For all things to all people

1) I'm taking over.
2) yay.
3) Contain your excitement - I don't know anything about P&H or the Star Sea or the geopolitical entities along the coasts.
4) What I do know is sailing & the ocean & ships & plot & pace & continuity.

Action Plan:

Find out about you all.  Determine where you are, then where we go from there.

I have a vacation July 3 - 10.  Internet access is possible, but no promises.  Better to assume a no.

Anything else?
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:09, Sun 24 June 2007.

How about a list of players for this game. Its been so long I'm not sure if I was even accepted into the group.

Which group?  :)

SO far, you're the only one.  There's huge list of players for Hunters and Pirates...some of whom have never posted, some who don't even have character sheets, some who checked in yesterday.  I have sent out PMs to everyone; I am hoping to get a sense of who is where and why with whom, when, so that I can tie up loose ends, and in the immortal wordishes of Don Mason, 'Sight ship & Sink same'.

I suppose I'm here. At least long enough to see how you plan to proceed, DM fbaker4. I'm actually trying to cut back on the number of games I'm playing so that I can concentrate on DMing a region here in ROA. But I had mentioned some time back that if this group needed a fighter to fill out the ranks, I would stick around.

My general plan is to tie up loose ends and then see if it makes sense to keep going or not.  Having a sailing game is great - if it's done right.  I would say that it's hard to do right - true piracy is pretty evil, and pretty mundane.  Days and days of sailing around the empty sea before you happen on a merchant ship and slay a bunch of 1st & 2nds?  Not exactly heroic.  Sure there, opportunity for lost temples, buried treasure, & kidnappings...but if your character wanted to go after lost temples, you wouldn't be on a ship.

Also, a certain degree of knautical knowledge kneeds to be known.  Are you all in a sloop, a yawl, a bark, a brig?  A pinnace, a cutter, a carrack or a cog?  Clinker or plank- built?  Does the main mast step or not?  Can you ship oars? Is she copper-plated?  Who knows the difference between a hawser and a halyard?

Is or is not Vang a German sea-dog?

SO it's things like these that I think can make me successful here.  Unless, of course, no-one cares but me.

Right now, there's ~30 people signed up for group 3.  My guess is that 3-6 of them are actually players, and the rest are long gone.  But I'm giving people until the 30th to say "Aye-Aye" or "Nay".

Oh hey - a question.  This sea thing that y'all are in - is it a lake or a true sea?  And what's the climate like?

I vote a sloop of war or a frigate. We can capture a cutter/pinnance for cutting out operations.
No oars to worry about on a big ship. I can teach them to ship oars in a small boat.
Copper platted? In a D&D setting? Hmm. That would be a special boat. Would be easier to use magic I think.
Hawser - Huge rope for tieing off to the pier or for towing.
Halyard - (Guess on this one) Where you tie ratlines.


German? Got me on this one. Vang sounds like a easterner.



I think to be successful with this type of game you have to have a huge mission/over-goal (My own term) Online gaming is tough for the these type of battles. Knowledge of the ship and ship related verbage is just going to add flavor to this. (While I think it would be cool) I think a good idea is to have some type of "chaser"/antagonizist out to get us. (Maybe we stole a boat with a magical property) The hunter/pirate idea is strong, but logistically getting more than 5 or so PCs to post regularly is tough, much less two groups of 5 and 2 DMs, plus coordnation between the DMs themselves.


aye-aye


True sea, I don't remember the pirates ever getting info about the climate. (Hot and sweltering I think was the only reference made) I assumed a Chult-like climate since we are in a bubble.

Loose ends..I am at port so no loose ends here...And I use to have a ship? Two but I sold one.. :(

My Character does not like land...so...

I wasn't a priate but....I could change to a green peace activist..same thing. :)  I am not interested in a priate ship, I like where I was...more military style formation and organization and Perhaps a privateer with letters of Marque would be a compromise.

