Chase Rules & Pirates

[Naed Yar]

Looking at the Chase rules, esp. Vehicular, how should I apply that to ships? Or at least, what are you suggestions? I'm mainly thinking sailing ships, esp. galleons, ships of the line, sloops, etc. I may just be hitting a mental block with the rules only referring to automobile chases (I'll be getting to Bullit later...). Also, how would the chase effect the non-piloting characters, such as using a looking glass, firing cannon? The RAW saw that any other character's action are difficult, but ships are made for this, right?

[Naed Yar]

Hello? *bump*

[vagabond]

I'll have to take a look at the RAW, but IIRC, the RAW reflects
individual opponents, and smaller and more agile moving objects.

Ships provide a more stable platform from which others not directly
involved in the chase maneuvers may take action which can affect
the chase (i.e, while the captain and crew directly responsible for
ship movement are busy with difficult actions, others on
deck have less immediate concerns - so they can fire missile weapons,
use a spyglass, etc. at a less than difficult level. However,
there is still some degree of difficulty - ship movement during a chase
is hardly smooth, and one must still take care to cover if the opponent
is firing as well.

-V

[Naed Yar]

I told by my older bro that RQIII had ship chase rules, but they dealt more with Greek triremes, as opposed to galleons & sloops. Any suggestions, if RAW gives no clues? (Think outside the yellow book!!)

[sladethesniper]

Interesting question...In a BRP/D20-ish Pirates campaign I ran, I found that simple skill rolls for the captain, crew and modified by the ship and environmental factors worked well for me.

For an in-depth treatment of pirate style combat I used GURPS Swashbucklers. I also bought Swashbuckling Adventures (it's D20, but not bad...) and Seafarers Handbook by Fantasy Flight Games (part of their Legends and Lairs line)...that one is D20 and sort of sucky, but did have some niftiness, but not enough to buy it.

If I remember correctly, the PC's were basically all Bridge Crew...

The Captain
The Helmsman
The Gunner
The Master at Arms

Basically the Captain made rolls affecting the ship as a whole
The Helmsman actually "drove" the ship
The Gunner made rolls to shoot the guns
The Master At Arms decided when/where and how many men to board with...

I "abstracted" the rest of the crew in combat (though I did have about 20 NPC's on the ship...) so that the players either rolled for their PC's or they "led" their portion of the ship (via rolls).

I hope that helps.
-STS

[RMS]

Does anyone have MRQ Pirates and have opinions on it?

I'd probably use a series of opposed rolls straight out of the current system:

Scan to determine at what range the enemy is spotted.
Luck for location of enemy vs. yourself (direction, wind, currents, etc.).
A series of opposed Shiphandling roles to determine if the ships close or not:

• Identical successes keep ships at same distance.
• Different levels open or close range.
• In either case, I'd provide hefty bonuses for ship/sail/crew.

If they do close, the continue with Shiphandling to bring guns to bear.
Use a gunnery skill (perhaps rank the crew as a group?) to determine accuracy. Roll damage.

That's my idea without sitting down and reading what's actually there. Btw, I could pass on the entirety of the RQIII ship rules pretty easily if you want them. My understanding is that Elric! had better rules, but I've never used them. I'll look into them.

The division into Captain, Helmsman, etc. is pretty good and reminds me of playing Star Trek RPG back in the 80s with an associated ship-to-ship combat system. I don't remember the exact names (wasn't mine), but I do remember us playing lots of battles and not bothering with roleplaying adventures much.

[Naed Yar]

Originally Posted by sladethesniper

Interesting question...In a BRP/D20-ish Pirates campaign I ran, I found that simple skill rolls for the captain, crew and modified by the ship and environmental factors worked well for me.

...

If I remember correctly, the PC's were basically all Bridge Crew...

The Captain
The Helmsman
The Gunner
The Master at Arms

Basically the Captain made rolls affecting the ship as a whole
The Helmsman actually "drove" the ship
The Gunner made rolls to shoot the guns
The Master At Arms decided when/where and how many men to board with...

I "abstracted" the rest of the crew in combat (though I did have about 20 NPC's on the ship...) so that the players either rolled for their PC's or they "led" their portion of the ship (via rolls).

Originally Posted by RMS

Does anyone have MRQ Pirates and have opinions on it?

I'd probably use a series of opposed rolls straight out of the current system:

Scan to determine at what range the enemy is spotted.
Luck for location of enemy vs. yourself (direction, wind, currents, etc.).
A series of opposed Shiphandling roles to determine if the ships close or not:

• Identical successes keep ships at same distance.
• Different levels open or close range.
• In either case, I'd provide hefty bonuses for ship/sail/crew.

If they do close, the continue with Shiphandling to bring guns to bear.
Use a gunnery skill (perhaps rank the crew as a group?) to determine accuracy. Roll damage.

That's my idea without sitting down and reading what's actually there. Btw, I could pass on the entirety of the RQIII ship rules pretty easily if you want them. My understanding is that Elric! had better rules, but I've never used them. I'll look into them.

I like the division of tasks/rolling responsibilities. It keeps the limelight on everyone. And those roles work, because of the number of players I should *crossing fingers* have.


Now, I'm just curious for suggestions to handle failures in the chase. The RAW have the vehicles involved fishtailing, swerving, etc. What happens when a ship, a sailing galleon for example, fails its chase rolls?

[vagabond]

I think the situational modifiers for the RAW Chase Rules will fit
for skill modifiers for those on deck not actively engaged in
the run/pursuit.

Things like Wind (-10%), Heavy Rain (-20%)/Rain (-10%) (for the spray),
At maximum Speed (-10%) and Oily/icy (-20%) (for the deck slipperiness
and movement). In any combination. And, perhaps success levels for
the respective rolls by the captain, pilot, and sailing/rowing crew could
affect things as well, both positively and negatively.

I'll dig out my Sailing the Seas of Fate as well as the Conan
supplement Pirate Isles to see what rules they have. I may have
MRQ Pirates somewhere as well.

-V