The Pirates of Drinax - Free Adventure

[MongooseMatt]

The epic (and free!) Pirates of Drinax campaign for Traveller continues with the release of the 5th advanture, The Treasure of Sindal.

In The Pirates of Drinax, the players play a band of adventures who are entrusted by the King of Drinax with a letter of marque, permitting them to prey on 'illegal' trade within the borders of the vanished kingdom. The King hopes that this piracy will give him the leverage he needs to restore Drinax to its former glory, and intends for the characters to win back all the planets lost over the last two centuries – but the King's plans are just the starting point for this campaign.

Once the characters have their letter and their ship, it's up to the players for what to do next. Will they stay loyal to their patron and help restore Drinax? Will they turn rogue and create their own kingdom? Will they be heroes or monsters, pirates or privateers? Will they make their fortune amid the pitiless stars, or will the cold depths of the Trojan Reach be their grave?

You can find the Pirates of Drinax camapign here;

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/r...mpaigns/campaign-2-the-pirates-of-drinax.html

 

[rancke]

In The Pirates of Drinax, the players play a band of adventures who are entrusted by the King of Drinax with a letter of marque, permitting them to prey on 'illegal' trade within the borders of the vanished kingdom. The King hopes that this piracy will give him the leverage he needs to restore Drinax to its former glory, and intends for the characters to win back all the planets lost over the last two centuries – but the King's plans are just the starting point for this campaign.

So the King of Drinax has signed his name to a document that won't actually protect his people (which is usually the point of a letter of marque), but will prove that he is behind pirate activity. That's not only Grade A blackmail material, but it also saves any Imperial patrol that happens to capture the pirates the bother of interrogating them to find out who their backers are and where they can be found by an Imperial task force.

And why would Drinax the single world turning into Drinax the petty pocket empire retroactively redeem the pirates? Politically there's no difference between a single world and a pocket empire. For a letter of marque to be valid, the issuing power has to be at war with the power whose ships it permits the holder to attack[*], and single world or pocket empire, the letter of marque is going to be invalid.

[*] And isn't that a nice political gift to hand the Imperium; it doesn't even have to bear the onus of interfering in the Buffer Zone when it goes to change Drinax' government; it can argue that it is already at war with Drinax.​

Hans

 

[jcbeckman]

Can't "buy" it as, being free, no payment option is presented - but then you get an error because you didn't pick a method!

 

[rancke]

Can't "buy" it as, being free, no payment option is presented - but then you get an error because you didn't pick a method!

Just click on the links. That will automatically download the files (After you confirm).


Hans

 

[jcbeckman]

Thanks, I saw the big "add to cart" button and didn't look below.

 

[Mytholder]

The letter of marque's a secret until the new Kingdom is established, hence it'll only be applied retroactively. The establishment of the renewed Kingdom matters because all the 'piracy' is supposed to take place within the bounds of the old Kingdom, making it 'his' space.

And in any event, it's really just a legal gloss on him trying to pressure a bunch of neighbouring worlds into joining a new pocket empire. In a hundred years time, when the historians write about the glorious new dawn, writing "the king dispatched a noble band of privateers to harry the invading foe' sounds much better than "the king handed a salvaged starship over to a bunch of random cutthroats in exchange for a cut of the loot."

 

[rancke]

The letter of marque's a secret until the new Kingdom is established, hence it'll only be applied retroactively. The establishment of the renewed Kingdom matters because all the 'piracy' is supposed to take place within the bounds of the old Kingdom, making it 'his' space.

And can the King be reasonably sure that the pirates won't try to use the letter of marque to save their lives if they're caught? No, he can not. Even if it probably won't work, they'll still try it because when you're desperate, you'll grasp at any straw. And the reestablishment of the Kingdom won't matter at all the the Imperium, because letters of marque are only valid if the issuing power is at war with the power to which the ships the privateers prey on belong. As for the piracy taking place in 'his' space, what does that matter? It's still piracy.

And in any event, it's really just a legal gloss on him trying to pressure a bunch of neighbouring worlds into joining a new pocket empire.

Yes, but it's legal gloss that is deadly dangerous to him and no conceivably use to the PCs.


Hans

 

[Mytholder]

It is dangerous to him, but that makes it a gesture of trust towards the player characters. The King's thrown his lot - and the fate of Drinax - in with them. It is, objectively, a stupid gamble, but that's beside the point. He's conspiring with them; they're all in it together.

He could do without the Letter, but he'd still be in trouble if the PCs got captured by the Imperium. (They could equally bargain for their lives by offering information about their sponsor if the Letter didn't exist.) Giving them the Letter raises his risk, but it's not the only thing that ties him to the PC's piratical activities.

As for the legal status of the Letter - it's not supposed to protect the PCs from Imperial law, it's to protect them from Drinaxian law. It'll pardon them when the Kingdom's restored. They'll still be pirates in the eyes of the Imperium, but if the plan works, they'll be able to retire as nobles in the new Kingdom.