newbDM
2009-04-04, 04:46 PM
Hello,
I have been designing my homebrewed material world/sphere for close to a year now, and have even made progress with mapping it out on Fractal Mapper. I was inspired to make it mostly a sea and island filled world with only two moderate to large sized "continents" (although they are joined by a land bridge, so I guess it is really only one big one). The issue is that I have only DMed one adventure/campaign, which only lasted about six months on-and-off, and I do not know much at all about nautical adventures/campaigns/games.
I have never even played in another DM's game where my character was on a ship. Even less experience with with naval battles (can you get less than nothing?).
Can the experienced DMs here please share your wisdom on this subject? I believe I need to learn everything from the ground up, from the basic "feel" of such a game/setting (do you know what I mean by this?), to how it differs for both players and the DM from a standard campaign, to what adjustments in both mechanics and thinking a DM needs to make to run such a game, to what system/mechanics to use, to what kind of NPCs and BBEGs/monsters to use, to Sardior knows what else I have overlooked.
I am also working quite a bit to make this a sandbox style world, and am always trying to add new locations and NPCs scattered across the world's map and my organization binders.
As always, thank you in advance for any help!
p.s. I have read the ship and vehicle combat rules in my beloved copy of the Arms & Equipment Guide, though it's been a good while so I need to reread it. I have a copy of Stormwreck, but I have only barely been able to skim it. The systems seem to conflict, and I believe the Stormwreck rules even state that "Players always prefer the simpler ship boarding battle rules presented here to the ship vs. ship ones mentioned in the Arms & Equipment Guide.", (though this is a stance I highly disagree with!).
However, as much as I prefer the slightly more complicated ship vs. ship rules, I understand some/most players prefer the old fashion hack and slash rules. Because of this I want to know if there is a way to combine both rules sets, or use them hand-and-hand, in a way that works well and allows both types if fun for those of us who prefer the military ship vs. ship combat and those of us that prefer simply boarding the enemy ship and hack/slashing. It would be even better if this would allow the PCs (and possibly the NPCs) the option to use either method/strategy based on their judgments, their personal likes, and/or the necessity of the given situation.
I have been designing my homebrewed material world/sphere for close to a year now, and have even made progress with mapping it out on Fractal Mapper. I was inspired to make it mostly a sea and island filled world with only two moderate to large sized "continents" (although they are joined by a land bridge, so I guess it is really only one big one). The issue is that I have only DMed one adventure/campaign, which only lasted about six months on-and-off, and I do not know much at all about nautical adventures/campaigns/games.
I have never even played in another DM's game where my character was on a ship. Even less experience with with naval battles (can you get less than nothing?).
Can the experienced DMs here please share your wisdom on this subject? I believe I need to learn everything from the ground up, from the basic "feel" of such a game/setting (do you know what I mean by this?), to how it differs for both players and the DM from a standard campaign, to what adjustments in both mechanics and thinking a DM needs to make to run such a game, to what system/mechanics to use, to what kind of NPCs and BBEGs/monsters to use, to Sardior knows what else I have overlooked.
I am also working quite a bit to make this a sandbox style world, and am always trying to add new locations and NPCs scattered across the world's map and my organization binders.
As always, thank you in advance for any help!
p.s. I have read the ship and vehicle combat rules in my beloved copy of the Arms & Equipment Guide, though it's been a good while so I need to reread it. I have a copy of Stormwreck, but I have only barely been able to skim it. The systems seem to conflict, and I believe the Stormwreck rules even state that "Players always prefer the simpler ship boarding battle rules presented here to the ship vs. ship ones mentioned in the Arms & Equipment Guide.", (though this is a stance I highly disagree with!).
However, as much as I prefer the slightly more complicated ship vs. ship rules, I understand some/most players prefer the old fashion hack and slash rules. Because of this I want to know if there is a way to combine both rules sets, or use them hand-and-hand, in a way that works well and allows both types if fun for those of us who prefer the military ship vs. ship combat and those of us that prefer simply boarding the enemy ship and hack/slashing. It would be even better if this would allow the PCs (and possibly the NPCs) the option to use either method/strategy based on their judgments, their personal likes, and/or the necessity of the given situation.