Editing Cabin Fever & Carousing

'''Cabin Fever'''

One of the worst problems faced by a crew isn’t cannon fire or pirates but the sheer boredom of life on the water. Most of a sailor’s time isn’t spent taking part in swashbuckling adventures—it’s spent swabbing the decks, splicing ropes, or mending sails. Discipline is usually quite fierce onboard as well. Most captains don’t allow gambling or drunkenness (it tends to cause deadly fights). That’s why sailors tend to spend so much of their hard-earned (or ill-gotten) booty in port taverns or brothels. All characters automatically gain one level of Fatigue after every 30 days spent at sea. The crew never becomes Incapacitated due to Cabin Fever, but when that state would otherwise be met, the sailors might start whispering mutinous thoughts.


Hiring a ships musician and providing extra Rum rations and can increase the time between fatigue checks by 15 days.


'''Carousing'''

A night spent carousing “resets” the crew’s clock. Start the 30-day countdown again. Fatigue lost to Cabin Fever can only be relieved by rest and relaxation. This means carousing in a port with plenty of booze and women for most. Historically, sailors have often spent the equivalent of a year’s pay in a single night. Each week spent in port where the crew can relax (which usually means boozing and wenching) removes one level of Fatigue due to Cabin Fever. Each night of carousing costs 1d6 x 5 PoE for player characters. Extras spend their own pay or shares and their expenses should not be tracked.

'''Rushing:''' Characters may unwind quicker than usual by spending more money on good food, drink, and company. Spending 2d6 x 5 PoE reduces the time to remove Fatigue to four days; 3d6 x 5 PoE reduces the interval to three days, and so on, to a minimum of one day and 5d6 x 5 PoE. Player characters can also encourage their crews along. Each additional $5 for each man reduces the time to remove Fatigue by one day, to a minimum of one day and 20 PoE per head.

'''Getting Drunk:''' Carousing characters must make a Smarts roll each night to avoid getting drunk. A failure means they barely manage to make it back to their hammock that night, and suffer a grueling hangover the next morning (they remain Fatigued until sometime after noon). Success means the party-goer is drunk, but can mostly handle himself. Agility, Smarts, and all related skill rolls suffer a –1 penalty, but Toughness is increased by 1

'''Contacts:''' Carousing has one additional effect. Every full week spent in a port drinking with the locals adds +1 to the character’s Streetwise rolls, to a maximum of +2. This can be very helpful (if experience) when tracking down leads or trying to buy or sell cargo.