Getting Better

There is no experience point track. There are no levels.

Your GM decides when the crew improves, usually after something significant: taking a prize, raiding a port, dividing the plunder, burying treasure, coming out of a temple alive.

When it happens, do four things.

1. Ability changes

Roll a d6 against every one of your five abilities.

• Roll equal to or higher than the ability: it goes up by 1, to a maximum of +6.
• Roll below it: it goes down by 1.
• Abilities from -3 to +1 always go up by 1, unless you roll a 1 — then they drop, but never below -3.

Read that again, because it is the part nobody believes the first time: your character can get worse. A Buccaneer with +3 Presence is rolling a d6 hoping not to lose the thing that makes them a Buccaneer. Veterans in this game are lopsided, not superior.

2. More hit points

Increase your maximum HP by d6. You have to actually rest or heal to raise your current HP.

3. A class feature

Roll on your class's feature table. Most classes reroll duplicates; the Buccaneer can take each feature twice, and the Rapscallion's specialties get better when repeated.

4. Among the dead men you find

Roll a d6: 1-2 nothing, 3 a weapon, 4 3d10 silver, 5 an ancient relic, 6 an arcane ritual.

What this means for you

Power creep is not the reward loop here. Silver, a ship, a reputation, and a crew that has not mutinied yet are the reward loop. Your character sheet is a record of what the Dark Caribbean has done to you so far.