Oh, and while I'm here and still on the subject of pirates... (thanks a bunch Brett! I wasn't short of things to do!!) (it's been fun)

In endeavouring to put together an index of JTAS online, I've stumbled across a few piratical references. Not done a full-text search so again, I doubt this is exhaustive.

Have kept the snippets short so as not to go beyond what seems to me 'fair use'. Conveys the key piratey stuff and some more names which I think Brett was after.

Cortez-Class Salvage Ship by Brandon Cope 28.3.2000 Ship’s Locker

a rescue/salvage ship which most use legitimately but some… “are no better than pirates (and some, in fact, are pirates) and some pirate bands use stolen Cortez-class ships to haul badly damaged prey back to base. The ship is popular with some larger Vargr corsair "fleets," which gives the ship a poor reputation in some systems. Note, however, that a Cortez-class ship, by itself, is undergunned and quite slow, making it an unlikely choice as a solo pirate ship.”

One adventure seed at the end has the PCs adrift in space from a drive failure or aborted pirate attack. “A Cortez shows up and offers aid for an outrageous price which must be paid in advance! While this technically a violation of Imperial Law, the PCs may not be in a position to wait for a more honest captain to come along -- especially if there are pirates in the area.”

The Pirates of Caledonia by David L. Nelson 6.3.2001 Amber Zone

“Wanted: A team of freelance troubleshooters to track down interstellar lawbreakers. Pay is Cr200,000 plus expenses, upon arrest of the criminals. Apply in person to Sargon Turushii, Turushii Brokerage, Caledonia.”

“Over the last three years, pirates have plundered several vessels in the Caledonia system. The pirate squadron consists of 200- and 400-ton merchant vessels converted for piracy. The Navy periodically sends patrol vessels, but the pirates always vanish, to return when the Navy withdraws.”

“The raids themselves have not been bloody. The pirates swarm a single merchant ship just within the 100-diameter limit and demand its surrender. Usually, the cargo and any ship's vehicles and small craft are taken, and the ship and crew released. There is rarely more than one attack a month and the pirates never attack any settlements or facilities on Caledonia itself.”

GM's Information

“This pirate fleet consists of two 400-ton subsidized merchants and two 200-ton free traders, all of whichever a full set of armaments. The key to their operation, however, is their secret base -- the pirates have established their own deep-space "calibration point" in Glisten subsector (hex 503)…. The base consists of two long-term habitation modules from modular-cutter spacecraft and a free-floating "fuel dump" made up of dozens of collapsible fuel tanks.”

“The key to maintaining this base is a third 400-ton merchant vessel, the Flying Shark, which is legitimately registered to the pirates' front company, Roberts Trading LTD. This vessel, fitted with a 120-dton dismountable fuel tank in its cargo hold, makes repeated runs to and from the Tirem system.”

“The leader of the pirates is Tito Parusidor, a former member of the Ine Givar terrorist organization.”

Pirates and a Pirate Hunter by Mark Gellis 4.9.2012 Casual Encounter

“The quasi-romantic image of a pirate spanning the stars, preying on merchant shipping and then slipping back like a ghost into the void of jump space before the Navy can offer aid is not entirely inaccurate, but it is only a small piece of the real picture.”

“The first thing to understand is that most pirates are not lovable rogues. Most of them are not nice people. They are thieves, and most of them are brutal thugs. Space is unforgiving.”

Great essay on pirates and then:

Pirate Hunter: Ulisses Hashimoto - 250 points

“Ulisses Hashimoto was born to a well-to-do family in Deneb….” and lots more description as well as:

ST 11 [10]; DX 11 [20]; IQ 13 [60]; HT 11 [10].
Typical lengthy GURPS list of skills.

On 23 January 2016 at 20:39, Timothy Collinson <xxxxxx@port.ac.uk> wrote:

Seems I'm missing a few digests so I don't know if this has been said yet but...

There is The Flaming Eye double campaign book for MegaTrav. Hard to find and not cheap.

-Darby

Hi there,

I did mention _The Flaming Eye_ in a list of other things for Brett which mentioned pirates, but only by title.

However, you're right, as it is rather hard to find I could offer a bit more piratical crunchiness if it's any help.

WARNING: Spoilers. (but the book is 25 years old!)

It includes two campaigns: Search & Rescue and Gamgilebo Incident

Search & Rescue has 7 scenarios.

The second is called 'Getting There is Half the Fun' [had I remembered that I might not have used the same title for my adventure by that name in Freelance Traveller a few years back].

In the third nugget of that scenario 'Flotsam and Jetsam' the PCs witness the aftermath of a pirate attack (location: Gishinridu, Olny, Pradman or Hrun). They come across a large field of floating debris, blackened twisted metal and plastic. The pieces range in size from a few centimetres to a dozen metres across - the sheer volume of junk suggests it was once a ship. There's a task to search the debris and the PCs could find a ship's log which reveals it to have been attacked by what appears to be an Imperial Patrol Cruiser. If they find the sole survivor in her escape pod she didn't see any numbers or name on the Type T but did notice its wings painted with black and green stripes and a large eye rimmed with fire emblazoned on each fin.

In the fifth nugget of the scenario, 'Avast There!' the PCs encounter Vilani/Vargr corsairs, close to the Vilani/Lucan border. A Vargr Enkongsuerrgvo-class Packet with red and green stripes, as well as a flame-rimmed eye prominent on the hull. They can try to escape or they can fight or they can surrender. If they take the latter option the corsairs will take whatever cargo they have - although one of the boarders will comment it's a good thing their leader Kagissha ("the Flaming Eye himself") didn't catch them as he wouldn't be so merciful as to let them go. (If the PCs had no cargo or if they fought and lost, the corsairs won't be so gentle but will steal any cargo there may be, kidnap any passengers for ransom and maroon the adventurers on the nearest planet.

