Seafaring and d20?

[Bob Aberton]

From the POV of a dedicated sailor and collector of sea lore (me ), Broadsides! is the best book in the bunch.

It has a detailed ship-to-ship combat system (using maps/counters), statistics for various kinds of RL ships that are actually accurate to RL, and a system for plotting voyages day-to-day, including navigating and weather.

It also has prestige classes that include: Sea Captain, Privateer, Surgeon, Marine, Oceanic Sentinel (Wizard PrC), etc., real cool feats (Swing-by attack and other such swashbuckling feats), neat spells...

All in all, Broadsides is the top of the heap.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Heh, this thread highlights something I find interesting.

Many people predicted that different companies would produce similar products, and one would rise to the top while the other would crash.

It is good to see all the naval books equally appreciated by different people.

FD

 

[kenjib]

From the POV of a dedicated sailor and collector of sea lore (me ), Broadsides! is the best book in the bunch.

Hi Bob. I was thinking that Broadsides is definitely the book of choice for anyone that knows something about sailing in real life. I wonder though, would the other books be frustrating for you? For example, as regards maneuvering in combat, as far as I remember neither Seas of Blood nor Seafarer's Handbook take into account wind direction, strength, tacking, and sail type, which is really critical stuff to consider for maneuvering in battle, no? I can't remember if they have rules for reefing your sails when under fire either. I'm not an expert on sailing, but it seems that if I were combat, pursuit, and navigation in the other two books would just seem kind of lacking to me.

What are your thoughts on this?

 

[Aeolius]

And, for a good aquatic adventure, try PEG's Depths of Despair (www.peginc.com).

Granted, for undersea adventures, one can gets and pieces from the 3 books mentioned above. A dedicated undersea supplement is in the works, I hear.

 

[Bob Aberton]

Hi Bob. I was thinking that Broadsides is definitely the book of choice for anyone that knows something about sailing in real life. I wonder though, would the other books be frustrating for you? For example, as regards maneuvering in combat, as far as I remember neither Seas of Blood nor Seafarer's Handbook take into account wind direction, strength, tacking, and sail type, which is really critical stuff to consider for maneuvering in battle, no? I can't remember if they have rules for reefing your sails when under fire either. I'm not an expert on sailing, but it seems that if I were combat, pursuit, and navigation in the other two books would just seem kind of lacking to me.

Yeah, the other books would be definately frustrating to me. I mean, wind direction, strength, tacking, sail type, etc. are what sailing's all about!

I guess I can't really expect the authors of Seafarer's HB and Seas of Blood to care about the minutiae of sailing in their books, but I really applaud Broadsides! for going the extra mile.

I mean, I sail a lot in RL (and when I'm not sailing or gaming, I'm reading about sailing) and I want that kind of verisimiltude in my swashbuckling games...

It is kind of a funny image to think of Joe Gamer and his buddies at the gaming table during a session...

DM: Suddenly, the wind shifts 60 degrees to starboard! Roll initiative!

JG: I trim in the mainsheet and braces and put the helm over to starboard tack!

Other Gamer: I charge up the rigging to tighten in the t'gallant braces!



I don't mean to come off as a sailing elitist or anything, but I'm a little disappointed at the other two book's treatment of sailing, particularly concerning maneuvering vessels and wind direction/strength. I've seen gales and I've seen calms, and there's a hell of a lot of difference between the two! Beating into headseas in stiff breeze, in the rain, is a world of difference from cruising downwind in a light air in a sunny day.

However, I absolutely love Broadsides!, and give it a 10 on a scale of 1 to 5. In truth, I would not have expected a gaming book to go into such detail on the subject of sailing, and I was very pleasantly surprised when Broadsides! did.

 

[Phowett]

Yup, I like Broadsides the most, though they're all useful.

 

[Kilmore]

Wow, THIS many people bought Broadsides? I thought I was the only one that had it, and I got it for free. Good book, though.

You know that picture of the guy goin' down the sail on top of the orc? I drawed that.

The sea legs skill disturbed me a little though. It seemed a little harsh. Realistic possibly, but FRPG's are supposed to be heroic. We just use a con check to see if someone hurls his dinner overboard. And how the hell do you LEARN to breathe water as a feat? But the actual ships and sailing stuff is real nice. I wish I can say I had something to do with that part of it.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

Thanks for the names. Now I can look at reviews.

 

[kenjib]

In truth, I would not have expected a gaming book to go into such detail on the subject of sailing, and I was very pleasantly surprised when Broadsides! did.

Yeah, it's pretty cool. I actually learned something about sailing, which I didn't know much of anything about before getting the book, and all of it made sense to me.

I could see how someone who doesn't care about these details and prefers the ships to be just simple devices to tell good stories might prefer the more simple rules of the other books though.

Wow, THIS many people bought Broadsides? I thought I was the only one that had it, and I got it for free. Good book, though.

You know that picture of the guy goin' down the sail on top of the orc? I drawed that.

Cool picture! I like the dramatic perspective. I think it's a shame that it doesn't seem to get as much "shelf attention" as the other two books, at least in the game stores I've been to. It makes it harder for people to buy this one over the other two when they can't sit down with it and browse through/compare.

 

[LcKedovan]

I just purchased Seas of Blood last week and am waiting for delivery. I went through the reviews and decided that SoB was what I needed to fit into my current plans. I may pick up the others in the future depending on if I need its certain "niche" filled. Some undersea adventuring would be fun, and fits into some of the long-term plans for my campaign.

-Will