Originally Posted by
Mark Kaiser
Thanks for the welcome Kenneth. I guess the fine line i'm trying to walk here is more based on SOG than D&D or Pathfinder. (To me nothing beats the old versions of the fantasy RPG's but that's anther story.) What I'm trying to get across is RANDOM EVENTS, historical in nature, with the tales from the taverns thrown in. Random enemy ships coming at you through fog banks, a reef in the middle of deep waters that could cause hull and possibly crew damage, a jack cleaning the ships side when suddenly he's swallowed by a great white, and he just happens to be an important crewman (effecting morale, or repairs), storms, squalls, rogue waves, mutineers, whales (both harmless and aggressive), an island that isn't plotted on your charts, giant sharks (historically) proven to be much larger back then, rations going bad, Captain and Crew field promotions and Demotions (affecting ship abilities), and yes Krakens, Sirens and the like, be they real or imagined, many paintings and drawings of the day claimed such things, we weren't there, so who can say? We are discovering giant squid today with an enormous potential for death and destruction, who's to say they weren't that large and took on ships back then? Possibly mistaking them for whales. Shore leave granted to crewman to 'mingle with the little brown native girls' if unengaged and near an island (raise morale, or cause trouble), Captains wife is expecting (change of course back to port), Two enemy Frigates and a SOL bearing down on you at a set distance. These are just some examples of exciting things that can happen to your ship on the draw of a card and referenced in a log booklet. Add nice artwork and a short 'one liner' on each card and I think it would turn the game from checkers into monopoly overnight. In a matter of speaking.