Merchants & Marauders: Seas of Glory Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Module 1: Rumours, Missions, Events and Captains
  • Mission tokens
  • Home-port flags
  • NPC flags
• Module 2: New Special Weapons
• Module 3: New Ship Modifications
  • Setup
  • Modification bonuses
  • Returning modifications to play
  • Selling modifications (optional rule)
• Module 4: NPC Upgrades
  • Receiving an upgrade
  • Detailed rules
  • Defeating an upgraded NPC
• Module 5: Ships
  • Brig
  • Low-manoeuvrability galleon
• Module 6: Treasure Galleon
  • Setup
  • Movement and gold
  • Attacking the treasure galleon
  • Treasure galleon with other modules and variants
• Module 7: Contraband
  • Setup
  • Receiving contraband
  • Selling contraband
  • Travelling with contraband
  • Important conditions
  • Hold damage
  • Important
• Module 8: Wind and Weather
  • Wind direction
  • Storm token
  • Effect of the Storm
  • Storm and Event cards
  • Captain Christian Marquis
  • NPCs
• Module 9: Location Tokens
  • Setup
  • Visiting a location
  • Raiding a location
  • Pirate Haven
  • Missionary
  • Trading Post
  • Native Village
  • Naval Fort
  • Prison
  • Town
  • Reefs
• Module 10: Goodwill
  • Setup
  • Gaining Goodwill
  • Spending Goodwill
  • Notes
• Module 11: Loyalty Track
  • Setup
  • Gaining Loyalty
  • Losing Loyalty
  • Loyalty levels
• Variant 1: Non-fixed Turn Order
  • Introduction
  • Setup
  • Gameplay
• Variant 3: Glory or Death
• Variant 4: Life is Pain, or How Hard It Is to Live!
  • Detailed rules
• Variant 2: Captains, Captains, Captains
  • Introduction
• Variant 5: Cutthroat
  • Out-of-turn Scouting
• Variant 6: Trading Rules

Components

• 4 player-card add-ons
• 4 Goodwill boards and 4 Loyalty boards
• 1 gold treasure galleon and 1 black pirate man-o'-war (miniatures)
• 5 brigs (1 black and one of each player colour)
• 4 home-port flags with plastic stands
• 2 NPC flags with plastic stands
• 1 Storm token and 17 NPC upgrade tokens, with plastic stand
• 12 new special weapon tokens
• 8 extra wanted tokens
• 8 new ship modification tokens
• 16 location tokens
• 6 Mission tokens
• 32 contraband cards
• 25 Rumour cards
• 25 Mission cards
• 17 Captain cards
• 16 Event cards
• 4 galleon cards with manoeuvrability 1
• 4 brig cards
• 4 replacement Rumour cards
• 1 wind compass (weather vane)
• 1 treasure galleon board token
• 12 dice (Goodwill, Loyalty, and for the "Non-fixed turn order" variant or for drawing tokens)
• 1 bag (for the "Non-fixed turn order" variant or for drawing tokens)
• 4 player aids

Replacement cards: the expansion includes 4 replacement cards, because three Rumour cards in the first print run of the base game were printed with the wrong symbol. The fourth card replaces the Rumour "A Myriad of Goods", making it compatible with the Contraband module.

Module 1: Rumours, Missions, Events and Captains

Time added: none. Added complexity: none.

The number of Rumours, Missions and Captains is doubled. The new cards can be shuffled into the base game's cards or used as separate new decks. If the 16 new Event cards are used, they must be used together with the base game's Event cards.

Some cards assume familiarity with the base rules. For example, a card may start a war between two nations without explaining how the war is fought. In that case, do what the Event card "War and Peace" from the base game says.

The new Events include the appearance of NPC man-o'-wars even without the "War" Event (use the brown galleon from the base game), and new NPC pirate brigs and man-o'-wars (black).

As in the base game, any 2 man-o'-wars in the same sea zone cannot search for players.

Mission tokens

To save space on the board, you may use Mission tokens. Place active Missions beside the board. Place a Mission token in the sea zone where the Mission can be claimed, and place the Mission marker with the matching number on the Mission card. There are three pairs of Mission markers. The third pair is used for the new Event "Mercenaries Required" and adds a 3rd Mission to the game.

Home-port flags

To show which player owns a Port, place tokens with the flags of the matching colours in it.

