Age of Sail: Identifying Skills for a Midshipman

[hal]

Hello Folks,
I was wondering what skills, using GURPS 4e, a midshipman character in the 1780's should be expected to have?

Initially, I'm expecting that the poor guy is going to have to use climbing at a default for those times he has to go aloft. But over time, I would expect that he'd pick up the following skills as a midshipman:

Savoir-Faire: Naval Military
Climbing
Knot Tying
Ship Handling
Navigation
Mathematics(applied)
Tactics (Naval)
Tactics (Small unit)
Leadership
Literacy
ADMINISTRATION (not Accounting as originally listed)
Guns (Musket)
Astronomy
Weather Sense
Boating (Sailboat)
Basic Swordsmanship such as an officer might expect to use.

Have I missed anything obvious? What I plan on doing is using the GURPS JOB ROLLS concept for dealing with the down time for the player character in an up coming age of sail campaign (when I finish a remodeling project!)

Concept:

When a midshipman is ready to take his examination, he must pass three "tests" of his skills mandated for becoming a Lieutenant. A reaction roll will be made for the candidate by each of the captains involved. Clearly, if any of them are patrons, share the same political views, religious or world views in life - they will be more well disposed towards the candidate. Likewise, if they differ on points (Political views, world views, religion, etc), then there will be penalties to the reaction roll. Something as simple as "last candidate after four hours of examinations" might result in the character getting a -4 reaction penalty from the captains in general.

Good reaction+ results in easy questions, where the character gains a +2 bonus

Poor reaction- results in hard questions, where the character gains a -2 penalty

Neutral reactions are not penalized or rewarded either way.

Each test question from the Captain giving the question, has two skill components to it. The player character midshipman, needs to roll against the worst of the two skills. He can use the second better skill to counter-question the captain for clarification of his question, and thereby perhaps gain a hint etc on the proper answer.

Clarification question results:
Critical failure: Final skill roll is at an additional -2
Failure by 3 or more: final skill roll is at -1
Failure by 1 or 2: no modification
Success: +1 bonus to final skill roll
Critical success: +2 bonus to final skill roll.

See example in next post.

Addenda: These are the skills suggested throughout the thread as being viable - either at start, or over time, that a midshipman might assay to pick up. In no particular order...

Savoir-Faire: Naval Military
Climbing
Knot Tying
Ship Handling
Navigation
Mathematics (Applied)
Tactics (Naval)
Tactics (Small unit)
Leadership
Administration
Guns (Pistol)
Astronomy
Weather Sense
Boating (Sailboat)
Sword skill of some kind
Area Knowledge (both by location and by ship type)
Guns(Musket)
Housekeeping
Sewing

Public Speaking (Rhetoric)
Carousing
Games
Musical Instruments
Public Speaking
Singing
Current Affairs (Politics)
Current Affairs (People)
Current Affairs (Headline news)

Heraldry
Philosophy
Psychology (Applied)
Law
Theology
Freight Handling
Carpentry
Swimming
Riding (equines)
Literature
Dancing
Intimidation
Diplomacy
Hunting
Acrobatics

Advantages or perks:
Surefooted(Naval) (perk)
Language (accented unless educated, then native level instead)
Language (Latin)
Language (French)
Language (Spanish)
Dabbler (multiple skills)

[hal]

Midshipman Henry Lawford, is 20 years of age, and up for a lieutenant's examination for the first time in his life. He's got the requisite 6 years at sea so, this examination, should he pass, would be a good thing for his advancement in the King's Royal Navy.

Convened for the Examination board are:

Captain Koss, a notoriously harsh questioner on the board (he has a dislike for snotty midshipmen that translates into an automatic -1 reaction penalty to midshipmen taking examinations).

Captain Jones, a kindly but fair individual, whose years at sea has left him with a vast repository of nautical know how

Captain Lee - a battle hardened no nonsense type of captain who tends to be a good judge of character.

Captain Koss leads the first examination of the day, with a bright eyed kid that reminds him of his nephew. Reaction roll was a 10, with a further -1 dropping it to a 9. No other advantages or disadvantages accrue here for the reaction roll. So, as usual, Captain Koss will give hard questions to the luckless kid. Captain Koss politely inquires about the midshipman's family, and notes that the boy's family is a common born son of a minister, hardly worthy of extra attention - so he leads with a Shiphandling/Weather Sense based question. The midshipman's skill with Ship handling is 11, while his weather sense is also an 11. In order to pass the question, the player needs to roll a base 9. Deciding to risk it, the player asks for a clarification question, and asks whether the captain meant his question regarding the sails themselves, or in the orders to be given regarding the sails in light of the weather. Rolling against his skill 11 in Weather Sense, the player's roll of a 12 means that he did not get the clarification he had hoped for, and must now answer the question with a -2 penalty to his ship handling skill. The player rolls an 8 on his Ship handling skill, and barely answers the question properly. One down, two to go to pass his examination!

