When I first wrote about Flashing Blades, I lamented that the game was so focused on Paris and musketeers, because I thought the fencing rules seemed particularly well suited for pirate-y swashbuckling. Why wasn’t there information on the Spanish Main? Well, there was, it’s just in a different book: High Seas (1985). Who knew!

The bulk of the book is a source book with additional rules for ships and the setting. It’s all decent stuff — the ships rules seem pretty minimal, which is welcome, but I can’t really tell how well they might work, which is maybe not the best sign.

The back half of the book is a three-part campaign that sees players journeying from France to deliver a secret message to Martinique. Along the way, they join up (or are press-ganged) with some pirates and take part in a treasure hunt on a desert island, deal with some bad voodoo on a plantation (eek) and suss out the movements of the Spanish silver train in Portobello. Then they deliver their message and get a pardon for their efforts! (Mostly) good stuff (the voodoo scenario is a bit ham-fisted by modern standards).

Bain Sidhe studio on art duty again. That cover is atrocious, but the interiors are fine. Less clue given here of who is behind the pen, though.