Ship Design and Combat in 7th Sea:

Review and Suggestions

Sophie's notes on the system detailed in AEG's Compendium and Web page (ship construction), Gamemaster's Guide (naval combat), and Pirate Nations sourcebook (boarding actions and other advanced naval battle rules), along with some suggestions for improvements.
 

Ship Design System

First, I want to point the reader to some pertinent comments on the ship design system made by Troy Hughes on his 7th Sea page, the Jack Raven.  I will not repeat his arguments, but they make sense to me.

Second, it is obvious that a bigger ship is better at everything.  While I agree that a man-of-war can pack on a heck of a lot of canvas, it also has more mass and more hull surface to slow it down.  In general, the fastest ships should be small-to-medium affairs: brigs, cutters, luggers, etc. One way around this might be to lift the cap on Sails/Panache for small vessels and make it lower for larger ships.

Third, there should also be minimal values, not just maxima, for certain stats, particularly for Crew/Finesse, depending on the type of ship.  For example, just like you can only fit so many men on a pinnace, you can't run a frigate below a certain complement.

A better way yet might be to create templates that can be customized instead of letting all points be freely allocated (somewhat of a reversal from what I usually preach for character creation rules.)  Maxima and minima would not be tied linearly to the total point value.

Speaking of templates, the sample ship profiles supplied by AEG are inconsistent with "real" ship strengths and sizes.  For example, in the 10-pt range you should get things like cats, ketches, pinnaces, tartannes.  A sloop, lugger, or xebec would be 15 points; a Navy frigate should be in the 25-30 points range, and a first-rate ship-of-the-line should be 50 points.  Revenant has some useful notes on historical ship design (types, rigging, crew, size, armament.)

Some additional problems with the ship design system start appearing when we look at ship-to-ship combat in the next section.

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Ship-to-Ship Combat

OK, Problem No. 1: Not all stats are equal (version 1).  For example, if you have high Sails/Panache, you can fire your guns more often.  *Ahem*.  You'd think the speed of firing would depend more on the training of the gun crew.

I suggest that the number of times you can fire should be limited by the Crew (Finesse) rating; for example, a ship with Crew/Finesse 4, Sails/Panache 5 would get 5 actions per Round but only a maximum of 4 of those could be firing guns.  If the Crew/Finesse rating is higher than the Sails/Panache rating, then obviously the number of shots taken is limited by Panache.

Problem No. 2: Not all stats are equal (version 2).  If you're going to take damage, you want it in the rigging or (sadly) the crew.  Rigging is easiest to repair, and crew can usually be replaced.  Hull damage, oh, ow!  You could sink!  And it's going to be hellishly slow and expensive to repair, if you want to be realistic at all.  Speaking of which, shouldn't hull damage affect the ship's speed too?  No, that's sails!

Problem No. 3: I do realize it's a fantasy game, not a wargame.  Wargame-level rules are not what I'm asking for.  But still, if we're going to fight on big sailing ships, shouldn't wind and manoeuvres count for something?  Right now it's all initial stats and luck of the dice, cleverness and seamanship count for very little.
 

Some Other People's House Rules

Juanpas and Revenant have written up some Naval Mass Combat Opportunities similar to those in the regular 7th Sea Mass Combat system.  These might add flavour and drama to the action.  On the minus side, I feel the original Mass Combat rules are skewed, particularly in terms of Reputation awards, so I'd want to be careful with this.

Jeff Qualkenbush also has some revised rules for High Seas Combat.  He does offer ship templates as I was discussing earlier, and it seems to be a nicely workable system.  I have not yet tried a mock combat, however.

Jenkins' Fighting Ships of Theah (now relocated) has an array of templates based on historical ship types and constructed using AEG's standard ship building rules.
 

Systems From Other Games

I am working on an adaptation for the game Pirates! by  Flagship Games, where I will write some profiles to use ships from Théah in the Pirates! system, just for fun.  This is a wargame-level system, however, though a friendly one, so it may seem a bit complex for those who don't want to put that much emphasis on naval combat.

