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War rages across Azeroth. But as brave adventurers and colossal armies campaign against nations and invaders, a different war is fought across golden shorelines and upon the high seas. Through an orchestra of thundering ordnance, a cacaphony of clashing steel and blazing firepans fuelled by an ambitious desire for gold, anarchy or just sheer vehemence. Black hearts who kow-tow to no royalty, and just as likely to cross their fellow men-before-the-mast as strike a devilish bargain with him. For chaos is indeed a ladder but a slippery one; the route to riches paved with sacrifice.
Ye Core
The Golden Age is a pirate guild set in the Warcraft universe. It is the continuation of my 7-year history of nautical roleplay on retail, and later RPH. But what started bothering me was how pirate characters would live forever, without consequence. The roleplay became an endless circle of the same characters acting predictably in semi-scripted storylines.
The goal of The Golden Age is to replicate the intense real-life stories of pirates by combining Character Death, RNG, and Switching Characters.
Character death is mandatory, and is used to give weight to choices. Not only that you make, but others make. Not only your death, but also the death of others. RNG is added to ensure unpredictability, not only for the players but also the DM. The dice roll handles many things in TGA, like spotting ships at sea to chances of disease spreading. Lastly, Switching characters is in place to provide multiple perspectives. Due to Character death potentially being possible anytime, it is highly recommended to have at least three backup characters. Some events we play at different dates OOC take place at the same time IC, and in some events we have even played as the antagonists of our main characters.
These three concepts combined ensure character development at its fullest. Suffering becomes real.
Immersion and OOC rules
The greatest goal of The Golden Age is to provide a believable pirate environment. Players are motivated to have knowledge of pirates, ships, sailing, and a piratical style of speech (Curses, maritime terminology, and non-modern lingo). If you are shy when roleplaying I would not recommend this guild, as pirates are usually extrovert and eccentric. We have several lists of 18th-century slang readily available for player use.
Other rules enforced to ensure immersion is that OOC MESSAGES ARE RESTRICTED TO OOC CHATS. Chats that retail NPCs use for communications will ONLY be used for things your character say during roleplay, none of the /s ((not a dk ic)) bullshit. You will also keep your emotes (things your character do) to the /emote chat, and refrain from putting commas between things your character say. Blizzard have through their NPCs created a logic of communication in their world, and you WILL STICK TO IT. References are fine if they are actually funny (not obvious and rare).
Sailors have never been known for their views on gender equality. Because of this, we have a limit on Female characters of 2 in each Arc. Women get treated very differently by the various Male characters in The Golden Age world: mostly they'll be more polite and tolerant of you, while some might be less. There are also more risks for Female characters, as they are physically weaker than the men around them. Pirates were never known to shy away from rape, so that risk always looms in the air around lonely sailors, even if you might find yourself with a Ned Lowe or Henry Johnson-esque protector.
Our only requirements of your joining is activity, responsiveness and RP quality. The latter is put on trial in-game. We don't accept Elves.
Arcs, Events and Characters
Roleplay in The Golden Age is structured into Arcs. Arcs are storylines centered around one crew of pirates. These crews are designed mutually between the players involved OOCly, where we create the ship, the characters, backstory, ambitions and conflicts. This is to ensure that there will be rival interests and potential for internal conflict and intrigue, to prevent the RP from becoming a circlejerk and loot grind (something we've learned from experience). When all the players involved have their characters, and potentially backup characters designed we dive into the roleplay. The first event(s) are usually scripted DM-wise, as they're ment to be buildup to their current setting.
The core gameplay of The Golden Age are a mixture of DM'd events and relaxed roleplay: the pirate cruise the ocean, searching for plunder. Every x amount of minutes, theres a roll-based chance of a ship being detected. Using rolls, its nation and size will be decided, and the crew will either let their Captain decide, or mutually vote on what to do with it. The loot is privately decided by the DM via rolls. The closest The Golden Age got to a general goal is the earning of Prestige, a point system representing the accumulation of WoW's vague currency.
Instead of NPC, I prefer the term "PPC", or Potentially Playable Character. NPCs in The Golden Age are treated just as (un)fairly as players, and have their chances depending on their character skills and RNG aswell. When interacting with them in discussions you dont roll (certain Civilian classes allow this), but rather have to talk to them like any other player. They all have personalities, and like or dislike things. The reason I call them "Potentially Playable" is because anyone can chose to pick up and play any characters we may meet. Do you like this street beggar? Why not play him and have him become a pirate. This captive Marine? Recruit him to the crew.
Indeed, backup characters should be introduced seamlessly throughout the events and Arcs, and not just when your main dies.
Hand Combat
The Golden Age utilizes the Realistic Combat System I've designed based on the roll dice, my DMing experience, historical knowledge and military background. It is turn based, with one turn representing 1-3 seconds, and the biggest factor is the weapon you use. Weapons give roll bonuses and penalties that change depending on your Race and Class(combatstyle/background). Maces for example get a roll penalty of -10 every second turn, due to being slower to swing. They do however get a roll bonus of +10 against armoured opponents, compared to swords that get a -60 penalty.