NPC flags

When you play an Event card for an NPC, place the flag tokens provided on the board, so that you do not forget where new NPCs must appear at the end of the turn. The brown flag marks a warship, and the black flag marks a pirate NPC.

Module 2: New Special Weapons

Time added: none. Added complexity: medium.

Three new kinds of special weapon are added to the game: incendiary shot, double shot, and spikes. A ship can now carry up to 6 kinds of special weapon (one of each type). As in the base game, a special weapon can be spent during raids on merchants to convert failed rolls, and in naval combat it has unique effects.

Incendiary shot. Use (discard the token) after the roll to determine hit zones if at least one skull was rolled. The other skulls do no damage, but the target ship catches fire (place an incendiary shot token on the target ship). Before each following combat round, the burning ship takes 1 damage in a zone chosen by the target ship's captain. After a crew clash begins or combat ends, remove the token; damage is no longer taken.

Example: the blue frigate deals 3 damage to the red ship: 2 skulls and a "4" (hit zone "Guns") are rolled. Blue uses incendiary shot and places the token on the red ship. Red takes 1 damage to zone "4" (zone "Guns"). The remaining 2 skulls deal no damage this round. Before the next round, the red player must choose a hit zone on their own ship and take 1 damage to that zone.

Double shot. Use (discard the token) after the roll to determine the hit zone: if several skulls were rolled, the damage is doubled for a maximum of only 1–2 of them. First distribute the numeric hits to the matching zones. Then distribute the skull hits evenly across the available, non-destroyed zones (chosen by the target ship's captain). Cannot be combined with other special weapon types (for example, using chain shot to redirect skull hits to the masts).

Example: the red player deals 4 damage to blue: 4 dice are rolled, giving 3 skulls and a "2" (hit zone "Masts"). Red uses double shot. First the "2" damage is dealt, destroying blue's masts. The effect of double shot applies to 2 skulls, so red now has 5 skulls! Blue's cargo hold was destroyed earlier, so blue distributes the skulls evenly across the hull, crew and guns. The remaining 2 skulls must also be distributed evenly, so blue chooses the crew and the hull.

Spikes. Use (discard the token) after a Navigation check, if in combat you chose boarding (regardless of who won the roll). At the start of the next combat round, the opposing captain receives a penalty of -1 die (to a minimum of 1):

• -1 to their Navigation, if you lost the boarding check; or
• -1 to their Leadership, if you won and begin a crew clash.

Note: you may use boarding hooks and spikes at the same time. Only one of the other special weapons (chain shot, grapeshot, incendiary shot, double shot) may be used in one combat round.

Module 3: New Ship Modifications

Time added: none. Added complexity: minor.

Four new ship modifications are added: "Cleaned hull (the coral, growths, barnacles, etc. are scraped from the underwater part of the hull)", "Crow's nest", "Smuggler's hold" and "Plank".

Setup

Add the new ship modifications to the 16 modifications from the base game. After distributing the modifications to the locations, place the remaining tokens face down in a closed pile to form the reserve.

Modification bonuses

Cleaned hull. Your opponent receives a minimum of -1 (to a minimum of 1) to Navigation when one of you chooses "Retreat" in naval combat.

Crow's nest. You may add 1 die to a Scouting check (before rolling), or subtract 1 die (to a minimum of 1) from the opponent's Scouting before they search for you. This modification works only while the ship's masts are repaired.

Smuggler's hold. Used only with the Contraband module. One unit of contraband goods does not take up cargo space, is invisible to NPCs, and is immune to cards and damage effects. When using it, choose which contraband card you want to insure.

Plank. Used only with the Loyalty module. Cancel a loss on the Loyalty track when an Event card for an NPC is drawn, by choosing one of the following: successfully pass a Leadership check, or (if you are at sea) reduce your crew by 1. You cannot reduce the crew if you chose and failed a Leadership check. You must choose only one of these ways.

Returning modifications to play

When modification tokens leave the game through sinking, sale or discard, shuffle them with the reserve tokens. Then, at random and face down, take as many modification tokens as were just discarded and distribute them to free Ports, or return them to the reserve if no Ports are free.

Selling modifications (optional rule)

If a Port has no modification token, when the "Port" action is performed, choose a token at random from the reserve. You may buy the token or sell it (place it face up in your Port).

Module 4: NPC Upgrades

Time added: none. Added complexity: minor.

