Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 9749590" data-attributes="member: 22779">Adding a later thought.&nbsp; The problem I have is a lot of fantasy writers pick ideas that sound really cool but, don't hold up under scrutiny.&nbsp; Take Waterdeep as an example.&nbsp; One of the biggest draws of Waterdeep is the fact that it's go a really deep port.&nbsp; The Sword Coast's ONLY deep water port.&nbsp;&nbsp; Sounds great.&nbsp; You need a port for trade and Waterdeep has a great, deep port.&nbsp; Only, this is where physics steps in.&nbsp; A Hansa Cog, which is the typical ship that you would see of the time, has a draft of 7 feet.&nbsp; A 200 ton Hansa Cog can float quite comfortably in your average backyard swimming pool.&nbsp; Even something later like the Santa Maria had a draft of 6 feet and a bit.&nbsp; The Mayflower?&nbsp; Bit more than 7 feet.&nbsp; Wooden ships until about the 19th century, don't need deep water ports.&nbsp; No need at all and in fact would actually be a bad thing since it would make making docks so much more difficult and often those ships were dragged up on land for repairs and whatnot.&nbsp; They really aren't all that big.&nbsp; A 200 ton Hansa Cog is only 60 feet long.&nbsp; That's about ten feet longer than your average semi trailer.&nbsp; These things are puny.&nbsp; So, suddenly this whole &quot;Only deep water port!&quot; doesn't actually matter at all.&nbsp; Who cares?&nbsp; Nothing in the water needs anything with that kind of depth.&nbsp; But, it sounds good.&nbsp; It's the DEEPEST, so, it has to be best right?&nbsp; It's lazy world building and it drives me up the wall.&nbsp; It's the main reason I avoid published settings because all these kinds of mistakes jump out after even a cursory reading.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 9749590, member: 22779"] Adding a later thought. The problem I have is a lot of fantasy writers pick ideas that sound really cool but, don't hold up under scrutiny. Take Waterdeep as an example. One of the biggest draws of Waterdeep is the fact that it's go a really deep port. The Sword Coast's ONLY deep water port. Sounds great. You need a port for trade and Waterdeep has a great, deep port. Only, this is where physics steps in. A Hansa Cog, which is the typical ship that you would see of the time, has a draft of 7 feet. A 200 ton Hansa Cog can float quite comfortably in your average backyard swimming pool. Even something later like the Santa Maria had a draft of 6 feet and a bit. The Mayflower? Bit more than 7 feet. Wooden ships until about the 19th century, don't need deep water ports. No need at all and in fact would actually be a bad thing since it would make making docks so much more difficult and often those ships were dragged up on land for repairs and whatnot. They really aren't all that big. A 200 ton Hansa Cog is only 60 feet long. That's about ten feet longer than your average semi trailer. These things are puny. So, suddenly this whole "Only deep water port!" doesn't actually matter at all. Who cares? Nothing in the water needs anything with that kind of depth. But, it sounds good. It's the DEEPEST, so, it has to be best right? It's lazy world building and it drives me up the wall. It's the main reason I avoid published settings because all these kinds of mistakes jump out after even a cursory reading. [/QUOTE]

Verification