Good-Guy Outlaws and Pirates

If it's a "good guy" campaign, the player-characters are heroes . . . but misunderstood.

They may have been framed for crimes they did not commit, and were forced to flee the authorities (it's hard to prove your innocence when you're swinging from a gibbet). They may be enemies of the new ruling power (if a wise old ruler dies and is replaced by an oppressive and unfair new ruler, that's ample justification to embark on a life of outlawry . . . in the game and the movies, anyway).

In such a campaign, the characters are wanted by the law, but it's the law that's wrong, and the heroes treat their captives and victims with golden-rule ethics.

In other words, they'll capture innocents and take their money and goods . . . but they'll offer no insult to victims who deserve none, will tend to release such prisoners unharmed. Inevitably, some of these former prisoners will be re-introduced in the story in an upper-hand position, and may be able or willing to help the unlawful heroes when they're in a bad position.

On the other hand, victims who are their true enemies (wicked representatives of the evil rulers, personal enemies, tax collectors, competing pirates and outlaws with no scruples, and self-centered money-grubbers of any sort) tend to be humiliated and embarrassed while they are prisoners of the PCs. Unless they behave very stupidly and attack the PCs, they, too, are likely to be released unharmed; if they do attack, they tend to be battled in single combat, and usually are killed. Enemy prisoners, if released, also tend to reappear in the story down the line . . . usually at a time when they can do a lot of harm to the player-characters.

The main goal of this sort of campaign is restoring the old status quo. If the characters used to be law-abiding citizens and are now wanted by the law for the wrong reasons, their eventual goal is to prove their innocence. If the land used to be ruled by a wise ruler who is now imprisoned or dead, the characters' goal is to release him from prison or find and crown his wise true heir.

Often, the heroes' force of men (pirate ship or outlaw band) will prove useful to someone in a position of power (like the rescued ruler or another powerful noble), and that personage will issue them pardons and commissions into his army or navy just before the slam-bang climax of the campaign or mini-series.

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