This module contains 17 NPC upgrade tokens (a common term for special weapon tokens and ship modifications). Place these tokens face down beside the game board to form a reserve. If you are not using the new ship modifications or new special weapons, remove the corresponding upgrade type.

Receiving an upgrade

Each time you draw an Event card with an NPC appearance, you must draw a random upgrade and place it on the NPC's ship card. If you draw the token "0", the NPC gets no upgrade, and the token returns to the reserve. If you draw the token "2", the NPC ship gets 2 upgrades, and the token returns to the reserve (if, when taking 2 upgrades, a "0" token comes up, return it and draw another).

When an Event card brings in a new NPC of the same nation or the same ship type (pirate NPCs), the upgrade token from the old ship returns to the reserve, and the next one is drawn for the new ship as described above. When an NPC is destroyed, its tokens are discarded to the reserve. In other words, new upgrades are drawn for each new ship and only for that ship, and the old ones return to the reserve.

Detailed rules

• When, under the Event "War and Peace", a frigate must become a man-o'-war (or, conversely, because of the end of a war), it keeps its current upgrade.
• Draw another token if the drawn token cannot be applied.
• After a battle, special weapon tokens remain with the NPC. That is, if during a battle the NPC used boarding hooks, they return to it after the battle, provided the NPC was not destroyed in the battle.
• If an NPC has the upgrade "Crow's nest", it will always use it when Scouting to find another player, and the player who controls the NPC in combat may use this upgrade to avoid detection.

Defeating an upgraded NPC

If an NPC sinks, all its upgrade tokens return to the reserve. When an NPC is defeated in a crew clash (taken by boarding), you may take its unspent upgrade tokens if there is room for them on your ship card. When tokens are used, sold, or the ship is sunk, return them to the reserve.

If you decide to capture an NPC ship, it keeps its remaining upgrades. Place them on your ship card in the matching zones. They also return to the reserve when sold or when the ship is sunk.

Module 5: Ships

Time added: none.

The Seas of Glory expansion adds the brig, a medium-sized ship, and ship cards for galleons with manoeuvrability 1.

Brig

The brig costs 20 gold (sale price 5), but no Glory point is awarded for buying it. A larger hold and good manoeuvrability make it durable and versatile for use by both pirates and merchants.

Note: if you want to play with the brig, it is better to use galleons with manoeuvrability 1, which makes buying the brig more interesting and justified.

Low-manoeuvrability galleon

Added complexity: minor.

Adding ship cards for galleons with manoeuvrability 1 makes them less effective in combat and inconvenient for pirate raids on merchants.

When is the modified galleon mandatory?

• When playing with the brig, to make the choice of vessel more interesting.
• When choosing the variants "Non-fixed turn order" or "Cutthroat" (because of the increased chances in PvP combat).
• If you think galleons are superior to frigates, so that pirates have no reason to buy frigates, and you feel this is wrong.

Module 6: Treasure Galleon

Time added: about 5 minutes. Added complexity: minor.

Spanish gold galleons gathered gold and silver in the Caribbean and delivered their loot to Europe. Treasure galleons were dangerous, profitable and glorious targets for pirates.

Setup

This module adds a Spanish treasure galleon to the NPCs. Place the treasure galleon miniature (the gold galleon) in the sea zone Cartagena. Take the treasure galleon token and place it beside the board face up. The face of the token shows the captain's characteristics, and you will place the gold being carried on it.

Movement and gold

The treasure galleon moves like other NPCs, in the direction of the first movement icon (top left corner) on any Event card that shows NPC movements (whether it is a pirate or any nation). The treasure galleon does not hunt and never starts a battle.

Each time the treasure galleon moves, place 5 gold on its token. The total amount of gold carried by the ship is unlimited and increases until a pirate robs the ship.

Attacking the treasure galleon

To attack a treasure galleon, a player must be in the same sea zone and pass a Scouting check.

On success, the player receives 1 Spanish wanted token and begins a naval battle.

If the galleon is defeated, the player receives:

• 1 Glory point;
• 1 additional Spanish wanted token for every 10 gold on the treasure galleon (rounded down).

Robbery. If you took the galleon by boarding, you may take the ship and/or all the gold on board. There are no other goods on it.

Like other NPCs, the treasure galleon repairs all its damage between battles, but if it is captured or sunk, it leaves the game.

