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