Fluffle

So now, let's talk about this. There are several approaches for this. The main idea is that you don't get much from donating. So is there any motivation to donate in the first place? If you answer with: "Yes, you can become a member of the Black Isle Bastards in the game" or "Yes you will be mentioned in the game" - how should that work? The tombstones in Pillars of Eternity 1 have been very ill received if I remember correctly for breaking immersion. So as @phimseto already wrote any messages should not be player written. But who is going to create that "prearranged list of appropriately pirate-y ends" that he suggests? Also if we do get more supporters that list could be quite long. In any case, if we do something like that, like a ledger or any kind where donators can immortalize themselves as lost Black Isle Bastards we need to take utmost care that that doesn't break immersion. I would prefer a special section in the credits of the game, but that may be less of an incentive for some.

I have been thinking. I think that the tier "build a pirate party" does not include the tier "create an inn". I don't believe we even have the option of turning our ship into an inn. Creating a ship is one thing but turning it into an inn is another. So if we really wanted an inn on the Black Isle we would be going to depend on one of the inn backers. And since there is already someone who'd like to turn his inn into a ship, we shouldn't turn our ship into an inn even if it was possible.

As far as I understood Aarik, we cannot influence the size of the island. It is going to be a tiny island that is fact. The size is set. And as such there can only EITHER be an inn on it OR a ship on its beach. Not both.

Hey I like that idea My idea was that while you are sailing through the Deadfire Archipelago you meet a part of the Black Isle Bastards on their ship. Their ship has been severely damaged and is going to sink. The player can decide to help the Black Isle Bastards to get home to the Black Isle or the player can kill them. In any case the player will have the option to visit the Black Isle later on where he meets the rest of the crew either reunited with the rescued crew mates from before or not. If the player had rescued the part of the Black Isle Bastards before they're very grateful. On the other hand if you killed their comrades before they don't know about it. You would have the chance to finish the rest of the Black Isle Bastards off for once and for all. Also I'd really like the inn to be some kind of cave. That'd be cool. The pirates would use that cave as their hideout and serve drinks there!

about 2.) The two pirate crew slots are not taken, they are free. But even if they were taken Obsidian promised us to still make our pirate crew if we reach the $5000. The Black Isle is going to be a very small island and can only support one structure at most and only few NPCs. So if we decided to put our ship and the crew on the island then it's full. Except one could still put some items or pets there. Since the option that the ship of the Black Isle Bastards is damaged or destroyed seems popular I would imagine that the ship (or the remnants thereof) is at the Black Isle as are the Black Isle Bastards themselves. I doesn't have to be the case though. If the ship and the pirates were not places on the island then someone could model their inn after a pirate hideout. It would then be the hideout of the Black Isle Bastards. For example you could meet them on sea and interact with them in some way and then later on meet them in their hideout again.

Hi phimseto, welcome to our cozy little thread I liked the haunted lighthouse in Ondra's gift a lot. First, we will get a Black Isle anyway for free. Obsidian has been very generous. Originally we wanted to crowd fund the island but they gave it to us for free. Now we would like to crowd fund a pirate crew called the "Black Isle Bastards" who are of course associated with the Black Isle in some way. I have been posting the link to this thread on the Fig campaign very often. You can see that this thread has about 4700 views. And 100 people voted on the poll. Yet "only" 21 backed this cause. I am very very grateful to these 21 backers and they have all been generous in pledging here, but let's face the facts it is not enough. Maybe we would have had stronger support if we were backing the island, but we already have the island. I could ask Aarik if there was any way that Obsidian would promote our cause here. On the other hand they already have proven to be very generous and I would dislike to strain their generosity. But I am always grateful for hints and tips how to promote this cause, so thank you sharing your advice

This is one of the reasons why we leave the details to Obsidian Because otherwise we would really argue over how squirrels are perceived nowadays and in the past. Not to mention that people of Eora might perceive squirrels completely differently! Don't make me ask the devs

That actually depends. For example we have that option "The Black Isle Bastards are literally bastards of noble families (32 votes [34.04%] - View)" in the poll. So the pirates could have a noble background. Depending how you define that and flesh it out, they may actually behave a bit differently from "normal" pirates. I am not saying that I'm in favor of that or against that, just that in theory it's possible, that these pirates are not a rowdy crowd, maybe.

A) Model/Type that our ship would be based on B) Name of our Ship C) Fate/Role of our Ship Suggestions so far: A) 1.) repurposed sea monster 2.) Barque 3.) Sloop 4.) Brig 5.) Brigantine 6.) Canoe 7.) Caravel 8.) Junk (Ship) 9.) Pirogue 10.) Schooner 11.) Frigate B) 1.) The Black Bead 2.) Scallywag's Remorse 3.) The Black Smoke 4.) The Black Death 5.) The Blackfire 6.) The High Sea Harlot 7.) The Haunted Harlot 8.) Harbor-Bay Bitch 9.) The Salty Mistress 10.) The Mistress 11.) Mother's Embrace 12.) Ondra's Embrace 13.) The Lady of Lament 14.) The Mourning Mistress 15.) In the game the Black Isle Bastards actually argue over how to name their ship C) 1.) Eothas destroyed or damaged the ship 2.) The ship is destroyed or damaged (for other reasons) 3.) The Black Isle Bastards' souls are bound to the ship 4.) The ship captures souls (of anyone) 5.) A soul inhabits the ship just as the Steward inhabited Caed Nua Should I have missed suggestions, let me know. And keep posting new suggestions

Yeah, well unless the ship is cursed and binds the pirates' souls to it so that they cannot leave it and must travel the oceans for all eternity... Then they might not like it

