Any good Pirate RPGs?

[deuxhero]

On proper RPGs, I think Savage World's 50 Fathoms is a very good setting worth shilling. It's immediately imagination capturing in premise (human sailors from 1400 to 1815 have been dragged to a flooded alien world with strange aliens and magic) which provides a reason to play it over any "generic" setting, it explains why the PCs are so critical (the nearest thing to a central authorities are busy with a cold war against each other, plus most people don't realize the world is still slowly sinking), and why the loot hasn't been seized already (world was only ruined 13 years ago, the once mountain tops were pretty isolated, and most didn't have ships handy).

 

[CrunchyHemorrhoids]

Only Risen 2 for me. No sailing in it (like MI) but you get a monkey *and* a parrot, what more could a pirate ask for? Risen 3 I couldn't even stomach the tutorial.

Non-rpgs that should still give you that piracy kick: sid meier's pirates! 3D, assassin's creed Black Flag, sea of thieves (preferably drunk with a mic so you start barking piratey things to your crew and the players you rob).

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Man O'War: Corsair uses Warhammer fantasy setting, but it does have pirating as a theme.

 

[Hagashager]

Not an RPG, but Pirates: The Legend of Black Cat was a pirate game I enjoyed as a kid. Good mix of swashbuckling skullduggery mixed with ye olde fantasy

 

[Arvennios]

Suikoden IV.

 

[Abu Antar]

Every time someone mentions a pirate rpg, I will get in there, post this song, and then leave.

 

[Gregz]

Currently playing return to monkey island and it made me want to play a pirate themed rpg with actual pirate roleplaying, wonder if anything good is out there?

Unless you have played Sid Meier's Pirates! already, disregard any other suggestion.

 

[anvi]

Currently playing return to monkey island and it made me want to play a pirate themed rpg with actual pirate roleplaying, wonder if anything good is out there?

Unless you have played Sid Meier's Pirates! already, disregard any other suggestion.

That's a classic from a different time, when games were games and men had penises, etc.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

 

[Tavernking]

There's a Russki-made (because of course) Mount & Blade clone in the Caribbean.

Literally M&B clone, it licensed the M&B engine. A decent enough game, somewhere between Sid Meier's Pirates and Mount & Blade.

Basically an overpriced buggy warband mod

 

[jebsmoker]

blood and gold is 100 percent worth if it you get it for like 10 dollars, and the horror-comedy story expansion pack for it is better than you expect. otherwise, if you don't want to wait for a sale, just nab it from g2a or whatever

 

[jungl]

Horizons gate the last game I played that did a good job scratching that sea dogs itch. We need more game like tis cause they are crack. Maybe owlfat will deliver a decent exploration trading simulation with the new warhammer game but I doubt it.

 

[Lady Error]

Uncharted Waters

Seriously awesome game, even today.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

The Sea Dogs series is basically unmatched for this experience. The first 3 games are pretty shitty, so start at City of Abandoned Ships. To Each His Own has a great story (from what I've played, I haven't finished it) but is a lot more constrictive as a result: you're locked into being a Frenchman, for example, while in CoAS you can pick other nationalities. I've heard TEHO compared to Kingdom Come: Deliverance in terms of its story pacing and I'd agree from what I've seen. It's also similar to KC:D in that you start as a complete loser who has to learn how to be a chad to face the struggles of his life (although Henry kind of takes it upon himself, while Charles is a metrosexual who would rather go back home and fuck whores but is forced into the Caribbean by a familial dispute). I liked TEHO a lot from what I played and I would go and finish it right now if I had the time. It made some big improvements from CoAS in naval combat: I loved the ability to drop gunpowder barrels to use as mines, because it lets you do some actual damage to other ships in the early-game (in every Sea Dogs game, you might as well be firing friendship out of your cannons until you get a better ship and recruit some officers).

I wish the YouTube channel Tehsnakerer would make a video about Sea Dogs, because it'd be right up his alley and give these games some much-needed exposure.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

Uncharted Waters

What the fuck? How have I never heard of this series? It looks awesome. I used to be completely obsessed with pirate games - I even did a 100% run of the Sid Meier's Pirates remake on the hardest difficulty back early in my teenage years. I've never seen this series mentioned anywhere until now. Well, now I've got another JRPG series to play after Dragon Quest.

 

[deuxhero]

Isn't one of the Pirates of the Caribbean games a Sea Dogs game they slapped the IP onto because Disney was the only publisher available at the time and has nothing more than token references to the films?

