Avast!

I'd hoped to post this a little earlier in the month, but we're finally back with a huge content update for Shot & Splinters. The core game rules have been refined and expanded, and Dalglish's Gazetteer grows ever larger with the addition of 15 new hexes and 12 detailed random encounters. The new content allows you to explore the mainland in greater depth, leading your crew on raids deep into enemy territory. The size of this update means the game's price has increased to $20. 

The new update covers a huge swathe of the department of Loire-Inferieure. From the picturesque medieval city of Guerande to the blackened ruins of Machecoul, the region is full of interesting diversions to draw your players onshore. They might attack the shipyard at Paimboeuf, and burn the half-built frigate Sacre Coeur down to the strakes, or perhaps they'll run into the mysterious occultist that lives beneath the old Hospitaller priory at Le Temple. A touch of the inexplicable runs through the countryside, giving you the option to present your players with the supernatural every once in a while. 

Let's take a look at the Devil's Mill, as an example of what you can expect to find:

16.02: The Devil’s Mill

Rising up from the expanse of tangled salt marsh and sucking bog, the Mill of Cremeur looks out over the wild countryside and the nearby town of Guerande, its ragged sails turning gracefully in the sea breeze. Atop the mill’s pointed roof, a corroded metal statue of the Virgin Mary stares into the sky. 

In Guerande and its environs, the Mill of Cremeur has another name - the Devil’s Mill. Three centuries ago, the legend tells, a poor man by the name of Yves Kerbic was walking along the rise, lamenting his destitute state. The Devil appeared to him, offering to build him a mill in a single night in exchange for his soul. As the Devil prepared to lay the final stone, Yves darted in and placed a statute of the Blessed Virgin in the niche. Crying out that he had been tricked, the Devil disappeared in a cloud of sulphurous smoke, banished by the miller’s quick thinking. 

Satan’s infernal presence has left its mark on the building. Inside, a faint smell of sulphur permeates every room, increasing in strength closer to the millstones. Any flour removed from the mill not by the miller spoils in 2D6 hours, every single grain of flour transforming into fat, glistening maggots. 

If the copper statue is removed from the mill’s roof, the building and its inhabitants will be incinerated in a huge explosion before the next dawn. 

The local rye fields should be inspected for signs of ergot. I treated several bad cases of Saint Anthony’s Fire when we passed through Guerande, even removing a gangrenous foot in the most extreme case. The mind-altering properties of the fungus would explain the sacks of writhing maggots, especially given the superstitious nature of the locals. V.C

There's not just hexes to explore. Dalglish's Gazetteer also includes 12 new land-based encounters, which can be dropped into any location to add new complications to your adventures. You might run into Lohan ‘Samson’ Villeneuve a piratical royalist vigilante with a death-wish, or dapper military engineer Major Claude Belmont and his portable forge. These larger than life characters can become allies, antagonists, or simply victims, providing texture and colour to the wild Breton landscapes. 

I've made some tweaks and additions to the core game rules, presented below:

• Shipmates (Pages 2-9): this new system gives each character a network of contacts aboard ship, adding new faces to the crew. Players generate the attitude, competence, courage, and discipline of their new comrade, before generating a name, stats, and a random trait or quirk. 
• Equipment (Page 12): items are now acquired by using an easy Authority test, modified by the requisition. 
• Naval Encounters (Pages 26-27): the system for generating naval encounters has been revised, allowing for convoys and squadrons to be generated. Subtables have been added to give more variance in the kind of ship encountered. The frequency of naval encounters has also been added. 
• Finding Food & Water (Page 29): rules for finding food and water have been added.
• Returning to Portsmouth (Page 30): the rules for returning home have been significantly revised. 
• Fortifications (Page 34): statistics for small and large artillery emplacements have been added. 
• Wildlife (Page 35): statistics for common fauna have been added, allowing for a wider variety of encounters. 

Next month, we'll be moving into the Vendee with the addition of more hexes. I've also been working on a smaller supplement focusing entirely on the town of Guerande and its inhabitants, while I collate the research for Midshipman Goodacre's Primer.