Summary: Featuring seven more hexes (mostly sea fillers and an island fort), crew descriptions and skills, and a list of items that describe the world.
To start things off in this post, here are a few additional descriptive paragraphs for the overall setting, in the form of one of those "describe your world with a number of items" lists. Can't really remember where this started or where I saw this initially (I am a lazy bastard), but here it is.
 |
| "Vanitas Still life with Books, a Globe, a Skull, a Violin and a Fan" by Jan Davidszoon de Heem |
Describe the world through items:
- A mariner's astrolabe made out of old brass and engraved with gold, it contains symbols for many celestial bodies outside of the knowledge of the common man.
- An ancient serrated harpoon, corroded and eaten away by salt and blood, used in centuries past on the first whaler barges. A small engraving at the hilt says “forgive thine own hunger”.
- Crumpled nautical chart outlining a proposed view of the seas and oceans known to man, the centerpiece being a massive whirlpool said to transport vessels into the fictional Suboceanean waters.
- A silver-plated, bronze-engraved spyglass with the lens made of onyx starglass.
- Cheap-shot, as it is known among the seafaring folk, is a type of pistol made out of a grip, a “firing” mechanism, and a glass barrel containing sea water and a number of small jellyfish. Triggering the mechanism will actually kill and squeeze out the creature, discharging a spray of gelatinous mixture that has various effects on the person being shot, from blindness and choking to stickiness and incapacitation. A rather popular tool among pirates, for no respectful sailor would ever stoop so low to actually use it.
- Grappler, coming in the form of either a gauntlet or a grappling hook, made out of claws of crabs or teeth of sharks. A rather rare and recent invention seen among pirates, it is used to board enemy vessels.
- Mosaic seashell, a rare and exotic specimen brought back from the Th'ielogo tribes in the Elogo archipelago. Although kept and displayed in dry conditions for several decades, the snail inside the shell is still alive.
- A brownish piece of parchment paper, outlining terms and conditions of a charter contract for an unnamed vessel. The name of the ship and crew are lost due to the document being quite ancient, some pieces of it torn, some faded under the influence of sea salt and time.
- Etriscian silex, a well-preserved vase decorated with obscene ritualistic images in black and orange paint. Confiscated from a drifting vessel whose entire crew committed suicide on board.
- A thick leather tome brought back from the mists of the mainland, containing an illuminated manuscript thousands of pages long, detailing all the monarchs and rulers of the known world. May all the names described therein be forever cursed.
Hexes
*Serenity Sea, continued (hexes 0204, 0304, 0403, 0404, 0405, 0503)
Even this far out at sea, the ever gentle Sérénité still reminds you of the waters below the docks of The Cape (hex 0102), the slow ebb and flow of the calming waves giving you hope. Out here it is almost peaceful, open waters wrapped in silence and no doomed mainland or sense of despair in sight, the fresh air filling your lungs with salt. You feel as if perhaps you were always meant to live on the waves and explore the great unknown. Perhaps this is your new home.
=====
Disclaimer regarding so many "filler" sea hexes at the start: I kinda felt that it would be neat to have a lot of free space in the beginning in order for the players and the GM to try out the seacrawling procedures, which will be outlined next week. It seemed like a good choice to test those in calm waters, without a lot of other things distracting the crew.
 |
| "Plan of the Fort of Bangalore from Sights, without Measurement" by Claude Martin |
*Fort of Banga’lore (hex 0504)
An island of bare rock rises on the horizon, a fort of stone and brick and wood dominating the small mass of land. Several row boats tied to a small pier on the right flank, the vessels bouncing on the waves while nearby trees and bushes on the shore contribute to the calming dance. A serene scene at the very edge of the Sérénité.
(If someone should possess this knowledge or some kind of lore check is rolled: The Fort of Banga’lore was an early venture of expansion out into the sea, an important checkpoint for ships aiming to sail the northern trading routes and favorable winds when leaving the Serenity Sea, while also protecting the region from pirates and reavers.)