Treasure galleon with other modules and variants

The treasure galleon is subject to the effects of any other modules or variants in use. For example, if you play with NPC upgrades, you must draw 1 upgrade for the treasure galleon, and if low-manoeuvrability galleons are in play, its manoeuvrability is also 1.

Module 7: Contraband

Time added: about 5 minutes. Added complexity: medium-minor.

Setup

Shuffle the 32 contraband cards with the other goods cards. These 32 contraband cards may be used as ordinary goods cards, or as contraband: a new type of goods, consisting of goods under embargo or illegal goods.

Receiving contraband

When you buy goods at a Port and draw goods cards, you may get a contraband card. You must proceed as follows:

1. Replace. Replace, as usual, cards that are in short supply at this Port; also replace contraband cards that count as contraband at the current Port (for example, if you drew a contraband card in Havana that should be sold in Havana).
2. Buy contraband. If you buy goods as contraband, you must pay 3 gold for each card (regardless of how many there are). After buying, place them in the contraband compartment of your ship's additional board.
3. Buy ordinary goods. Any cards bought not as contraband are ordinary goods cards, to which the usual discount for buying 2 or more goods of the same type also applies. After buying, place them in the ordinary cargo hold.

When you receive goods cards marked as contraband from a raid on merchants, or as a reward for confirming a Rumour, completing a Mission, and so on, you may place any of these cards in either of your cargo holds: ordinary or contraband. Having thus determined the type of goods (ordinary or contraband), place them accordingly.

Selling contraband

Contraband can only be sold at the Port shown on the card. To sell a card, simply show it when performing the "Port" action in the goods sale phase, and receive 10 gold for each contraband card sold.

The different types of contraband ("Prisoner", "Trade Embargo", and so on) are only for flavour, to vary the list of contraband cards. Their mechanics are the same.

Glory points. When you sell every 2nd contraband good, receive 1 Glory point. To track the number of cards sold, place the 1st sold contraband good behind your Captain card. After selling the 2nd good, receive the Glory point and send both cards to the discard pile. If the Captain dies, the card of the 1st sold contraband good, behind the Captain card, still remains and will be passed to your new Captain.

Note: having one contraband card does not give you 0.5 Glory points.

Travelling with contraband

Warships will search (make a Scouting check) for any non-pirate player carrying contraband (but they do not hunt them as they hunt pirates; they do not move into an adjacent sea zone).

If a non-pirate player is detected, they may:

• a) resist and attack the NPC, receiving 1 wanted token for this (as with the normal start of a battle); or
• b) discard all contraband cards to avoid the battle.

For pirate players, having contraband on board does not change the Scouting rules for NPC warships (they search for and pursue them as usual).

Important conditions

Any rules and conditions concerning goods cards apply to both ordinary and contraband goods. For example, in the sea zone Nassau you may buy contraband goods, like ordinary goods, for 2 gold (sale price 10).

However, if you need to buy or take an ordinary good (for example, "Textiles" or "Rum"), you must ignore any contraband properties and place these goods in the ordinary hold. The same applies when discarding or selling. Capacity (carrying capacity) of your ship must be taken into account.

Similarly, the rules apply to contraband goods: the properties of ordinary goods on contraband cards are ignored, only the properties of the contraband itself are taken into account, and the cards are placed in the contraband compartment.

Hold damage

When you must discard a goods card because of hold damage, you may choose where to discard it from: the ordinary cargo hold or the contraband compartment. In either case, a random card is discarded from the chosen compartment. If one of the compartments is empty, the discard is made from the other.

Important

Do not forget to replace the Rumour "A Myriad of Goods" from the base game with the new card when using this module, because the base card does not account for contraband goods appearing in the game.

Module 8: Wind and Weather

Time added: about 5 minutes. Added complexity: medium.

The Wind and Weather module has two parts. One introduces wind direction, and the other adds a Storm to the board. You may play with either part, or with both at the same time.

Wind direction

At the start of the round, before drawing the Event card, spin the weather vane by flicking it. When the arrow stops on one of the 8 directions (between two triangles), it sets the wind direction, which applies until the next Event card.

Once per round, without spending actions, you may perform the "Movement" action in the wind direction. But if you decide to sail against the wind, this takes 2 actions (you may spend the 1 remaining action by the normal rules).

