Boat Werks: General Info and Quest Guide

You've made the decision that it's time for your character to get into the business of goods and trading. Why not? Shops need a good surplus of supplies, freelancers need a better way to sell their goods and the Empire can certainly benefit from expanded trading routes. Not to mention the extra coin it can put in your pocket. So, where to begin? Well, first you'll need to establish what your main business is going to be. Does the promised wealth of a cargo hauler thrill you, or is it the dangerous excitement of piracy? It's going to be the high seas, or the lonely road - maybe eve a bit of both for the brave entrepreneur. We'll start by outlining what you'll need, and what we expect, to get your fledgling business up and running.

For the merchant sea goers;

It's the open sea for you my friend. The rolling waves, the glittering coastline. Adventure and exploration is the name of the game, not to mention hauling those precious loads in between for the promise of heavy payouts. Of course it’s not all easy sailing; there will be risks to your final profit, the potential for danger on every horizon. Don't expect to go at this with no obstacle in your way, but it’s a rich reward for those who tough it out and see it through to the end.

The Starting Basics

Your first order of business is, well, how are you going to get the stuff from point A to point B? You need a ship of course! And what beauties they are, expensive for some, but well worth the investment. For some this might mean finding a Liege or Sponsor who already owns such an investment and offering your service as Captain or crew. For others, it means saving up until you've enough to purchase the vessel right out. The Slipway will assist you in finding what best works for you, concerning size, capacity and crew needed. Remember, you'll need to work on those sailing skills, what good is a Captain who doesn't know the difference between the mast sail and the rudder?

The next few steps can be interchangeable in terms of what comes first, but they are both essential to your venture before you ever leave dry land.

First, you need a crew, these can be an assortment of freelance or paid crewman with the essential skills to both defend and maintain the ship during those long voyages. You'll need to devise how you'll pay your crew - will your Liege or Sponsor pay upfront for certain work provided? Or will payment be done on completion of every mission. These terms should be considered before you approach any investors, to see if you wish to figure in the total amount of crew pay, upkeep and supplies when charging for the service you provide.

Next, well, you need something to haul don't you? This is most commonly solved by approaching those with the need in person and providing a proposal. These could be shop Managers, Nobles, or freelancers with goods to sell. Make sure you know where your taking their goods, and always be prepared to handle questions about the potential loss of goods, theft or quality upon arrival. You can set a specific fee to cover all costs upfront, no matter how the goods arrive, or offer a sliding scale pay based on the costs of upkeep and a percentage of the final profits. There are numerous ways to go about it; you just want to make sure you have everything in order to make for smooth negotiations. Give your investors options; do they want to escort the item on the journey? Or do they trust you to act as the middle man when transporting and selling the items for the agreed upon prices. Their chances of a higher return might depend upon that decision.

The crew established the investments on board - what next? From an OOC standpoint and IC, we'll need to know exactly what your hauling. Trust me, it is a lost easier to make a numbered list then to try to remember everything at once. What we'll need to see is a numbered list of the items you want to transport. This list should include:

  1. The item
  2. The owner (yourself, shop, person)
  3. The market value

Your completed list is called a manifesto, or a cargo inventory. You'll need this from this point out to determine what you have and what you end up with. The harbor master will be sure to check this before you set sail, not to mention its handy to know what your going to be selling, and who the profits go, depending on your original investor contract.

OOCly: The manifesto should be double checked with an Op or Quest Runner, though on most occasions if you've reached an agreement with the original owner there shouldn't be a problem. We just want to make sure nothing out of the ordinary or suspicious pops up that might cause a problem later down the road.

The Voyage begins!

The Now - the fun part, setting sail and on the open seas!

What exactly happens when your on the open sea? Well, for the lucky sailor, not a whole lot; however, the open sea is not a friendly place. It can be even more dangerous when your traveling to unfamiliar territory.

As you set off on the unknown, keep in mind the potential hazards of the journey. Your not the only one looking to make a decent coin on the open sea - others are looking for some easy coin, and your just the one to help them. Pirates and thieves will be something to look out for, so make sure you've brought that additional firepower with you; mages of course, as well as able bodied fighters. Naval fights can be some of the most brutal displays of martial and arcane prowess so you want to be able to think on your toes.

If you've made it through the hazards of the open waters, then congratulations your half way there! Still, its a lot of ocean out there, the gentle waves can turn into great bashing tidal waves in the blink of a salt encrusted eye. Depending on the length of your voyage you might come across this situation more than once. Be prepared to handle short term repairs in a short amount of time - there's no coin for a ship that sinks before it gets to dock!

The Voyage; OOC Quest write up - What we expect to see at this point.

From an OOC standpoint, once you've reached the point where you want to take your ship, crew and cargo on the open sea, we would like to see a synopsis of the event. We'll treat it like any other Quest, with a few points that you'll need to include making it not only fair, but a robust adventure for everyone involved.

You'll need:

Synopsis:


Where are you going?
Are you a merchant or a pirate?
Vessel type? What kind of Damage can it sustain?
Supplies and IMPORTANT Manifesto?

Please include at least one of the following scenarios: The threat of Pirates, The threat of damaging storms.

How will the cargo be handled once it's reached it's destination? Are you paid upfront or do you have to work on selling the items in the foreign market.

Fighting on the Open Seas.

The way to handle the threat of pirates can go in multiple directions. You can add in a chance that the pirates will not spot the merchant vessel, such as a 10-15% (recommended) change. You'll want to make sure you know what your NPC pirates can handle, how many crewman and general LP. Again that’s:

  1. What type of Vessel?
  2. How many in the crew? (include if any mages/special classes)
  3. Life Points of Crew
  4. What kind of Fight - combat dice or quest dice.

