08-27-2014, 07:39 AM | #11 |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the Week: Boating
I rarely see an adventuring party where no one has this skill, no matter whether it's a modern or fantasy setting. Someone always has a background that includes having been a sailor/pirate/fisherman/smuggler/river wharf rat/Marine/rowing crew/SBS/other special operations.
In my fantasy campaign, Boating (Unpowered) sees rather a lot of use on cutting-out expeditions against ships in harbour and clandestinely landing agents on hostile shores. It's been used for the rescue of a prisoner kept in a desolate island fortress, too.
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08-27-2014, 08:50 AM | #12 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the Week: Boating
Boating is extremely common in my campaigns. In fact, I've never run a GURPS campaign where multiple PCs didn't have one or more specialties of that skill.
In every fantasy campaign I've ever run, rivers and coasts have been the lifeblood of low-tech trade. Consequently, adventurers who wanted to get around always ended up knowing how to handle makeshift rafts, at least, if not barges, canoes, or faerings (all Unpowered). Usually, they went for small sailboats (Sailboat). Boating was often more common than Riding. However, nobody wanted the responsibility or expense of anything large enough to be crewed and need Shiphandling. In my first major high-tech campaign, Boating was definitely a niche skill, but there were a couple of ex-military commando types who knew the Motorboat specialty and put it to good use whenever there was a less-guarded approach over water. One guy even knew Submarine (Free-Flooding Sub) and used it for that purpose. In my current campaign, many of the Agents know Boating (Motorboat) for use with inflatable boats for stealthy boardings and landings and raids. It has proven indispensable. A couple also know the Large Powerboat specialty for craft large enough to carry the whole group and their gear but small enough not to need Shiphandling. This has proven to be a useful way to get around when the roads are being watched.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
08-27-2014, 09:06 AM | #13 | |
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the Week: Boating
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Why is that large submarines have both Shiphandling (Submarine) and Submarine (Large Sub) to cover their operation, while large surface ships have only Shiphandling (Ship)? In addition to their respective Crewman skills, of course. It seems odd that a 30kt sub would need a helmsman with a specific skill but a 10kt surface ship does not. |
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08-27-2014, 09:26 AM | #14 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the Week: Boating
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08-27-2014, 09:39 AM | #15 |
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: New mexico
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the Week: Boating
I was in a shirt-lived campaign about a group of people who were dropped on a supposedly uninhabited worldline as part of a survivor-type of reality show. My character was a fictional descendant of Thor Heyerdahl, and he had Boating(Unpowered). They ended up building a log raft and sailing across a small sea at one point, so it definitely came in handy.
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08-27-2014, 10:03 AM | #16 | |
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the Week: Boating
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A large ship can be helmed either using ??? , or using Seamanship under command of someone with Shiphandling (Ship) Nor was it answered in the other thread - indeed, you yourself there asked essentially the same question: And to the best of my knowledge, that hasn't been answered yet. |
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08-27-2014, 10:21 AM | #17 | |
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the Week: Boating
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I don't know what sea vessels have.
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08-27-2014, 10:27 AM | #18 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the Week: Boating
I wasn't trying to answer your question, I was pointing out a misstatement about the rules.
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Seems to be nothing. Arguably, for large sailing ships, such a skill couldn't exist, because maneuvering the ship actually requires the coordinated effort of several crewmen. A single 'pilot' simply can't do it. But that's not true for large, modern powered vessels. The closest printed skill I can find is Boating (Large Powerboat), but it seems to be intended for much smaller craft. I'd probably either use Large Powerboat, or create a new Boating specialty for the job.
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I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. |
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08-27-2014, 10:29 AM | #19 |
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the Week: Boating
Nothing. It is an odd hole in the rules, and I have been trying to figure out how to fill it. Spaceships, submarines, aircraft, ground vehicles, everything else has an individual operation skill, but there is something about surface vessels that makes them an exception.
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08-27-2014, 10:38 AM | #20 | ||
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the Week: Boating
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I think a new specialty would be the right way to go. |
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Tags |
basic, boating, skill of the week |
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