We are pleased to announce a Ship packet to allow players to further enhance their downtime activities. Our intention with the packet is to allow you to expand your downtime activities to include exploring the world by sea. Ship costs can range anywhere from 5 gold to hundreds upon hundreds of gold, depending on how swanky you want to make it. In addition to the ships available here, ships from other campaigns may be allowed on a case-by-case basis, depending on how compatible the other chapter's tags are with ours, agreement from their plot team, and as fits the theme and needs of the local campaign (i.e. if you're trying to bring in 500 ships from Caldaria to invade the Golden Horn, don't hold your breath.
(Apparently, the boards are hating attachments today... no zip, doc, or rtf files allowed. So here's the doc:
WARNING!!! – This ship packet is intended for use in the Oregon Alliance campaign, and will be used to enhance storytelling for characters in their downtime between events. It can be used to acquire coin, information, or more; however, the results of your downtime activities is entirely up to the Oregon plot team. There is no guarantee of success, and your character may end up spending hundreds of coin with no appreciable result if your character uses their resources in risky or foolish ways. Your character may or may not be held accountable for the actions of the ship as well.
SECOND CAVEAT! – The prices listed in this guide are intended as general guidelines, and may be subject to certain plot modifications. For instance, if ore is reported or known to be a highly restricted resource, Armoring may cost more than the price listed herein.
How much for that ship in the window? – In a general sense, you take the number of royals (a unit of cargo measure roughly equal to 30 tuns), multiply that by the cost per royal listed in the “Designs” section of this packet, and add the costs of any improvements.
Designs / Design Levels – This refers to the general shape and structure of your ship. Some shapes and structures lend themselves to improved maneuvering in certain situations, and each has its own limitations.
- Skiff – Skiffs are light craft, capable of maneuvering in tighter, shallower waters than other water craft, and landing on nearly any coastline. In high seas, though, they’d likely become submerged fairly quickly. They are capped at 5 royals, but only cost 5 gold per royal of space. This is a Level One design.
- Riverboat – These ships are generally lighter than most sea-faring ships, but sturdier than skiffs. They are small and agile, but much of their tonnage is taken up with balancing the weight to maintain a low draft and improving the rudder system. They range from 4 to 10 royal, but 3 royals are considered “filled” at all times. Space costs 7 gold per royal. This is a Level Two design.
Example – Robari wants to buy a Riverboat with 5 royals of space. He must pay 35 gold, and will have two royals of cargo room available for improvements.
- Scow – Scows are your run-of-the-mill sea craft. They range from 1 to 15 royals, and are capable of most sea travel. This Level Three design costs 10 gold per royal.
- Brigand – Brigands are fast-moving sea craft, with additional sails and an improved rudder system that makes them ideal for naval operations, or defending and protecting other ships. They also range from 1 to 15 royals, priced at 15 gold per, and are a Level Four design.
- Man of War – A Man of War is a large ship usually used either as a massive shipping vessel or seaside assaulter laden with heavy weapons. Despite being sluggish and slow, they are capable of carrying so many weapons as to make attacking them a risky venture at best. They’re a Level Five design, capable of supporting between 5 and 20 royals, costs 20 gold per.[/i]
Improvements – Now that you’ve selected a ship, you will likely want to expend some coin on improving it, or maybe compensating for some of the flaws in its design. Improvements take up additional space in your ship, either from the objects themselves or the tools and parts necessary to maintain them. You must always leave one entire royal of space free on your ship, no amount of improvements may ever reduce it below that. This is to provide space for crew, supplies, and what treasures your ship might recover.
- Arms – Every ship is considered to have some number or archers and grappling hooks, depending on how many crew members they might have. Improved arms covers things like ballista, catapults, and the like. In addition to the limits on how many improvements your ship can have above, you may never have more than 3 levels of arms per design level of your ship. There are two forms of improved arms:
- Destructive – this covers things like catapults, trebuchets, and certain forms of ramming prows – devices meant to put large holes in opposing ships. They cost 20 gold each, and use up 1 royal of cargo space.
- Capturing – this covers things like ballistas with chains attached, ball-and-chain catapult shot for taking down masts, and other forms of ramming prows – devices meant to immobilize ships so that your boarding crew can overwhelm the opposing crew. They cost 10 gold per level, and use up a ½ royal of cargo space.
- Armoring – armor for your ship may be purchased to reduce the likelihood that certain kinds of sea-going weapons will damage your hull or deck. Each level of armoring uses up 2 royals of space and reduces the ship’s ability to maneuver and reach top speed, and no more than 3 levels of armoring may be purchased for any ship. A single layer of armor costs 10 gold per Design Level.
- Improved Rigging – this covers things like smoother pulleys, better ropes, and more efficient line layout. The payoff is a more agile ship, capable of tighter, faster turns. You may buy one level per Design Level of your ship, costing 5 gold per Design Level, and uses up a ½ royal of cargo space per level purchased.
- Improved Sails – these sails are made from special silk gathered from giant spiders, and usually are of Dark Elf origin. With lighter material knit in a tighter weave, they allow ships to make better use of the wind, resulting in higher overall speeds when compared to ships of identical make and size. You may purchase up to one level of sails per Design Level of the ship, each level using a ½ royal of space, and costs 10 gold per Design Level.
