Sea battles (Stormwrack - Mastering The Perils Of Wind And Wave)

[Kafana]

I've recently gotten my hands on the Stormwrack supplement which is perfect since I've started developing my archipelago continent. However, after reading through the rules of sea battles and naval combat I realize that it's something rather new and different, so I was wondering if anybody knows where I can find a scenario of sorts, where a naval battle, including all the elements described in the first chapter of the book is described?

I think I'll just create two ships with crews and take an hour or two to play the event with myself so that I can better learn and grasp the way things to in such situation, but if anybody could link (or, if they have plenty of experience and enough time even wright) such a scenario, I would be truly grateful. The more different aspects included the better.

[Palanan]

When I was running my seafaring campaign, I avoided Stormwrack like the plague. Apart from a few decent spells, there just wasn't much there for me, and I preferred doing my own research. "Awkward cross-grained slab-sided cove" got more of a reaction from my players than anything in the book.

As for the ship combat rules, they're pretty divorced from reality. I doubt if the book's authors knew the difference between wearing and tacking, so I paid it all very little heed.

If you do run a trial combat, let us know how it goes, and whether the rules actually hold up to gameplay. If you decide you want to try something different, I may have a suggestion or two.

[Nightgaun7]

When I was running my seafaring campaign, I avoided Stormwrack like the plague. Apart from a few decent spells, there just wasn't much there for me, and I preferred doing my own research. "Awkward cross-grained slab-sided cove" got more of a reaction from my players than anything in the book.

As for the ship combat rules, they're pretty divorced from reality. I doubt if the book's authors knew the difference between wearing and tacking, so I paid it all very little heed.

If you do run a trial combat, let us know how it goes, and whether the rules actually hold up to gameplay. If you decide you want to try something different, I may have a suggestion or two.

I was one of the players in this game and we had a fine time boarding and fighting without using any additional rules. There wasn't much of a need for rules for things like shipboard artillery, etc. - I suggest that that sort of thing just be up to GM narration, unless your players are very very into micromanaging their ship, or one of them takes a Stormwrack PrC that actively works with the crew. Probably better to just nudge them away from those though.

The two players in our game were pretty much entirely melee focused. If you have wizards or other casters who want to sling spells from hundreds of yards away, you might need to have enemy casters put up defenses that block line of effect, etc. until the enemy ships get close enough for the melee guys, or have them get attacked by what they thought was a merchant ship. Stuff like that, so everyone has something to do.

Palanan also did a great job at having ship maps for us to work with, which will probably be a great help to anyone not familiar with naval architecture and shipboard operations. As the GM, you should get such maps and then do a bit of research into whatever type of ship you're working with if you haven't already. Then take a copy of one of the maps and draw on all the hazards you can think of, so you can use them later. Rigging blocking a sword-swing, loose cannon, the capstan blocking movement, the slippery stairs between decks, the anchor chains, a weak section of decking, whatever.

[pilvento]

I am currently running a seafaring campaign and i also wanted to use all the content in stormwrack but like the others mentioned the ship combat rules can not only be confusing but borring if you dont just jump into the boarding.

Draw some maps like Nightgaun7 said, for the PCs ship, when they fight another ship i just place them in the same grid depending in who won the seamanship and initiative check, after the ships collide let the crew handle the ship and the PCs fight, if one of the PCs is the captain, he wastes the necesary actions to assist the crew. then, durning the combat, at the last step of initiative, the ships collide dealing ram dmg to each other and once every 4 turns artillery fires dealing dmg, if the roll is succesfull, the artillery hits and i roll a dice to determine the section it damages, in the case that the combat lasts more than 10 rounds (unprobable) a ship may sink or at least be forced to retreat.

Damaging the ship gives some realism, forcing them to repair or dock from time to time. It forces the PCs to fight monsters in diferent ways, if the sea drake just pokes the ship from underwatter dealing dmg, they will have to dive and fight.

Also, Conscript ship :smallamused:

[Kafana]

I may have a suggestion or two.

I'm all ears... err, eyes. The thing is, this is the only thing I could find for the 3.5 system and at this moment it looks quite interesting to me (disregarding everything else, the Hadozee seem awesome :smallbiggrin: ). Anyway, anything that you can suggest will help me greatly.

As for the naval combat system, I believe that while there are plenty of rules, few people have actually tried to master them. That being said, were I to run a simulation or two (and if I do get the chance I will) I believe that with enough practice the naval combat rules can become as mundane as ordinary combat rules. That being said, I'm still not sure how much fun they will bring, and that's pretty much what DnD is about.

Anyway, any links to anything (including those maps someone mentioned) would be great.

[Palanan]

If you mean the "ship maps," those were historical deck plans drafted by naval architects. They were a &$%#@!! ton of work just to track down, much less scan, merge, clean up and adapt to the needs of the game.

If you're interested, I can point you towards some of the sources I found most helpful. Shipwrights from centuries ago didn't leave detailed drafts, so much of what I ended up working with were reconstructions.

I also learned the hard way that some modern sources of deck plans, such as Howard Chapelle, may have genuine historical value--not to mention immense practical use for people who are actually building boats--and yet weren't appropriate for what I needed in the game. Winnowing through the available material turned out to be a real challenge, and I don't mind helping you fast-forward through that stage.

[Slide]

Palanan, this sounds fascinating. Please do share!

[Kafana]

Anybody else have any experience with this field?