Magic & Piracy! Last update 20th August 2001

I had to think abit about whether or not to include magic in this game, but the lure of voodoo, jinxes and bad omens was too great to ignore in a setting such as this. And besides, it would leave no scope for voodoo ships or ghost ships.

Magic in the Piracy! context has 3 parts - voodoo, jinxes, and witchcraft. The church has no power in this game, except political power, or removing jinxes.

Voodoo

Voodoo Priests. Priests are Caribbean natives skilled in the lore of Dark Magic. They are not common at all, and their interaction with sailors is very rare unless pirates disturb their villages, or someone makes a really bad drinking skill role when carousing. For the purpose of the game they generally cast jinxes on errant pirates. The priests ranks are detailed under the Voodoo Section. Some voodoo spells take many days to complete and are hence outside the context of the combat side of the game. The campaign side may see some of these spells come into affect, so they shall also be listed. Voodoo priests cannot remove jinxes cast by witches, but can remove them if they are cast by other voodoo priests, or occured via osmosis.

Voodoo Spells

• Zombie: By means of this spell, the voodoo priest raises two zombies from the dead, or converts two prisoners into zombies. Voodoo priest ship captains use only converted prisoners. It's their form of subtle irony. It takes a full night from dusk till dawn to raise the two zombies, and can only be done if fresh bodies or prisoners are available. For effect, it ususlly requires a good bonfire and a circle of chanting natives, but this is not critical. If the priest is killed, the captured prisoner zombie will return to normal consciousness in 24 hours. The dead body raised zombie will fall back to lifelessness immediately.
• Cloud of Darkness: By means of this spell, the voodoo priest causes local conditions to dim to such an extent that any targeting rolls are at -2 skill ranks. This applies to cannon, musket and bow fire, and also to any lookout skills. It is especially useful when the priest faces opponents armed with ranges weapons, or when needing to remain hidden or obscured.

Jinxes

What are they? Jinxes are superstitions or curses which affect a ship or a crewman. They may impair their skills in some way, or force a certain outcome in specific situations. They are also the only way a person may gain skills they do not normally have.

How do you get a jinx? Jinxes may come about in two ways. They may be cast upon a ship or crew by a voodoo priest or witch, which would be specified in a scenario, they may come attached to an object, such as a shrine, gold mask, or as defined in a scenario, or they may attach to a ship by gradual circumstances [osmosis]. Picking up a jinx by osmosis is at the referee's discretion. It applies when a ship or crewman performs consistently badly i.e. 3 times in a row. For example, Captain Penelope Pitstop, on her fine ship Pinkerton, likes hiding in fog banks to rush out on unsuspecting prey. However, on the last three occassions she has tried the tactic, she has been spotted remarkably easily (the three opposing lookouts all rolled excceptionally well). Therefore, to add character to the Pinkerton, she is jinxed with 'Jinx of the Beacon' ie - all observations on her by a lookout are at +2 skill ranks, even by a landlubber who would have a skill rank of 2. In this case, the jinx applies to the whole ship, so replacing some crewman will have no effect. The jinx must be removed by a spell, or it must be removed by reverse osmosis. ie The Pinkerton continues with her fog bank tactic, and the next three targets lookouts roll so badly the captains later suspected they were drunk or in league with the pirates. This reverse osmosis breaks the jinx. Remember, it must take three very bad rolls in a row to break the jinx. This does not mean just three failed rolls. A referee, at their discretion, may modify this to highlight the general enjoyment of the game.

What sort of Jinxes are there? Jinxes will apply to either ship or a specific crewman. A castor that specifies the whole crew of a ship will instead be jinxing the ship, so that the crew can offload the boat and jinx on another captain. Castors will generally only vaguely jinx a person or ship, so that it is possible any number of jinxes could result. These are determined from the jinx table below.

How do I get rid of it? Jinxes may be removed by appeasing the castor of a jinx or defeating the jinx, or having the jinx exhorcised. The payment a castor will demand to remove the jionx is at the referees discretions, an dwould probably form a good basis for a scenario. Killing the castor of a jinx will not remove it, but will randomly reduce or enhace its effects. 50 % either way, enhanced effects means current jinx is tripled in effect (don't mess with magic). Defeating a jinx is the same as standing up to your fears. It can be a grueling and tedious experience, especially if it affects the ships itself. Jinxed crewmen can always be tossed overboard or sent for land duty. On pirate ships you can be vote the unlucky sailor off quickly at the next port, but can your ship stand losing it's gun captain or surgeon? Merchant and naval vessels have no option but to deal with the victim. Merchant captains of a shady disposition may either buy the crewman off with a payment, or accidentally leave them behind at port. This accident means the captain will lose one recruting skill rank (if this means skill rank zero, the captain cannot recruit at all - jinxes are real bad). Removing a jinx on a complete ship can only be done by exhorcism, appeasing the jinx castor, or reverse osmosis, or changing to a new ship altogether. The castor of a jinx may remove the jinx anytime they so choose. If the castor of a jinx is forced to remove the jinx, it cannot be done. The best the castor can hope for is the jinx will abate for a time until the castor is in a safer place. There is no way for a ship and its captain to know the jinx is indeed removed until that particular skill is put to the test in a real life situation. Items that re jinxed such as native gold statues and such may not have the jinx exhorcised. The jinx can only be passed onto others along with the item.

