Ships on the Seas of RavenLoft

[Manofevil]

What kinds of ships might one see on the Sea of Sorrows? I would expect there to be plenty of rowboats and small fishing vessels to be seen. People don't generally live next to the sea if they're not making at least some of their living from it, but what about the larger ships? What would we call them? How many crew would they have? Is there any whaling in RavenLoft? Is there anyone here with enough knowledge of old wooden sailing vessels to answer these questions?

[DocBeard]

Well, we know that Darkon has a professional navy and Nova Vaasa is building one out of privateers and the like. I would assume Dementielu has some to guard the port and merchant traffic. Lamordia's government seems more likely to make due with privateers, and Mordent is too small to really support big ship building.

[Manofevil]

I hate it when I ask questions nobody has the answers to.

[Nathan of the FoS]

For what it's worth, Pieter van Riese's ship, the Relentless, is described as a brigantine...so, two masts, could be sailed with a crew of 15 or 20 or carry as many as 100. (Merchantmen usually carried the minimum effective crew, pirates and warships generally had as many crewmen as they could shoehorn aboard.)

The Darkonese warships might be slightly larger, but in canon Ravenloft you probably wouldn't see anything with three masts, given the population constraints and short distances to be traveled. So you're looking at brigs, sloops, brigantines, maybe xebecs (which have three masts but are built that way for speed, not to accommodate their size), but not galleons, frigates or ships of the line.

[Manofevil]

Thanks, I needed at least a range.

[Joël of the FoS]

In Dungeon mag, you had that adventure featuring the passenger ship SS Bonniville (a Mississipi-like boat (or like that boat in Dance of the Dead).

It's 200 feet long).

Joël

[Manofevil]

Yes but those are riverboats not sea ships. The hulls are too narrow to handle high seas. It was proven with several shipwrecks in the 19th century that ships not designed for the sea can't handle it. A good 30-50 foot wave puts 'em right over on their superstructure. It's what happened to the original Monitor from the Civil War. Now during the latter half of the century. Several sea ships were built that had steam engines instead of sails. One of those went down went down in a bad storm just after the Civil War. In that case, the weight of the engine was what cause the ship to sink. The ship was caught in a massive storm and while the hull was wide enough to prevent the ship from capsizing, it was still too shallow to keep the waves from breaking over the side. The water taken in plus the weight of the huge steam engine caused the ship to founder in spite of the crew's valiant efforts to bail it out. The crew spent many days in lifeboats before they made it back. I watched a special on PBS a while ago about the discovery of the wreck. It was carrying many thousands of dollars in gold and silver coins earmarked for the banks in the south to rebuild the economy after the war. There was a fortune in antiques like patent medicines and glassware that survived. It was a real treasure ship.

[Joël of the FoS]

Yes but those are riverboats not sea ships. The hulls are too narrow to handle high seas. It was proven with several shipwrecks in the 19th century that ships not designed for the sea can't handle it. A good 30-50 foot wave puts 'em right over on their superstructure. It's what happened to the original Monitor from the Civil War. Now during the latter half of the century. Several sea ships were built that had steam engines instead of sails. One of those went down went down in a bad storm just after the Civil War. In that case, the weight of the engine was what cause the ship to sink. The ship was caught in a massive storm and while the hull was wide enough to prevent the ship from capsizing, it was still too shallow to keep the waves from breaking over the side. The water taken in plus the weight of the huge steam engine caused the ship to founder in spite of the crew's valiant efforts to bail it out. The crew spent many days in lifeboats before they made it back. I watched a special on PBS a while ago about the discovery of the wreck. It was carrying many thousands of dollars in gold and silver coins earmarked for the banks in the south to rebuild the economy after the war. There was a fortune in antiques like patent medicines and glassware that survived. It was a real treasure ship.

Cool, so in RL this SS Bonniville boat would always follow the coast line, not straying far from it.

And that's a cool legend for the SoS gaz.