That's all then put aside until the fourth scenario, 'The Pirate Lair', of the second campaign Gamgilebo Incident. Although there are some precursor bits:

There is a descriptive introduction to the first scenario that runs "Things just haven't been going too well recently... while you were skimming fuel from the Enpar Konal system's gas giant (Vland 1309), a couple of Vargr corsairs attacked your ship. By sheerest good luck, you managed to jump outsystem before the pirates could disable your vessel. Even so the damage was significant..."

There are also a couple of rumours later on in the first scenario. One has a spacehand saying that his ship has been fighting Vargr corsairs in the Vhodan and Voskhod subsectors for the past eight months. "Not long ago, they shot up a couple of raiders near Diiron but not before the Vargr crippled a Vilani merchant ship..." "...went through their passenger list as well as their shipping manifest...".

The other has the first mate of a merchantman saying his ship was passing through Sikilar system and was attacked by Vargr corsairs. "The odd thing was, the doggies weren't using one of their own ships. It was an old Imperial Gazelle-class close escort. The Vargr had hastily repainted it, but the old Imperial markings showed through in places." He wonders how many more Imperial warships have found their way into Vargr hands.

The second scenario, 'Along the Way' has a nugget called 'Raiders' in which the PCs encounter Vargr corsairs somewhere between Vhodan and Gamgilebo. This corsair has the top half of a human skull painted on her sides and stripes on her wings in bright orange and garish purple. There are various options and tasks depending on what the PCs decide to do. If the Vargr seize the PC ship they will strip it of all valuables, both cargo and personal items. The Vargr will check the computer records of all persons, both crew and passengers, removing anyone with Technical or Space skill at level-4 or higher as prisoners. All prisoners are placed in low berth and eventually revived in a Vargr slave camp. Once they've finished looting, they send the rest on their way with rude, mocking insults. If the party is using a corsair or military-type vessel, the Vargr will seize it, setting the characters adrift in a sub-craft.

If the PCs beat the Vargr a survivor will tell the ship's name is the Llueghz, part of the Touzagh Band under the leadership of Ksaelorrgh. The latter was once a member of the Ngath Confederation, but fell into disfavour with its leader. Lacking standing to wrest control from Ngath, Ksaelorrge assembled a corsair band from his closest friends, and took to pirating. For year they've been plundering Vilani and Imperial shipping along the Extent's rimward border. (The PCs can take the ship as prize, but must register it etc etc)

[passing quickly over the Blair Reynold's drawing of a gorgeous blonde before I get distracted...]

There's a nugget in scenario 3 'Gamgilebo' in which the PCs can find the log buoy of the Qa Livk - intercepted by a Vargr corsair and ordered to heave to and be boarded. The Vargr imprisoned the crew and jury-rigged repairs. Another ship, the Fitzpatrick fares less well.

In nugget no.9, also called 'Avast There!' the PCs are again attacked by Vargr corsairs - somewhere in the Gamgilebo system. This time it's a Vargr scout but oddly is displaying a Vilani Flaming Eye symbol. Combat ensues, if the PCs prevail they can question the corsairs and may be able to find out about a rather small pirate base in the system on a small moon orbiting the large, noisy gas giant - not much more than a bare patch of ground for landing the ships and a hanger bay carved out of the cliff face above the pad, where the Vargr can hide their vessels. The base has rudimentary quarters for thirty-five Vargr in addition to the ship maintenance facilities.

So to Scenario 4 'The Pirate Lair'. I won't detail this but it covers the PCs infiltrating the base with nuggets, the first three of which can be used in any desired sequence or combination:

Scouting the Base - with a task to locate the base on foot or from space (the latter is Formidable, the former Difficult)

The Direct Approach - an armed assault in case you hadn't guessed!

The Subtle Approach - infiltrating "quietly" (with bluffs, cover story and sneaking tasks)

So What've We Got? - the only key scene - with tasks for accessing the leader's computer files, opening a safe, interrogating Aerrdathtin, the leader etc. He claims to be a high-ranking member of the Touzagh Band and swears revenge on anyone who dares to lay hands on him.

The PCs will learn that the Qa Livk (amongst others) has been taken into the Vargr Extents to a corsair base where auctions are held. Prospective buyers come from all over the spinward boarder of the Vargr extents for auctions of captured ships or crews. Humans are by no means unusual at these proceedings and sometimes there are reps from the Zhodani Consulate or Antares.

Gold, gems or other valuable substances or technological data are the only currency. Goods for sale are available for perusal of the prospective buyers prior to the auction; ships are kept in geostationary orbit above the pirate's base; smaller merchandise, including human "resources" are kept in the base itself.

There's also a cool full page cut-away side view of the base.

The next, and much the longest, scenario 'Into the Extents' is the finale and is concerned with making contact with the Touzagh corsairs, finding their base (a considerably more impressive affair), freeing prisoners, searching the base and so on. I won't detail that as this has gone on long enough and also because it's the finale. But the leader is Kagiisha (ACBD8D, Age 46, hits 5/7; Leader-5, Persuasion-4, Ship Tactics-3, Cbt Rifleman-3, Handgun-2, Pilot-2, Linguistics-2, Admin-1) and there's a half page side bar on the Touzagh Corsair Band which I won't spoil either. But that covers the main piratey bits.

Hope this helps

tc