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

In Grimoire, one of the advanced classes is Pirate. And there is great Pirate content from the city of Waterport to the surrounding lake adventure.

Spoiler

Sadly too limited for such an expansive game to be categorized as a "pirate RPG", but the piratical content does include some of the more memorable interactions in Grimoire:

 

[BruceVC]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/418180/Tempest_Pirate_Action_RPG/

This seems worthwhile?

 

[Krivol]

Uncharted Waters

What the fuck? How have I never heard of this series? It looks awesome. I used to be completely obsessed with pirate games - I even did a 100% run of the Sid Meier's Pirates remake on the hardest difficulty back early in my teenage years. I've never seen this series mentioned anywhere until now. Well, now I've got another JRPG series to play after Dragon Quest.

Yeah, I also never heard of it till ~2018, and this is really worth a play.

 

[Torus]

Horizon's gate is really good if you can handle the graphics. Even got some quality content mods made for it.

 

[Peachcurl]

I had an eye on those two. Didn't try yet.



Not everyone likes that graphical style.



I'm not sold on that ones graphics either, world also looks a bit "empty".

 

[Vic]

Do any of these games have pirate-themed choice and consequences and pirate-themed character progression/talents? I was thinking maybe something like Kotor but instead of Jedi, it's pirates. Or Jade Empire but instead of martial artists it's pirates, that's kinda what I meant. I'm less interested in naval battles and action adventure type gameplay. Sorry, that's what I meant with "actual pirate role playing".

 

[wishbonetail]

Uncharted Waters

What the fuck? How have I never heard of this series? It looks awesome. I used to be completely obsessed with pirate games - I even did a 100% run of the Sid Meier's Pirates remake on the hardest difficulty back early in my teenage years. I've never seen this series mentioned anywhere until now. Well, now I've got another JRPG series to play after Dragon Quest.

Yeah, I also never heard of it till ~2018, and this is really worth a play.

I would suggest Uncharted Waters: New Horizons on Genesis or SNES. Yes, it's japanized but i consider it the ultimate naval simulator.

 

[wishbonetail]

Do any of these games have pirate-themed choice and consequences and pirate-themed character progression/talents? I was thinking maybe something like Kotor but instead of Jedi, it's pirates. Or Jade Empire but instead of martial artists it's pirates, that's kinda what I meant. I'm less interested in naval battles and action adventure type gameplay. Sorry, that's what I meant with "actual pirate role playing".

"Pirate-themed choice and consequence" means will you rob this spanish ship, thus losing your reputation with Spain, or not? All of the privateer games have this kind of CC.
But if you want a generic rpg in naval setting try POE Deadfire. It has sabres and tricorn hats. Don't remember if you can rob caravans.

 

[spectre]

Do any of these games have pirate-themed choice and consequences and pirate-themed character progression/talents?

Choices and Consequences? Negro please... although there *might* have been some plot branching in at least one of the Akella games I mentioned earlier, but I'm not sure if there are true C&C,
probably just straight up black and white morality.

Rule number one for Pirate games is keep your expectations modest. The baffling bit is no game ever game close to Sid Meier's Pirates when it comes to delivering the full package.
Granted, the game's systems are very simplistic, but there's no denying it's set a golden standard with everything - finding treasure, wooing ladies, painting the map of the carribean for your favorite action,
revenge plot to drivew the whole thing forward, ship and character upgrade system, etc. There really isn't a game that does it all in one package, which is a shame. A much bigger shame is if you were revisit even the 3D remake,
you'd immediately see how "modern audiences" would reeeeeee at it for being all sorts of "problematic", so I've pretty much given up hope for anyone giving an honest effort making a lookalike.

If I were to be cheeky, I'd say you should at least take a look at this little piece:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/x-piratez

Scraping the bottom of the barrel here, but if we're talking about Oblivionesque role playing (i.e. Larping), I think Assassins Creed Black Flag can facilitate this plenty.
I wouldn't dare call it an RPG, (though you do unlock upgrades so by modern standards...) but it can be an immersive game that's gotten a whole bunch of things right
provided you can ignore another bunch of things it hasn't. And the fact that it's an AC game. It stands apart from the rest of the series in a good way, but the baggage is still there.

In a similar vein, I had high hopes for this thing, but looking at the reviews, it turned out bad in all kinds of ways.


I'm also eyeballing this thing. Not a pirate game per se, but it might be useful for scratching that "this is a ship and you own it" type of feeling which I feel is an important part of this experience.


Not really what you're looking for, but perhaps someone else might find it useful.