My attempt at a ship

[SnowleopardVK]

This was my attempt at creating a ship for a game of mine that ended recently. The players weren't aware of most of these details, but I figure since the game is now over I may as well post up my notes about it and see how I did.

The ship is designed to carry 75 people at most, it's supposed to be run by a crew of 40, and takes at the very least a crew of 20. The ship was being used in an evacuation because the PCs were stupid and unleashed a horrible ancient evil back on the island they were at (they weren't supposed to) and was short on crew members, but my logic is that the warriors on the crew are each able to take a commoner or two under their wing and instruct them well enough to pass as replacement crew.

I unfortunately don't know much about ships, so I have no idea how big it is or what type of ship it is beyond "the type big enough to carry 75 people". Fortunately I never really needed to have a detailed knowledge, as the PCs didn't really care. To them the ship was just a means of getting to their next destination, and so this info that I created was all "just in case". Heck, the only three people on the entire ship they interacted with were the first mate, the illusionist, and the prisoner.

Anyways, here's my quick notes on the people on board:

The Jackrabbit: 60 on board

Crew: 15
1 Captain (Elf Rogue/Fighter 4/7)
1 First Mate (Human Fighter 9th level)
1 Navigator (Half-Elf Ranger 6th level)
3 Human Experts (2 6th level, 1 7th level)
1 Dwarf Expert (6th level)
4 Human Warriors (5th level)
1 Dwarf Warrior (5th level)
1 Lizardfolk Warrior (7th level)
1 Gillman Warrior (6th level)
1 Elf Adept (8th level)

Passengers: 45
26 Human Commoners (17 1st level, 6 2nd level, 3 3rd level)
7 Half-Elf Commoners (6 1st level, 1 3rd level)
2 Elf Commoners (1 1st level, 1 2nd level)
2 Human Experts (4th level)
1 Dwarf Expert (6th level)
1 Half-Orc Expert (4th level)
1 Halfling Illusionist (9th level)
1 Prisoner (Human Necromancer 5th level)
4 PCs (3rd level, levelled up to 4th en route)

 

[Friend of the Dork]

So, you want inspiration for a ship? What kind of time period were you thinking? You want the typical medieval stuff (cogs, galleys) or the more seagoing exploration type (Carrack, caravel?)

The difference lies in the time, the latter ships were use by Colombus, and the Santa Maria Carrack had a complement of 40 crew, just like your own ship, and a length of abut 70 feet. Google it!

For medieval ships, remember that galleys are only for the calm waters of the Mediterranean and that Cogs had flat bottoms and thus were not seaworthy enough to cross the Atlantic.

BTW that crew of yours is really high level!

 

[SnowleopardVK]

The time period is vaguely medieval, but I don't mind anachronistic stuff.

As for the high level crew, I was slightly winging it, but I wanted (at the very least) the Cap'n and first mate to each be able to single-handedly wipe the deck with the PCs if they needed to at this point. They would have also played recurring roles later when the PCs were closer to their level (had the game not ended before then). Several members of the crew such as the experts and adept I thought of as being more technically oriented than combat focused. Essentially they got their levels through lots of work as shipwrights/sea cooks/ship's doctors/etc and that's what they're good at. In a fight they're the equivalent of a lower-levelled opponent.

The overall in-story reason for the high levelled crew is that with many evacuating ships at once, some of the massive ones needed contributions of crew from multiple smaller ships. That left not-so-large ships such as this one shorthanded, but the captains tended to keep their strongest and most skilled for themselves and sent the less important crew members away to help on the other ships. Its normal 25 additional crew members would be composed of mostly 1st and 2nd level l warriors and experts.

 

[Friend of the Dork]

So, you want inspiration for a ship? What kind of time period were you thinking? You want the typical medieval stuff (cogs, galleys) or the more seagoing exploration type (Carrack, caravel?)

The difference lies in the time, the latter ships were use by Columbus, and the Santa Maria Carrack had a complement of 40 crew, just like your own ship, and a length of abut 70 feet. Google it!

For medieval ships, remember that galleys are only for the calm waters of the Mediterranean and that Cogs had flat bottoms and thus were not seaworthy enough to cross the Atlantic.

