The goal of this campaign is to develop a fleet and engage in missions to secure gold by transporting cargo to and from the Old World or simply seizing it by raiding villages or securing valuable cargo from shipwrecks. The first player to accumulate 10,000 Gold Bars is declared the winner of the campaign.
List of Terms:
* Admiral: Each player has an Admiral who is the top of the food chain in the respective fleet. Call your Admiral whatever you want--a Captain, Scallywag, Emperor, or Lord of the High Seas. For the sake of this campaign, each player has an Admiral which is the representative, in game, of the player--a player's avatar, so to speak, in the campaign. An Admiral lives a charmed life, always managing to be washed ashore after shipwrecks, always finding the bullet hitting his chest to be stopped by a flask, always managing to escape the shackles in the darkest dungeon of his captors. Throughout the campaign the Admiral survives. One thing the Admiral may not do so well with as surviving is managing his funds to keep a fleet afloat and operational. When an Admiral accumulates 10,000 Gold Bars to his personal treasure he then may declare himself Lord Victor of the Uncharted Seas and retire to a private island.
* Gold Bars: These are the measures of wealth, victory objectives, ship building and operations expenses. 1 Gold Bar is the equivalent of a point of a ship's cost. Gold Bars are collected by delivering cargo (or capturing and selling cargo), ransoming important prisoners, finding and liberating shipwrecks or lost temples of their treasures, or selling prized ships in a neutral Pirate's Haven port (calling it Redport for now).
* Pirate's Haven REDPORT: The main, neutral port around which the campaign revolves. Redport is an international port, not as large or civilized as the capital cities in the Old World, but it's the last stop in a civilized port on your voyage into the Uncharted Seas and the first stop before heading back to the Old World. Redport is a ramshackle city built around an atoll which is the remnant of an ancient volcano crater. Almost no food is grown here, but because of the protected, deepwater port and a concentration of trade and willing labor, not to mention the only collection of skilled shipwrights in this part of the world, Redport thrives by the commerce which flows through this port. The population is at least five thousand score of souls, and of all nationalities and races. The city is divided into quarters, each controlled by a different faction. A half-dozen shipbuilders line the docks, and each day several ships, merchant and warship alike, are christened and crewed by many willing and able hands. In Redport an Admiral may buy and sell anything, for the right price.
* Borrowing: Defeat can be a grim reality for an Admiral. Debt usually follows. At any time an Admiral may borrow Gold Bars from one of several large banking houses and less scrupulous lenders in Redport. But these loans come at a price, and if not repaid in a timely manner an Admiral may find his fleet hunted by Imperial warships or simply find himself watching his fleet slowly fall apart for lack of funds for repairs and replacements. There is no limit to the amount an Admiral may borrow during a campaign to fund repairs, new ships, and replacements. But if an Admiral accumulates 5,000 Gold Bars in his personal treasure while still owing any amount of debt, then each opposing player receives 500 Gold Bars each Campaign Turn in credit toward repairing and building ships or paying for crew and operations expenses.
* Action: Each ship in a fleet may perform 3 Actions per Fortnight. An Action is an abstract measure of time that a ship is generally engaged. Missions will each have an Action cost. Returning to a port for repairs costs 1 Action. Docking in Redport for repairs or to sell or buy merchandise costs 1 Action. Moving from port to a Mission location costs 1 Action. Playing a game against an opponent for any Mission objective does not cost an Action to complete, but each ship in a fleet which is deployed for that game and Mission must have spent 1 Action to effectively arrive at the location for the battle. (As long as a ship has 1 Action remaining after surviving a battle it may spend that Action to return to port for repairs; if the ship has used all 3 Actions during the current Fortnight then it must wait until the start of the next turn to spend 1 Action to return to port for repairs.) An Admiral may divide the fleet and have different squadrons perform different Actions, but each ship may only perform 3 Actions in any given Fortnight.
* Campaign Turn/Fortnight: Each Campaign Turn covers 2 Weeks of time. Each ship in a fleet may perform in 3 Actions during that 2-week turn.