Example: the compass shows the wind direction north-west (NW). The red player wants to check a Rumour in the sea zone Caracas. They sail against the wind and spend 2 of their 3 actions on this. They spend the third remaining action on checking the Rumour, but fail. They then decide to return to The Caribbian Sea and spend their free action on movement in the wind direction.

Storm token

Together with the wind direction rule, you may use the Storm token on the board. When playing with it, place it on the plastic stand at the start of the game and set it in The Caribbian Sea. The Storm token moves in the direction indicated by the weather vane immediately after the wind direction is determined. If the Storm token is at the shore and movement in the indicated direction is impossible, it moves, like an NPC, to the next sea zone clockwise.

Effect of the Storm

A ship receives 3 random damage minus 1 for each success on a Navigation check, if you:

• enter a sea zone with the Storm token, including when leaving a Port of that zone;
• at the start of your turn are in a sea zone where the Storm token is placed.

Storm and Event cards

The effect of Event cards that mention "Storm", "Hurricane" and "Tempest" is not changed. All of them and the Storm token act independently of each other. The effect of each is calculated separately, one after another.

Captain Christian Marquis

(The source's translator's aside about the captain's reply to a question on storms is omitted here as flavour.)

The Storm token has no effect on Captain Christian Marquis.

NPCs

In a sea zone with the Storm token, NPCs do not search for players. The Storm and the wind direction have no effect on NPCs.

Module 9: Location Tokens

Time added: none. Added complexity: high.

Location tokens represent sights for each sea zone of the Caribbean. The game contains 8 kinds of sights, two of each. All sights (hereafter locations) can be visited, and most can also be plundered by a raid.

Setup

Place 16 location tokens at random (face up) on the game board, one in each sea zone except The Caribbian Sea. To keep the game balanced, if 2 Trading Posts would be placed in adjacent sea zones, mix them with some tokens from other zones and lay them out again so that they are not next to each other.

Visiting a location

When you are in a sea zone with a location token, you may spend one action to visit it, but only once per round and only one location. A player is not obliged to visit a location; they may sail past. Some locations restrict who may visit them (for example, the Pirate Haven may be visited only by pirates, while the Town may be visited by everyone, even pirates).

• A location is not a Port.
• Captains can be hunted and attacked even if they have just visited a location and remain in the sea zone.
• The properties of the sea zone do not apply to a location.

Raiding a location

When at sea, a player may spend an action to raid a location in that sea zone (no Scouting check is required), even if they visited it that turn. As with a raid on merchants, a raid on a location is possible only if your ship has no destroyed hit zones.

1. Draw goods. Draw goods cards in the number shown by the figure on the location token, and lay them out in front of you. The damage icons on the cards show the hit zones of your ship, and the escape icons show soldiers/pirates/militia/visitors ready to fight you in a land battle, as well as overall readiness.
2. Bombardment. You may roll 1 die for each of your guns and discard, of your choice, 1 of the drawn cards for each skull rolled (success). At any moment before a die is rolled, you may stop the bombardment. Special weapons do not affect the bombardment.
3. Taking damage. The damage icons on the remaining cards deal 1 damage to the zones shown on them, and 2 damage to the given hit zone if the number of escape icons is greater than or equal to the ship's manoeuvrability. If the ship's hull is destroyed, your ship is sunk and your Captain dies. If any other zone is destroyed, the raid on the location fails. If no zone is destroyed, you may proceed to the land battle. At this point you may withdraw and end the attack.
4. Land battle. Check Leadership. Each escape icon on the remaining cards deals 1 damage to your crew, minus 1 for each skull rolled on the Leadership check. If your crew falls to 0, you are killed. This counts as 1 round of a crew clash, taking into account the properties of Glory cards and the abilities of the Captain/Specialist. If you win, receive the gold shown on all the cards drawn before the battle; you may also take on board, if there is room in the hold, the goods cards remaining after the battle.

Remember that for a raid on a location you receive wanted tokens according to the properties of the location (the number of flags on the location token).

Glory points. If you plunder 12 gold or more, receive 1 Glory point.

Important: a raid on a location is not a "Raid on a merchant", so Glory cards and Captain/Specialist abilities that refer to "Raid on merchants" may not be used. However, cards and abilities that refer to combat may be used (for example, "after the battle", "once in naval combat", and so on). Cards and abilities that say "Crew clash" may also be used after the land battle begins.

