[Basic] Skill of the Week: Boating

Mailanka · 08-27-2014, 02:22 AM

I haven't seen Johndallman's continuation of his series, perhaps because he has been ambushed by feral badgers or because he saw that the next would be Boating and all interest faded from him.

So I'm going to take up the flag in his absence.

Boating covers the moving of small boats, generally your personal sailboats, canoes, rowboats, motorboats, Navy SEAL zodiacs, and so on. You must specialize (Large Powerboat, motorboat, sailboat and unpowered). You're at -2 for an unfamiliar boat within your specialty, and -3 or worse for tricky hazards. You only need to roll when docking, getting underway, or encountering a hazard.

I found the following books containing a discussion of boating: SEALS in Vietnam (all seals have this skill), Low-Tech (canoes and such), High-Tech (kayaks and such), Action 2(where boating is used for getting there, insertion, and for exciting and dramatic chases!) and Dungeon Fantasy 16: Wilderness adventures discussing it (including the interesting fact that water elementals can reduce penalties applied to a boating skill roll).

Honestly, I don't think it's ever come up in a game I've run. I'm far more likely to run a game with larger ships, requiring Shiphandling or Crewman rolls. Where boating is required, it's usually a marginal skill, taken "just enough" to allow someone to operate the vehicle.

What is your experience with boating?

vicky_molokh · 08-27-2014, 03:03 AM

IIRC it only came up a few times in one of my fantasy campaigns. More-or-less as the prerequisite for being the character who's 'behind the wheel' during moving from A to B over the ocean.

Mailanka · 08-27-2014, 03:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

IIRC it only came up a few times in one of my fantasy campaigns. More-or-less as the prerequisite for being the character who's 'behind the wheel' during moving from A to B over the ocean.

Huh. I think you're wrong, but I don't know what the right answer is.

Boating only covers small watercraft.

Quote:

For large
vessels that require multiple crewmen
on a “bridge,” use Seamanship (see
Crewman, p. 185) and Shiphandling
(p. 220).

So an ocean-going vessel, unless we're talking one of those clever yachts that can sail on open oceans, is probably going to be a full on ship.

Now, if I want to figure out how to get from, say, Lisbon to Jamaica, I'll need to make a navigation roll to chart the course. The captain needs to make Shiphandling to command the ship (though reading that skill, I'm not really sure what it actually does. Is it Leadership-on-ships? Or Admin-on-ships? Or both?), and Seamanship to know how to tighten the lines and batten down the hatches. Seamanship also covers steering the ship, so once the navigator has plotted a course and the Captain says "engage," then you use Seamanship to turn the ship in that direction. Fair enough... but if you're trying to avoid shoals or dodging between ships, or even making a Dodge roll FOR your ship... what do you roll? It's not boating. There's no Piloting specialty for ships. The best I can figure is the lower of Seashipman or the captain's Shiphandling.

vicky_molokh · 08-27-2014, 03:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mailanka

Huh. I think you're wrong, but I don't know what the right answer is.

Boating only covers small watercraft.

It was a small enchanted watercraft. It had some sort of wheel at the front, and its main propulsion was two Water Jet enchantments with Power, set to arbitrary levels by an archmage just to make it reasonably fast.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mailanka

So an ocean-going vessel, unless we're talking one of those clever yachts that can sail on open oceans, is probably going to be a full on ship.

Now, if I want to figure out how to get from, say, Lisbon to Jamaica, I'll need to make a navigation roll to chart the course. The captain needs to make Shiphandling to command the ship (though reading that skill, I'm not really sure what it actually does. Is it Leadership-on-ships? Or Admin-on-ships? Or both?), and Seamanship to know how to tighten the lines and batten down the hatches. Seamanship also covers steering the ship, so once the navigator has plotted a course and the Captain says "engage," then you use Seamanship to turn the ship in that direction. Fair enough... but if you're trying to avoid shoals or dodging between ships, or even making a Dodge roll FOR your ship... what do you roll? It's not boating. There's no Piloting specialty for ships. The best I can figure is the lower of Seashipman or the captain's Shiphandling.

Dodge in vehicles is the (controll skill/2)+Hnd. So it's actually Boating for small watercraft.
And yeah, Navigation was another relevant skill. But what I meant is that we didn't have chases on the water or the like.

RogerBW · 08-27-2014, 03:55 AM

I haven't seen a boat chase come up in a game the way car chases sometimes do; it's a utility skill, because the party needs to get to the island where something dodgy is happening, or one of the vehicle specialist's huge list of skills, rather than something a character specialises in.

(Though I did have an NPC in my Reign of Steel game who favoured a carbon-fibre Boston Whaler with an outboard MHD drive.)

Mailanka · 08-27-2014, 04:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

It was a small enchanted watercraft. It had some sort of wheel at the front, and its main propulsion was two Water Jet enchantments with Power, set to arbitrary levels by an archmage just to make it reasonably fast.

Oh, fair enough.

I feel like I should know the name of this campaign. It was your "Fantasy setting with truly alien non-human races set on a world of oceans and islands" wasn't it? I want to say Celestial Ocean, but I'm quite sure that's wrong.

vicky_molokh · 08-27-2014, 04:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mailanka

Oh, fair enough.

I feel like I should know the name of this campaign. It was your "Fantasy setting with truly alien non-human races set on a world of oceans and islands" wasn't it? I want to say Celestial Ocean, but I'm quite sure that's wrong.

