Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Stormonu" data-source="post: 5332880" data-attributes="member: 52734">I've played in and run a pirate campaign in D&amp;D (2E &amp; 3E), as well as a Star Trek and Star Wars game aboard capital ships.&nbsp; Generally it's best if the characters are officer-type characters so they get a lot of say in how things are going.As for your actual example, I'd have run out the battle w/ models with the final action being a full-on boarding attack.&nbsp; A skill challenge (or contested skill challenge) would probably work best for a descriptive account of getting the two ships to broadsides.Primary positions would possibly be: Captain directing orders and checking ship status; Navigator plotting movement (possibly NPC, handled by the captain); Gunnery Officer in charge of ship's weapons; Boarding Officer in charge of the marines for the boarding operation; Sailmaster/Engineer trying to squeeze extra movement and maneuver out of the ship;&nbsp; Deck Officer seeing to positioning the crew and dealing with clearing/fixing damage to the ship.&nbsp; Other characters could act independently; spellcasters tend to have spell lists that can dramatically alter the course of events, for example.While everyone may not have something to do every round, they can always give advice and you can find other things for them to do until something comes up; perhaps the Boarding Officer can move the ship models or you can engage him in a mini-game trying to hype the marines for the boarding action - or even have him attempting to snipe enemy crew to slow down their ability to maneuver or operate the enemy ship.You might also want to consider giving more than one ship to the PC's - in my last pirate campaign, the party had acquired three (very different) ships; one a galleon loaded to bear with troops and heavy weaponry, a second a fast sloop with a single catapult that acted as scout and a third cog that fit in the middle between speed and strength.&nbsp; Each one was piloted by a PC, with the remaining PCs split across the boats (about 3 to each).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Stormonu, post: 5332880, member: 52734"] I've played in and run a pirate campaign in D&D (2E & 3E), as well as a Star Trek and Star Wars game aboard capital ships. Generally it's best if the characters are officer-type characters so they get a lot of say in how things are going. As for your actual example, I'd have run out the battle w/ models with the final action being a full-on boarding attack. A skill challenge (or contested skill challenge) would probably work best for a descriptive account of getting the two ships to broadsides. Primary positions would possibly be: Captain directing orders and checking ship status; Navigator plotting movement (possibly NPC, handled by the captain); Gunnery Officer in charge of ship's weapons; Boarding Officer in charge of the marines for the boarding operation; Sailmaster/Engineer trying to squeeze extra movement and maneuver out of the ship; Deck Officer seeing to positioning the crew and dealing with clearing/fixing damage to the ship. Other characters could act independently; spellcasters tend to have spell lists that can dramatically alter the course of events, for example. While everyone may not have something to do every round, they can always give advice and you can find other things for them to do until something comes up; perhaps the Boarding Officer can move the ship models or you can engage him in a mini-game trying to hype the marines for the boarding action - or even have him attempting to snipe enemy crew to slow down their ability to maneuver or operate the enemy ship. You might also want to consider giving more than one ship to the PC's - in my last pirate campaign, the party had acquired three (very different) ships; one a galleon loaded to bear with troops and heavy weaponry, a second a fast sloop with a single catapult that acted as scout and a third cog that fit in the middle between speed and strength. Each one was piloted by a PC, with the remaining PCs split across the boats (about 3 to each). [/QUOTE]

Verification