If the vessel takes on damage, your risk of losing cargo or being boarded will increase for every turn. Here is a chart, keep in mind its not necessary to follow these guidelines, but something similar should be in place. There is also the option to allow crew members to forfeit an attack turn to repair any damage done. For instance, every successful round of repairs can equate to a % of the damage healed to the ship. This might not count however if heavy damage is taken on the outside where the crew are unable to get to during combat.

If you make it to a crew versus crew fight, the chances of fending off your enemy becomes slightly higher. Face to Face carries with it the advantage that, once the crew is put away, further damage to your vessel can be downplayed or avoided.

OOC note: Although it might be tempting, from a game point view, you will NOT be allowed to take the opposing ship as part of your booty. You can take maps, coin, any treasure to be found and even a few prisoners - but when its all said and done, the ship and remaining crew should be set on the nearest island or landlocked for safe keeping.

Stormy Weather ahead.

Now that you've mapped out and gotten through that, another thing to take into account is the weather. Again, many different ways of figuring out what the weather is going to be like. My advice? In between lulls, roll a dice to determine exactly where your weather stands. !r 1d10 and get above a certain amount and the weather gets choppy. You can also figure in for an automatic storm - this is up to you, but will help in bringing a sense of realism to the voyage. Once the storm does break, its basically your crew versus the elements - with each round of action carrying with it a risk for damage. Don't ignore this, but DO take the time to add a bit of excitement to an otherwise routine trip.

Finding Dock, Tallying up the Results.

The worst is behind you. Now it's time to steer your ship to land and find a safe harbor to dock. This should already be mapped out, but of course if your limping along it might be best to deal with what’s closer. Once your docked, its time to tally up the damage. How much damage did you sustain? This is equal the amount of man hours and expended mehrial it will take to get the ship back in sailing order.

Example: Your ships worth is 7000 mehrial. You've sustained 23% damage upon docking. That’s a total of 1610 mehrials worth of man hours (hours paid to crew for repair) you have to put in to get everything back to 100%. While you might be able to limp back home, until your 100% again, you'll be unable to complete another journey.

For the Enterprising Pirate:

If you prefer not to deal with investors directly, but prefer to risk it and take what you need from the open sea and those who travel it, then you’ll need to follow a few altered steps Take in mind however, that while the payout might be grand for the successful buccaneer, you still run the risk of combat and the potential seizure by either a greater ship or imperial forces.

You’ll still need to find your ship and crew, whether through your own coin or a silent, wealthier partner – the essentials will be the same no matter what. However, once crew and ship have been established, the opportunity to make coin will depend on your submitted Quest or Voyage outline.

The Voyage must still include:

Synopsis:


Where are you going?
Are you a merchant or a pirate?
Vessel type? What kind of Damage can it sustain?
Supplies and IMPORTANT Manifesto?

Please include at least one of the following scenarios: The Fight (MUST HAVE), and the threat of damaging storms.

How will the cargo be handled once it's reached it's destination? Are you paid upfront or do you have to work on selling the items in the foreign market.

Where as a merchant will normally make the manifesto for their own purposes, you will be given the task of creating a manifesto for the ships you wish to overrun. This is then checked with and gone over by an op, to ensure that everything is in order, correct and fair. These items will ultimately be the treasure you’re hoping to steal.

Fighting on the Open Seas.

It’s time to see if you can track and target your quarry. You can add in a chance that the merchant will not spot the pirate vessel and try to get away, such as a 10-15% (recommended) change. You'll want to make sure you know what your NPC merchants can handle, how many crewman and general LP. Again that’s:

  1. What type of Vessel?
  2. How many Hit points can the vessel take?
  3. How many in the crew? (include if any mages/special classes)
  4. Life Points of Crew
  5. What kind of Fight - combat dice or quest dice.

If your target takes on damage from a sustained fight, keep in mind this might result in cargo being lost to sea or unusable. Not to mention that if you take damage, it might hurt your chance of being able to board – or it might even result in YOU being boarded! Here is a chart, keep in mind it’s not necessary to follow these guidelines, but something similar should be in place.

Once you have reached the 50% threshold, you or the opposing crew will have the chance to close in for boarding, the likely chances of that doubled. Once within range, boarding should take 2 rounds - one to align the boat, and one to lower the gangplank. Both rounds will need a success roll which is determined by the Quest master.

If you reach 90% and above, forget boarding - you'll need to start focusing on repair and bail, or suffer a sunken ship. Hope you brought your life savers. While you might salvage a few items, you might want to consider this a loss. The ship can be hauled into port later, but the cost and time of repair might put you out of commission for a while.

If you make it to a crew versus crew fight, the chances of winning the treasure off your enemy becomes slightly higher. Face to Face carries with it the advantage that, once the crew is put away, further damage to your vessel and loss of cargo can be offset.

OOC note: Although it might be tempting, from a game point view, you will NOT be allowed to take the opposing ship as part of your booty. You can take maps, coin, any treasure to be found and even a few prisoners - but when its all said and done, the ship and remaining crew should be set on the nearest island or landlocked for safe keeping.

From this point out, you may or may not be ready to go home. There is still a question of the cargo and what's left. Just like your damage, you need to tally what you may or may not have lost. For example: Your manifesto has 20 items totaling 8000 mhl. You've lost 5% total of your cargo. That's about 400 mhl worth of items, or one item at about the same cost. You can either pick and choose, or randomize by rolling a dice of equal numbers to your manifesto list. It will be up to either yourself or your investor if they have come along to sell and trade the remaining items for the lucrative payout they were hoping for.

There you have it, from start to finish, the in's and out's of a (hopefully) prosperous life at sea. It can be dangerous, but it can also equal a very heft payday in the end. It's all up to you, your crew, and the creativity you decide to put into it. Good luck!