Pilfer & Plunder

Written by strawberryAle

Pilfer & Plunder is a popular game played throughout the isles of Llyne and Tregaron. Much like Chess, the game is incredibly old; marking its origin back to when man first began to sail. With a culture steeped in maritime tradition, Tregaron is often credited as the birth place of the game, seen as a tradition amongst its people.

History

Much like Chess, Pillage & Plunder was invented centuries ago, in a time where the inventor was long forgotten. The invention presumably began roughly around the time where ships became a commonplace thing amongst the humans, as an alternative, sea-based take on chess. The game originally began as a simple bar game, until it grew in such popularity that some taverns began to commission specially made tables solely for playing it. In time, Pillage & Plunder became a staple mind game among the Tregaron people, and to this day, is enjoyed by those both noble and in squalor.

Execution

The goal of the game is to collect as much 'Plunder' as you can. To do this, special ships, referred to as 'bounties', are placed across the map. Traditionally, plunder is counted simply as a single point, but later variants of the game has lead to Pilfer & Plunder to keep track of special tokens designed to represent more than one point. The goal is to hit an amount of points agreed upon by the party, with the typical number being 20.

Full Detail

There are always 2-4 players involved; recent variants have allowed for larger game boards to accommodate larger parties. For every two players in the game, a bounty ship is placed upon the board through rolling. 10 determines where it goes down the board, while 6 determines its placement across.
Player ships may also be 'Pilfered'. Pilfering a player rolls an attack against them. If their ship is sunk, then they lose a 1d3 plunder, which is then distributed to whoever sunk them. To attack, the target must be at least 2 tiles away from the attacker. A roll is made while the attacker selects a 1x3 or 3x1 portion of the grid to attack, from the attackers ship to the enemy's, or left to right, respectively. The number determines whether they hit or miss; on a hit, the ship is sunk, or takes damage.
Players whom wind up sunk are simply placed upon one of the outermost tiles of their choosing after one turn of waiting.

Components and tools

Board:Pilfer & Plunder uses a standard board with square tiles drawn, etched, or placed upon it. The board is traditionally played on a 16x10 game board. Modern boards are often well decorated in a way that shows off the map of the world; allowing the sea to be displayed upon it.
It uses game pieces that take up one space. Traditional boards use simple tokens with the etched ship on it, while more modern ones use proper miniature figurines.
Dice: A six sided, three sided, and ten sided die.
Actual Currency: Sometimes, actual silvers or gold are used to mark the 'plunder'. The winner keeps all the plunder for themselves.

Participants

A popular game among Tregaron and Llyne, Pilfer & Plunder is played among all classes. The poor may use home made or crude game boards, while the rich often have special game boards specially crafted or created, valued in at a high price due to the intricate designs placed upon the miniatures and the board itself.

Related Ethnicities

• The Torman
• The Vanks
• The Villish