Ooh you're challenging me here!

1. We're talking ship's biscuit/hard tack and salted meat for the most part. If they want to up morale they might buy spices or other dried ingredients. And yes, savvy quartermaster would also buy fresh fruit/veg regularly to supplement this. You've made me realise that the party hasn't done this yet, so unless they stock up on fruit at the next port, they'll start getting scurvy amongst the crew. Magical refrigeration would be possible, but expensive and rare.

2. Yes it would be tricky to find a competent ship's doctor who was willing to join a pirate crew. Magical healing may be more realistic, most would not help with scurvy. Experienced sailors would know about the need for regular fruit/veg.

3. Contagious disease is definitely a thing that could happen, and the cause could be natural infections or germs, or just as easily a curse, demons, divine intervention. I don't think there would he much knowledge of germ theory per se, but even during the plague people know to quarantine the sick. It would be hard aboard a ship and the crew may resist it though, yes.

4. Battle wounds could be treated either wit mh magic or the use of surgery or regular medicine. Infections are a problem and they are most likely to simply lop off the offending limb, resulting in wooden legs and hooks for hands, etc. Because I agree those are absolutely necessary.

5. Interesting question. I'd say it largely depends on tge Captain. Generally conditions aboard a pirate ship are much better than sailing in a navy, or for the Southern Islands Company (and i think this is largely historically accurate). They are better paid and more highly valued. And they have a say in how the ship is run. There had to be some incentive to join tgenoirates rather than the navy). That said, there are some more ruthless pirate captains who treat their crews worse and see them as more expendable. Its up to the party how they run their ship, but if they mistreat the crew too badly, they may have to deal with a mutiny.

I have cannons in the setting, just cos I wanted the players to be able to use them, cos fun! I've developed a way of doing ship-to-ship combat that has been working quite well.

I balance the encounter with a manageable number of enemies to match the party, and maybe one or two named NPCs. They battle it out while the two crews fight around them. The crews go in with a set strength rating that translates to a modifier. At the start if each round, both crews roll a d20 and the loser takes one away from their modifier. I determines the starting mod for the players by assessing morale if the crew, how well fed and we'll armed they are, etc. I use the results to add flavour to the battle. So it's like the party are fighting some of the crew, but I'm simulating a larger battle around them. If their crew is losing, the PC cam use their actions to affect the larger battle and swing it back in their favour.

Each turn, each ship can move its movement speed and fire cannons/ballet's on either side. The players can use their actions to do these things or, if they have enough crew left, they can give orders to have them do it.

Makes are still very useful aboard ships cos they can do stuff like create a gust of wind for a burst of speed, or create a fog cloud for visual cover. Also fireballs!

In terms if crew positions, mine might not be the most realistic but are designed to give the players interesting roles and ways to effect things.

The Captain - gives orders, makes in-the-moment tactical decisions

The Quartermaster - in charge of the crew and keeping them fed and watered, in charge of rum rationing as well

Lookout - doesn't seem like much, but if you put a PC with high perception in that role, you'll spot stiff better

Cook - has a big effect on the morale of the crew

Shantyman - perfect role for a bard. Also has a big effect on morale and can inspire great feats from the crew with performance checks.

Bosun - in charge of maintaining the ship, when repairs are needed, etc.

There is a pirate code that they are expected to follow. Captain Verse insisted on this when he helped the players take their ship. Its quite long but the big points are:

• All booty must be shared equally, with tge Captain and the officers getting two shares each.
• All major decisions must be decided by vote (such as whether to take a prize, where to burn a ship or take it...). The crew may even vote out their captain if they dislike how the ship is run (although in practice I'd likely just do a good old mutiny).
• No one may steal from another member of the crew, on pain of being marooned, keelhauled, or killed.
• No murdering each other, although fights are tolerated within reason. If they get really bad they must be settled ashore.
• you can't leave the rew until you've at least helped the make a prize.
• No freeloading, everyone pulls their weight

Generally the pirates work together, and if there was a local pirate leader that would be Captain Verse. Some go rogue or shun the pirate code, like the BBEG pirate captain Blackfin, who's crew are mostly undead and who has no allegiance other than to his Demon Lord, Orcus. Verse has done a great job of uniting at least rhe pirates in the Western regions of the Isles, and hopes to lead an uprising against The Company and start a pirate republic.

Yep, the pirate captain that helped them take their ship do so on the condition that they implement some version of The Pirate Code. All major decisions are decided by vote, with each crewman also getting a vote. In practice I would rarely have the crew vote against the party, just cos that's no fun. But morale has been getting low, and if they don't address it, they may decide they want a new Captain and try for a vote, giving the players a crisis to deal with.

Loot is also shared out equally, except the captain/officers get two shares. The players decided that they all collectively share the position of captain, while also having other roles. So they all get twice what the crew gets. I believe this is pretty accurate historically.

I just let the players decide the route though, I'll only get the crew to protest if they haven't taken a prize for a while, or if I think the crew would have an issue with the specific destination they choose. One of the players has the role of navigator so she does a check to see if she does a good job of that. If she doesn't, I roll on my encounter table and something gets in their way, slows them down, or attacks.

These are great questions!

"There's an island to the North, right? Surrounded by a maze of coral reefsit is. No one has been able to find a path to it, even by rowboat, but folk have been dashed on em even taking it careful like. Sailors swear they saw the foral move! BUT my mate Ron, he said he heard off his mate Jim, that there was this druid on his ship what wildshaped into a pelican, right, and flew over it. Said there was some kind of temple or shrine in the middle of it. But he couldn't get close. This deafening voice booming in his head, saying he had to pass the test and find the way there! Couldn't resist the voice he said. Had to donas it says like it was pulling his strings! Now, I reckon, if there's a test, there's a prize! I bet it's treasure!"

There's rumours of a kraken, of course. But it could just be ships lost to pirates, or sunk in storms, or taken over by the sahuagin...

Speaking of the sahuagin, they have been a lot more active lately, there attacks more frequent and more organised than before.

There's a rumour that the dread pirate Blackfin has been killing while ships of people just to turn em all the zombies. He's building an undead armada! He's friend to none, pirate or civvy!

As for superstitions, they're sailors, so they are a very superstitious bunch. One of my party killed an albatross, and the crew were going spare at the bad luck. They made him wear it round his neck as penance for the bad juju, and the ship was becalmed for days, drifting with no wind. The players tried all sorts to lift the curse but it was actually an encounter I found on reddit one time, the Sinister Seagull. It takes the wind from a ship's sails and can mind control the crew. They spotted one of their crew throwing gems to the seagulls and had to have a battle with it. They couldn't tell which was the evil one son they were blasting every seagull they could see. Ingrave the Sinister Seagull basically every non lethal psychic spell I could find and had fun casting confusion, crown of thorns, power word pain, etc, on the party. They took very little damage and it was a frustrating fight for them, but when they finally exploded the right seagull, they were very releived