Pirates of the Spanish Main Session Report 1

The first Pirates of the Spanish Main session that I ran several months back was a pretty direct use of the One Sheet Adventure "Smuggler's Song."  The characters were Nana, Elias, Gunter, and Kit.

Highlights

• Since all the players chose landlubbers, I was happy I chose to include a GM PC in the mix.  Gunter's player objected that I would abuse my power.  Seriously, dude, you've known me for twenty years and gamed with me for six months and you really think I'm going to do that?  I'm 38!  I've grown up!  And none of your PCs even knew how to row the boat ashore!
• Elias cased Father Theodore's place for valuables while Gunter mocked Caribbean society.  Hey!  I just noticed Chris Williams invoked using Fatigue to emulate drunkenness.  Why isn't this a regular part of the rules?
• The landing party planned to go to Lady Elaine's place next, but were spotted by the watch.  Nana and Elias hid in the dark but Kit (who was carrying all the contraband) and Gunter were spotted.  Gunter played on his courtly airs to bluff the watch into accompanying them for safety's sake -- but did so with an insulting tirade against the English in general and Kit in particular in which he complained of Kit having to stay at a low-class inn.  The sergeant of the watch naturally accompanied them back to the docks, instead of uptown to Lady Elaine's place.
     
• The frustrated pirates then decided they'd just stay near the docks and handle the other two deliveries first.  They took care of Mr. Reilly first, using the tried and true "start a barfight" maneuver.  Nana knocked a couple of people out with "Rurouni Kenshin"-style sword-hilt-to-the-diaphragm punches, Gunter had to be persuaded to not draw a sword (because that would have turned a barfight into a massacre and alerted the guards), and Kit (whom I gave Davenport's Academy just so he could be useful in a barfight) managed to not land a single punch.  And people were worried about me cheating.

• Nana came up with a brilliant way to get the money from Dick Wilkins: she demanded it from the lowlife who'd just won it from him.  I decided the lowlife in question was a Veteran Pirate, things quickly escalated into a duel, and Nana cut him in half with her katana.  (That did not summon the watch, because it was a one-on-one duel with witnesses -- and it was a waterside dive; they expect nightly murders.)  Gunter, unfortunately, took this moment to mouth off about commoners again, so one of the late pirate's mates challenged him to a duel.  And won.  (I roll in the open so that nobody can accuse me of fudging the dice for my wife.)  Gunter was dead at the hands of an Extra.

• The landing party finally reached Lady Elaine's place.  Kit stayed outside to keep an eye out for the watch (and let the players do the role-playing).  I belatedly remembered that Pirates of the Spanish Main uses the "Heroes Never Die" setting rule, so Gunter was merely unconscious; Reilly had joined the pirates earlier, so I let Gunter's player run him instead.  Since Lady Elaine refused to treat with Nana as a fellow gentlewoman, Elias saved the day by letting the lady keep the damned dresses but slipping her diamond rings from her fingers unnoticed.

• Their captain was insulted by Lady Elaine's behavior, so they sailed past her plantation on the way out to sea and fired on it.