In this scene, a young deck hand has been wounded. You can either have a serious conversation about the dangers of a life of piracy or a silly conversation where you teach him to swear like a sailor.
This excerpt is presented first as a sample flow demonstrating two possible pathways, then as a flowchart demonstrating the branching. Some adaptive text has been removed from the flowchart for readability. Note: Some pathways contain salty piratical language.
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Sample Script
In the sickbay, your surgeon, Ibrahim, is examining the saber slash across the new guy’s shoulder. The lascar brothers, who should be busy loading cargo but are instead in here where they have no business being, slap him on the back.
BLUE: It’s your first battle wound, Pavão!
Pavão blushes and looks down.
PAVÃO: It’s hardly anything. Just a scratch.
NAVIN: You’re a real pirate now. It’s a rite of passage, your first wound. Mine was a shard of wood that got blown off the deck, and his was…
NAVIN: It’s a long story. We’ll tell you sometime.
Ibrahim takes out his suture kit.
IBRAHIM: A couple of stitches and you’ll be right as rain. Now answer me this, Pavão: Two men play three games of chess. They each win the same number of games, and there are no draws. How is this possible?
You’ve heard this one before. You could jump in with an answer.
PLAYER: They died during the third game.
Ibrahim gives you a look of annoyance.
IBRAHIM: Stop interrupting my riddles! Pavão hasn’t heard them yet.
PAVÃO: I don’t know.
IBRAHIM: They weren’t playing each other.
PAVÃO: What does that have to do with—ow!
Ibrahim finishes the stitch.
First branch: A serious conversation
PLAYER: Ibrahim is the master of distraction. He could have your arm off before you noticed.
Pavão’s eyes get big.
PAVÃO: Has…that happened?
Belatedly you remember how young this kid is and how little he knows about his new occupation.
PLAYER: Look, kid, this is a rough life. I’m not going to lie to you. I’ve lost good men and women. So many…
Your voice catches in your throat at the flood of faces that enter your mind.
Second branch: A silly conversation
PLAYER: “Ow?” Is that the best you can do?
BLUE: Yeah, you’re a sailor now! Sound like it!
PAVÃO: My family is very religious, I don’t really know any…
PLAYER: How about “Devil take you, you whoreson?
Pavão’s eyes widen.
PAVÃO: I can’t say that to my doctor!
IBRAHIM: Son, as long as you don’t move, you can call me anything you like. I promise there’s nothing you can say about my mother that I haven’t already heard.
BLUE: Give it a shot, Pavão! “May donkeys piss on you, you half-drowned sea rat!”
PLAYER: “Go shit in the sea, you thrice-damned landlubber!”
NAVIN: “May ants crawl up your ass, you fleabitten dog!”
Blue puts an affectionate arm around Navin’s shoulders.
BLUE: I’m so proud of you, baby brother. They grow up so fast.
By this point Pavão is doubled over weeping with laughter.
IBRAHIM: Hey, stop making him laugh! He needs to hold still!
PLAYER: Sorry.
Ibrahim bites off the thread and gives Pavão a pat on the shoulder.
IBRAHIM: There you go. Good as new. And now I have a riddle for you, Captain: Who has blue eyes and won’t climb the rigging for at least two days?
PLAYER: I get it, I’ll keep Pavão on light duty for a few days.
IBRAHIM: Good. We don’t want him busting those stitches.
You head back out onto the deck.
Flowchart
Also available as a PDF.