Which RPG has the best system for naval combat?
>>46357562
Well, somebody's eventually gonna say GURPS, so I'll say it now and get it out of the way and hopefully the rest of the thread can actually be about systems people actually play and have fun with.
Unfortunately, though, I can't really think of any, largely because there's not a ton of RPGs that are set during the golden age of piracy. The various d20 splats are almost universally terrible (not just in regards to naval combat, but just in general). 7th Sea SHOULD have good naval rules, but that system has surprisingly terrible naval combat rules where there's no meaningful difference between a normal PC and a ship. Evidently, the upcoming 2nd edition won't even HAVE naval combat rules, since John Wick doesn't like them and thinks that ship combat is more of a plot device than anything else (and thus doesn't need rules).
OP, I think your best bet is going to be to choose an RPG ruleset you like, and see about grafting a set of naval combat wargaming rules onto it. Say, something like Wooden Ships and Iron Men. Or homebrew something: I pulled these rules out of a 7th Sea thread last month - they're made to work with 7th Sea 1st edition and my group really like them. They're by Not entirely anon, who IIRC hangs out in Battletech General if you want to ask about them more.
>>46359072
Thanks!
> largely because there's not a ton of RPGs that are set during the golden age of piracy.
...Weird, given how inherently great pirates are.
> Evidently, the upcoming 2nd edition won't even HAVE naval combat rules, since John Wick doesn't like them and thinks that ship combat is more of a plot device than anything else (and thus doesn't need rules).
... Why is it called 7th SEA out of curiosity? That's lame.
The truest answer here is Spelljammer.
Best solitare system for modern naval combat?
>>46364063
>modern naval
>solitaire
Pretty hard to do senpai unless you just play both factions (as opposed to a strictly "solitaire" game). Harpoon or the Fleet Series would be what you want in that case.
>>46357562
DM could just use Sails of Glory for macro scope while PC's interact on a micro level. No reason to reinvent the wheel.
>>46359219
>Why is it called 7th SEA out of curiosity? That's lame.
In the game universe there are 6 known seas. The 7th sea is undiscovered and the cause of much exploration (and thus ships driving around everywhere, and pirate preying on them). So the game is named after the impetus of sea-based exploration.
Of course, the actual metagame plot basically made it "Pirates of the Carribbean meets Call of Cthulhu", but if you're a long-time gamer, it's not like you're not used to totally ignoring shitty metaplot anyway. The setting is cool as hell, even if the game mechanics are a combination of "nifty but don't quite work" and "pants on head retarded."
>>46366239
That pitch sounds like ship rules would be very good and useful to have, rather than something to be hand-waved as a plot device.
You would think if you were naming your game after the naval exploration aspect, ship rules would be a big deal.
Well, it's not exactly what you're looking for but I always thought Rogue Trader had a great ship battle system. I think if you use that a a base for a homebrew, it could turn out pretty great.
>>46364206
The one on the right looks awfully familiar...
>>46359072
What, in your opinion, should a good naval combat system cover?
I've been working on a homebrew that's based on rolling d100s to check against skills and weather/terrain, but I'm getting the feeling that it's too complex and granular to really play.
>>46362569
Black Flag and Rogue were the best pirate games in the past decade years.
Prove me wrong.
>>46366644
>>Prove
Well, at least that solves the mystery of who ate all the paste.
>>46366428
One would think that, right? And yet, here's a live chat with the game's writer, John Wick.
>>46359072
>GURPS has stats for everything
>Except for ships
>>46366703
Oh I hate this fucker. Then again, everybody hated using trigonometry to calculate firing strength for cannons in my rules.
>>46366703
... Was that before or after people gave him 1.3 million dollars?
>>46366742
After. He sold people on a 2nd edition of the (frankly, well-loved) original game, and then after everyone gave him all the money, he said "ha, fuck you" and switched the game style over to basically a remake of Houses of the Blooded.
And yet somehow nobody has showed up at his house yet and kicked him in the groin repeatedly. It's baffling. It's a matter of public record and all. Maybe they're waiting for GenCon.
>>46366793
That's because Houses of the Blooded is a good rules-light RPG that lets players really play a role and not bother with too much math.
>>46367072
Go home Wick. You know full well that people are complaining about the bait and switch premise, not your flawed rules set.
>>46367138
>Bait and Switch
>Didn't just remake a flawed system and turned it into something better.
>>46366730
It does, in low tech.
What, in your opinion, should a good naval combat system cover?
>>46367439
Uhhh...it should allow you to reasonably simulate naval battles between individual ships while still having a task resolution system for PCs to contribute to specific shipboard functions?
For it's other flaws, FFG's Rogue Trader actually does a decent job at this. Basically every character class has a specific shipboard job that they do in addition to their normal "running around on land" thing. The rules up here (>>46359072) of a decent job of that. From skimming through it, at a minimum, a PC can make a task action to assist with speed, maneuverability, piloting through hazards, gunnery, loading, damage control, medical duties, and boarding. On top of that it's a pretty decent little wargame on top of that, even if it's hex-based (which I'm not a fan of).
>>46367832
>it should allow you to reasonably simulate naval battles between individual ships
>having a task resolution system for PCs to contribute to specific shipboard functions
Yeah but, how specific do you want? I mean, you can have damage be decided by zones hit by enemy cannonballs, or just have a generic Hit Points/Hardness for your hull. You can just say Light/Medium/Heavy cannon or have actual cannon weights and types that matter.
I have a sudden inspiration to run aKancolleadventure where the players arethe boatgirls AND the actual boats.
>>46357562
Amirauté.
>>46369360
Depends on the nature of the underlying RPG system, m8. With that said, while more detail isn't necessarily "better", at the very least you need "systems" available to be hit so that a) the PCs can fix those systems, and b) you can disable a ship without destroying it (reducing "HP" to 0). And each of those "systems" needs to do something, so that the PCs have a reason to fix them.
So that necessitates a minimum level of detail. A ship that's just a blob of a few hundred hit points and can throw out a flat amount of damage on each side isn't sufficient.
>>46369386
Wouldn't work. You'd have to be fairies.
>>46366644
There have not been too many pirate games in the last decade anyway to be honest.
>>46373949
Naval Action is pretty great. Wonder if someone could crib the mechanics from that into something useful?
>>46375079
Not really.
>>46357562
>Which RPG has the best system for naval combat?
Don't laugh.
Furry Pirates.
Okay you can laugh. Get it out of your system. But seriously, Furry Pirates has, I'm told by those who have looked into this thing, a really good naval combat system.
Sadly I do not have a PDF (Just a physical signed copy), and wet-water naval combat is not my forte. But if you can find a PDF, look it up.
>>46359072
>and hopefully the rest of the thread can actually be about systems people actually play and have fun with
likeGURPS?
>>46377752No.
>>46377355
> Furry Pirates
> physical signed copy
... I don't even want to google this, as I know nothing good will come of it.
>>46369386
That sounds fun.
>>46357562
I can tell you that Exalted's sucks.
