Character Creation: Yarr!

THE TENTH GAME OF XMAS, TWENTY-TWENTY-TWO,
IS YARR!*
ROCKOPOLIS,
THEN BROKEN EARTH
GOOD SOCIETY
THEN MOONPUNK,
VISIGOTHS VS. MALL GOTHS,
PIRATES OF PUGMIRE,
THE TROUBLESHOOTERS,
THEN STAR-CROSSED,
AND THE FIRST GAME WAS THE ONE RING 2ND ED!

*This game title only works in the cadence of the song if you really stretch it out. 

The Game: Yarr! The Rules Light Pirate RPG
The Publisher: BD Games
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

After the overwritten mess that was Rockopolis, it's refreshing to have a nice, simple, palate cleanser of a game. Yarr! is an RPG about pirates meant for kids. And like, it's not the best kid-focused RPG I've ever seen. It's just watered down D&D with a nautical theme, very focused on combat, but you know what? Fine. There are a lot of approaches to writing RPGs for kids, and as I've said before, "kid" covers such a vast swath of time that it's not like there's one right answer (to say nothing of the fact that children of different ages can be at very different developmental levels as far as language, cognition, and experience with games go). 

So let's make a pirate! Yarr, indeed! Oh, and I picked this for the "ten" slot in the song because in some variations, it's "ten ships a-sailing."

No ability scores in this game, we just choose a class to start with. The classes are pretty loose - we've got Atlantean (that is, merfolk), Cap'n (which isn't really a captain, more of a fighter/paladin type, I think?), Marine, Rascal (rogue), and Sailor. 

Well, the last pirate-y character I made (who was a bird) was gunsmith, so I think I'll lean away from that and make a sailor. I often find playing rank-and-file characters who rise above that station and become Important to be a lot of fun. My Sailor's name is Horst. Sometime the other sailors call him "Red Horst" because he burns in the sun so easily (you get used to it). 

I can leap, run, and climb in the rigging without a roll, and I can find secret doors and treasure on a 1-4 on a d6 because I'm a greedy sort. I get a weapon (roll 1d3...club), a cup for grog, and sack for fillin' with treasure. 

Hit points 9, AC 16, and that's it, ladies n' gents. Not really much to it. Yarr!