A pirates life for me.....

[Lola]

I just know someone's going to post the lyrics to the VeggieTales song...

we are the pirates who don't do anything
we just stay at home and lie around
and if you ask us to do anything
we'll just tell you, "we don't do anything!"

well I've never been to Greenland
and I've never been to Denver
and I've never buried treasure in St. Louis or St. Paul
and I've never been to Moscow
and I've never been to Tampa
and I've never been to Boston in the fall

we are the pirates who don't do anything
we just stay at home and lie around
and if you ask us to do anything
we'll just tell you, "we don't do anything!"

and I never hoist the mainstay
and I never swab the poop deck
and I never veer to starboard, 'cause I never sail at all
and I never walk the gang plank
and I've never owned a parrot.
and I've never been to Boston in the fall

we are the pirates who don't do anything
we just stay at home and lie around
and if you ask us to do anything
we'll just tell you, "we don't do anything!"

I've never plucked a rooster
and I am not too good at ping-pong
and I've never thrown my mashed pertatoes up against the wall
and I've never kissed a chipmunk
and I've never gotten head lice
and I have never been to Boston in the fall

and I've never licked a spark-plug
and I've never sniffed a stink bug
and I've never painted daisies on a big red rubber ball
and I've never bathed in yogurt
and I don't look good in leggings
and I've never been to Boston in the fall

we are the pirates who don't do anything
we just stay at home and lie around
and if you ask us to do anything
we'll just tell you, "we don't do anything!"

we are the pirates who don't do anything
we just stay at home and lie around
and if you ask us to do anything
we'll just tell you, "we don't do anything!"


Heh. Self-fulfilling prophecy....

 

[Angcuru]

you are an evil, evil person, lola.

 

[Gizzard]

I would suggest you make Profession: Sailor, Balance, Use Rope and maybe Swim class skills for everyone. The reason is with a Sea campaign all of these skills will be *much more* important than they would be in your average land-based campaign.

I believe that historically very few Pirates or other sailors could swim. But I guess thats why Balance is extra-important. ;-)

 

[bret]

I believe that historically very few Pirates or other sailors could swim. But I guess thats why Balance is extra-important. ;-)

You are correct, historically sailors didn't know how to swim. On the other hand, historically sailors didn't trade with underwater cities.

I would encourage the GM to not give NPCs the swim skill. Make it yet one more way that the PCs stand out.

Not giving it to the players *severely limits* how well certain classes can participate in underwater exploration. You either multiclass with Rogue (who has all the necessary skills) and take a caster level penalty, or you end up spending money on magic items just to be able to function underwater.

 

[Lola]

you are an evil, evil person, lola.

Hmph! I'm afraid that flattery will get you nowhere with me!

 

[Arc]

You are correct, historically sailors didn't know how to swim. On the other hand, historically sailors didn't trade with underwater cities.

I would encourage the GM to not give NPCs the swim skill. Make it yet one more way that the PCs stand out.

Not giving it to the players *severely limits* how well certain classes can participate in underwater exploration. You either multiclass with Rogue (who has all the necessary skills) and take a caster level penalty, or you end up spending money on magic items just to be able to function underwater.

Making magic items necessary could still work, but has some interesting consequences. There are generally 2 outcomes when items take up great import in a society: A reduced price as supply soars to meet demand; or An increased price, as demand surpasses supply. Either way, the result is interesting.

 

[Azure Trance]

Kiera Knightley said something about "Parley" and the rules of conduct. What was that? Is there a real list floating around somewhere? I'm guessing it's something like gentlemens honor from some select scenes of The Patriot (We'll trade you officers for officers).

 

[Agback]

Mates: NCO's - keep discipline, carry out punishment and support junior officers. The First mate is the highest ranking non-officer on board ship, roughly equal to sergeant major.

No. Sorry, but no.

Mates are specialists who are not heads of their department. For example, the Carpenter's mates are carpenters who are not the Carpenter.

On a merchant ship the officers are master's mates, and the second-in-command is the First Mate. But on a warship the officers are lieutenants, and the second-in-commmand is the First Lieutenant.

The petty officer on a warship who is closest equivalent to a sergeant-major is the bosun (boatswain).

Commanders - essentially glorified lieutenants, assigned their rank on the basis of ship availability (lose command of a ship and a commander returns to being a lieutenant)

No, commander was a permanent rank. You could have a commander on half pay (ie. without even a berth as officer on someone else's ship.

Commanders were, however, always the commanding officers of some vessel: a vessel smaller than a ship, obviously.

Captains - Rank for comanding ships of the line (main battleships)

This was also the title of the commanding officers of merchant ships.

Admirals/Admirals of the Line - commanders of fleets of ships; the highest rank that still participates in sea travel

Admiral is the highest rank bar none.

Rear Admirals - land based administrative officers

Nope. Rear Admirals were certainly not confined to the land. They are admirals of the lowest of three grades: rear admiral, vice-admiral, admiral, who had originally commanded the rearguard, the vanguard, and the whole fleet (respectively). Nelson did most of his famous deeds as a rear-admiral, and won (and died) at Trafalgar as a vice-admiral.

Somewhere around this point you left out the commodore, a captain who is too junior to be promoted to admiral, but who is nevertheless given command of a flotilla or squadron.

[Pilot - the guy in charge of the wheel (more of a specialist skill than you might think)

No. A pilot is a civilian expert employed by the port authorities of a particular port. When a ship arrives at the port the pilot comes aboard (by boat) to advise the ship's officers how to negotiate the navigational hazards of the approaches, find the correct berth, etc. When the ship leaves port it takes a pilot to guide it out: when done he returns to the port in his boat. The pilot is not a member of a ship's crew.

The men who handle the wheel are quartermasters. (Because their place is on the quarterdeck, I think. Do not confuse them with quartermasters in teh army, who are in charge of getting everybody quarters to sleep in.

Most of the time, a ship's crew spends its time aloft, tending to the sails,

No, only the topmen do that. Gun crews and deckhands don't.

Regards,


Agback

 

[NoOneofConsequence]

Whoah - not only was I off, I was off by a lot.

Thanks for the corrections Agback. Is there a source you can recommend for this (online or paper based)?

 

[Agback]

Whoah - not only was I off, I was off by a lot.

Thanks for the corrections Agback. Is there a source you can recommend for this (online or paper based)?

Not really. I learned what I know more or less incidentally from reading things like CS Forrester's Hornblower stories, and looking things up in encyclopaedias and dictionaries, and from asking my father (who spent six and a half years in the RNVR). I don't know a really concentrated source.

For the details of life before the mast (as opposed to the administrative details of warships) you might look for a book called From the Lower Deck, which is an edited collection of all the accounts of life in the RN written by ratings in the age of sail. My copy seems to have gone missing, but I seem to recall that the author's name was 'Bryant'.

Regards,


Agback