So I’m still thinking about the Lava Sea and Teesha wood. I have not fallen out of love with the idea. If anything, I’m getting more excited. Here are my thoughts this week.
There are two changes from last week’s thoughts.
Changes from Last Time
The Two “Drives”
Last week I mused that unlike Traveller’s starships, lava ships would only need one type of “engine.” The more I thought about it, though, we really do have two types:
Lifter: This is the bottom of the vessel. It is made from Teesha wood and keeps the boat from falling into the lave and burning.
Propulsion: This is the Teesha wood at the back of the ship that drives it forward. The amount of Teesha wood in the back determines the speed.
Fuel
Last week, I also said we wouldn’t need fuel. I was wrong!
It turns out that the lava’s intense heat will cause Teesha wood to char and loses its effectiveness unless it’s hydrated. So vessels carry large amounts of water, which is soaked up by the Teesha wood and then evaporates.
“Fuel water” comes in three types:
Raw: this is just water found in a lake or river that’s collected and thrown into a ship’s “fuel water” tank. Because of the large amount of particulate matter in this water, there’s a moderate chance that it will clog the Teesha wood’s pores and lead to excessive charring. In the propulsion drive, this could lead to a vessel being stranded in a lava sea. If the lifter fail, the ship will sink into the lava!
Filtered: Raw water that’s passed through large cloth filters. There’s fewer particles and impurities, so there’s only a small chance that it will cause a drive failure.
Distilled: Water that has been evaporated and re-condensed. This is the purest water available. There is no chance of it causing drive failure. This will be the most expensive type of water.
Fleets or Ships?
This question has come up before. The core of the question is: do I want…
- … each player to control their own ship?
- … each player to be a crew member on a single ship?
- … some hybrid approach?
I think Option #1 works best for the “open table” approach, but I’m not sure. It solves the problem of “What does Bob do when Alice is in command of the ship that all the players are aboard?” It also allows Bob’s ship to rescue Alice if her ship is sinking.
On the other hand, option #2 keeps the players together, making it easier for them to discuss things. it also allows for some specialization: Alice can be in command, Bob is repair battle damage, Charlie can fire the weapons, etc. but if the ship gets destroyed, it’s a TPK.1
The hybrid approach is very “anime mecha” in it’s approach: all the players' ships “fuse” to become one larger vessel, but when combat ensues, they break apart into their smaller selves.
What do you think? Is there another option I haven’t thought of?
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TPK means “total party kill.” It’s when every player character is killed in a single session. TPKs tend to kill campaigns,↩
Interesting thoughts! I hadn't thought much into combat on the ship itself, mostly just paralleling it to a recent JRPG I'd played which had similar combat, but the ship was never in danger and combat was just on board the ship as the setting.
ReplyDeleteTaking into account the fact that the ship could sustain damage, I feel like this is something that could be put in the players hands. Just like a difficult boss-type monster, or incredibly treacherous terrain, the players can have ownership of their decisions. And with open-table rules, should a TPK occur then there would be backup characters.
I would personally picture it where during combat, there is a 0% chance of the water causing drive issues regardless of type, simply to avoid frustration and allow the party to focus on the combat and just quantity of water. (Though if they just dump a ton of raw water during the combat to manage amounts, perhaps that would lead to a short-term increased likelihood of clogging immediately after the combat concludes). They would still need to monitor fuel stores and protect the ship itself from physical damage, though. And by laying out the dangers outright, it would give them agency to decide when they're ready and what they want to bring. Should they stock up on some sort of teleportation spell or invest in a protection enchantment for the hull? Or do they focus on having more advanced/powerful weaponry to deal with enemies quickly and not allow them the chance to damage the ship?
As for player distribution (going with archetype #2 you list), there could be conversation at the outset of the journey as to who does what, and you could try to work combat so boarding is common, to enable the melee attackers to have opportunity outside of throwing/firing things.
Anyways, a bunch of thoughts but hopefully some are useful to you!
Give a player an ship and they will engage in ship-to-ship combat. It's in our DNA.
DeleteThe purpose of the different types of fuel is economic. Those rules are only in place for when player balk at paying for water. The "bad fuel damage" is operational, not combat. It's rolled once per day, and not during combat encounters.
Hehe, true enough!
DeleteAnd ah, gotcha. So, something to budget for, but not necessarily a constant looming threat. Appreciate the insight!