- Privateer’s Medallion – A privateer’s medallion may be embedded on or near the helm (or what passes for a helm) which bears the issuing authority’s mark, date, and to whom it is issued. It essentially establishes the legal right for a privately-owned ship to perform military actions in the name of that authority. This may come in handy if your ship is stopped by navies friendly to that authority, or perhaps a liability if stopped by pretty much anyone else. The price is usually around 30 gold. Privateering without a Privateer’s Medallion is what is commonly known as “Piracy”, which, if caught, could lead to other charges with lovely names like “Conspiracy to Commit Murder Under The Guise of Law” and “Treason”.
So what does a ship cost? – The formula for figuring out your total ship’s cost is as follows:
Pick a ship design. Multiply the cost for that type of ship by how many royals of space you want in total.
Figure out what improvements you want and their cost.
Add all that together.
Examples:
Pilroy McGeevers has decided to take up a life of piracy. Definitely a good pirate, but a pirate nonetheless. He does intend to go into deep water, but also wants to be able to take advantage of any river inlets if he needs a quick escape, so he opts for a Riverboat. Because they’re generally so bulky, he decides he wants a full-sized one of 10 royals. The base cost is 70 gold (7 gold per royal), but only allows him 7 royals of space to make improvements. In general, he wants to capture ships, not destroy them. But, from time-to-time, you have to put a hole in someone’s hull to slow them down and let you get away, so he opts for two levels of Capturing Arms and one level of Destructive Arms, costing 40 gold, nearly as much as the ship itself! He’d like armoring, but it’s pricy (20 gold per layer), and he really doesn’t want to lose out on maneuverability and speed. In fact, he opts to buy a level of Improved Rigging (5 gold per Design Level is 10 gold) and two levels of Improved Sails (2 levels at 10 gold per Design Level comes out to 40 gold). Already this ship is getting pricey, and besides, he’s a pirate, free in the open seas, not beholden to any man or country, so he doesn’t try and get a Privateer’s Medallion. 160 gold is the final cost of his ship. It’s light, fast, maneuverable, capable of capturing other ships as well as fending off attackers, and has 3 ½ royals of free cargo space for making off with pilfered good and purloined purses. Hopefully he’ll be able to make that back with a few outings, or even capturing another ship and upgrade his status in life!
Lord Gyr wishes to have a personal ship meant to be an ocean-craft for facing down the Harkonnian threat. He decides on a fairly large Brigand capable of holding 10 royals. The base cost for his ship then is 150 gold (15 gold per royal). His council strongly insists that he take measures to ensure that the ship is protected as best as possible, so he adds a full three layers of Armoring, which costs 120 gold (10 per layer for a Design Level 4 ship). This uses up 6 royals of space, leaving 4 for other improvements. He adds a single level of Destructive Arms – some catapults capable of hurling heavy rocks and such to fend off attacks and occasionally take out an opposing ship – for 20 gold. He also wants to offset the loss of speed and maneuverability from all that armor, so he buys two levels of Improved Rigging and two levels of Improved Sails. The rigging costs 40 total (5 gold times Design Level 4 times 2) and the sails cost 80 (10 gold times Design Level 4 times 2). The rigging, sails, and arms use up 3 more royals of space, leaving the ship with 1 royal for any captured cargo, transporting supplies, etc. Lord Gyr does intend to actively pursue enemy ships, but he’s the noble in charge of these waters, so he does not feel the need to possess a Privateer’s Medallion. The total cost for this ship is 410 gold. Good thing he’s a noble!
Piracy and Adventure at High Seas – A common use for ships is to engage in maritime battles, attempting to capture cargo from other ships. Typically, this involves coming alongside a ship, engaging its crew, and taking it over. At this point, you’d likely move its cargo to your ship and scuttle it (as it wouldn’t do to be caught with someone else’s ship, and they don’t tend to fit in your pocket particularly well), or capture the ship and return it to a friendly port for either sale or refitting. Depending on what manner of weapons your ship has available to it, your downtime responses will be crafted to take these sorts of things into account.
What if I don’t want to be a Pira… Privateer? – Transporting and scouting are two common methods of earning coin with a ship. Transporting depends on how much free cargo space is available. Scouting depends on mobility. Just include in your downtime submissions a clear statement of your intent.
What’s the payout? - While there’s no static “x royals will give you z number of chances at gold”, on average, a successful trade run with a transport ship with 1 royal of space unused would probably yield about 1 gold of net income to the owner over the course of a month, and a ship with 20-royals free would probably yield 20 gold per month (or so). To gain any actual coin, you must attend the event or game day following your plot submission, otherwise, it is deemed spent on living the high life. Even in situations where your ship is entirely crewed by PCs, their shares are deemed spent on living expenses, repairing clothes, etc. There is no method to game the system and get greater returns from identical activities with identical items.
So, how does this all play together? – As stated, this packet is not designed to provide you with a static “x royals will give you z number of chances at gold”, but merely a rough idea of what your ship may or may not be useful in doing. Our goal is to keep things organic and free-form, rather than numeric and hard-coded. The plot team will use that information in conjunction with the specifics of what you are trying to do with the ship to provide you with a better back story. That said, certain things will be more or less universally true – Ships with more free tonnage will yield greater returns than those with less. Slow ships running in hostile waters are more prone to being attacked than faster ones. Big ships can’t go up little rivers. While successful use of your ship will yield a return in coin as well as possible fame or infamy, it may be months or years before you earn the amount you poured in. Our hope, though, is that it will help enrich your roleplay and potentially provide you with valuable game information.
