mentioned because these are official letters of marque.

Logically then, if we accept that he indeed gained his seamanship experience as a privateer sometime between 1701 and 1714 - that then likely places him as mid-tier crew. Senior enough to get command and tactical experience, but not senior enough for anyone to write his name down.

It’s Piracy Time!

Mentorship under Benjamin Hornigold

In 1716, A General History of Pyrates places Blackbeard in the ex-British port town of Nassau, New Providence (our first real solid historical record of Mr. B.Beard actually). There he serves under the legendary pirate captain; Benjamin Hornigold who obviously sees enough in him to eventually bequeath him command of a small sloop by the start of 1717.

The name of the sloop is lost to history, and Blackbeard’s role as captain here is still subordinate to Hornigold, whom you might consider to be a pirate admiral at this stage. However, the partnership was fruitful and they captured ships off Cuba, Hispaniola, and the Bahamas trade routes.

Given he was in command of a sloop, we can deduce that Blackbeard’s role in these escapades was to utilise the speed of his vessel for intercepting lightly armed ships and taking shock-style boarding actions rather than trading broadside cannon fire. An active raider, if you like - rather than a commanding overseer.

Glorious Piratey Independence

By mid 1717 however, Hornigold is starting to lose the confidence of his crew. You see, Hornigold would describe himself as a British patriot, and as such, refused to engage against British vessels. His crew though, they were distinctly less picky and eager to crack on, and this friction was starting to show. In fact Hornigold’s waning authority might have been a key factor in Blackbeard’s bold move that came next. In November 1717 Blackbeard (still in his sloop, but probably with additional ships in tow) intercepted a large French slave ship off the coast of Martinique called La Concorde.

Now, La Concorde was chonky my dudes. ‘Baby got back’. 200+ tons of it in fact, and built for Atlantic crossings. Indeed, on this occasion it was at the tail end of such a voyage and was carrying West African slaves to Martinique. It was heavily crewed, but was by no means a ship kitted out for war.

According to French reports, the crew was already weakened by dysentery and fever and were probably very much looking forward to making port soon. That’s when Blackbeard took chase. With his nimbler sloop he was able to close the distance rapidly.

There ensued a brief engagement which involved limited cannon fire and musket volleys. La Concorde was not heavily armed at all, and the reports indicate that the French Captain, Pierre Dosset surrendered quickly, which is a testament to Blackbeard’s famously intimidating tactics.

The Queen Anne’s Revenge

Alrighty - now we’re cooking! Blackbeard claimed La Concorde for himself, and fitted it out with forty cannon to make it one of the beefiest pirate ships of the era. This thing was a major escalation in power projection for him, and enabled him to take on larger merchant vessels.

He chose to rename La Concorde to Queen Anne’s Revenge (QAR), and as is sadly typical by now - we don’t have concrete proof as to why. Though we can infer it; Queen Anne was the British Monarch from 1702 - 1714, and her reign ending coincided with the end of privateering work which was something of a sore spot for many pirates, as it fundamentally took their jobs away and forced them into true crime. It’s likely that the name ‘Queen Anne’s Revenge’ was both a nostalgic nod to those privateering years and likely an ‘up yours’ to King George the 1st, the first British monarch from the controversial house of Hanover.

Needless to say, we’ve entered the period now where Blackbeard is gaining fame and fortune, using his pirate armada to terrorise the Caribbean seas. Tactically speaking, Blackbeard wasn’t known to be gratuitously murderous, but rather he carefully cultivated an image and reputation of terror. Preferring his prey to voluntarily give up without a fight out of sheer terror, than to put himself at unnecessary risk. Having a massive ship that everyone’s scared of certainly helps in that regard!

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Peak Piracy

The Charleston Blockade

On 22nd May 1718 Blackbeard pulls off his most daring move to date. Aware that there’s no navy presence in the vicinity, Blackbeard takes the QAR alongside 3 other ships and probably more than 200 men, and parks them outside the harbour at Charleston, South Carolina. Over the next week he proceeds to capture around 10 vessels, and stop all incoming and outgoing traffic. The ships he caught were stripped of all valuables, including prominent passengers such as members of the provincial council, and well connected colonists.

He then issues a demand to Governor Robert Johnson. Not for gold, not for crew, weapons, or more ships. No, Blackbeard demands a chest of medical supplies. You see the Caribbean in the 18th century was a hotbed of disease, and nowhere more so than the tight confines of a boat - dysentery, syphilis, fever, all manner of tropical diseases and Blackbeard is not immune to this.

Unfortunately for Johnson, he’s got no real choice but to comply - the blockade is causing severe economic damage and political embarrassment. Isolated, and with the British Navy stretched too thin, he’s in no position to address the situation militarily. Consequently, the demands are met and the chest is dispatched. Blackbeard disburdens them of their valuables, then releases the last of his hostages and peacefully sails away having metaphorically pulled Johnson’s pants down, and blown a raspberry at him for all to see.

