Here’s the Fanatic, who recruits the unwilling into their crusade and turns crowds into weapons.

Here’s the Fanatic, who recruits the unwilling into their crusade and turns crowds into weapons.

Here’s the Fanatic, who recruits the unwilling into their crusade and turns crowds into weapons. Available free until the #pirateworld  kickstarter begins on Friday.

Fanatics are crazy about whatever you decide. My favourite imagery is the captain (or first mate!) totally devoted to their ship and its laws, but they can be zealots for anything; volatile gods, royal families, dangerous churches or even natural stuff like fire or the deep ocean. I’d love to hear what Authorities you guys come up with, and what weird ceremonial weapons their champions will wield.

If you guys have wacky moves, reskins, Hireling ideas or pretty much anything, I’m intrigued!

There’s a few suggested Hireling profiles in the Hireling book, I’ll likely post these up later.

Unlike the class previews I’ve posted before, it’s a 2-page fully useable class with tons of moves! It’s only going to be available free at that link until the kickstarter begins, so grab it before Friday if you want it, or back the project and get all the full classes. NB. this preview doesn’t include most look additions, gear or a Pirate World third page. 

27 thoughts on “Here’s the Fanatic, who recruits the unwilling into their crusade and turns crowds into weapons.”

  1. Many thanks to Joshua Bailey for helping turn this from the original Inquisitor concept into something much more evocative!

    Also, figure that Chad Bale Kirby Bridges Josh McGraw Greg Israel and Giovanni Lanza should be interested in this!

  5. requisition is definitely intended to only work on GM characters. I’ll clarify that! The quick tag on the ceremonial dagger is there to signify that it’s a really agile and swift weapon to use, capable of catching enemies by surprise.

    Hunt the Witch is pretty thematic, but I can see how gender-neutral could be better. What would you use? Mage, Warlock?

  9. Personally the term “witch” doesn’t bother me. I think I recall reading that it was originally a gender-neutral term. I say stick with it if it is thematically appropriate.

    Like Requisition, Conscript seems troublesome. Can you use it on a PC, and if so, what does turning them into a “0-Level Hireling” do. That one also needs to specify it only works on GM characters, I think.

    Lastly, and this is personal taste, I would have the GM describe what the target looses as a result of the Decapitate Vow.

  10. Haha, yeah, Conscript is definitely only intended to be useable on NPCs! To be frank, I think that should go without saying. No GM is going to turn a player’s character into someone else’s hireling based on a single move’s roll. Given what you’ve said I might still make that explicit, I’d prefer to avoid any confusion. Definitely interested here to see what other people think.

    Decapitate is definitely personal taste, you’re totally free to play it that way if you’d prefer 🙂

  11. Haha, yeah, Conscript is definitely only intended to be useable on NPCs! To be frank, I think that should go without saying. No GM is going to turn a player’s character into someone else’s hireling based on a single move’s roll. Given what you’ve said I might still make that explicit, I’d prefer to avoid any confusion. Definitely interested here to see what other people think.

    Decapitate is definitely personal taste, you’re totally free to play it that way if you’d prefer 🙂

  13. now things get interesting! 

    Maybe some kind of mechanical incentive for doing that? Giving players some carrot for giving up some agency…

    I realy am not sure about this. 

    In AW you can be part of the Hocus cult or the Choppers gang but they don’t have extra mechanical power over you. It’s more about them having fictional leverage over you. 

    So they could become your hireling but not turn from PC to hireling status suddenly. 

    Although you could maybe grant them a hireling skill matching their class at 2? 

  15. Now, granted, it is super-disruptive, and probably better for a one-shot than a long campaign. But think about how it works.

    You turn another PC into a hireling. They are still a PC, but now they have a hireling skill, which they can use (or someone else can benefit from) just like they are a hireling. PLUS, you get to use Order Hirelings on them! Which means they have to do what you say until it gets dangerous, and then you roll+loyalty, which is zero, and probably they still have to do it but they get to make outrageous demands later or they quit. On a miss, who knows? Maybe the GM says they quit.

    And then you can’t use the conscript move on them again, because they are still a hireling! They just don’t work for you anymore!

    So yes, it’s disruptive and takes away a certain amount of agency from another player, but if the other player knows how things work, they can actually cause more grief to the fanatic player. I’m ‘a tuck the idea away for later, myself.

  16. That’s brilliant, and a lot more workable than I’d been considering! A one-shot where the Fanatic ends up ordering his whole team about could be pretty funny. I totally agree; there’s definitely scope for something a bit different here, and I’m going to let this idea soak in the back of my head tonight and see if I can come up with something feasible as an advanced move.

    Perhaps mush in bonds to give the Loyalty. Hmmm.

  17. No, having a positive loyalty stat is too much mind control, because it keeps the relationship static. Maybe if the other player decides their PC is loyal, put it at +1. Otherwise, zero is the way to go.

  18. On another note, I wanted to make a move where the Fanatic deliberately sacrificed their Hireling for gain, but couldn’t come up with something that wouldn’t just be easier to do in the fiction. Anyone have any good suggestions? This move would be completely wicked with a PC hireling, of course…

  22. I’d originally planned something like that, but am torn; it makes the glass-cannon Fanatic (6HP, no armour options, unwieldy close attacks) significantly more survivable. At the same time, it’s totally in keeping with a brutal throwaway attitude to Hirelings that I’d love to cultivate, seeing them as just tools for the Fanatic to destroy more stuff!

    I’m not sure. I keep talking myself into that option, but then remember I don’t like the safety of avoiding 7-9 consequences, then remembering that it affects a significant resource that’ll fail easily.

  23. Johnstone Metzger wrote: “Also, a GM could easily let the bossed-around PC defy danger to resist carrying out the fanatic’s orders.”

    There’s also “Aid or Interfere”, which could thwart the initial Conscription too: “Any time you feel like two players should be rolling against each other, the defender should be interfering with the attacker.”

    I note that the Conscript move is triggered when someone fears the Fanatic, which I would say is up to the player of the pirate whose servitude is demanded.

  25. Oh yes, very, very, interested.  I’ve been following your concept to it’s fruition on SA and I gotta say you’re doing a great job! I can’t wait for the full book!

  26. Not sure if it’s in any other World games, but in the hack, Sixth World, the manipulate move has options for NPC and PC.

    So maybe something like that in order for the PC to get a carrot?

    PC: On a 10+, both of the following apply. On 7-9, only 1 applies (you choose):

    -if they comply, they get to mark XP.

    -If they refuse, they have to Defy Danger.

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