Pirate Haven

• Visiting: pirates only.
  • Refill the crew without rolling dice.
  • Take Rumour cards without rolling dice.
• Raid: Defence 4 cards. Penalty: none.

Missionary

• Visiting: anyone.
  • Pay 3 gold for each wanted token discarded (only one nation per visit).
• Raid: Defence 3 cards; all damage icons do not work. Penalty: 1+1 (1 for the attack, 1 on success) wanted tokens from the nation in the sea zone where your location is.

Trading Post

• Visiting: everyone except pirates.
  • Sell or buy goods (only 1 action).
  • Draw 6 goods cards (if you bought at this location in the previous round, draw 3 instead).
  • Goods in short supply are the same goods as in the Port of the sea zone where the Trading Post is located (when selling 3 or more goods in short supply, receive 1 Glory point).
  • When buying goods, discard contraband cards and goods in short supply of this sea zone's Port, and draw new cards in their place.
• Raid: Defence 5 cards. Penalty: 1+1 (1 for the attack, 1 on success) wanted tokens from the nation in the sea zone where this location is.

Native Village

• Visiting: anyone.
  • Spend 1 goods card to fully repair the ship (except the crew).
• Raid: Defence 4 cards. Penalty: none.

Naval Fort

• Visiting: everyone except pirates.
  • Move a warship of the nation in whose sea zone the fort is located into an adjacent sea zone. If there is no ship of that nation on the card, draw Event cards until a warship of the nation concerned appears (then shuffle the deck).
  • The drawn NPC card acts as an additional Event card (it affects the Loyalty track), introducing the NPC into the game at the end of the round by the base rules.
• Raid: Defence 6 cards. Penalty: 1+1 (1 for the attack, 1 on success). Wanted token from the nation in the sea zone where your location is.

Prison

• Visiting: anyone.
  • Pay 5 gold. Draw the first Specialist you come across from the Glory card deck, and you may use them immediately. If you already have that type of Specialist, discard the drawn card, draw again, then shuffle the deck.
• Raid: Defence 4 cards. Penalty: 1+1 (1 for the attack, 1 on success) wanted tokens from the nation in the sea zone where your location is.
• Prize: on success you may make a "Visit" to the prison and hire a Specialist for free.

Town

• Visiting: anyone.
  • Only 1 Port action may be performed.
  • When buying, draw 4 goods cards, or 3 if you bought in this town in the previous round.
  • The conditions for buying and selling goods are the same as at the Trading Post.
• Raid: Defence 5 cards. Penalty: 1+1 (1 for the attack, 1 on success) wanted tokens from the nation in the sea zone where your location is.

Notes:

• You may perform the "Port" action in the Town, but you cannot perform certain special actions, even if the Town is in the same sea zone as the Port.
• You cannot verify the authenticity of Rumour cards for the Port named on them.
• You cannot recruit Specialists available for recruitment in the named Port.
• You cannot receive a Mission.
• You cannot sell contraband goods.
• You cannot buy ship modifications.
• You cannot hide gold in a chest.
• You cannot use the properties of the sea zone or the Port: for example, pay 1 gold to draw new goods cards, as in Santa Domingo.

Reefs

• Visiting: anyone.
  • Check Scouting. For each skull rolled, choose one of:
    • take 1 goods card;
    • take 1 special weapon;
    • take 1 Rumour card;
    • take a "crew" of 1.
  • Receive 1 hull damage for each item taken, minus 1 for each unused skull rolled on the Scouting check.
• Raid: not possible.

You may choose 1 action from the following: a) sell goods, b) buy goods, c) visit the shipyard, d) recruit a crew, e) acquire a Rumour card, f) buy Goodwill, g) raise Loyalty.

Module 10: Goodwill

Time added: none. Added complexity: medium.

Goodwill is the sum of your bribes, investments, gifts and business relations with the townsfolk (high and low). When needed, it helps you avoid failures and may provide valuable information.

Setup

Each player places their Goodwill board beside their player card, then places a die of their colour on the "No Goodwill" space.

Gaining Goodwill

You may gain 1 Goodwill in 3 ways:

1. at the end of the "Port" action, by buying it for 2 gold;
2. after taking a Mission;
3. after completing a Mission.

When you gain Goodwill, move the die on the Goodwill board up by one unit, but not above the maximum of 5 units.

