discussion The Crew of the Iron Bitch [Closed]

[Anstarra]

This thread is for OOC discussion among the members of the crew of the Iron Bitch.

 

 

Captain Silverain's Ship - The Iron Bitch - (Experimental Steamship)

 

 

Size - Medium

 

 

Creators/crew - Anstarra, Virara, Aigiarn, Jana

 

Tentative/secondary crew - Armand, Vael'a

 

NPC Crew

 

~Mister Arcadius - First mate, a massive roegadyn with a scarred face and a boisterous demeanor, every inch the stereotypical... Sea Wolf? Hellsguard? Whatever, he gets the job done. Thick yet tightly-cropped beard, tan flesh tones (not red or blue, what?!) and wields a massive mining pick in battle.

 

 

High Aspect - Experimental Ceruleum-Fueled Steamship - A new design, fresh in need of testing and full of promise (and risk), the Iron Bitch is the Maelstrom's first foray into more advanced ship-building (and more complex engines). Everyone loves experiments!

 

Crew Aspect - The First Foreign Levy - What to do with an entire battalion whose chief theater of operations has come down with a bad case of peace? Bereft of their use in the Dragonsong War, the battle-hardened First Foreign was offered to follow one of their favored Lieutenants into her first Captaincy. Many agreed, particularly those who share Anstarra's predilection for getting up close and personal.

 

Aspect - Heavy Metal - An experimental engine needs to be well-protected, and so much of the Iron Bitch was designed as armor for it. Though better protected, there are dangers in carrying so much weight in the open seas...

 

Ship Aspect -Redundant Sails - While powered by its ceruleum engine, the Iron Bitch retains a functional mast with sails, a legacy of Limsan tradition and a general distrust of the traditionalist Admiralty for Garlean magitek. These masts allows the ship to maneuver by wind and sail. However, the sails are a persistent reminder of the crew’s general superstitions and keg-headed disdain for new technology.

 

Ship Aspect - To Be Determined - ...

 

Crew Skills

+3 Sail

+2 Fight

+1 Will

 

Base Stunts -

 

Medium Ship - This ship now carries up to 40 guns, a crew complement of 250, and 750 tons of cargo. The equivalent to a frigate for naval vessels or air cargo ships and Garlean assault craft. Medium Ships have +1 to attack and defense against Small ships, and -1 to attack and defense against Large ships.

 

POTENTIAL STUNTS:

 

Tackling Rig - The ship's powerful engine is excellent for bearing down on an enemy; gain +2 to applying and maintaining /preparing to board/.

 

Magitek Engine - Utilizing Ceruleum, this engine allows the ship to maneuver in absence of winds and against currents. The ship is unimpeded by weather effects that would physically impede her (such as storms or lack of winds, but not fog).

 

The Bitch's Iron Garters[Anstarra] ~ A series of iron plates protect the ship from direct close range fire. Enemy shoot damage is reduced by 2 at close range (Broadside, Boarding, Ramming, or other appropriate position).

 

 

 

MAIN CREW AT CURRENT:

 

Captain Anstarra Silverain

 

Virara Wakuwa

 

Aigiarn Kha

 

Jana Ridah

 

 

As well as supporting/backup crew including:

 

 

Armand Tremaux

 

Vael'a Ruhne

 

 

SHIP COMBAT RULES

 

ERRATA FOR DEAD GOD'S CHEST

[Anstarra]

Right now, Eva seems more disinclined vis-a-vis the boarding/ramming stunt than anything. Here's a transcript of the chat so far.

 

 

~~

 

[9:52:07 PM] McBeef: um so the problem is that those positional aspects can only be made once per turn

[9:52:20 PM] McBeef: changing one for free is like getting to take two attack actions

[9:52:25 PM] Anstarra Silverain: She suggested a cost

[9:52:38 PM] McBeef: Ok. How about this.