The End Times

The King’s Pardon

Not long after Charleston, in June 1718 at Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina - Blackbeard heads to shore to careen his ships. Unfortunately, or maybe intentionally, he manages to run both QAR and one of his support sloops called The Adventure aground against a sandbar.

The incident is fatal to QAR, the main sail is cracked, and many timbers are shattered. In response, he transfers all valuables onto a smaller vessel and leaves the scene - abandoning both the wreckage and a large proportion of his crew behind.

There is some debate about whether this was intentional. Whilst blockading Charleston, Blackbeard learns that the British have dispatched a fleet of man-o-war led by Woodes Rogers to deal with the pirate problem in the Caribbean, and not only does the QAR draw unwanted attention, it’s no match for the might of the British Navy. In addition to this, evidence suggests that the QAR was severely damaged prior to the grounding, and in combination with having a massive crew to upkeep and share spoils with, Blackbeard may have decided it was best to kill two birds with one stone and simply abandon them.

Whatever the cause of the grounding, not long after and having heard that the King’s Pardon was being offered to all pirates who surrendered before the 5th September 1718, Blackbeard and his collaborator Stede Bonnet decide that this is probably a good time to bow out. Of course, Bonnet is sent first alone to North Carolina’s Governor Charles Eden, so that Blackbeard can be satisfied that the offer is genuine!

Indeed it is, and both pirates take the King’s Pardon and vow to end their piratical ways. And Blackbeard does, for a couple of months at least. He settled in a town called Bath, and generally plodded around the place for July and August, before Governor Eden presented Blackbeard with a letter of marque granting him the right to take up privateering again in his remaining sloop; Adventure. Shortly after that, temptation must have proved too great as Blackbeard is right back at it.

Death At Ocracoke

The Governor of Virginia is a fellow called Alexander Spotswood, and he is most dischuffed that Governor Eden has granted Blackbeard his pardon, believing that the freebooter is taking liberties. Indeed, this dischuffedness is further compounded when he learns that Blackbeard has moored up off Ocracoke island, North Carolina and taken to partying with well known pirates such as Charles Vane with absolute impunity.

Spotswood decides to take matters into his own hands, and personally finances two sloops (Jane and Ranger) lead by Lieutenant Robert Maynard to bring Blackbeard to justice. They find him anchored on the inner side of Ocracoke, only 25 men carousing aboard the Adventure and decide to remain hidden, waiting until morning when they could take advantage of the pirates inevitable hungover state, and better navigate the shallows in the daylight.

At daybreak on 22nd November 1718, Maynard struck! Not for nought though was Blackbeard the most reputed pirate of his time, and after a devastating broadside from the Adventure, Maynard had lost a third of his forces.

Now, in poker there’s a phrase “You have to play the hand you’re dealt” and Maynard did this brilliantly here. He orders his remaining men to split, a handful remain with him up top and the remainder hide below deck to give Blackbeard the impression that there’s few remaining. The pirate takes the bait! He boards the Jane and engages against Maynard’s visible crew in hand to hand combat. At this time, the hidden crew below deck burst forwards and surround Blackbeard’s men, and a bloody battle ensues.

It is reported that Blackbeard took 20 cuts from bladed weapons, and 5 wounds from small arms fire before he eventually fell. Maybe he felt that he needed to make sure then, as Maynard decapitated his corpse and cast Blackbeard’s headless body into the sea. The head was then strung up on display as he made sail back to Virginia where it then found a new home atop a pike at Chesapeake Bay to act as a warning to other pirates.

Sometime later it was removed, and history has forgotten where it ended up.

Blackbeard Timeline

circa 1680 | Born in Bristol as Edward Thatch

circa 1701-1714 | Suspected Caribbean privateering

Late 1716 | First recorded piracy as mentee under Benjamin Hornigold

Nov 1717 | Captures La Concorde and renames her Queen Anne’s Revenge

1717 - 1718 | Generally kicks ass and takes names

May 1718 | Blockade at Charleston

Jun 1718 | Loses Queen Anne’s Revenge running aground at Beaufort inlet

Mid 1718 | Accepts Kings Pardon from Governor Eden

Jul - Aug 1718 | Plans return to piracy

Nov 1718 | Slain at Ocracoke Island by Robert Maynard

Conclusion

What a dude! It’s amazing how he became the world’s most famous pirate, even to this day whilst only really operating for about two years. If any of you are history buffs, feel free to comment below anything you think that I’ve missed or got wrong. I promise I’ll read them all.

Also whilst I’ve got you, I want to apologise for the delay in posts at the minute. My laptop broke in January and I’m battling the retailer to accept responsibility for it, so I’m sharing a PC with Mrs. WazEre. Additionally, I’ve managed to pick up a nasty disease which has knocked me out a bit. But all’s being well, I’m hoping to compliment this piece soon with my own fiction regarding how I’m baking Blackbeard into my Pirate Borg world building.

