Prisoners

“Yo ho, yo ho the frisky plank,
you walks along it so,
'til it goes down and you goes down,
to Davy Jones below!" Jas. Hook Cptn.

Pyrates were notoriously easy of allegiance, and recruitment by capture was common, so in the It Just Happens phase after a prisoner is taken by pyratical types, roll a d6:4..6 they turn coat and join their captors, 1..3 they decide to take their chances of release, rescue or ransom. If offered Enticements they may be more inclined to jump ship. €1 gives a +1 on the roll, (but a natural one will always fail).

Civil or Military Authorities don't accept turncoats quite so readily, (except under terms of various pardons), but are to varying degrees corrupt and open to negotiation, this could be scenario, consensus or umpire decided, but as a rule of thumb, each enticement offered should give the prisoner a negotiation chance, but if the bribe fails, the goodies are lost. E.g. a prison warder may require €1 to give a d6:6 chance of "escape", €2 to give a d6:5..6 etc. whereas a local magistrate might require €2 for each additional chance. To mollify the moral outrage of a civic governor, or similar big wig, however is likely to take serious Loot.

Prisoners of the authorities will generally be held prisoner pending a trial and dockyard execution, leaving ample scope for escape or last-minute rescue. Gharstly savages and their ilk act as the scenario dictates or the umpire plays 'em, and treatment might vary in strange and unpredictable ways.

On board a ship prisoners are put in irons, and/or into the bilges. In a stronghold they are put in irons or stocks or into a lock-up. They can be rescued or ransomed, (or marooned, or hung from the yardarm, or made to walk the plank, or enslaved, or treated like gods, or sacrificed, or eaten etc.). They can be rescued by friends or escape if the opportunity of a Jailbreak arises.

Elsewhere a solitary guard can guard up to six prisoners adequately. These are grouped in BtB contact, the nearest figure being no more than two inches from a guard. If there are more than six prisoners per guard then in each manœuvre phase roll a d6: score equal to or less than the number of extra prisoners and the prisoners have escaped. The guard or guards must save against two wounds, (2d6: 5..6 saves). Move the escapees immediately up to 8" away.

If prisoners have been left tied up and unguarded in the wilderness they will escape on a d6:6 this turn, a d6:5..6 the turn following, and so forth. If a d6:1 is thrown, they have been discovered by carnivores before they could escape, and have met an untimely end, or made a timely supper, depending on your point of view.

Freeing prisoners takes an uninterrupted turn, i.e. a figure that is neither engaged or fired upon in that turn moves into contact with one of the prisoners and when they next have the initiative declares that they are freeing the captives. (Freeing prisoners is a separate action to movement). If they are not fired on or engaged in the rest of the turn then they are successful. Liberated prisoners are Close armed in the first turn of freedom, (i.e. the turn following their release), and thereafter manage to 'liberate' the weapons they are depicted with. Prisoners who have been liberated generally join the faction who did the liberating without much debate.

© Baggins Wood Ltd. 2009