The best Ship Construction book

[Tolen Mar]

So We are going to start an Iron Heroes game. It will be based on the sea, with plenty of opportunities for piracy.

My character wants her own ship. So I thought I'd go ahead and draft up some stats for the DM's approval, so I could plan how to buy such a vesseal.

Given that it cannot be a magically enhanced ship (this being Iron Heroes), where do you think I could find a decent book that discusses building a ship?

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Mongoose Publishing's Book of the Sea. It also has a naval combat system, and rules for trade.

The Auld Grump

 

[dutorn]

Mongoose Publishing's Book of the Sea. It also has a naval combat system, and rules for trade.

The Auld Grump

Do you know of any other sea combat systems? Perhaps in the new Stormwrack? (I Doubt it though since it's more based on the environment)

 

[Sledge]

Corsair d20 is pretty nice.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Do you know of any other sea combat systems? Perhaps in the new Stormwrack? (I Doubt it though since it's more based on the environment)

As mentioned Corsair is pretty decent. The system is based on the rues from Mongoose Publishing's Seas of Blood, but taken in a very different direction than that in Book of the Sea. I waffle between the two a bit, and most likely will end up with a hybrid of the two. Each has features that the other lacks. And the one in Book of the Sea is compatible with the mass combat rules in Dynasties & Strongholds.

Seas of Blood is still widely available, and is a less expensive alternative to Book of the Sea. I have both, and am glad of it.

Seafarer's Handbook by Fantasy Flight is also good. Less used than Book of the Sea, but has some nifty character options. I have not used their ship combat system.

The naval combat in Stormwrack is 'narrative' rather than detailed. Instead of pushing models of ships around the board you give a general description of what your ship is doing such as 'closing' to get closer to the enemy, and 'opening' to get further away. The point being that naval combat only gets interesting when you are in range to do things like throwing fireballs, and closing for boarding. Not quite what I expected, I would rather have had something similar to the system in Heroes of Battle.

Of the ones I have mentioned only Corsair accounts for the effects of wind on naval combat...

Another system is in AEG's Swashbuckling Adventures supplement Ships and Sea Battles. I have never tried the system, for some reason rather than choosing to go with either the Roll & Keep system in 7th Sea or a D20 based system for Swashbuckling Adventures they created an all new system, which pleased neither camp.

The Auld Grump

 

[dutorn]

Auld, which of those books you mentioned takes into account a characters skills in sailing. For instance Profession: Sailor or something of that sort. Do any of them have rules that allow a better captain to possibly outfight a better ship just because he might have better skills to go along with sailing or ship combat.

Thanks!

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Book of the Sea, Seas of Blood, and Corsair all take the sailors skills into account. Given identical ships the better captain and crew has a distinct edge.

I am glad to have all three, if forced to pick one... it would be either Corsair or Book of the Sea. Corsair is great book, and inexpensive as a PDF, and Book of the Sea is a nice thick hardcover. Book of the Sea has rules for creating your own ships, while Corsair has beter rules for gunpowder and the age of sail. Back and forth, back and forth, as to which is the better purchase. For D&D Book of the Sea has the edge I think, while for a later period game Corsair takes up the gage. The rules are similar enough that creating a hybrid would not be hard.

The Auld Grump

 

[Steverooo]

Auld, which of those books you mentioned takes into account a characters skills in sailing. For instance Profession: Sailor or something of that sort. Do any of them have rules that allow a better captain to possibly outfight a better ship just because he might have better skills to go along with sailing or ship combat.

Thanks!

I believe that Stormwrack also takes these things into account, although I haven't received my copy, yet...

 

[Gold Roger]

Stormwrack is a good book, though at some times a bit dry (pun intened).
It has got a lot of usefull rules and Monsters in it. No rules to create your own ships, but rules for lots of different kinds of ships and a nice stat block standart for ships. It suffers, like most D&D 3.5 books I've read, that it was written based on the assumption that you play standart 3.5 D&D with all of it's quirks and specialties. Since I want to play a Seafaring Iron Heroes Campaign it sometimes anoyed me while reading it. I'd say it's a good starting point, but you'll still have to do some work yourself or buy another suplement on Seafaring.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I believe that Stormwrack also takes these things into account, although I haven't received my copy, yet...

Not much I am afraid - For combat only during special manuevers such as coming about, shearing oars, ramming, grappling, or evading a grapple. A bit too lacking in detail for my tastes, even for 'narrative' combat.

The Auld Grump