The Jinx Table

Jinx	Ship Or Crewman	Game Effect
Albatross	ship or crew	Any skill is at -2, basically meaning the ship or crewman is a serious liability for operations on the sea.
Bat	crewman - master gunner, marine, captain or lookout	Any roll involving looking at something, ie targetting, spotting ships, etc is at -2 ranks
Chicken	ship or crewman	Any morale roll is -10% to -20%
Donkey	crewman	Any leadership role is at -20% to -40%
Sloth	crewman	Tasks take 10% to 20% longer
Parrot	crewman	Any morale or leadership roll is at -10%
Berserker	crewman	Any leadership check is at -20%, morale is at +40%. Crewman will not stop combat until there are no enemies visible.
Tree	crewman	Leadership rolls are at -30%, and in battle crewman will need to pass a leadership roll before doing any action, including self defence.
Blurry Eyes	crewman or ship	Any cannon or musket action is at -2 ranks
Leper	crewman or ship	Any recruiting rolls are done at -20% and morale of recruted sailors is at -5%
Fool	crewman	Any carousing is done at -20% and length of carousal is extended by 20%
Beacon	crewman or ship	Anyone looking for you, or other ships at sea have a +2 lookout skill ranks when looking at you, even at night
Lightning rod	crewman or ship	weather rolls are at -5%
Dorothy & Toto	crewman or ship	weather rolls are at -25%
Zombie	crewman	all rolls are at -20% and take 30% longer
Dizzy	ship or navigator	all navigation rolls are at -10%
Gomez	crewman	Any orders to break contact with the current opponent will be ignored. Bad news if the captain gets this one.
Skunk Foot	captain or ship	Every time the ship puts into port the town makes a recruiting roll to see how many sailors have left your ship.
Quetzelcoatl's Assassin	ship or captain	The ship or captain has become associated with an evil story regarding the murder of the god Quetzelcoatl. If you are anywhere near a native of the Caribbean or South America, they are automatically hostile.
Elastic Band	ship	When a ship changes speed, it takes 2 rounds for the effect to start, and when it starts, the ship goes twice as fast for two rounds before it drops back to the correct speed. This is a mixed blessing jinx. It may have uses.

Witchcraft

Casting spells is not only restricted to voodoo priests. Lurking in the small colonies of the Caribbean are witches from Europe, who have fled to the Caribbean for peace. Your crew will generally only encounter them in isolated incidents, when they may perchance be carousing in town, or when they are ransacking a town. Generally witches will cast spells on specific crewmen, unless the crew has a reputation such that their ship is renowned along with them, and the witch has the chance to curse the lot of them. There will be difficulty in removing witches jinxes because you will rarely know who the witch is that you have upset.

On rare occassions you may be able to track down a witch for hire in very tiny obscure havens. The church is quite vigorous in pursuing these women, and they will generally never be found any where near a church. This may form a good basis for a scenario. Witches cannot exorcise jinxes by voodoo priests, but may remove jinxes cast by other witches or those that have occured via osmosis.

Witches can also sell small potions which aid in the carousing process. These covers such things as potions of love etc. They come in four types, potions of drinking, gambling, recruiting and wenching. They cost respectively 50, 150, 100 and 20 pound each. The witch will only possess and sell one potion at a time. The type will be determined by the captain wishing to buy. Irrespective of what type, the vagaries of fate are such that a captain may never have more than one of these potions at a time.

Witches have no skills what so ever, and should they somehow be engaged in a combat they cannot get out of, treat them as general land lubbers.

The witches only response to intrusion are spells and jinxes. They may cast a jinx anytime they so desire, but may only cast one in relation to a ship at a time. i.e. A witch jinxes the gunnery captain because he made improper advances toward her black cat. Later on, the witch discovers that the captain from the gunner's ship rolled so poorly in his wenching skill that the cat again was involved. She then jinxes him, effectively removing the jinx from the gunner. If she knew the two sailors were from the same ship, she could have jinxed the ship rather than the captain.

Witch Spells

• Charm: By means of this skill, the witch charms a specific crewman. She may only charm one person at a time. The victim is allowed a luck roll once only to escape the spell. Captains are allowed a luck roll once a month if in the witches captivity, or if the witch sends him on a mission, once half way through the mission, and once at the end irrespective of th etime frame, and then monthly again while back in captivity.
• Sleep: By means of this spell, the witch causes upto 6 people in the vacinity of the target to be rendered asleep for a minimum of one hour. Roll 1d6 for the number affected. A luck roll is needed by each victim to escape the effects.
• Circe: By means of this spell, the witch causes a complete ships crew to fall under her spell and never wish to leave her side. The crew are basically charmed and will defend the witch fiercely. Only the captain is allowed a luck skill roll to escape this spell. The only way the captain may reverse the spell is by recruiting the witch, or his crew, startig with senior officers first, then the crewmen. If she is successfully recruited, the witch will release the men and give the captain any one favour he desires in her power, plus a free wenching skill roll at +20% and the captain also gains one reputation point. The rest of the crew gain a drinking skill roll at +10%.