The ship-to-ship combat system in the role-playing game Furry Pirates, by Lise Breakey & Bruce Thomas/Furry Games and published by Atlas Games, looks both comprehensive and easy to understand, and I plan on giving it a try soon.  I think it could be lifted "wholesail" (ha-ha) and used directly for 7th Sea battles.

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Boarding Actions

Boarding actions (described in the Pirate Nations sourcebook) are resolved in one of two ways: either as regular fights if player characters are involved, or as a single die roll on a chart if it's just unnamed crew.  The trouble starts there.

To lead a boarding action, you compare the Finesse scores of the two ships and the associated crew ratings.  For example, the Rubadubdub with a Crew rating of 5 is engaging a merchant fleut and its escort frigate at the same time.  A boarding party is sent to take the fleut, leaving the rest to man the guns and pound the frigate.  The fleut's Crew (Finesse) rating is 4.

Now take a look at the boarding action chart in Pirate Nations: the single result that will determine the result of the entire boarding action is the sum of the attacker's crew advantage (in this case, say 5 point minus 4 = 1) plus a single non-exploding die roll.  To make the boarding action worthwhile on this chart, you're looking for a total of about 7 or more.  So in our particular example, even with an initial crew advantage (the Rubadubdub has a rating of 5, the fleut a 4), the boarding action will be a disaster (total of 0 to 6) some 50% of the time (die rolls of 1 to 5).  In fact, to have decent odds, the attacker's boarding party should always be larger than the entire crew of the target ship being boarded!  In addition, the two sides are still using their full crew complement for gun shots, manoeuvres, etc.

One way to mitigate that would be to have the opponents split their crews, or Finesse rating, between defence against the boarders and gun fire.  In the example above, the fleut might split the crew 2 and 2.  With a ship Crew rating of 5, a boarding party from the Rubadubdub will logically be worth 2 or 3 points, say 3 in this case.  Each side will then subtract this crew as non available for other actions.  However, this is only a partial solution.  In practice, though it does allow more flexibility, it's still going to mean even odds (average difference of 0 between attacker and defender) before the single die roll.  So 60% of the time, boarding is still a very bad idea (die rolls of 1 to 6 and base Crew rating difference of 0).

The chart results might simply be shifted by a few lines, but I suggest that more drastic action is needed.  I recommend a completely revised chart, one that also contains more interesting results than "You lose 1 Crew, they lose 2" (something like the Naval Mass Combat Opportunities mentioned above; in fact, I pilfered from it.)  Below is one I propose; I scrunched the lovely linear progression a bit and added side effects.  Ultimately, I recommend running all boarding actions according to the regular combat rules if time permits.  But in a pinch the table adds some variety.  One might even decide to ditch the attacker and defender loss scores and just use the dramatic effects.

Finally, I submit that it should be possible to add one Drama Die to the roll (and only one).  Alternately, if that risks skewing the results too much, a Drama Die could at least be spent to shift the result by one increment, up or down the chart.  The Drama Die should come from the ship's Pool or if the boarding action is led by a Hero, this Hero's Pool (or the Hero leading the defenders if the Heroes are on the receiving end of the boarding action.)  But again, if there are Heroes involved, you're better off actually running the boarding action as a normal combat anyway.
 
 

Boarding Chart

Roll once per Round, not per Action, for a boarding action.  Roll one exploding d10 and add to the difference between the attacker's Crew rating assigned to the boarding party and the defender's Crew rating assigned to defend the ship.  Look up the result in the left-hand column.  Remember that Crew points assigned to the boarding action are not available for other tasks during the naval combat, such as operating guns.

