The premise of the Caribbean Chronicle series is:
An epileptic boy has a near death experience (or dies) but begs to be sent back to his former life. The angel sent to carry him to heaven relents and allows the boy to return to his body but warns that he may end up in a different time and place. When the boy awakes he's on a raft in the Caribbean Sea being chased by pirates. That story is book one and is called The Curse of Captain LaFoote: www.captainlafoote.com. No game for that one... yet.
For book two, Dead Calm, Bone Dry, Ricky Bradshaw is being transported in an old wooden ship to Port Charles to be tried as a pirate. He's writing a letter to his mom, hoping that somehow the letter will reach her across 300 years of time. (The letter explains how he came to be living among pirates. Yucky backstory stuff for readers unfamiliar with the first book.)
A cellmate (William Shakespeare) tells Ricky he can find his dead father if he's willing to loan his body to one of the crew of the Flying Dutchman; a ship crewed by the dead. (Ricky's dad left when the boy was 5 and died in a truck crash soon after). Ricky doesn't believe Shaky is who he says he is or that he can deliver on the promise so Ricky takes his chances in court.
At his trial Ricky denies being a pirate but admits he knows the location of a mysterious island where a large stash of gold is rumored to be buried. The commodore in charge of the hearing (Commodore Blackwell Spotswood: Black Spot) thinks Ricky is lying in order to save himself. Ricky is found guilty and sentenced to hang. As he's standing on the gallows with the noose above his head he decides to take his chances in the sea, runs and jumps from the fort's parapet. He sinks to the bottom, opens his mouth and swallows.
When he comes to he is being roasted over a fire pit. Cannibals stand nearby waiting to eat him. Earl the Butcher, a man who deals in body parts, arrives to transports Ricky to the Flying Dutchman but before Earl's crew can steal Ricky, the cannibals attack. They escape and arrive at a pub. There Ricky meets an old ship mate (Turtle Bill) who demands Ricky take him to the mysterious island. Turtle Bill uses a girl (The governor's daughter and Ricky's romantic interest) as leverage, threatening to give her to the hoard of maruading men if Ricky doesn't lead him to the treasure. But Bill doesn't have a ship. Ricky is forced to steal a vessel. Once aboard Ricky finds orphaned children, boys and girls without parents: just like him. Unbeknownst to Ricky, the ship belongs to the commodore. Ricky escapes with the kids, Turtle Bill, Rebecca, and they sail into the night pursued by the commodore's fleet. Ricky is the only one who knows the location of the island but his main quest is to find his dad and save his family from the events that happend 300 years later. If he can find his father and keep his dad from leaving, maybe his dad never dies and Ricky doesn't drown.
This is all I have for now.
So.... can some improve on this and make a great pirate adventure game from what I've started?
At this point you only need to come up with the plot, not the game design. That will come later at a different price. We're only looking for plot, action, danger, trials and all that in this stage of development.
I'f I'm asking the wrong questions or doing something outside of protical I apologize but Sam of Wizards.com said this was the place to start.
What sort of game are you looking for? Have you played any that you enjoyed?
This is a DND Forum, so most of your responses will probably be DND based. Do you have RPG experience or are you looking for an RPG? Reading your post, I get the feeling you want something more like a kids version of Arkham Horror.
Is the goal to provide a generic pirate adventure RPG, a Caribbean Chronicle RPG, a Caribbean Chronicle board game, or something else?
I think more info on the type of game you want to make would be more helpful than summaries of your books.
--- Also, a promise of money, fame, and movie credits comes off very hard as a scam. Especially because everyone knows the best way to make a little money as a game designer is to start with a lot of money. The true test of if its a scam. Would a contract exist before any work is done gaurenteeing payment, or would it be a "Design my game and if I pick you I pay you" system?
This would be a role playing pirate adventure game. Let me think on this more. Sounds like I need to do more research.
Some sample games I'd recomend playing, or at least looking into so you can give people an idea of what you want.
DND, Arkham Horror, Forbidden Island, Life. Actually in that order you get a nice spectrum. DND has the most freeform roleplay associated, and life is essentially spin a spinner and move spaces to see what experiences come up.
Do you want a board? How many players? Is there to be one adventure, or is the idea that the players create their own adventures in the world? Can the players meet Ricky, Do the players play as Ricky, or do the players travel alongside Ricky? Do the players make characters, are they assigned characters, or do they choose from a big pool of characters?
Some questions to get you started on what you would like.