BTW that crew of yours is really high level!

 

[SnowleopardVK]

Eh? You posted that twice.

 

[Friend of the Dork]

The time period is vaguely medieval, but I don't mind anachronistic stuff.

As for the high level crew, I was slightly winging it, but I wanted (at the very least) the Cap'n and first mate to each be able to single-handedly wipe the deck with the PCs if they needed to at this point. They would have also played recurring roles later when the PCs were closer to their level (had the game not ended before then). Several members of the crew such as the experts and adept I thought of as being more technically oriented than combat focused. Essentially they got their levels through lots of work as shipwrights/sea cooks/ship's doctors/etc and that's what they're good at. In a fight they're the equivalent of a lower-levelled opponent.

The overall in-story reason for the high levelled crew is that with many evacuating ships at once, some of the massive ones needed contributions of crew from multiple smaller ships. That left not-so-large ships such as this one shorthanded, but the captains tended to keep their strongest and most skilled for themselves and sent the less important crew members away to help on the other ships. Its normal 25 additional crew members would be composed of mostly 1st and 2nd level l warriors and experts.

Eh? You posted that twice.

Hmm weird double post.

Anyway, I would go for the carrack, it looks a bit like a cog, but is seaworthy and less early medival. It can even have cannon (well medieval bombards really), but it doesent look out of place with a couple of ballistae instead.

Google it, find some pictures and see if it fits is size.

As for the crew, I think even Commoners could work well, just give them profession: Sailor, Perception and maybe Climb. Unless these have been at war or are the legendary Argonauts, even veteran sailors can be mid-level commoners.

Experts on the ship should be the ones who needs a large set of skills, who in addition to normal sailor duties needs carpentry, disable device, survival (navigation) etc.

Well, it's your game, but if you want to keep them as is they should rightfully be known as a legendary crew known in many ports and highly attractive. Also, I would keep the leadership as is, fits well. Good luck!

 

[SnowleopardVK]

The game's already over. This is a ship I had planned to use but never got a chance to. No point in actually making changes to it now, I just wanted to see how I did.

 

[gamerprinter]

A schooner which is typically the smallest ocean going vessel during the period after Columbus, but still the Age of Sail, has a complement of 120. So a Caravel, while an earlier ship, was the closest to your crew size for an ocean going ship.

I used a Brigatine ship as the delivery vehicle for the adventurers in my Curse of the Golden Spear mini-arc for my commercial Kaidan setting. A brigatine has a crew of about 200 - and this too is a fairly small ocean going vessel.

Most ships of the Age of Sail have crews of 500 to over 1000.

Just for something for you to measure against.

You had a very small vessel, as far as ocean going one's are concerned.

 

[SnowleopardVK]

You had a very small vessel, as far as ocean going one's are concerned.

The entire world of the setting is an ocean. Pretty much all vessels are ocean going, but a typical "ocean voyage" in this setting is generally a lot shorter than one would be from, say N-America to Europe. Even if a vessle sails from one side of the world to the other though, there are far more spots available along the route for rest/restocking/repairs.

 

[gamerprinter]

Magic not withstanding, the size of the crew of a normal ship is whatever it takes to man the rigging over multiple shifts. A ship of sail, had to be of a certain size to survive high seas. Any vessel can founder of any size depending on what hits them - rogue wave, etc. However in typical seas, galleys and cogs (and smaller ships) will take on water quickly and sink. An 'ocean going vessel' simply means a ship that will survive even in fairly high seas.

So it doesn't really matter the distance between ports, only if your ship has to leave shallow coastal waters and enter any level of open sea even short distances.

Consider that one of the Kings of Hawaii tried to 'invade' Kuau'i the furthest western island of the Hawaiian chain. The distance between Oahu and Kuau'i is only 75 miles, but the seas between those isles are notoriously treacherous. Although a King's messenger managed to eventually deliver the Oahu King's ultimatum to the Kuau'ian king who capitulated, although the King's invasion force could never get there, as whenever they tried 30' seas prevented passage.

So a seaworthy ship has everything to do with its size and crew, just to survive a trip on normal seas, not in distance (unless along the same coast.)