[Spaceships] Creating Sailing Vessels
 

Hey all,

I'll get right to the point on this one. I'm preparing to run a pirate-themed game where the party is essentially the Scooby gang except that instead of driving a van they're sailing a small vessel, sailing around to various cursed isles and haunted shipyards, solving mysteries and lifting curses.

I need an ocean-going vessel that can be crewed by as little as four people, which I know is possible but none of my GURPS supplements came with any prepackaged (that I'm aware of), so I figured some DaPT from the Spaceships series could help me out. Unfortunately, I don't think that I have the resources at my disposal for a SM+4 purely mundane sailing vessel. Does anyone have a comprehensive list of what books I'd need to make such a ship? Does anyone else have any experience building said ships?

Thanks again for everything. This one is kind of on short notice.

Jinumon

Re: [Spaceships] Creating Sailing Vessels
 

Pyramid #3/64 - Pirates and Swashbucklers has an article, "Sailing the Open Skies" by our own Christopher R. Rice, which expands the Spaceships series with a number of ocean-going options.

Icelander had a thread on here several years ago dealing with historical low-tech ships; I'll have to hunt it down.

One of the Low-Tech Companions - I want to say LTC3, but I could be wrong - has stats for a number of ships; Vehicles: Fantasy Conveyances also has a number of boats and ships, realistic and otherwise, you can plunder.

Hope this helps.

Re: [Spaceships] Creating Sailing Vessels
 

The sloop on page 142 of GURPS: Low-Tech might be what you're looking for. It's SM+4, uses three crew and can carry an additional three people beyond that, and specifically says "Good maneuverability and the ability to sail close to the wind make this design useful to adventurers; larger sloop-rigged ships were favored by pirates"

Re: [Spaceships] Creating Sailing Vessels
 

I wasn't sure if that was an ocean-going vessel. But if it is that works perfectly.

Thanks!

Jinumon

Re: [Spaceships] Creating Sailing Vessels
 

It will be just fine for coasts of oceans, small seas and archipelagos. Sailing it across a major ocean demands good skills and not going when storms are to be expected. Sailing it up and down the coasts of the Americas and out into the Caribbean would be fine, as long as you don't go to sea during hurricanes.

Re: [Spaceships] Creating Sailing Vessels
 

It depends on what you mean by 'ocean going'. The Pacific or Indian Oceans in the right seasons are safe in remarkably small boats. The North Atlantic, not so much (or at all for much of the year). Also, if you're just running up and down the coast or island hopping in the Caribbean (for example) and avoiding going out in storm seasons, your boat can be quite small. Local knowledge of the area, it's dangers and weather helps a lot of course.

Re: [Spaceships] Creating Sailing Vessels
 

The smallest boat to circumnavigate the world was a 22 footer. Also was solo, no crew.