Spending Goodwill

Spend 1 Goodwill to:

1. redraw any card except Event cards (Rumour, Glory, Mission cards, all goods cards when buying, all cards at the start of a raid, when adding/replacing a card in a raid on a merchant, and so on). You cannot use Goodwill if an Event card forces you to draw cards, nor against a drawn Event card;
2. re-roll one of your non-combat Captain skills. You may use this ability for Scouting (when searching for players, merchants or NPCs to start a battle, or when checking the truthfulness of a Rumour in a sea zone), but not for rolls in battle or during raids;
3. force an NPC to re-roll a successful Scouting when it has found you;
4. enter a Port closed to you, ignoring the restriction from wanted or war tokens. Pay 1 Goodwill, if you have it, for each wanted token from the nation to which that Port belongs, plus another 1 Goodwill if your nations are at war (after entering, you may perform all actions in the Port as usual).

Notes

• You may spend only 1 unit of Goodwill in a given situation: for example, only once to force a warship to re-roll a Scouting check when searching for you. However, in a raid on a merchant there are several different actions, so Goodwill may be spent on each action.
• War and wanted tokens do not prevent using or gaining Goodwill.
• You may spend Goodwill only on yourself.
• When a Captain dies, all Goodwill is lost, unless you use the Glory card "Rescue".
• To enter a closed Port, Alexander Villon uses his Captain ability and checks Influence. If the Influence check fails (he is allowed to use Goodwill to re-roll), he may spend one unit of his available Goodwill to enter the Port, ignoring the restriction.

Module 11: Loyalty Track

Time added: 0–5 minutes per player. Added complexity: medium.

This module adds a new level of crew management and makes the game harder. Not recommended for inexperienced players.

Setup

Each player takes a Loyalty track board and places it to the left of their player card, then places a die of their colour on the "Content" space.

Gaining Loyalty

Throughout the game, the crew's loyalty to you as their Captain will rise and fall. Each change on the Loyalty track gives bonuses or harsh penalties. Bonuses, like penalties, are cumulative with the neighbouring ones. For example, a Captain with a "Happy" crew also receives the bonus for "Pleased". With an "Angry" crew, the Captain also receives the penalties from both "Restless" and "Unhappy".

Loyalty increases by 1 point if you:

1. receive 1 Glory point;
2. while in a Port, pay gold to change Loyalty: for example, 3 gold to move from "Content" to "Pleased". Loyalty may be changed by 1 for each action in a Port.

Losing Loyalty

Loyalty decreases by 1 point if you:

1. drew an Event card with an NPC (shown by the passage of time, fears, etc.);
2. declared that you wish to put money into a cache;
3. start and end your turn in the same Port.

Fierce Loyalty. On your turn, a player may check Leadership and, on success, lower the crew's Loyalty by 1 to gain an additional action (only once per round).

Loyalty levels

• Happy. The Captain has +1 Leadership in combat (crew clash and raid on a location).
• Pleased. The Captain may recruit, for free, not only a crew in any Port (sea zone properties are ignored), but also Specialists from Glory cards (they are not tied to any particular Port). Using this Loyalty property, you may recruit 1 Specialist for free per round.
• Content. No effects.
• Restless. The Captain cannot recruit crew and new Specialists for free (from Glory cards, Rumours or otherwise), even with free recruitment. In addition, the properties and effects of Specialists already on board are disabled.
• Unhappy. Before playing a Glory card, you must check Leadership. If the check fails, you may not play a Glory card this round.
• Angry. The Captain has a minimum of -1 Leadership in combat (crew clash and raid on a location).
• Mutiny. As soon as the Loyalty level reaches this step, you must immediately check your Leadership, including penalties. If the check succeeds, the Loyalty level rises to "Angry". If the check fails, the Captain is killed and the usual rules for dead Captains apply. This dice roll does not count as a "Crew clash".

Variant 1: Non-fixed Turn Order

Time added: none. Added complexity: none. Effect: increases players' options in PvP combat and reduces downtime.

Introduction

This variant introduces uncertainty into the order and sequence of turns, and into how far players can get. For example, a player may be last in this round but first in the next, which means they take 2 turns in a row. Use this variant to widen the options players have against each other.

Setup

Place 1 coloured die of each player in a black bag.