Yep, absolutely it's like the current running poll in which some options are not mutually exclusive. I did not turn on multiple choices for the current poll in the opening post though because I wanted everyone to pick their absolute favorite choice. I might do the same for the second poll with option C, but maybe I will allow multiple options this time. I haven't decided yet

A) Model/Type that our ship would be based on B) Name of our Ship C) Fate/Role of our Ship Suggestions so far: A) 1.) repurposed sea monster 2.) Barque 3.) Sloop 4.) Brig 5.) Brigantine 6.) Canoe 7.) Caravel 8.) Junk (Ship) 9.) Pirogue 10.) Schooner 11.) Frigate B) 1.) The Black Bead 2.) Scallywag's Remorse 3.) The Black Smoke 4.) The Black Death 5.) The Blackfire 6.) The High Sea Harlot 7.) The Haunted Harlot 8.) Harbor-Bay Bitch 9.) The Salty Mistress 10.) The Mistress 11.) Big Mom 12.) In the game the Black Isle Bastards actually argue over how to name their ship C) 1.) Eothas destroyed or damaged the ship 2.) The ship is destroyed or damaged (for other reasons) 3.) The Black Isle Bastards' souls are bound to the ship 4.) The ship captures souls (of anyone) 5.) A soul inhabits the ship just as the Steward inhabited Caed Nua Should I have missed suggestions, let me know. And keep posting new suggestions

So I was asked if it was okay that while only 20 backers have donated for our cause so far, everyone on the forum can vote on the poll. 20 people have donated while 91 people have voted on the poll. My answer to that is: That is the reason why I made the poll a public poll. Should the need arise I would consider the votes of backers to be more important than those who have not donated to our cause. I am not saying that I WILL do that, but I might. On the other hand, I would like this to be a community project. I'd like the community to be able to contribute by votes and comments even if they don't donate. Yet, I would like to encourage everyone to consider donating to our cause. I see the Black Isle Bastards as a community project, a gift from the community to Obsidian Entertainment and every dollar counts. So if you are one of the many voters on the polls but you haven't donated yet, I would just like to tell you, that even a few dollars would be greatly appreciated!

For the purpose of the song you can use your own ideas to answer those questions. They do not become canon by that. Just the same with my images in the opening post. So don't be afraid to use your very own interpretation and fantasy of the Black Isle Bastards On the other hand if you do have a writer's block then just give it some time and wait.

I like it! Can't wait to hear the full and final version

So about One Piece, there is one part with the ship I particularly like. The idea is that the pirate crew has grown such a strong bond with their ship that the ship actually develops a life on its own. From the One Piece wiki: "Over time, the ship came to be loved by the crew as a home and as a friend, so much so that she literally took on a life of her own and became just as much a part of the crew as any of them." I know One Piece should not be an inspiration for our campaign here, so don't worry. However, I do like this part. In terms of Pillars of Eternity a soul could inhabit the ship, just as the Steward inhabited Caed Nuad for example. And the pirates could be the only ones who can interact with/hear that soul.

So confusing, too many bastards on that tiny isle! You don't get it... this is THE Bastard... ​Can the Ship itself be a Crew member? The ship IS the Captain??? xD Not the captain I think, but I do think that some pirates would consider their ship part of their crew. Uhm... does anyone know One Piece? xD Edit: Exactly, yeah it would be THE bastard, I am liking that more and more

Actually I like the line of thinking there. We are the "bastards" so our ship should be some kind of the worst, worse, UBER, whatever bastard. I don't know if there is an appropriate term for that. But the line of thinking would be that our ship is the "worst" or "biggest" bastard of all of us.

Okay about running the ship as an inn: I know that is an option in the poll and I WILL leave it there. I won't remove that. Because you should still be able to express your preferences. However, at the same time, I would carefully prepare you for the thought that our ship is probably not going to be an inn. I am not taking away any decisions here from you. But it may very well happen that our ship is not going to be an inn, because I know that someone else had that idea and he spent A LOT of money on that so we should respect that.

@Osvir How about a pirate song that in some way includes the Black Isle Bastards?

Yep, we already have the "Black Isle Bastards" and the "Black Isle". A name without "black" would be a nice change.

Update: I took out the option: "The Black Isle Bastards are stranded and their ship was destroyed or stolen" from the current poll. So you may want to revisit the poll. That option will be incorporated in the upcoming poll about the ship. When the ship is destroyed it's very probably that the BIBs are stranded. Don't worry I didn't forget what I said. I will change a running poll as rarely as possible.

Myself I would like to add something to category "A". The repurposed sea monster is probably impossible to beat in popularity, but I can imagine that it is actually out of the scope of what Obsidian would do. So I'd like to add some more "boring" options A) 2.) Barque 3.) Sloop 4.) Brig 5.) Brigantine 6.) Canoe 7.) Caravel 8.) Junk (Ship) 9.) Pirogue 10.) Schooner

So everyone, let's talk about the ship some more: I would set up three categories: A) Model/Type that our ship would be based on B) Name of our Ship C) Fate/Role of our Ship Suggestions so far: A) 1.) repurposed sea monster B) 1.) The Black Bead C) 1.) Eothas destroyed the ship 2.) The ship is a shipwreck (for other reasons) 3.) The Black Isle Bastards' souls are bound to the ship 4.) The ship captures souls (of anyone) Should I have missed suggestions, please tell me and I will update this post. Also please post more suggestions for each category. I plan on making a new poll for the ship with these three suggestions.

So to clarify, I am reacting the way I am because I was asked to remove one of the poll options to avoid possible conflict with another backer content. I see changing the poll as no solution whatsoever. A solution is talking about the problem and finding a compromise.