Articles of Piracy by Joseph Mohr is a role playing game supplement published by Old School Role Playing for use with Cepheus Engine. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result.
The supplement is available as a 28 page Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG. Two pages are the front and rear covers, three the front matter and three the Open Game License.
The opening paragraphs explain that sooner or later characters with their own ships will consider piracy, despite the risks, and that this supplement it intended to help with this.
Articles of Piracy has a suggested set of articles for pirates to follow, based on those of some historical pirates.
Punishment Aboard Ship and Otherwise has several punishments from history; some would need tweaking to update them.
Walking the Plank in the Frontiers of Space looks at how space pirates might dispose of victims, and that even if all witnesses are got rid of, ships still have owners and are traceable.
Law Enforcement looks at fighting piracy and the primary law enforcement organisation in the Frontiers of Space is the Sonoran Interstellar Police.
Encounter Tables has tables of ships to encounter in different regions, to determine potential prey, and mentions such as raiding planets. Star Ship Encounter Tables for the Frontiers of Space is referenced as more detailed encounter tables.
Reputations looks at how pirates gain reputations and the effects these can have.
Visiting Star Ports looks at the consequences of doing so once the characters’ ship is a known pirate.
Resupply looks at ways of resupplying outside of the main star ports.
Maintenance and Repairs looks at the problems of doing this when too notorious.
Rest and Recreation looks at where this can be done and the potential problems as notoriety increases.
Hide Outs looks at potential pirate bases.
Bounties and Hunters are those who will be after the characters for the prices on their heads.
Prize Ships looks at disposing of the most valuable item from piracy, the ships themselves.
Cargos references 1001 Cargoes for the Frontiers of Space and looks at disposing of cargo.
Selling Loot considers where pirates can offload their ill-gotten gains.
Boarding Hostile Ships has some details on what’s needed in terms of skills and how to do this.
Hostages looks at how some passengers can be ransomed.
Other Possible Ways to Make a Credit further continues in ways to make money from piracy.
Competition briefly explains that other pirates will go after more successful ones sometimes.
Law Enforcement Tricks and Traps are ways the law will try to catch pirates.
Who Can You Trust? is essentially nobody.
Who Choose to Become a Pirate looks at motivations.
Quitting Piracy looks at this and the difficulties of doing it.
Pirate Life is a brief look at the profession.
Articles of Piracy in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough with enough different sections that these would have been useful. Navigation is poor. The text maintains a single column format and some minor errors were noticed. Bar the covers, there are no illustrations. Presentation is adequate.
The supplement has a fairly detailed look at what being a pirate in the Frontiers of Space would be like, though much of it can easily be adapted for other settings. It also makes it clear that piracy is not really a great endeavour, given the downsides, most of which involve dying in one way or another. Articles of Piracy can be found by clicking here.
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