Flintlock
A downloadable game
Guildhall is an archipelago nation, far from the war and politics of the continent, but deeply embroiled in its own struggles... ages ago it was run by the Council of Archmages, but they all died when the world's magic started to slip away, and the islands are trying to hold onto civilization with dying spells and failing artifacts.
Worse, the great Sea Walls have finally fallen, leaving Guildhall open to the beasts from the ocean, where monsters beyond imagination dwell.
You are a member of the Flintlock Society: your soul has been bound to a ship, giving you incredible resilience and magical skill, in exchange for battling the many, many sea monsters which threaten your nation.
Flintlock is a story game that's primarily about describing big, pirate-themed action set-pieces, in which you dramatically lash out at a watery monster which will, in turn, lash back at you. Think of it less as a game and more as a "cool scene engine."
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $2.50 USD. You will get access to the following files:
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Community Copies
If you're interested in this game, but suffering from a financial hardship, community copies are available. These are free, entirely on the honor system. Every time someone buys a copy of this game, they will also put another community copy in the pool.
Comments
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We hacked Flintlock in as a resolution mechanic while playing a longer GMless game (Archipelago by Matthijs Holter), and it worked great! It gives you just enough hooks to hang your narrative on to get an evocative, exciting scene. I'm excited to try it out as a stand alone game.
That's super cool, thanks for telling me! I've always thought of Flintlock as something I wanted to go back to and adapt into a bigger game, and it's great to know that it worked out for that!
Flintlock is a storytelling game about magical pirates fighting sea-monsters, and while it's only five pages long, those five pages are packed with phenomenal writing and worldbuilding.
There's a great built-in hook to the setting, as well. Your pirates get their powers by binding their souls to their ship. This means they are stuck in their trade, stuck in the middle of adventure, for as long as you care to play the game.
Also, even if you're not inclined to run Flintlock by itself, it comes with an excellent sea monster generation engine, which includes both the monster's details and relative location. Admittedly, some possible results are a little strange (a swarm of tiny humanoid merfolk that are damaging seafaring vessels due to misguided friendliness and that are in a well-defended symbiotic colony with your own ship), but they're not impossible to tell a story around.
The game's dice system is a little strange, you roll one of each die and it corresponds to an element in the current scene, but it works and feels both fluid and epic.
Overall, I'd strongly recommend this to anyone who likes tales of adventure on the high seas---especially ones that are quick to pick up and play, and that involve monsters.
Minor Issues:
-Page 4, "Use the dice to describe the action, as explained on the next page", this explanation never manifests