Captain Jones eyes the candidate, and having heard the midshipman's basic history, tries to put the midshipman at ease as is his habit. Rolling a 13 for a reaction roll, Captain Jones is inclined to balancing the books with an easy question. He decides to ask a question that embodies both Tactics and Chain of Command. The midshipman's savoir-fair (Naval) is a 10, and his Tactics (Naval) is at a 12, so he confidently inquires into the tactical situation as asked in the hopes that the captain's answer helps point the path to the right overall answer. Rolling a 5 against Tactics (Naval), that's good for a +1 bonus to his skill, in addition to the easy question that had been asked of him. Not quite a critical success, but close! Rolling against the Savior-Faire (Naval), he gets an 11. Since he gained a +1 bonus for the clarification, and a +2 bonus for ease of question - he succeeded.

Captain Lee gives hardly any notice to the poor lad, and simply and bluntly asks a question regarding Leadership and Gunnery. With Gunnery being the Midshipman's worst skill at 9, he's relieved to note that the question isn't particularly easy or hard (GM rolled an 11 for reaction roll). The player decides to clarify the question and rolls a 17 against Leadership! This is good for a -2 penalty to his answer. Needing to roll a 7 or less due to his skill level of 9 being modified by -2, it is with no surprise, that the poor lad flunks the last question.

Net result? 1 captain blackballs the lad, and he must take the examination in six months.

It is possible for a midshipman whose status is 1 (son of a Baronet) to gain a +1 bonus to reaction rolls, perhaps a +2 bonus for charisma, and consistently gain a bonus to his reaction rolls at the table for his questions.

However, various things can predispose an NPC to dislike the character on the spot. For instance, if the character is not neutral in his political views, but favors one party over another, and the captain doing the questioning is of an opposing political viewpoint, that can result in a predisposition to ask hard questions. Likewise, if a midshipman waxes enthusiastic in his introductions to the three captains "I love new things like flintlock firing mechanisms for cannons", he could very well gain THREE irate captains who are conservative in their views.

As always, personality and patronage can affect things in the examination process.
ddd

[Ulzgoroth]

I have doubts about Musket (using long-arms is not usually an officer's business) and would note that literacy is not a skill.

[hal]

What I'm thinking of doing somewhere along the way, when I get the time, is to create a sort of "Cyberpunk 2020" like "Lifepath" for use with Age of Sail interactions.

Rolling on the Job tables during down time for the player character, it would seem to make sense that job rolls that are good, should result in good events for the player character, while failed job rolls should result in bad events. Critical Successes and Critical failures should have some really influential results on the player character's life.

Part of me thinks that the good events and bad events should not occur unless the job roll is made by 2+ or failed by 2+. Those that fall in between are "nothing extraordinary happens". Those that fall in other categories will then, result in the player gaining some insights, gain friends, enemies, unusual skills or even perhaps gain the advantage of dabbler to where they can allocate some lesser skill default penalties as a result.

Some things like:

Gain a navigational rutter for the French coast of the Channel (Good for a +2 navigation bonus)
Gain a reputation for any who served on a given ship
Gain area knowledge for a given location
Earn an enemy for successful endeavors, but gain a patron of sorts
Gain a national reputation
gain 200 hours towards a given skill for intensive training


In other things, perhaps make a HT saving roll or suffer light duty (no beneficial gains possible for the next three months)
Suffer a wound that leaves a scar (roll for hit location)
Gain a vision problem
Suffer a minor hearing loss (-2 hearing, -5 character points)
Suffer hard of hearing (due to cannon discharges etc)
Gain a negative reputation amongst a crew/ship
gain a negative reputation nationally

The idea here is to add a little bit of fun to the down time process instead of having it be a blank slate.

[whswhs]

I think you need Writing skill. The Aubrey/Maturin books are full of Jack Aubrey writing entries in the log and writing letters to various admirals and bureaucrats that have to be clear and understandable and in a specific form. Any midshipman would be likely to be faced with having his captain set him exercises in preparing log entries and orders, if nothing else.

[hal]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

I have doubts about Musket (using long-arms is not usually an officer's business) and would note that literacy is not a skill.

Muskets unfortunately, seems to be the catch all for black powder weapons - be they musket or pistol.

And, as to the literacy issue, agreed. The problem is - GURPS treats it as an advantage rather than a skill, which GURPS 3e did not. Education level for languages should be a function of "broken", "accented" or even native. A cockney accent for example might be deemed as Accented, despite the fact that being a Cockney is a native born Englishman. I've always disliked how GURPS 4e handled it, but, them's the rules when using GURPS CHARACTER ASSISTANT and such.

[mlangsdorf]

I agree that Guns (Musket) should be replaced with Guns (Pistol) - which per Low-Tech and High-Tech, is the skill to use black powder pistols.

It also looks to me like he's missing Broadsword, Shortsword, Smallsword, or Saber, and while I'm not 100% sure what his melee weapons drill would involve, it's going to include at least one of those (Martial Arts suggests that 1780 is well into the French Smallsword period, for what that's worth). He might have some Brawling or Wrestling, picked up as a street style in melees with other midshipmen, or even Boxing or Judo if he got semi-formal instruction in Bare-Knuckle Boxing or Combat Wrestling.

