SPECIAL NOTICE
Malicious code was found on the site, which has been removed, but would have been able to access files and the database, revealing email addresses, posts, and encoded passwords (which would need to be decoded). However, there is no direct evidence that any such activity occurred. REGARDLESS, BE SURE TO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORDS. And as is good practice, remember to never use the same password on more than one site. While performing housekeeping, we also decided to upgrade the forums.
This is a site for discussing roleplaying games. Have fun doing so, but there is one major rule: do not discuss political issues that aren't directly and uniquely related to the subject of the thread and about gaming. While this site is dedicated to free speech, the following will not be tolerated: devolving a thread into unrelated political discussion, sockpuppeting (using multiple and/or bogus accounts), disrupting topics without contributing to them, and posting images that could get someone fired in the workplace (an external link is OK, but clearly mark it as Not Safe For Work, or NSFW). If you receive a warning, please take it seriously and either move on to another topic or steer the discussion back to its original RPG-related theme.

OSR Naval Combat, Ships, and Piracy

Started by PencilBoy99, December 11, 2015, 09:16:14 AM

Previous topic - Next topic
Print
Go Down Pages1
User actions

PencilBoy99

December 11, 2015, 09:16:14 AM
See aforementioned thread on using FH&W with Razor Coast. Does anyone have a favorite OSR game that I don't happen to know about that has rules for Ship Combat, Piracy, Ships, etc. Something abstract.

Nerzenjäger

#1
December 11, 2015, 10:21:59 AM
Give those ships an AC and HP. At the beginning of each combat round allocate crew either for ATK-Bonus (canons) or higher AC (navigation). Done.

EDIT: As far as I remember, the original AC rules were inspired by Dave Arneson's naval wargame "Don't Give Up The Ship", but I might be wrong.
"You play Conan, I play Gandalf.  We team up to fight Dracula." - jrients

The Butcher

#2
December 11, 2015, 12:52:21 PM
ACKS's got me covered.

Willie the Duck

#3
December 11, 2015, 03:47:20 PM
What do you want out of your naval combat? Do you want strategy, maneuvering, winds, crew complement, or anything else to matter? I mean, you can run ships as just giant PCs who can only move in certain ways and shoot in certain arcs, or you can use one of the many (of varied complexity) naval battle games that have been produced if you want complexity and realism to real-world naval combat.

If you are going to go for complexity, I would steel from a game dedicated to such things. Lots of general games (such as gurps and hero system) have vehicle combat systems that break down when dealing with big slow ships where facing is very important.

Simlasa

#4
December 11, 2015, 04:00:41 PM
You could get yourself a copy of Heart of Oak... the rules for naval battles that came with FGU's Privateers & Gentlemen RPG. There's a PDF of it on RPGNow.
It's probably waaaay more complicated than you need... yet I've heard that for naval wargames it's relatively lite.

GameDaddy

#5
December 11, 2015, 05:25:52 PM
Here we use Twin Crowns and d20 Pirates.

These are out of print, but you can still get them on Ebay.
Blackmoor grew from a single Castle to include, first, several adjacent Castles (with the forces of Evil lying just off the edge of the world to an entire Northern Province of the Castle and Crusade Society's Great Kingdom.

~ Dave Arneson

Ravenswing

#6
December 12, 2015, 04:52:49 AM
Quote from: Willie the Duck;868466If you are going to go for complexity, I would steel from a game dedicated to such things. Lots of general games (such as gurps and hero system) have vehicle combat systems that break down when dealing with big slow ships where facing is very important.
Actually, I'm tolerably happy with the GURPS naval combat rules (and I ignore Vehicles altogether).  It's a variant of the mass battle rules, and I'd say it was "old school" friendly.
This was a cool site, until it became an echo chamber for whiners screeching about how the "Evul SJWs are TAKING OVAH!!!" every time any RPG book included a non-"traditional" NPC or concept, or their MAGA peeners got in a twist. You're in luck, drama queens: the Taliban is hiring.
Print
Go Up Pages1
User actions