Result  Attacker Losses Defender Losses Alternate or Additional Dramatic Effects  -9 or less  All 0 Massacre.  The boarding party is massacred, leaving a blot on the attacking captain's reputation (or the commanding officer who is known to have ordered the attack if not the captain).  Loss of 5 Reputation points.  The officer leading the defenders on the other ship gains 5 Reputation points. -7 – -8 4 0 Grape Shot.  The defenders managed to move a swivel gun and point it into the attackers' ranks, causing great damage with grape shot and demoralizing the attackers.  All crew rolls on the attackers' ship are at -1 kept die from now until a decisive victory improves morale or until the commanding officer rallies his troops (Panache + Incitation, TN 20). -5 – -6 4 1 Counterstrike.  The defenders launch a counter-offensive and storm the attacking ship in turn.  Run a second boarding action next round, where the former attacking ship is now defending. -3 – -4 3 0 She's Going Down!  The two ships have become locked and the defending ship is beginning to sink.  The officer commanding the boarding party must make a Wits + Leadership roll, TN 25, to get his crew to cut the attacking ship free from the sinking ship.  After five rounds, the defending ship is sinking too fast and drags the attacker along if it has not been cut free.  Heroes can jump in any time during those five rounds to take over the efforts to cut the ship free.  After that roll on the Ship Sinking chart in Pirate Nations to see how long the two ships will take to go down. -1 – -2 3 1 Take That!  The boarding party's commander takes 3 Dramatic Wounds and gains a 1 pt Defeated or Vendetta Background (player's choice).  Assuming he survives, of course. 0 2 0 Rescue.  In the middle of the fray, the main sail falls (or is dropped) on the entire boarding party and puts it out of action, trapped underneath.  The attacker may send another boarding party to free the first, next round if still using this chart or on his next available action if switching to normal skirmish rules.  Until they are freed, the members of the first boarding party are of no use. 1 – 2 2 1 Locked in Combat.  The boarding action is indecisive.  The attacker may opt to pursue the boarding action for another round.  This may be done by rolling on this chart again or by switching to normal skirmish rules. 3 – 4 0 1 Tides of Battle.  The boarding action is indecisive.  At his discretion, the attacker may choose to spend one Drama Die (either from the ship's pool or, if commanded by a Hero, from the leader of the boarding party's pool) to re-roll this result entirely.  The new result must be kept, even if it is worse (unless a result of 3 or 4 is obtained again, of course.) 5 – 6 1 2 Locked in Combat.  The boarding action is indecisive.  The attacker may opt to pursue the boarding action for another round.  This may be done by rolling on this chart again or by switching to normal skirmish rules. 7 – 8 1 3 Important Prisoner.  The boarding party captures someone important; it may be the enemy captain, a wealthy merchant travelling on board, a noble that will bring a handsome ransom, or other character of interest, at the GM's discretion. 9 – 10 0 3 Abandon Ship!  The defenders, seeing all but lost, set fire to the powder magazine and jumped overboard (too bad if there are sirens around or if the water is ice-cold.)  The attackers' boarding party returns in a hurry, and the attacking ship has only a short time to get far enough away from the 10k5 explosion.  For each Action, the attacker may roll Panache/Sails against a TN of 15; each success takes one unkept die off the explosion roll (e.g., the first success turns it into a 9k5 explosion).  Raises may be taken on the Panache/Sails roll to take more unkept dice off.  After all the unkept dice have been dropped, the kept dice are taken away (duh.)  Regardless of what the attacker does, the now-abandoned defender ship blows up after one full Round + 1d10 Actions (10s explode too, ha-ha.) 11 – 12 1 4 Strike her Colours!  The boarding party also captures the enemy's colours.  The officer leading the boarding party gains 5 Reputation points.  And the enemy flag as a cool war trophy. 13 – 14 0 4 Take the Stateroom.  The boarding party captures the enemy captain's stateroom.  If he is a Hero, the officer leading the boarding party gains a 1 pt Treasure Map Background.  The captain of the attacking ship gains a Free Raise to all Navigation rolls for the next Act. 15+ 0 All * Clean Sweep.  The defending crew is swept away by the boarders or throws down its weapons in terror.  All Heroes participating in the boarding action gain 5 Reputation points, and the captain of the attacking ship gains 5 as well (cumulative if the captain led the boarding action.)  [And yes, I know that's not what "clean sweep" means.] * At the discretion of the attacker, the defenders may simply be captured, having surrendered unconditionally.

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