You left out SCHOONER! LoL Or barge, Caravel, Coracle, Dhow, Dromond, Dugout, Galley, Greatship, Ironclad, Junk, Keelboat, Launch, Longship, Raft, rowboat,  Trireme, war canoe or in D&D tearms a Therurgeme, or Elf Winship?  :)
Well since we are not on a river, we can elimeninate a lot of these choices...
Therurgeme is best for locomition!...

A Dromond or Ironclad if we are privateers...Frigate with copper hull....hmmm
If we are going to have combat like cannons or ballista etc... It  depends on what we are going to do...speed vs strength...what kind of game we decide to play would determine the ship. Well we be paid to deliver cargo...so a mechant vessel part time. Need to know game to choose ship.

No she was not copper platted. But is that an option? if so...yes.Like the USS Constitution...



Clinker-built is made with boards whose edges lap one over another.
Contrasted with carvelbuilt; Which is having the planks meet flush at the seams, instead of lapping as in a clinker-built vessel. The vikings did good with Clinker-built but we are more advanced.. :)

Main mast step sounds good. And I want an instep pad that is grooved to prevent slipping

I would not want to ship oars...I know how to sail...I have a small diesel right. :)   Oh, we do not have diesels...oars huh....Yes then oars as well...so looks more and more like a Dromond! Of course if we cannot have 200 complement it takes, we will take an Iron Clad...if we have to stay below 100 complement then a Elf Wingship!

A Hawser is a cable or rope used in mooring or towing a ship.

A Halyard is a rope used to raise or lower a sail, flag, or yard.

A Vang is dervied from the Dutch not german; Dutch, a catch, from vangen, to catch.
Vang is it is a rope running from the peak of a gaff to a ship's rail or mast, used to steady the gaff.


Aye-Aye

It is a true sea actually an ocean You can sail around all of Faruern...so the climate would depend on our actual location on the sea/ocean (longitude/latitude) we are at the time....

             Old Ironsides
        AY TEAR her tattered ensign down!
           Long has it waved on high,
        And many an eye has danced to see
           That banner in the sky;
        Beneath it rung the battle shout,
         And burst the cannon's roar;
          The meteor of the ocean air
        Shall sweep the clouds no more.

      Her deck once red with heroes' blood,
         Where knelt the vanquished foe,
     When winds were hurrying o’er the flood,
           And waves were white below,
      No more shall feel the victor’s tread,
         Or know the conquered knee;
      The harpies of the shore shall pluck
             The eagle of the sea!

      Oh, better that her shattered hulk
         Should sink beneath the wave;
      Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
        And there should be her grave;
        Nail to the mast her holy flag
         Set every threadbare sail,
     And give her to the god of storms,
         The lightning and the gale!

       -- Oliver Wendell Holmes 

What did I miss....

I say we keep the ship kinda small to avoid the ho-hum issues with a bigger ship. IE Taking on water and supplies, worrying about the depth under the keel, raising/lowering sails. Maybe we could be smugglers. Working out of Skullport, saving slaves and smuggling them to where ever. Or maybe kinda a merc sailing outfit.
I'd say a 30-40 crew max. With 4-6 PCs as specialists/owner-operators.

That would be a Elf Wingship!
:)

ok, not so bad!  Sadly, there's only three of you, two of whom really want in.  I expect that we'll be crossing most of the group 3 signers off the list.

ok, from the FRCS "The Sea of Fallen Stars provides rainfall and moderated temperatures...shallow and affected by seabed volcanism...cool mountain winds and harsh winters..."

So there you have the climate.  I was thinking keelboats, galley, cogs, coasters, knarrs, & longboats for shipping styles, given the description of the climate.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:14, Tue 26 June 2007.

I'm still around, sort of... problem is the character is made up for the pirate group and as such is an utter filth of the human being. So any major change would be nigh impossible for Lilian without rewriting huge chunks of the character.

But yes, I'm still here.

Let's figure out who's here first, and then we'll plot & scheme.