Fourecks said:
I've heard the Seafarer's Handbook has pretty good rules for ship to ship combat and ship building. Could the broadside rules for wind be adapted or do you think there is a way to incorporate such a mechanic into the Seafarer rules?
The broadside ship navigation and attack rules are pretty all-encompassing (with the exception of a mass combat system for the crew after boarding, although grappling and boarding are covered), covering everything from navigation along prevailing wind currents to tactical maneuvering during a battle. I don't have Seafarer's (I've looked through it several times) so I don't know how well they would merge. I would guess that they wouldn't work together all too well in this one area, as they each use different stat block mechanics for ships, which reverberates throughout the system. For example, does Seafarer's Handbook differentiate lateen versus square sails, and the trade offs it entails?
Fourecks said:
Also, do any of these books give clear indications on ship technology and timelines? Such information on the net is scattered and vague. I've found that most campaign worlds seem to mix technology up a lot like putting in schooners and cutters which, IIRC, are 18th century technology in a 15th century equivalent setting.
It seems like period accuracy was one of the design fundamentals of Broadsides. The ships are divided roughly by era, which allows you to decide how advanced you want the ships to be:
long ship
galley
early merchant ships
carrack era
galleon era
small ships
I thought that was pretty handy. The book does not go as recent as schooners, cutters, and the like though, as it does not progress past the galleon era. The biggest ship is the Royal Galleon at 200' and 4 guns fore, 12 aft, and 52 per side. I think that covers you roughly up to and through the 17th century. Is that right?
Broadsides doesn't have ship building rules. The authors claim that generic ship building rules can't be made while still maintaining historical accuracy. After thinking about it, I have yet to see anything in other books to make me disagree with them. There are tools, however, for making modified ships based off of the existing ships.
If these kinds of things are important to you, I think you should take a look at Broadsides. The other books are probably better if you want a more loose, quick, rules-lite, and/or high fantasy approach to ships though.
By the way, I found some more ship history reference here:
http://seventhsea.itgo.com/7thsea/racks/shiphistory.pdf
) and Swashbuckling adventures, and I'd like to get the other two.
