A persistent-world pirate RPG

GALLOWS REACH

Every captain of the Reach has stared down the gallows once.

In the shipwright's yard. The first sail will be announced to the muster first.

Join the muster
From the charts of the Admiralty

A headland stained with blood.

The gallows at the Reach have never stood empty. Not once in a hundred years. The Admiralty hangs a dozen men a season and calls the cliffs a warning, but a warning only works on men who plan to grow old, and nobody at the Reach plans past the next tide.

The harbor below fills at dusk with ships that fly no colors and answer to no crown.

Gallows Reach is a persistent-world pirate RPG. You begin as a nobody on a rock with one leaking sloop. You end, if the sea allows it, a legendary captain: a fortified island flying your own black flag, a fleet worth the navy's attention, and a name spoken in every tavern from here to the Fortunate Isles.

Persistent world✦ Runs in any browser✦
The four winds

What a legend is built on.

Four things decide whether your name is remembered, or merely read aloud from a gibbet.

The Crew

"A captain is nothing without their crew."

Sailors with names, traits, and tempers of their own. Train them, trade them, grow attached. In the Reach, no captain sails alone.

The Voyages

"The seas never sleep."

Chart a course, and set sail! Nobody knows what awaits over the horizon: riches, danger, or death itself?

The Island

"Every legend needs a harbour."

Start on a dingy rock with a leak. End with a haven other captains speak of with envy. Dock your ships, upgrade your gear, and make your island a force to be reckoned with.

The Heat

"Every crime leaves a mark."

The navy keeps a ledger, and so do the taverns. Burn bright and the Reach will know your name. Burn too bright and you will meet the noose. A lifetime of notoriety becomes infamy, and infamy is worn with pride.

The shipwright's yard

Choose your hull.

Four keels lay in the yard. Each answers the sea differently, and each asks something different of your crew.

Sloop

The speedy scout
Speed
Cargo
Hull

Brig

The all-rounder
Speed
Cargo
Hull

Galleon

The hauler
Speed
Cargo
Hull

Man-o'-War

The fuck-around and find out
Speed
Cargo
Hull

The seas remember the ruthless.

Every voyage a story. Every scar a lesson.

The Reach forgets nothing.

✦

By order of the Admiralty
WANTED

Captains of ill repute, wanted for crimes against the Crown: smuggling, raiding, and defiance of lawful authority.

The navy offers coin for your capture.

The Reach offers no such mercy.

Every crime raises your Heat, and the patrols will come looking. But a lifetime of notoriety becomes Infamy, and Infamy cannot be taken, only earned.

REWARD: A LEGACY TO BE REMEMBERED
The muster

The first muster is forming.

One letter when the fleet is ready to sail, and the occasional word from the shipwright before that. The Reach is quiet by nature. So is this list.

Prefer ink and parchment? Write to [email protected].

Loud talk and stronger opinions happen in the cove.