Ship Combat

[Archimedes314]

Does anyone know of a source for good ship combat rules? I'm putting together a pirate-themed adventure and it would be extremely helpful. Thanks in advance.

 

[DrNilesCrane]

I've used the rules from WotC's Stormwrack and I felt them to be so-so. Not terrible, but a bit too complicated and cumbersome for "casual" naval battles (and probably too inaccurate for realistic ones). Worse, I repeatedly had to flip to different areas in the book for information that should have been presented together or better yet summarized. I eventually wrote an Excel spreadsheet to help make using the rules somewhat practically useful at a gaming table without grinding to a halt: I attached it below, but it's a v1.0 and I haven't closely doubled checked it for errors - if you can make use of it, please do.

Good luck!

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

I like the rules in Skull & Bones (Green Ronin), also available in Corsair (Adamant Entertainment). They worked really well for my Pirates game (see sig).

Cheers


Richard

 

[Fifth Element]

I hear Mazes & Minotaurs has some nice sailing rules.

 

[phindar]

Stormwrack suggests running ship-to-ship combat dramatically as opposed to looking for a more strict set of mechanics, although those do exist in the Arms and Equipment Guide. I've also looked at the third party supplements Seas of Blood and the Seafarers Handbook, but in all candor I'm not wild about any of them.

For me, nautical combat rules have to succeed on two fronts, they have to be good at simulating naval combat and they have to be fun for all the players. A lot of times I think they fail on the second point; naval combat tends to be fun for the guy controlling the ship and maybe for the players with blasters or ranged combat specialists. The point made in Stormwrack is that D&D is primarily a game of melee combat (mechanically speaking), and so its better to get to the boarding action as swiftly as possible. That, and most naval combat systems seem to be based around skill checks, and skill checks just aren't that exciting.

 

[clarkvalentine]

I ran a pirates game with Skull & Bones, but ditched their ship combat rules which seemed confused and unfocused.

I had the PCs occupy different positions on the ship: The captain, mater of tops, master gunner, navigator, bosun, etc. all make skill checks appropriate to their position. The enemy ship makes similar checks (with circumstance bonuses based on speed, maneuverability, crew size and quality, and repair state of the opposing ships). Victory in the opposed rolls gives your ship advantageous firing position over the other: broadsides vs. aft, broadsides vs. fore/port quarter, etc.

Guns could be loaded with ball shot (does hull damage), chain shot (fired at the rigging, does speed damage), and grapeshot (targets enemy deck crew).

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Mongoose Publishing's Book of the Sea has a rather nice set of rules for Naval Combat, compatible with the mass combat rules in Strongholds & Dynasties, also by Mongoose.

The rules in Skull & Bones were based on those created by Mongoose in Seas of Blood, both S&B/Corsair and BotS expanded on those rules, though in very different ways. Both are good. I sort of mix the two - Book of the Sea has a breach chance, so a ship can be holed by a single shot, and S&B/Corsair has the all important rules for the wind. BoS also has the rules for trade, if your players want to be Merchant Adventurers.

I have heard okay things about the ship combat system in Broadsides by Living Imagination as well, but have not used them.

The Auld Grump