Hey, thanks for reading - you’re good people. If you’ve enjoyed this, it’d be great if you could share it on your socials - it really helps me out and costs you nothing! If you’re super into it and want to make sure you catch more of my content, subscribe to my free monthly Mailer of Many Things newsletter - it really makes a huge difference, and helps me keep this thing running! If you’ve still got some time to kill, Perhaps I can persuade you to click through below to another one of my other posts?

Catch you laters, alligators.

How I’m Laying The Foundations Of A Great Pirate Borg Campaign

By JimmiWazEre

Closeted Pirate. With many opinions on tabletop games.

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TL/DR:

Pirate Borg grabbed me like a sea curse and hasn’t let go. Here’s a look at how I’m preparing my first campaign

Why Pirate Borg?

I picked up Pirate Borg (PB) on a whim after seeing a few favourable reviews on YouTube, I was out of town and in a LGS and there it was. It’d have been rude not to. Scanning through it on the train journey home I was really pulled in with it’s evocative vibes and rules-lite grounding. I was reminded of the old Monkey Island games I used to play on the Amiga.

It’s consumed me! I’ve gone in deep down the special interest hole, consuming every piece of quality pirate content I can find:

• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (the rest are varying degrees of beautiful garbage - fight me!)

• Black Sails on Netflix

• The Lost Pirate Kingdom (a short docu-drama series on Netflix)

• The Pirate History Podcast on Spotify

• Real Pirates Podcast on Spotify

• The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard

• On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers

• Countless YouTube videos on the differences between Sloops, Brigs, and Frigates - fore and aft sails vs square rigged sails, how they work. What a “Jib” is. Blackbeard, Benjamin Hornigold, Black Sam Bellamy, Charles Vane. The list goes on, and I love it all!

I especially love the idea of taking all that and then smushing it with other cool things like: the legend of Atlantis, El Dorado, Voodou, Necromancy, Cultists & Cosmic Horror, the Bermuda Triangle & mother trucking big assed beefy sharks! Anachronisms be damned!

Awesome. I have a very good feeling about this!

Structure & World Building

I’ve just finished running the Lost Mines of Phandelver (my thoughts on that will be up soon) and one of my players, Chris, is going to be taking up the GM mantle again in November to run us through Curse of Strahd. This gives us just a couple of months of palette cleansing time, so I’m thinking that sandbox style campaign is the way to go. Fortunately, PB seems to have been built with that in mind.

The developer, Limithron has provided a free campaign hex map of the “Dark Caribbean” and alongside the multitude of official and third party modules, this means that you can just feed the players rumours for one of these modules, and then drop it in as an adventure site in one of the hexes. That’s exactly how I’m doing it anyway.

The Dark Caribbean Campaign Map

Here’s one of the official maps that I’ve relabelled to be player facing, and drawn shipping lanes all over it so that players can make informed decisions about where the best pirating might be found. The GM version of this contains spoilers so I won’t be posting it here, but it’s basically this with a load of adventure sites keyed in.

Campaign Setting

PB comes with a framework of fictional history for you to work with. For my campaign, I’ve taken this and built upon it, whislt still keeping it fairly abridged. There’s a version that’s GM facing, containing facts for the players to maybe find out if they’re interested, and there’s also a common knowledge version (below) that the players will have access to from the start.

Known Facts

It is end of the beginning of the 18th Century. The so called ‘Golden Age of Piracy’ is almost over.

As foretold by the Voodou shamans - the dead have risen. Sailors and settlers vanish. Graves are empty. Ships return crewed by corpses.

A strange white powder called ASH is the most valuable substance in the region. Some use it as a drug, others for occult rituals. It's the main reason anyone still braves the Caribbean, and it’s harvested from the burnt remains of the undead.

The sea has opened up a yawning abyss South West of Cuba, darkening the sky above and inspiring terror throughout the region.

The pirate republic of Nassau still holds out, but barely. It’s one of the last ports free from colonial authority.

Familiar Rumours

An Old Stone Church in Havana is ruled by fanatics. They chant to a “Deep God” and claim death is not the end.

The mythical city of Atlantis has risen in shattered pieces from the Bermuda Triangle. Relics from its ruins fetch a fortune, and many who seek them go mad.

Additionally, strange golden artefacts have found their way to market, which the antiquarians have traced to the lost city of El Dorado.

Blackbeard; the legendary pirate of Nassau was thought dead - killed by the British Navy. But somehow, he’s returned. He is changed; undead, terrible, and now commands a fleet of the dead laying waste to everyone in their way.

Sailors whisper of a lone tribal figure, seen in jungles or cliffside ruins, never speaking, never ageing. His arrival always precedes catastrophe.

Conclusion

So there we go. If you’re one of my prospective players - I hope this tickles your pickle. If you’ve just stumbled upon this, I hope you can find inspiration in some of this.

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