How do I pull off a pirate campaign without it feeling too campy or, in contrast, too edgy?

How do I pull off a pirate campaign without it feeling too campy or, in contrast, too edgy?

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Player characters are basically pirates no matter the setting: they roam the land, concerned mostly with loot, making their way with violence or charm.
Just run a campaign and put it on a boat.

>too campy

Not possible.

>too edgy
keep rum, keep lash, play down the sodomy

> Pirate campaign not being campy

You wot?

Pirates can never be too campy.

>Too campy
But that's the whole point of a pirate campaign!

Watch the Master & Commander movie. Take that, then inject some occasional looting, plundering, and whoring. Honestly, most of what you're looking for is based on how the players treat your campaign. If they approach it doing the Long John Silver accent and wearing a parrot on their shoulders, you'll have to talk to them. If they want to play murderous, rapacious monsters of the sea, make sure they don't push it past acceptable bounds.

Injecting some fantastical elements or having the Campaign take place on a world covered in countless islands might help reinforce what you're going for.

I don't see what the problem is with a pirate campaign being campy either, honestly

Campy is good.

Embrace the camp!

youtube.com/watch?v=WdJg6Duzzf4

Not OP, but would you consider "Black Sails" a good addition to Master & Commander in regards of inspiration?

I've never seen it, so I can't say one way or another.

This. Pirates are supposed to be campy and fun, high flying adventure and the freedom of the open sea. Realistic pirates are fine but far more boring.

>Camp is a bad thing

Just go all in. As long as the players can find something to get invested in, all the camp in the world won't hurt it. Consider having then start as deckhands.

Play obe of the osr games where spending loot is how you level up, it matches how real pirates behave perfectly

Alestorm style Piracy? i.e. vaguely satirical comedic approach.

Only for the sea scenes
The rest is rather boring

Just make it Campy *and* Edgy, and the one should balance out the other , case in point
> campy is good
>Roman Polanski

...

...

But user, why would you want a boring pirate game?

Hilarious, *and* the director fucked a 15-year-old!

What about something like Black Sails? It takes a starting foundation of Treasure Island and then adds the Starz flair of prestige drama and gratuitous sex.

Use Poison'd, but the violence isn't at all something cinematographic and spectacular. It's part of the trade for a pirate. It might be excting but if it were a movie killing off the cook wouldn't be exactly Mad Max style coreography-

That being said OP, pirates are the one genre in which you can fuck all this bullshit realism and have fun, no questions allowed.

Go full One piece with it, and never look back.

>the rest is rather boring
Define 'the rest'. Skipping the negro whore is fine, and the blonde whore, but Jack, Teach, Vane and Featherstone scenes are good shit.

The correct way is to go spooky with a touch of camp. Never be afraid to really shake up the good times with something fucked up you want a good mix of edgy and camp.

Make the sailing very simulationist and have most of the encounters be against storms, defusing arguments among the crew, figuring out how to ration supplies, etc

And a satanic cult movie his pregnant wife!

>Too campy
Why are you afraid of fun?