Joël

[cure]

Perhaps some relevent discussion here: http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/foru ... s&start=30

[Loethadai the Lurker]

Manofevil, if Docbeard is correct, and Darkon has a working navy, etc. Then the ships that you would most likely see would be a mix of frigates, and sloops. With the occasional 3 deck Flagship. having at least 3 if not 4 masts. As to the armament, I suppose it would depend on where they are from. I don't think cannons are out of the question, but of course that depends on the tech level of the domain they are from I guess. Since this is Ravenloft Dungeons, and Dragons, I think it would be perfectly acceptable to have a few Battle Mages aboard some of these ships, but I don't know. That may be pushing the whole Gothic Horror theme a bit. Just my 2 cents.

[ewancummins]

Manofevil, if Docbeard is correct, and Darkon has a working navy, etc. Then the ships that you would most likely see would be a mix of frigates, and sloops. With the occasional 3 deck Flagship. having at least 3 if not 4 masts. As to the armament, I suppose it would depend on where they are from. I don't think cannons are out of the question, but of course that depends on the tech level of the domain they are from I guess. Since this is Ravenloft Dungeons, and Dragons, I think it would be perfectly acceptable to have a few Battle Mages aboard some of these ships, but I don't know. That may be pushing the whole Gothic Horror theme a bit. Just my 2 cents.

If the 'battle mages' are more like 'weather & wave warlocks' who have made pacts with invisible spirits of the sky and seas, then it can still be Gothic. Think of Lapland witches using knots to bind and release the winds (I think I've remembered this bit of folklore correctly) or the blacker sort of witches brewing up a storm to attempt to kill King James.

[HuManBing]

If the 'battle mages' are more like 'weather & wave warlocks' who have made pacts with invisible spirits of the sky and seas, then it can still be Gothic. Think of Lapland witches using knots to bind and release the winds (I think I've remembered this bit of folklore correctly) or the blacker sort of witches brewing up a storm to attempt to kill King James.

This is exactly what I was thinking too. A fireball or lightning bolt might be too fantastical. But a mage who mutters a few ominous curses and casts a baleful glare on the PCs is definitely Gothic... all the moreso if they then run into a damnable fog bank and get lost because of it

[ewancummins]

If the 'battle mages' are more like 'weather & wave warlocks' who have made pacts with invisible spirits of the sky and seas, then it can still be Gothic. Think of Lapland witches using knots to bind and release the winds (I think I've remembered this bit of folklore correctly) or the blacker sort of witches brewing up a storm to attempt to kill King James.

This is exactly what I was thinking too. A fireball or lightning bolt might be too fantastical. But a mage who mutters a few ominous curses and casts a baleful glare on the PCs is definitely Gothic... all the moreso if they then run into a damnable fog bank and get lost because of it

Indeed. Conjuring storms, fogs, etc works well. Even summoning sea creatures to eat away at the hull of an enemy vessel. Imagine an unnatural swarm of worms attacking a ship below the waterline- you cannot really see what's going on, but something bad is happening down below...

[Loethadai the Lurker]

HuManBing wrote:
ewancummins wrote:
If the 'battle mages' are more like 'weather & wave warlocks' who have made pacts with invisible spirits of the sky and seas, then it can still be Gothic. Think of Lapland witches using knots to bind and release the winds (I think I've remembered this bit of folklore correctly) or the blacker sort of witches brewing up a storm to attempt to kill King James.


This is exactly what I was thinking too. A fireball or lightning bolt might be too fantastical. But a mage who mutters a few ominous curses and casts a baleful glare on the PCs is definitely Gothic... all the moreso if they then run into a damnable fog bank and get lost because of it


Indeed. Conjuring storms, fogs, etc works well. Even summoning sea creatures to eat away at the hull of an enemy vessel. Imagine an unnatural swarm of worms attacking a ship below the waterline- you cannot really see what's going on, but something bad is happening down below...

There ya go!!! I....LIKE IT!!!

[Isabella]

This is exactly what I was thinking too. A fireball or lightning bolt might be too fantastical. But a mage who mutters a few ominous curses and casts a baleful glare on the PCs is definitely Gothic... all the moreso if they then run into a damnable fog bank and get lost because of it

Even a lightning bolt wouldn't be much out of place on a stormy sea... and a fireball might be a whispered hex that causes a powder keg explosion in the ship's hold.