RPG Naval Combat

Hollywood · Jan 14, 2004

Looking for a supplement to deal with naval aspects in an FR campaign. I've read what reviews there are out there for Pirates! & Broadsides!, Seas of Blood, Seafarer's Handbookd, et al. But has anyone actually played and used any of the naval combat rules in the books? How do they play? I'm looking for a naval system that is roughly equivalent to the D20 combat system, i.e. its fairly abstract. Broadsides! seems to be a bit too much on the wargame side, i.e. slower paced with more detail, but not real sure the Mongoose system will work well for one on one or one on two ship combats.

Constructive thoughts, comments, reviews, etc. are much welcomed! And any other culprits as far as supplements other than the above that are mentioned...

P.S. Obviously being that the campaign is already in FR, I don't want to have to cut out tons of campaign stuff. Therefore, unless its extremely good stuff like the d20 version of 7 Seas are probably not a good fit.

TheAuldGrump · Jan 15, 2004

I've used Seas of Blood. The system is very easy to pick up, players can actually use it after a quick run down rather than just watch as the GM plays by himself, mumbling...

My only problems are the complete lack of any rules involving the ffect of wind on movement. (But then again I used to play Wooden Ships & Iron Men a whole lot...)The rules assume that miniatures aren't being used, so it may not be a big deal.

And some of the ship designs are... silly. (There is a good and practicle reason that catapults weren't used on board ship - with the exception of a few that were placed on barges for siege work on rivers. When the ship tosses about your aim goes right down the loo...) Then again my world has cannon, so I was able to dodge that bullet, and they do have some (grudging) rules for cannon in there.

There is no system for creating ships, but I was able to use the one from Seafarer's Handbook with little problem.

Running one on one ship combat is easy, as is a small fleet action. I wouldn't try it for more than ten ships a side though.

I also know that Mongoose is updating the system to go in their Book of the Sea coming out in a couple months or so. Keep your eyes peeled.

I have looked at, but not tried the system in Seafarer's Handbook, but the ship creation rules were pretty decent.

The Auld Grump

Hollywood · Jan 15, 2004

Thanks AudlGrump.. was beginning to think no one had an opinion for once.

Anyways, yeah I got my hands on a copy of the Seafarer's guide, seems ok. Might due for what I have in mind, although their every "5' of deck, hull, etc" for damage seems a bit out of scale as far as detailed in comparison to the rest of the rules. Again, like Seas of Blood they have no rules involving effects of wind, but I am almost ok with that as I can see it just being rolled into the PC/NPC captain's character abilities to cope with as opposed to something that the player is concerned with [unlike for a wargame].

So guess I need to check out Broadsides!/Pirates! [for the ship creation rules that weren't supposedly possible in Broadsides! argh] although I fear it'll be too detailed for RPGing, i.e. more of a light-weight war-game.

May need to just cobble something together that makes some sense from a couple of different sources.

TheAuldGrump said:
I've used Seas of Blood. The system is very easy to pick up, players can actually use it after a quick run down rather than just watch as the GM plays by himself, mumbling...

My only problems are the complete lack of any rules involving the ffect of wind on movement. (But then again I used to play Wooden Ships & Iron Men a whole lot...)The rules assume that miniatures aren't being used, so it may not be a big deal.

And some of the ship designs are... silly. (There is a good and practicle reason that catapults weren't used on board ship - with the exception of a few that were placed on barges for siege work on rivers. When the ship tosses about your aim goes right down the loo...) Then again my world has cannon, so I was able to dodge that bullet, and they do have some (grudging) rules for cannon in there.

There is no system for creating ships, but I was able to use the one from Seafarer's Handbook with little problem.

Running one on one ship combat is easy, as is a small fleet action. I wouldn't try it for more than ten ships a side though.

I also know that Mongoose is updating the system to go in their Book of the Sea coming out in a couple months or so. Keep your eyes peeled.

I have looked at, but not tried the system in Seafarer's Handbook, but the ship creation rules were pretty decent.

The Auld Grump

Atridis · Jan 16, 2004

I know this isn't what you meant, but I've been working on a World War Two adventure recently, so when I saw the subject I imagined a naval World War game. I laughed imagining a group of PCs at Jutland or Guadalcanal...

GM: "Okay, so General Quarters sounded ten minutes ago. You're all at your stations, in your helmets and vests."

(GM rolls dice, consults table, grimaces.)

GM: "You all hear a high-pitched ripping sound, like a giant tearing a huge piece of cotton fabric, then there's a tremendous explosion. Bob and Sophie are thrown across the cabin and take 10 damage from hitting the overhead pipes and the opposite bulkhead - DC15 Reflex Save for half damage. Ralph takes 132 points of damage. A DC75 Reflex Save will reduce that damage by a half also..."

Chairman7w · Jan 26, 2004

Skull & Bones

Have you checked out Skull & Bones from Green Ronin Press? The book as a whole is amazing. I haven't played any Sea Battles yet, but the rules are extremely in depth and they are quite like you described: Crews have Wound Points (instead of HP) and the battles are abstract in that you don't have the crews aim for individual opponents but the battles are rolled crew against crew, similar to PC against PC.

The "Crew" has an AC and Attack Bonus (just like an individual) and attacks and damage are taken from the Wound Points pool. As a Crew is whittled down, they have to roll "Morale" checks and may eventually give up.

Not to mention the ship-to-ship stuff with ship cannon blazing, and firing broadsides, and ramming and boarding, etc. It's great stuff!

RPG Naval Combat

Hollywood

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TheAuldGrump

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Hollywood

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Atridis

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