Buccaneer: Through Hell & High Water

Arr!!!

As most Savage Worlds fans already know, yesterday saw the launch of the Kickstarter for Buccaneer: Through Hell & High Water, a pirates ‘n’ horror setting from Fabled Environments (publishers of Olympus, Inc.) and Yellow Piece Games (Brett Weihing and the minds behind the SavageCast podcast, Chris Fuchs and Chris Landauer). I’ve written about and for Olympus, Inc., so I’m admittedly biased, but Buccaneer: Through Hell & High Water sounds plenty interesting on its own.

From the Kickstarter site:

When the people of the Caribbean could no longer bear the yoke of oppression, they turned to an ancient power that their ancestors had venerated for many generations. The spirits heard their cries and granted the people the ability to manifest miraculous powers that they could wield against their oppressors.

However, this came with a steep price. The bond between the earth and the underworld was weakened and fissure opened in the sea floor. From this portal poured unspeakable horrors and an unholy substance that people simply called Ichor.

As the Ichor congealed, it formed an island chain called the High Water Islands, home to horrific creatures of legend. In our world, the buccaneer is king and their kingdom is the sea, but evil nips at their heels. 
The campaign promises ship customization rules (I’m told by Charles White of Fabled Environments that these essentially turn ships into characters in their own right), “a novel encounter mechanic to capture swashbuckling chaos,” and the usual array of new Edges and Hindrances. As of this writing, they’ve already raised over $5,800 of their $7,000 base goal – in one day! – so maybe they’ll hit their $12,000 stretch goal to commission some one-sheet adventures and remember that one of the authors of the next series of Savage Rifts® books is a huge pirate fan who has written extensively about the genre on his popular blog.

(I’m kidding.)

(No, I'm not.)

(Yes, I am.)

I’m still debating how much I want to contribute (I have yet to back Eli Kurtz’s Blackwood Errantry Codex for that matter, and I’m a huge fan of wuxia and German folklore), so it will probably be a few days before I join the roll of backers. Buccaneer: Through Hell & High Water sounds really intriguing; I see elements I liked from Green Ronin’s Skull & Bones and John Arendt’s “goblins of the Spanish Main” in the concept, and I remain a huge fan of Pinnacle’s Pirates of the Spanish Main RPG. The campaign has more than a month to run, so hopefully it will prove very successful and give Savage Worlds fans a new swashbuckling setting to play in.