Crew & Ship Rules: Part 1

Ships and the crews that sail them are important in Skies of Mor-ladron (SoM). Unless players decide they want to play a more urban-based adventure, they will interact with these elements. So, let's see what we can do about melding some rules into the Draw Steel framework for hiring a crew and setting sail!

The Ships

The first things to understand are the general categories of ships that sail the skies.

Islebound: An islebound ship is a small vessel typically used within sight of an island (not that one can't try to travel a long distance, but there are plenty of cautionary tales against such an endeavor). They use one sail and can be crewed by 1-5 people, depending on their size, which is about 30 ft on average. They are used by fishermen and smugglers, and for any short-distance travel.

Windrunner: Windrunners are the smallest skyworthy ships able to handle the various dangers of sailing the open sky. These ships have 1-2 sails, and are around 60 ft. They require a crew of around 12 people. Worldstorm delvers prize windrunners, as they are (usually) large enough to handle the high winds and carry some cargo while keeping crew sizes down to maximize profit. Island raiders, couriers, and others who prefer speed over guns or cargo space also use these ships.

Cloudhauler: Cloudhaulers are the workhorses—or should I say the workhippogriffs—of the skies, the most common ships in the world. They are large enough to carry many guns for combat and have a large enough cargo hold to make trading and selling worth the travel time. Cloudhaulers have 2-3 sails and average about 90 ft long. It takes about 25 crew to keep the ship sailing. Merchant, pirate, guard, and passenger ships are mainly of this type.

Stargazer: The Stargazer is the largest common ship in use. These ships act as the flagships in their fleets and evoke envy in those they pass by. They run about 120 ft long and have 3-4 masts, while needing a crew size of 50 to keep flying. Stargazers are used chiefly by the wealthiest merchants to move their goods, but can be retrofitted with enough guns to make them serious threats in the skies. A pirate cannot be called a pirate lord without a Stargazer as their flagship.

Stormbreaker: Stormbreakers are the largest of ships currently in use. There are very few in the world, numbering only in the single digits, and they are typically found in the hands of the major islands. Stormbreakers are held in reserve in case war breaks out. They are 150+ feet long, have four sails, and take a crew size of more than 100 to handle the sails and guns. Stormbreakers are most often encountered guarding principal harbors or patrolling the main shipping lanes.

Ship Costs

Of course, these ships all have a cost. I've created a cost table with the wealth required for each ship type.

I am basing the cost on the assumption that the group is purchasing a ship together. Remember, a person or group can spend one wealth level above what they have if they are willing to go down a wealth level after, meaning a group can get a ship faster if they want.

If a player wants their own ship, they generally need a plus-one level of wealth. If multiple players want their own boats, then I need to come up with fleet rules, and that is a problem for another time.

With enough wealth, you can buy a ship—but if you don't have a crew to sail it, it's not going anywhere.

The Crew

The crew maintains and sails the vessel while the player characters go off and do cool things. Crew members can be in the background, adding color where needed, or they can be vivid NPCs with dreams and desires. How a crew shows up in-game all depends on the group playing and what they want. For now, we will keep it relatively simple.

The absolute simplest option is to include a crew in the boat's cost. However, Draw Steel has a renown system that allows you to attract followers: retainers, crafters, and researchers. I want to tap into that for a ship's crew.

A player can only attract four followers at the highest level of renown in Draw Steel (12), so I created another option for crews to keep them separate from the general kinds of followers.

I attached a renown level to the ship table and made it so you need a wealth amount and a certain level of renown to get a ship (or, in the case of stealing a vessel, be able to crew it).

Under that model, the new table is as follows:

This is a pretty good foundation, but we can beef it up further with some optional rules.

Optional Rule 1: Hiring

Instead of automatically getting a crew when the group buys a ship, we can require the players to go through a hiring process. This would be a downtime activity where players (or a player) would spend their time trying to find enough crew members.

Downtime activities have players making project rolls. The player rolls 2d10, adds up what they roll, and must reach a target number. Typically, they roll only once per downtime (a 24-hour period). The more crew they are trying to hire, the longer it will take. One person is in charge of a project, but other players can roll to help each other progress more quickly.

Hire Crew
Item Prerequisite: Ship
Project Source: None
Project Roll Characteristic: Intuition or Presence
Project Goal: Varies

When players want to hire, they must spend the day in a port town spreading the news that they are looking for a crew and talking with potential crew members. To succeed, they must get a total equal to the number of crew members needed to sail the ship. After making the roll, the player can add the group's average renown to the total.

If you use this rule, players could also lose crew members in combat or to weather events, meaning they need to replenish their crew members occasionally. The replenishment goal could be set to the amount they need to replenish or half the normal amount.

Optional Rule 2: Loyalty

Players can get a crew, no matter their renown. But if they hire a crew for a ship they don't have enough renown for, they have to worry about the crew's loyalty. The crew members could desert, ignore orders at inopportune moments, or mutiny.

I need to come up with a crew loyalty tracker, reasons for it to go up and down, and the side effects, but this could be an interesting addition—if players want to take on the risk.

Named NPCs

You can configure the crew in various ways depending on how deeply the players want to interact with them. If the players want to interact heavily with their crew members, I suggest splitting the crew up amongst the players and giving them some name/personality tables to roll on or pick from. Having the players create the crew members themselves will help a lot, especially if they get one of the bigger ships. It's less work for you, and the players will be more invested in the NPCs.

If the players don't care or don't want to deal with the crew members, come up with a first mate for them to interact with. Depending on the ship size, you might have a first and second mate. These NPCs allow the crew to have a voice and opinions without generating more than a couple of NPCs.

You can also give the players more officers to talk to, like boatswains and helmsmen, but we can discuss that in the ship upgrades post (TBD).

That's it for the rules on getting a ship and crew, with simpler and more complex options to suit various play styles.

What do you think? Are there any other rules you would add in this space?

For the next post, I plan to share my thoughts on ship combat (montage tests?) or how to handle ship upgrades (integrate them into the crafting system?). Feel free to drop your ideas in the comments!