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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CarlZog" data-source="post: 5334331" data-attributes="member: 11716">Don’t script your ship combat. There are plenty of good rules systems and ways to adjudicate combat without everybody either waiting around or turning it into a wargame.For starters, I recommend crafting moveable maps of the decks, so that the players can move around the ship, but the whole ship can also move relative to another ship. Makes boarding actions a lot easier. You don’t need to display every npc with a mini, just the pivotal characters on either side. Think of the best pirate movies where there is a mass of humanity fighting each other; the hero takes down a few mooks, but eventually seeks out the bad guy for the one-on-one combat in the middle of the chaos.Yes, everyone is in a role, but via skill challenges and support bonuses, you should have each pc essentially directing a group of npcs as opposed to always just performing specific tasks themselves. The gunner is not rolling to shoot a specific cannon each turn; he’s rolling to direct the gunnery crew to successfully fire a broadsides. The captain is not rolling a skill check to steer the boat or handle, he’s rolling to direct the helmsmen and the sailing crew to steer and trim sails to his command. (Ideally to get in position for the gunner to do his thing!) Meanwhile, the bosun is rapidly leading a team of sailors into the rig to repair the yard that’s just been shot out. It’s a series of skill challenges to get there, to convince the others to come with you, make sure they get there safely, and to get the job done. But without him, the ship will not be able to effectively get to where the captain wants to go. (Think Scotty in Star Trek).The interconnectedness of everything on a ship makes it an environment in which the PCs really must work as a team to achieve anything.Carl</blockquote>

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