It is only when you sail closer do you realize that something is amiss. There is no one greeting you at the dock. No movement up ahead on the walls of the fort, no shadow moving at the window sills, no trail in the sand, nor a flag or signal in salute… The residents are gone, disappeared without an apparent clue, the sound of the waves and leaves the only sign of life.
Life on the Twelve Seas: The Crew
 |
| "Napoleon on Board the Bellerophon" by Sir William Quiller Orchardson |
Moving on from the map, let us talk about the crew on board a ship. I tried reading up on the titles and crew dynamics and it is definitely something interesting for this type of game. Personally, I’m always amused by military rankings and chain-of-command interactions, but I wouldn’t go too deep into specific game mechanics for this… keep it light and mostly to kick off roleplay.
The entries below are broken down by:
- Overall description of the title and its responsibilities
- Rank
- Abilities and skills that might be relevant
*Captain
- Primary “leader” and decision maker; Head navigator
- Responsible for a safe and successful voyage and for the safety of cargo and crew
- Charisma checks for leadership and handling crew
- Navigation skill for Celestial Navigation checks
- Rank 6
*First mate
- Second-in-Command
- Responsible for personnel, the application of all laws and regulations on board the vessel, stands watch, first responder in emergencies
- Charisma checks for handling crew
- Law skill, in case you want a more realistic approach to handling laws and regulations
- Rank 5
*Surgeon
- Responsible for overall health of the crew (not just surgery)
- Medicine as a primary skill or any kind of relevant check
- Rank 4
*Sailing Master
- Responsible for steering the ship and maintaining course and speed, monitoring instruments
- Navigation skill for ship navigation checks
- Tinkering skill for handling instruments
- Rank 4
*Boatswain
- Responsible for overall ship efficiency (included, but not limited to, repairs, supervising, organizing deck activities, storage of cargo)
- Architecture skill for assessing damage, storage, etc.
- Tinkering skill for repairs
- Charisma checks for organizing the crew
- Rank 3
*Quartermaster
- Responsible for keeping log books updated, verifying the ship’s clock*, maintaining supplies, works on navigation with the Captain
- Tinkering skill for handling and maintaining the clock
- Navigation skill for providing assistance during Celestial Navigation and/or handling other navigation tasks
- Rank 3
*Seamen/Sailors
- Responsible for whatever they are being told to do, the main “workforce” that powers the vessel
- Possible minor titles include mates, powder monkeys, swabs, cabin boys, riggers, carpenters, etc.
- Rank 1 or 2
Now first, regarding Rank, at the moment this is not fully fleshed out mechanically, but in my mind it will work simply as a tool for decision making in critical situations and to simulate a more structured chain of command (obviously the higher the rank, the higher the PC is in the chain). Even as plain as that I kind of like it for party dynamics, but eventually I might work on it more and give it proper mechanical meaning.
Also on the topic of Navigation and the above mentioned ship’s clock*, it needs a bit of thematic clarification. The reason for the asterisk is just to clarify that the ship’s clock (or mariner’s chronometer) is one of many tools used for celestial navigation on ships, the tools mostly dependent on the level of technology of the setting. I’m not even sure I have a clearly defined “period” in my head other than saying “LotFP-ish 17th century but with some weird tweaks for coolness”.
Speaking of other celestial navigation tools, I’d say you can use anything from the most basic sun crystals, mariner astrolabe, to the chronometer, sextant, and even publications of the nautical almanac. I’d go technologically no farther than the last two, but also would include more “primitive” tools, as they are bound to pop up once the apocalypse kicked off and people became desperate and in survival mode. Add or remove as you see fit, but in any case these more advanced tools should be a rarity or at least hard to acquire. Make possessing them on your ship meaningful.
So now, how does navigation and seacrawling actually work? Find out in the post coming next week! I have it all typed out and in fact I wanted to add it all in this post, but felt it might be a bit overkill with the wall of text. Opted to keep the material for next week and refine it a bit further since I loathe to write mechanical bits in general.
And yes... I know I owe you the map, but sadly I didn't get a chance to work on it this week. Soon™.
No comments:
Post a Comment