It was before that. Skyfallen was the setting's name. Pretty generic fantasy, with 12 very humanoid races, with minimal amount of weirdness.

Speaking of CO, most races were humanoid, but otherwise the description fits. Now, if/when I go GM a space fantasy, I will make several rather non-human races.

whswhs · 08-27-2014, 06:03 AM

In my current campaign, the nixie PC has Boating (Unpowered) and a couple of associated skills to reflect his participation in the kayak races of his native city. But this is more a hobby than a serious combat skill. On the other hand, he's taken his kayak along on the voyage.

Bill Stoddard

pax360volt · 08-27-2014, 06:30 AM

In my different campaigns, never! but I always gave this skill to my character , just in case! the thing is: if we have to cross a lake, surely a NPC will help us for money... so probably this skill is less used!

But for my next Character I wish i could buy a "Drive!" WC.
the most prepared soldiers can drive quite everything :)

The Colonel · 08-27-2014, 06:45 AM

I would guess this is a career skill for anyone with a naval, maritime or army combat engineer background and probably a "backstory" skill for anyone with origins in a costal community, river/lake based community or with appropriate hobbies (fishing, kayaking, white-water rafting, that sort of thing).

Not going to see much use in your average dungeoneering campaign, but in spy/police/action campaigns, boat chases and escapes/infiltrations by water are all perfectly reasonable things. Actually being able to move by water could well prove a useful tactical option against opponents who discount the idea (surprisingly common apparently) and assume that the water is a barrier.

08-27-2014, 02:22 AM	#1
Mailanka Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands	[Basic] Skill of the Week: Boating I haven't seen Johndallman's continuation of his series, perhaps because he has been ambushed by feral badgers or because he saw that the next would be Boating and all interest faded from him. So I'm going to take up the flag in his absence. Boating covers the moving of small boats, generally your personal sailboats, canoes, rowboats, motorboats, Navy SEAL zodiacs, and so on. You must specialize (Large Powerboat, motorboat, sailboat and unpowered). You're at -2 for an unfamiliar boat within your specialty, and -3 or worse for tricky hazards. You only need to roll when docking, getting underway, or encountering a hazard. I found the following books containing a discussion of boating: SEALS in Vietnam (all seals have this skill), Low-Tech (canoes and such), High-Tech (kayaks and such), Action 2(where boating is used for getting there, insertion, and for exciting and dramatic chases!) and Dungeon Fantasy 16: Wilderness adventures discussing it (including the interesting fact that water elementals can reduce penalties applied to a boating skill roll). Honestly, I don't think it's ever come up in a game I've run. I'm far more likely to run a game with larger ships, requiring Shiphandling or Crewman rolls. Where boating is required, it's usually a marginal skill, taken "just enough" to allow someone to operate the vehicle. What is your experience with boating? __________________ My Blog: Mailanka's Musing. Currently Playing: Psi-Wars, a step-by-step exploration of building your own Space Opera setting, inspired by Star Wars.

08-27-2014, 03:03 AM	#2
vicky_molokh GURPS FAQ Keeper Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Kyïv, Ukraine	Re: [Basic] Skill of the Week: Boating IIRC it only came up a few times in one of my fantasy campaigns. More-or-less as the prerequisite for being the character who's 'behind the wheel' during moving from A to B over the ocean. __________________ Vicky 'Molokh', GURPS FAQ and uFAQ Keeper

08-27-2014, 03:55 AM	#5
RogerBW Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: near London, UK	Re: [Basic] Skill of the Week: Boating I haven't seen a boat chase come up in a game the way car chases sometimes do; it's a utility skill, because the party needs to get to the island where something dodgy is happening, or one of the vehicle specialist's huge list of skills, rather than something a character specialises in. (Though I did have an NPC in my Reign of Steel game who favoured a carbon-fibre Boston Whaler with an outboard MHD drive.) __________________ Podcast: Improvised Radio Theatre - With Dice Gaming stuff here: Tekeli-li! Blog; Webcomic Laager and Limehouse Buy things by me on Warehouse 23

08-27-2014, 06:03 AM	#8
whswhs Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Lawrence, KS	Re: [Basic] Skill of the Week: Boating In my current campaign, the nixie PC has Boating (Unpowered) and a couple of associated skills to reflect his participation in the kayak races of his native city. But this is more a hobby than a serious combat skill. On the other hand, he's taken his kayak along on the voyage. Bill Stoddard

08-27-2014, 06:30 AM	#9
pax360volt Join Date: Nov 2012	Re: [Basic] Skill of the Week: Boating In my different campaigns, never! but I always gave this skill to my character , just in case! the thing is: if we have to cross a lake, surely a NPC will help us for money... so probably this skill is less used! But for my next Character I wish i could buy a "Drive!" WC. the most prepared soldiers can drive quite everything :)

08-27-2014, 06:45 AM	#10
The Colonel Join Date: Jul 2006	Re: [Basic] Skill of the Week: Boating I would guess this is a career skill for anyone with a naval, maritime or army combat engineer background and probably a "backstory" skill for anyone with origins in a costal community, river/lake based community or with appropriate hobbies (fishing, kayaking, white-water rafting, that sort of thing). Not going to see much use in your average dungeoneering campaign, but in spy/police/action campaigns, boat chases and escapes/infiltrations by water are all perfectly reasonable things. Actually being able to move by water could well prove a useful tactical option against opponents who discount the idea (surprisingly common apparently) and assume that the water is a barrier.