[Review]7th Sea & Swashbuckling Adventures

[Thaluikhain]

Are there rules for ships?

For example, if my side is traveling by oar power, in our war canoes and chasing your lot who are using sails, and there's a 4 mph wind, and you are fleeing almost but not quite in the direction of the wind so you are changing course diagonally to stay close hauled without running aground in the narrow channel we are in, do the rules allow for that?

Because that seems to be important, and possibly hard to do well.

[deaddmwalking]

Are there rules for ships?

There are!

The Players Guide has information on creating ships, and they're basically just like player characters. They have the same 5 Attributes, and you can spend points to buy upgrades, or choose flaws to get additional points. The more points you spend the bigger (and better) your ship.

Pirate Sloop (10 points)
Brawn 4, Finesse 2, Resolve 2, Wits 2, Panache 2
Modifications: Overgunned ( 2 )
Flaws: Vermin ( 3 )
Draft: 2
Crew: 2
Cargo: 2
Reputation: 0

Naval Man o’ War (20 points)
Brawn 5, Finesse 3, Resolve 3, Wits 4, Panache 4
Modifications: Slight Draft ( 5 )
Flaws: Awkward Cargo Space ( 4 )
Draft: 2
Crew: 3
Cargo: 2
Reputation: 0

The rules for Naval Battles are in the Game Master's Guide.

The following rules are not realistic; the ship templates do not represent actual ship designs of the 17th century. Instead, we hope to create exciting and dramatic ship-to-ship combat and boarding actions.

A ship-to-ship Scene works almost like regular Scenes. Ships roll to hit against opposing Target Numbers, roll for damage and take damage. Of course, the terms are a little different for ships (ships having Wounds is a little silly), but the mechanics are the same.

The basic traits can be renamed for ships. Brawn (Cannons), Finesse (Crew Skill), Resolve (Hull), Wits (Rudder), Panache (Sails).

Rolling to hit with cannons is a Finesse roll, while rolling damage is a Brawn roll. Wits is your speed (and thus your defense against other ships). Resolve is how many hits you can take, and Panache measures how quickly you can move and turn.

There's a Ship Record Sheet, and it has the same basic ship shape for all ships:



Dice are placed in the circles and physically represent those aspects of a ship.

For example, if my side is traveling by oar power, in our war canoes and chasing your lot who are using sails, and there's a 4 mph wind, and you are fleeing almost but not quite in the direction of the wind so you are changing course diagonally to stay close hauled without running aground in the narrow channel we are in, do the rules allow for that?

Not really, or perhaps only in a very abstract way. Ship combat takes place on a hex grid. My ship moves a number of hexes equal to my Wits in a straight line. Like a character, I roll a number of Initiative dice equal to my Panache. I can use these to turn the ship (but the bigger the ship the more dice I have to use). I don't move when I turn.

There's nothing about Draft depth or wind speed. If I have to change direction to navigate the narrow channel, I'll have to spend my actions turning, and if my hull (Resolve) is bigger than yours, I have to spend more dice to do it, so you're likely to catch up to me. On the other hand, if it's open water and my Wits is higher than yours, I'll just outrun you barring GM fiat, even if there's nary a breeze to be felt as we cross the doldrums.


Edit - There are references to Draft - it is equal to a ship's resolve, but some modifications impact draft. Draft is listed on the sample ships, but I don't see any rule that establish what draft you need for certain areas. There's the outline of a plan - ships with a very low draft can sail right up to the shore, and those with a deeper draft probably can't, but determining depth seems to be entirely GM fiat. I don't see anything that talks about running aground outside of some lingo for sailor characters. If there's supposed to be anything more, I don't see it.