Instead of Health Points, the Realistic Combat System has Bleeding. If you roll below the set threshhold (can also be things outside hand combat) you're dealt a wound. Theseriousness of the wound is decided by rolls aswell, and determines how much your character is bleeding. This starts a timer: after a set amount of turns, your character will bleedout and die. The timer of multiple wounds stack, and certain weapons even give a penalty to the wound roll (usually bigger weapons and guns). You can stop the bleeding bypassing a roll (ofcourse, if your character does something nonsensical before the roll, it won't work). After that, your wound will need patching up by a Doctor.
You can read more about the RCS here: http://rpheaven.org/...-combat-system/
Naval Combat
Sailing is the core of the TGA rp and is divided in two stages: Cruising and Naval Combat. Cruising I've explained previously: the pirates sail around, looking for ships. They chat, enjoy their rations and rest before their duties. When a ship is spotted, the crew choose to pursue and engage, or leave it if the risk is too high. There are many different ships in TGA, as there are in the WoW universe. What type they are and what cargo depends on the nation and type. Orcish ships are usually raiders or military, while Pandaren ships are always merchants. The chance of encountering a certain nation's vessel also changes depending on the region. Engaging a ship doesn't mean you will fight. By hoisting the pirate flag the enemy might react differently. Merchant ships usually surrender when they're outgunned and the pirates are too close for them to run away. Faster ships will tend to sail away. Navy ships near always tend to fight. If your crew's flag is also known to a faction, they might react differently. Naval combat is much more complicated than Land Combat. It is turn based. Depending on your ships size and sail type, different wind directions will make you faster or slower. Certain cannon types are effective against different things on different ranges. These days I try to use as little of the system I designed, and focus on using my knowledge of Age-of-Sail ships to determine what would happen by the decisions of the Captains. Rolls mostly come down to the winds direction and the cannon battles. Ships don't bleed however! And they have HP, Hull Points. Shooting cannons deteriorate the hull points, and eventually the ship will take on so much water that it will sink. Some ships (like Icebreakers) have iron plating, and will only be pierced by the most modern of cannons.
Misc Systems
Civilian Classes are classes that don't give you combat bonuses. Every class has up to three levels, every levels requiring a minimal Character Age (no 18 year old swordmasters). Agehas consequences too. Anyway, you can have a maximum of 3 levels in both a Civilian Class and Combat class: for example, you can't be a lvl 2 Pistolier and a lvl 2 Smuggler(2+2=4), but a lvl 1 Pistolier and a lvl 2 Smuggler (2+1= 3, yay!). You can't pick multiple combat or civilian classes, however. Civilian classes enhance things outside combat:Diplomats can roll to get hints that they would notice about the psychology of people. Galley Chiefs cook more nutritious food and use less hold space. A Pornstar can earnPrestige by acting in Goblin Pornos (ok we dont actually have any pornstar classes or any other sex-related classes dont even ask). Prestige is a point system used to represent your characters amassed wealth. We never state the exact amounts of gold or silver we take, as WoW's currency is very vague. The Higher your Prestige, the more options of Retirement Jobs are unlocked for you. At a whooping 100 Prestige (near impossible to achieve) you can retire as a Governor. 25 enables you to open a shop or a tavern. You can also spend your prestige points on drinking, feasting, shopping and whoring when in port: this increases your morale. Morale is mostly for the NPC crewmen, as most players will probably want to play their character out without a system. Low morale makes them agree less with the leaders and potentially mutiny. High morale makes them want to take more risks, and vote for the Captain. Combat Morale affects players. Higher levels gives roll penalties on Defence but bonus on Offense. Lower bonuses do the opposite, and both decrease chances of finding loot. An average battle morale gives the biggest chance of finding loot, but gives no combat bonuses or penalties. Diseases have a chance to pop up and spread the longer you are at sea and the how big the crew is in relation to the size of the ship. Having a good Doctor and a good Galley Chief decrease the chances. Cargo on ships is measured in tonnes. The player being the Quartermaster will need to manage how much loot is held aboard. Keep in mind pirates also need food, water and BOOZE. The average food ration is 4 kg per day, Water 4 liters, alcohol .2 liters (larger than the navy, pirates like to drink). Decreasing the food rations will have penalties for the crewmen.
Phase
Phase 1122 The Golden Age is a giant phase. It is the result of several month's work and is continously growing with new locations for the crews to visit. Should you wish to use it for anything non-related to my guild, go ahead. I don't have a password. It has a lot of creative effort into it, and I am quite content with the results. There are multiple custom-built port hubs available for the crew to visit, and even Blizzard settlements populated by their retail NPCs. While most are unchanged, some have recieved a facelift to enhance their original qualities. Aside from towns, there are a multitude of ships and camps for the crew to hang out in.
SHIP SCREENSHOTS
TOWN SCREENSHOTS 
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