As I've threatened a number of times, I've finally gotten around to (loosely) testing and writing up a sailing minigame for WFRP.
Let me know what you think or where you see room for improvement (as I'm sure there is quite a bit).
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Sea of Blood: Sailing Rules for WFRP
Goals
These rules have a few goals, primarily to provide an interactive mechanic for all players to contribute to nautical adventure. The rules are abstract and open ended and might be easily adapted to be more "realistic" and simulation oriented, or ignored completely in favor of narrative long-term travel and NPCs performing sailing duties. In my campaign, the characters are currently taking on a much larger sailing role than normal, as the majority of the crew of the ship they're on have died.
These are rough rules that have not been fully playtested - the basic concepts work, but specifics may require tweaking.
They are somewhat complicated in their entirety, but nothing exists outside of the basic dice pool, skill check, and combat tracker rules. Those aspects are woven into a sort of minigame to (hopefully) make long-distance and tactical nautical adventures more engaging.
Basics
The rules are largely based around two types of skill checks and are mapped to two "modes" - travel and encounter. I'll detail the two major "check" types first, then how I'll apply them to both travel and encounter situations (using the puzzle piece tracker in most cases). The skill checks revolve around modifying a baseline speed for the ship, on the assumption that the professional sailor NPCs are providing a certain amount of effort.
Which skills to use for Navigation and Sailing Checks
In general, only a specific "Tradecraft: Sailing" or similar skill will be considered "sailing" related and grant specializations, etc. All other skills will grant the "non-sailing" negative modifier. Clever player ideas about how to make their skills relevant will remove the modifier, and I'd likely give very good ideas fortune or [w] bonuses.
By default neither are opposed checks, however, opposed might be appropriate if conflicting ships' captains have Tradecraft: Sailing or the like. During opposed checks (such as in a chase) I will apply [b/w] to the slower/faster ship's checks as seems appropriate.
Example (non-sailing) skills for Navigation checks might be: Folklore and Nature Lore (to assist navigation and understanding maps); First Aid or Medicine (keeping the crew healthy and ready to sail).
Example (non-sailing) skills for Sailing checks: Athletics, Coordination, Skullduggery, possibly
Non-sailing skills for either check: Charm, Guile, Leadership, Intimidate (crew training, planning, and ordering NPCs about on deck); and Intuition, depending on what the player is curious about.
The Navigation Check
This check is meant to give "intellectual" characters a means to participate in navigation, crew health and nutrition, general repairs, and strategic course plotting. This check is always optional and primarily used for travel, rather than encounters.
Navigation Check: Std (2d) difficulty.
2 Success = Add [w] to Sailing
1 Comet = Subtract <p> from Sailing
2 Boon = [w] given to Sailing
Failed =
to Sailing
2 Bane =
to Sailing
2 Chaos = Add <p> to Sailing
The (2d) check represents the quality of maps on hand, NPC crew skills, and ship itself. Modifiers are:
Crew health (add/remove [b/w])
Making the check on a non-sailing/tangential skill (add
)
The results of the Navigation check will apply to the next round of Sailing rolls from the party. Travel "sailing phases" will involve each character making a roll via the Navigation or Sailing check periods, but not both. More on that later.
The Sailing Check
This check is for more physical characters to contribute to the basics of managing sails, rigging, and other "realtime" sailing tasks. This check is not optional during travel or encounters.
Sailing Check: Std (2d) difficulty.
1 Success = Maintain Speed
1 Comet = +1 Speed to Max
4 Success = +1 Speed to Max
2 Boon = +1 Fortune Point to Party
2 Bane = Minor Damage -
on future sailing checks until repaired
Chaos = Minor Damage or Injury (Random or S4 damage)
2 Chaos = Agility/Acrobatics check or overboard
You'll notice references to "speed" this will be explained later and will apply to travel and encounter mode differently.
Modifiers here are:
Wind and Terrain (add/remove [b/w], depending on ship type and conditions)
Ship Quality and Damage (add/remove [b/w])
Crew Quality and Fatigue (add/remove [b/w])
Making the check on a non-sailing/tangential skill (add
)
(for opposed) ship is faster/slower ([b/w] for each point/mph difference between max scores)
**Playtest Note** I'm still pretty iffy on the Bane and Chaos Star results here; they could be too harsh if rolled repeatedly.
Ship Stats and Speed
At the moment, I don't (nor do I really intend to) have detailed ship stats. As well as the basics (length, beam, armament, supplies) drawn directly from the internet, I'm setting a "speed" rating, as well as maximum speed. The speed rating primarily applies to travel movement.
For my campaign, the characters are in an old but relatively speedy lateen-rigged Estalian caravel. I've set a speed rating of 4, maximum 8 (which roughly match MPH for this type of ship, historically speaking). This makes for a neat 96 miles per day, or about 1.5 mm on the map from WFB 7th I'm using to plot courses.
Travel Sailing Rules
In general, I'd just decide a travel period, look at a few maps, and tell the characters how long it takes. In the case of my current campaign, I'd like to give the players more control. Overland (or water) travel will have five steps:
1. Roll for length of sailing period.
2. Navigation Check
3. Sailing Check
4. Additional Actions (1/day or as appropriate)
5. Track time on calendar and distance on appropriate map.
Roll for Length: Roll two [w] and two *secretly*. Apply following results. This represents how long the current weather holds or other conditions change. Each member of the party will get to make one Navigation Check *or* one Sailing Check to represent their efforts during this period.
The period may be extended or end early depending on GM preference, encounters, and what best suits the story.
Base: 1 Week (8 days), symbols cancel
Each Success = +1 day
Each Boon = +1 day, roll die again
Each Challenge = -1 day
Each Bane = -1 day, roll die again
So, rolling two successes and one challenge would result in a 9 day sailing period. Banes and Boons could theoretically chain into a 1 day or many week period.
This is all fairly arbitrary and I'd use it only when I don't have story elements planned.
Navigation Check: Perform as above - each player who wishes to Navigate does a skill check, keep track of results, which are cumulative.
Sailing Check: Perform as above - each player who wishes to Sail does a skill check, keep track of results, which are cumulative.
Additional Actions: Have each player declare important actions on a daily/weekly basis, within reason. Healing, talking, roleplaying sessions, and possibly RP or brawl/combat encounters might be viable in this period.
Track Time and Location: GM or assigned players upkeep (presumed) location and mark time, if necessary for the campaign. I'll be giving the players a rough map and the calendar from Shadows over Bogenhafen to track for themselves. I'll also have the *real* map on hand, as well as my own calendar.
Encounter Sailing Rules
This will function as a combat, usually with a tracker of some sort to either represent distance to a goal, or distance between two ships. In this case, the speed rating is used purely to assess additional or [w] dice on checks, and "+/-1 speed" results will move the ship on the tracker.
Initiative will be rolled as usual, with characters gaining the choice to perform a "sailing" check to try to speed the ship up if they'd like. If the ship is already at speed, it will either move one on the tracker by default, or remain at a specific distance if the tracker measures it and an enemy ship.
A ship at standstill will require 4 (though I may tweak this number) cumulative player successes to get to speed, and then roll over to the regular rules (where successes are not cumulative and certain thresholds must be met).
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And that's it! A bit complicated so far, but in my practice tests the numbers seem to work out, and hopefully I can get some great, tense, nautical moments out of this.