Gameplay

After an Event card is revealed, any player draws 1 die from the bag. The colour of the die determines the first player in this round. When the first player has finished their turn, the next die is drawn, and the player of that colour performs their actions. After all players have taken their turns, the dice are returned to the bag and a new round begins.

Variant 3: Glory or Death

Time added: 20 minutes. Added complexity: none. Effect: places more emphasis on earning Glory points rather than accumulating gold.

The cost of a Glory point in gold in your cache increases with each point by 5 gold.

• The 1st Glory point costs 10 gold.
• The 2nd Glory point costs 15 gold.
• The 3rd Glory point costs 20 gold.
• The 4th Glory point costs 25 gold.
• The 5th Glory point costs 30 gold.

If you have hidden 50 gold, under the normal rules this would earn you 5 Glory points, but with Variant 3 you will earn only 3 Glory points (10+15+20).

Thus, to earn 5 Glory points, you will need to place a total of 100 gold in your cache.

Variant 4: Life is Pain, or How Hard It Is to Live!

Time added: none. Added complexity: none. Effect: place NPCs at the start of the game to increase activity and difficulty.

During setup, draw from the Event deck and place on the board the first 2 warships of different nations and one pirate NPC (this does not affect Loyalty, since the game has not yet started). Again, draw any NPC card whose ship appears in a player's home Port: simply return the card to the deck and draw a new one. Once all is ready, start the game as usual. All of the above means that a pirate NPC may move into a player's sea zone already in the first round, to which the only answer is: "Life is pain!"

If Scouting is passed successfully, the active player is found and a battle begins. If the detected player survives, they may continue their turn.

Penalty: any player who performed an out-of-turn Scouting has 2 fewer actions in the next round.

Detailed rules

• A Captain cannot perform out-of-turn Scouting if their Captain card is turned over (that is, they have already performed an out-of-turn Scouting).
• Out-of-turn Scouting is performed before any other actions of the NPCs in that sea zone.
• If the active player enters a sea zone where several other Captains want to perform out-of-turn Scouting, they must roll dice. The one with the best result (more skulls, and in case of a tie, the highest total on the dice) finds the active player. In any case, all those who performed an out-of-turn Scouting receive a penalty of -2 actions in the next round.

Variant 2: Captains, Captains, Captains

Time added: 0–5 minutes. Added complexity: none. Effect: lets you choose your starting Captain.

Introduction

Some like to play with a randomly drawn card; others prefer to choose the Captain they would like to play. Here are two solutions for those who want to choose:

"Yes, I'll take this one!" Each player receives 2 Captain cards and chooses which they want to play.

"It's worth it!" In this variant, players must pay for the option to choose a Captain. First, they draw a Captain card at random by the normal rules, then each may pay 2 gold to draw another Captain. Another 2 gold may be spent to draw a 3rd Captain, if needed. After this, the player must decide on their choice.

Variant 5: Cutthroat

Effect: intended for players who want more frequent PvP battles. It should not be regarded as a correction, but rather as a way to satisfy players who want to play as pirates.

This variant is for players who want more frequent PvP battles. It should not be regarded as a fix, but rather as a way to meet the wishes of some players to play pirates. The variant has two parts, which may be used together or separately.

Out-of-turn Scouting

A player may perform Scouting outside their turn as soon as an active player has entered their sea zone (including one leaving a Port). After deciding to perform an out-of-turn Scouting, the player turns over their Captain card as a reminder, and turns it back over on their next turn.

Variant 6: Trading Rules

Effect: changes the economic balance of the base game; allows play both with and without the expansion.

Economic balance (translator's note).

Buying goods works as in the base rules without change, but selling a good in short supply reduces demand for it. Therefore, under Variant 6 the following sale rules apply:

1. for the 1st good in short supply: 6 gold;
2. for each subsequent one: 3 gold each.

Thus, selling 2 goods gives the player 9 gold (6+3), 3 goods give 12 gold (6+3+3), and 4 goods give 15 gold (6+3+3+3). When a sea zone property makes a good cost 1 gold more, add 1 gold for each unit of goods. Example: for 2 goods sold in such a sea zone, the player receives 11 gold (6+1+3+1).

Thus the development of traders and pirates is balanced; they develop gradually and evenly, and you can choose either direction of activity.

This variant was used by the translator in the original game. It corrects an economic imbalance in which traders had an advantage over pirates. With this variant it is equally profitable to pirate and to trade. You may play without the expansion, with the base set alone.