I don't think Accounting is the appropriate skill. He's not really expected to go over the pay books and reconcile the accounts; he's expected to know roughly what that involves but more importantly, what accounts and what should be in them to supply a ship. That's Administration, not Accounting, and most GURPS books about the military make Administration a primary skill for officers.

[hal]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I think you need Writing skill. The Aubrey/Maturin books are full of Jack Aubrey writing entries in the log and writing letters to various admirals and bureaucrats that have to be clear and understandable and in a specific form. Any midshipman would be likely to be faced with having his captain set him exercises in preparing log entries and orders, if nothing else.

Hmm. I'll add that into the list then. :)

As you might guess from the outline of a lieutenant's examination - I'm looking for ways to make things "interesting" for a player who wants to try one on one Age of Sail set in the 1780's on up through the Napoleonic wars and perhaps even against the Americans in the 1812 war.

He's VERY keen on being able to introduce Flintlock firing mechanisms for the cannons - yet, for the large part of what I've read, most ships armed with those firing mechanisms were equipped at the expense of the captain. I don't have the means for determining what such a thing costs, and am going to have to pour through the books I have accumulated over time. Couple that with the mindset that a lot of captains and the crews of the navy were largely either superstitious or conservative, and the "early adopter of technology and science" is going to prove to be interesting in the campaign.

For those who wonder, I'm also using the following:

PRIVATEERS AND GENTLEMEN (BY FGU)
BEAT TO QUARTERS by Command Decision (Miniatures wargame rules Published 1981)
BEAT TO QUARTERS by Neil Gow (role playing)
PRIVATEERS AND PIRATES by FJGaming

Of course it will be influenced by the O'Brian books, Hornblower movies from A&E, and the like. :)

[hal]

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

I agree that Guns (Musket) should be replaced with Guns (Pistol) - which per Low-Tech and High-Tech, is the skill to use black powder pistols.

It also looks to me like he's missing Broadsword, Shortsword, Smallsword, or Saber, and while I'm not 100% sure what his melee weapons drill would involve, it's going to include at least one of those (Martial Arts suggests that 1780 is well into the French Smallsword period, for what that's worth). He might have some Brawling or Wrestling, picked up as a street style in melees with other midshipmen, or even Boxing or Judo if he got semi-formal instruction in Bare-Knuckle Boxing or Combat Wrestling.

I don't think Accounting is the appropriate skill. He's not really expected to go over the pay books and reconcile the accounts; he's expected to know roughly what that involves but more importantly, what accounts and what should be in them to supply a ship. That's Administration, not Accounting, and most GURPS books about the military make Administration a primary skill for officers.

Good point - amended in first post shortly... ADMIN instead of Accounting

All of the others are potential skills, but not necessarily skills he has to have to be a midshipman per se. If the player is wise (and I will point it out to him over time to be sure!) he will pick up swordsmanship, alertness, and other such skills. As the son of a Baronet, whose father purchased the title while being born a commoner - his son (the player character) will start off with a status that is 1 level lower than the father's. His father also seems to be overly wealthy (thanks to rolling for character background from Privateers and Gentlemen) or perhaps even OBSCENELY wealthy.

General background is that the player is becoming a midshipman in 1780, just in time for some American Colony rebellion issues (cough cough) and since his father owns land in the Americas and the Caribbean, the wealth is going to dry up soon enough.

As for the other fun things...

Initially, the player wanted to start off REALLY young, and when it was discovered he'd not have the math background to learn navigation, nor much of anything else - he decided he'd start at the age of 15 (I think that's what it is, we've been mulling this over for the last couple of months while I remodel portions of my home).

In the end? As GM, I intend to run a few scenarios where the player is witnessing things, involved in battles as a midshipman aloft, later on, a midshipman in charge of some guns, and finally, as he gets to nearing his lieutenant's examination - skills involving leadership, navigation, ship handling, etc.

From there, if he makes it past his examination, perhaps working as a lieutenant aboard a ship based in Halifax as it harasses the American coast and searches for deserts etc - and eventually, perhaps get his own command of a sixth rate or such depending on how well he does, his reaction rolls, and the "notice" of his superior. That's assuming that he's not beached at any given moment and the adventure continues on the shores of Canada or perhaps England, or even in the Caribbean at his father's sugar cane plantation...

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I think you need Writing skill. The Aubrey/Maturin books are full of Jack Aubrey writing entries in the log and writing letters to various admirals and bureaucrats that have to be clear and understandable and in a specific form. Any midshipman would be likely to be faced with having his captain set him exercises in preparing log entries and orders, if nothing else.

IME, junior officers (and it doesn't get more junior) don't actually do this with any particular proficiency and what they do know is probably reasonably covered by professional skill. Senior officers probably do pick up some Writing (or more often staff with Writing) but that is about the same time they start pickin up Politics.