Picaroons Playkit and Supplements

A Narrative Game of Adventure for Scoundrels

Picaroons is a playkit for picaresque adventures. Take on the role of a picaroon, a rogue who must rely on their wits to make their way in an uncaring world.

Use this game text however you please, so long as you’re not a bigot, fascist, or other piece of dogshit.

This project is under development!

It currently includes lightweight rules for adjudication, character creation/advancement, combat, companions, hirelings, and resting. It also includes 6 picaresques, adventure kickstarts to drop you in media res and get to playing!

Companion Projects #

Scrivener’s Kit #

Guidance for the player(s) running Picaroons through adventures, featuring:

  • Adjudication Flow: When to call for tests and advice for interpreting them
  • Conversions: Help for pulling content from anywhere else into Picaroons
  • Addenda: Optional systems for reputations, relationships, factions, downtime, etc.

Tricks of the Trade #

Actively drafting

Examples of tricks and subsystems to expand on them, featuring:

  • The Supernatural: Tricks for pacts with magical entities, spell scholarship, rituals, bindings, and unlocking the magic within
  • The Merely Mundane: Tricks for feats of arm, deep skill, and knowledge as power
  • Training, Study & Quests: How to acquire tricks without spending marks

Questing Curios #

Upcoming!

Examples of domains-as-items, featuring:

  • Relics: Powerful items with conditions and unlocks, made by powerful entities
  • Soulslivers: Items which grow as they’re used
  • Banal Magic: Disposable items whose power wanes with use
  • Alchemy: A subsystem for creating and using consumable magic

Palatial Shadows #

Upcoming!

An urban hexflower featuring:

  • The Palace: 7 hexes of palatial grounds
  • The City: Featuring numerous neighborhoods, including The Docks, The Old City, Riverside, The Steel Quarter, Ashtown, Gilded Grove, and more
  • Factions: The Regent, The Raptors, Alchemist’s Guild, The Silent Librarians, The Students' Union, Drake’s Kin, and more
  • Characters: Numerous folk of note, including hirelings, potential companions, patrons, and people with problems.
  • Lifepath: An alternate character creation flow to raise Picaroons beneath the shadow of the great palace
  • Hearsay: Timelines of events happening in the city and advice on bringing them into play