Ship Boarding Action

[Grogg of the North]

So in the near future it looks like their is going to be some ship to ship combat. The setting is low magic and we're going for a more historical approach to naval combat in the middle ages with the exchange of missile fire and then boarding actions.

The question is, when the boarding action happens, what to do with the crews? On both boats, most of the crew is going to be low level experts and possibly warriors. One of the PCs is the captain of their (his?) ship.

I see a few options:

1) The crews don't matter. They're engaged in their own battles and probably provide more influence on the battle by being rough terrain / obstacles than by actually attacking the PCs. The fate of the boarding action is determined by the PCs vs. the NPC officers. (This reminds me of some of the old Final Fantasy style RPGs where you see the opposed crews walking back and forth on the screen fighting but don't seem to ever do much.)

2) Pre-roll EVERYTHING! Figure out how many of each side are wounded, die, or surrender each round. This seems like a lot of work on the DMs part and could be easily messed up if the PCs try to act on their crew mate's behalf.

3) Um ... parley?

 

[gamerprinter]

Although designed for Pathfinder, you should consider Fire as She Bears, a ship to ship combat supplement for the Razor Coast setting. Its got really interesting rules for representing a ship in 20' x 20' cubes, each with a hardness, AC and other ratings for damage and sinking. More interesting is that ship combat involves an entire adventure party and not just the captain. The person responsible for the sails give bonus/penalties to attack rolls, etc. Basically everyone has a job aboard ship and there are 2 actions per round - 1 the PCs normal combat or spellcasting activity and 1 as the ship responsibility. There's also rules for boarding a ship.

You could possible handle this with simpler mechanics, but I've found the above resource really makes ship board combat more interesting and fun. Its one of the best rules systems for ship combat out there, and the rules are stand-alone, not necessarily Pathfinder specific. There'd be no need to convert, you would use the rules as is.

 

[Tovec]

I think that there is a 4th option you aren't really considering. It happens to be the one I'm using in my pirate game. It is very similar to 1 but different in some key respects.

I compare this first of all to war - like armies fighting in a field war of independence style, or may (just maybe) WW1/2 lines of battle. People are fighting and dying. However, without knowing anything there is a probability of which side is going to win in a conflict. The bigger, better, more equipped side will usually win if nothing happens. The key aspect in such battles - in DnD terms - is that the PCs are a variable that isn't considered. They aren't soldiers they're special operations. Their job isn't to kill the enemy hordes, their job is to seize an objective.

Having your PCs do a boarding action to kill swaths of enemies isn't exciting, difficult, or even that useful. They should have a clear motive to start out with. Maybe they're in the superior position and trying to claim the enemy ship - so they need to get the enemy to surrender. If they're in the lesser state then they need to somehow get into an even or above average state.

Think of it like star trek - when they beam over to the enemy ship it isn't to kill all the enemies one at a time using phasers. It is to claim the bridge and thus command of the ship (or engineering). Maybe it is to disable the ship, the engines, shields, weapons, or even blow it up. THAT is the PC's job.

So, the outcome of the battle should be more or less decided at the beginning by who is more likely to win. The PCs could spend time working on just that aspect but they're wasting time. They should instead need to capture the enemy captain, or blow up their canons, disable their steering or sails, that kind of thing.

4) PCs are special ops, make sure they know it and have a goal before jumping onto the enemy ship, also make sure they know what to do if boarded . This may require you do some pre-rolling but I wouldn't normally see it as necessary. Just direct the events in your mind. Unhindered the enemy captain will.... flee, fight them to the last, be pushed back, captured, fight and win, inspire his men to fight better and win - what? That kind of thing.
- So the goal might be parley, but FORCE a parley one way or another. Parley from a position of strength - kill so many they have to surrender, or disable their ship? Maybe the PCs are trying to gather supplies or just pile up the gunpowder on the lower decks and establish a fuse.

I hope this helps, it is what I do and it seems to work fairly well. I'm less impressed with just waves upon waves of enemies. I think on the Pirates of the Caribbean movies - what were the named characters doing? They might swing their sword to deflect or parry an enemy but they were seeking out something to do, not just killing, something like killing Davy Jones, finding the chest, getting back their sword, or not even being on-board when the big battle is going on (the conclusion of the first movie) - ending the curse that kept them undead so they COULD be killed.

 

[Celebrim]

oopps.