Rapscallion
Rapscallion is a pirate epic fantasy role-playing game, compatible with Powered by the Apocalypse, written by Whistler and published by Magpie Games.
By Aaron T. Huss
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Rapscallion is a pirate fantasy RPG in the style of Pirates of the Caribbean, but without the Earth setting. It takes a similar approach where the drama and action shines the spotlight on your crew of pirates as the ply the seas filled with fantastical elements and a corrupt “authority” figure with demands that simply don’t match that pirate lifestyle. As a core book, it is very human-centric with the idea that everyone is a human in some form or another, even if they don’t look like what we would call humans. Again very similar to PotC where characters that were once human become humanoid but are actually something else. The setting… well technically there is no setting. It is a fluid, open ocean, so to speak, that is filled with whatever landmasses fit the story. There are predefined land elements, but they can be placed anywhere, creating a dynamic map that then becomes the setting of your games.
Rapscallion is based on Powered by the Apocalypse and like Magpie Games’ other games, this form of PbtA is customized that themed to fit the setting. Due to the story- and narrative-supporting style of the PbtA mechanics, they lend themselves very well to thematic customization. The names of the mechanics are customized to match the pirate life and always stick to the pirate theme (or pirate-like themes including privateers and swashbuckling romanticism). In fact, the mechanics are so customized thematically that your crew’s ship has its own playbook (from multiples to choose from) with its own moves. It effectively becomes another character, taking a prominent part in the life of the storyline.
The team over a Magpie Games does an amazing job creating interesting and exciting games based on PbtA, but Rapscallion sits slightly different on the noob scale. The playbooks are very straightforward and the incorporation of all themes into he setting are very straightforward, making a great experience for noob players. On the other side of table, however, referred to as The Fates instead of a GM, is anything but easy. Running this game successfully takes someone comfortable with running games, adjudicating PbtA, but more importantly comfortable with running a very freeform setting. The core book provides great direction, lots of advice, and pieces for placing into your setting’s puzzle, but there is a lot of empty space that will be filled in during gameplay. There is no bestiary, but there are antagonist organizations with key characters detailed, but again there’s a lot of empty space for incorporating this. This is 100% done purposefully as creating the setting is every bit as important to the storyline as the building the narrative is, but don’t come into his game with a predesigned map filled with locales, conflicts, roadblocks, and monsters. It’s not designed to be that type of game. It kind of reminds me of empire building PC games where the entire map is wide open and you simply place your structures wherever they fit best. It’s just that the entire map is water dotted with islands and maybe slightly larger landmasses along the edges.
You’re not completely on your own though. The book does provide you with a selection of starter adventures based on the players’ chosen ship. You know, to get the storyline moving in the right direction. After that, the sky’s the limit.
Rapscallion is definitely on the more advanced side of running a game, but playing it is easy enough as Powered by the Apocalypse makes mechanics easy to resolve and only necessary when absolutely necessary. Otherwise enjoy your narrative of swashbuckling and pirate antics across the vast sea!
