sailing ship help needed

[garrowolf]

I am trying to work up some sailing ships for different tech levels and I am getting overwhelmed. I am trying to come up with some general ship types and then list some names for that with that general type without going into every mast type out there. It's mainly for ancient ships at this point.

Basically I want to have a list of ships that would be used in certain tech levels and cultures but be able to point to a generalized ship of that type. For instance instead of listing every type of longship, maybe have a couple of sizes of galleys and frigates and say that the Norse used these sizes mostly.

Anyone know a lot about ships (and how to dumb it down)?

 

[Wik]

Oh god, man. You NEED to simplify this, as simple as possible. The second you start adding stuff, your head asplode.

Look at it like this. A blacksmith might be able to put out a sword every couple of days. He learns, very quickly, how to speed up his work. While every sword he makes is unique, they're generally pretty much the same.

A shipbuilder MIGHT be able able to put out three or four a year. And that's if he has a full crew, good tools, etc. In other words, each ship will be highly customizable and designed for the person who commissioned it. And this, by the way, has carried on to the present day. There isn't really a "kit" ship.

Best way to look at it is like this - Sail Powered, Oar Powered, or Combo? Crew Size? Passenger compliment? Cargo size?

Next up, how long is the beam (front to back)? How wide is your ship? And what's its draft (how deep in the water the keel is, ie, the shallowest water it can enter)?

Now, how many sails? Are the oars below decks, or above decks? How tightly can it turn? Is this a ship that is expected to be beached every night, or does it anchor offshore? etc.

As you can see, there is a LOT of information you can provide. And I'm just scratching the surface. honestly, you're better off picking a time frame/culture, and detailing a smaller ship, a medium-sized ship, and a large ship, and leaving it at that. That's more than enough info for RPG purposes.

 

[Hand of Evil]

This is kind of hard...there is just so many types and verations. You have square riged, river, before and after the dark ages, modern. I would say look for one of the rule books on ships and take it from there.

Complete list of Ship Types

Listing of Historical Sailing Ship types and nomenclature.

 

[garrowolf]

Okay I've got a couple of ideas I'm working on.

One is having different maneuver ratings based on different tech levels. Basically have Age of Sails ships maneuver better then Bronze Age ships. It would be a bonus based on the better mast types.

something like this:
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Rowing +1[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Bronze Age Mast +0[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Iron Age Mast +1[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Middle Ages Mast +2[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Age of Sail Mast +3[/FONT]




The other is speed based on wind conditions for masts.

any ideas?

 

[Kzach]

any ideas?

This is really one of those situations where simulation needs to be thrown out the window. The simple fact of the matter is that there are a gazillion variations even within tech levels, and just because one tech level is technically more advanced than another, does not necessarily translate on any sort of linear scale of improvement.

In fact, a lot of technological advancements were based more around seaworthiness than speed or manoeuvrability, and even then there are documented cases of longships making it across oceans even though they were technically designed for coastal raiding and river travel.

Then you have all sorts of sail designs even on ships of the same size or build which can drastically affect speed and manoeuvrability. And often things are counter-intuitive with sailing, like less sail area equalling more speed in certain designs and weather conditions. Speed also can equal LESS manoeuvrability, not more.

There are simply so many conditional factors that representing any sort of realistic or historically accurate comprehensive system really requires a complete system unto itself.

So... yeah... I'd highly recommend a K.I.S.S. approach. Just make up what level of granularity you feel comfortable with and put in a couple of modifiers here and there and hope you don't get any simulationist obsessed gamers at your table

 

[jasper]

I THINK one the judges guild has supplement of ships. You would have to update to your current D&D.
Found it pdf now. Sea steeds and wave riders.