[9:52:44 PM] Anstarra Silverain: Alternatively, maybe once per scene, or for an FP

[9:53:01 PM] Anstarra Silverain: I know that a basic legit stunt is like, for an FP ignore the laws of physics something something

[9:53:10 PM] McBeef: If you take -2 for sail during the actual ram

[9:53:18 PM] Anstarra Silverain: Penalties to stunts

[9:53:24 PM] Anstarra Silverain: Verad will have conniptions

[9:53:38 PM] McBeef: I'll consider it. That will represent that you have more crew forward

[9:53:56 PM] McBeef: which means that they're more likely to be hurt in the boarding attempt

[9:53:59 PM] McBeef: errr

[9:54:01 PM] McBeef: ramming attempt

[9:54:14 PM] Anstarra Silverain: I don't even really care about ramming

[9:54:17 PM] McBeef: well

[9:54:18 PM] Anstarra Silverain: it's dangerous for the ship

[9:54:24 PM] Anstarra Silverain: Virara just wants to do something cool

[9:54:41 PM] Anstarra Silverain: It would be pretty neutering to take a penalty

[9:54:46 PM] Anstarra Silverain: none of us are like +4 sailors

[9:56:43 PM] Anstarra Silverain: mm.. how about something more like..

[9:58:43 PM] Anstarra Silverain: [Aggressive Boarding] - When creating the advantage /Preparing to Board/ a critical success also deals a level of Condition to the enemy ship if they do not successfully remove the advantage before the boarding action occurs.

[9:58:53 PM] Anstarra Silverain: implying they crashed hard into them

[10:11:05 PM] McBeef: um

[10:12:38 PM] Anstarra Silverain: whaaat

[10:13:07 PM] Anstarra Silverain: a critical success isn't that easy to get

[10:13:21 PM] Anstarra Silverain: and I meant like if the enemy doesn't remove the advantage, obviously

[10:19:32 PM] McBeef: um.

[10:19:35 PM] McBeef: After thinking about it

[10:20:17 PM] McBeef: Something like For a Fate point, Characters can use the fight action if a ram action would be possible as well.

[10:20:18 PM] Anstarra Silverain: I decided to make a discussion thread so I could actually sorta-chat with Virara and Jana ;b

[10:20:41 PM] Anstarra Silverain: http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=17141&pid=266484#pid266484

[10:20:47 PM] Anstarra Silverain: people and not having skype

[10:20:48 PM] Anstarra Silverain: losers

[10:21:22 PM] McBeef: so if you want a ram and fight

[10:21:36 PM] McBeef: I'd allow a stunt that said, for an FP, whenever you can ram you can also board

[10:21:49 PM] Anstarra Silverain: Would that

[10:21:56 PM] Anstarra Silverain: allow multiple people to do boarding actions that turn

[10:22:01 PM] Anstarra Silverain: or just whoever spent the fp

[10:22:23 PM] McBeef: I'd say whoever spent the fp. Can lead a boarding action in the same turn as the ram

[10:22:45 PM] Anstarra Silverain: Alright, well, I'll post it up for discussion and see what people think

~~

[Anstarra]

Let me also add the basic rules and Eva's errata to ship combat for her storyline...

[Anstarra]

Finalized the little discussion post~

[Caspar]

The ramming idea is optional, but I felt it might work thematically, as early ironclads often incorporated a sloped bow or a ram. Many primitive designs were more successful at sinking enemy vessels through the use of a ram than cannon fire. Of course, this WAS dangerous for the ship involved, and few ironclads were seaworthy enough to do this outside of coastal/inland waters.

 

The idea about using FP to board upon ramming might be useful too. I could make that a stunt for Virara's sheet.

 

An alternative that is more about shooting, if ramming is too dangerous, would be the turret concept I mentioned. Maybe Aigarn could be responsible for trying to mock-up a Garlean style turret to arm the ship with. It could perhaps be something that increases the ease of generating /Broadside Position/. I'm not as handy with what could be strong or weak mechanically, so I mostly can only think of basic concepts.

[Anstarra]

Ramming could be fun! It's just a heavy investment. Since it turns out we only have 4 stunts to play with, let's think in those terms. Truthfully though, we should have fun; Minors can be used to move ship aspects and stunts around too, so, let's feel free to try various designs out. Everyone's gonna be experimenting and seeing what's efficient anyway.

 

The only issue as I see it vis-a-vis making the ramming stunt an FP for a single boarding action coming off a ram is that right now, the rules work so that if we DO get a boarding action, and the enemy didn't remove it, well, as many of us as wish to commit to a boarding action that turn can do so. Thus, for example, An, Virara and Jana could lead an attack on the enemy troops using their respective Fight skills (i.e. melee combat). With the stunt, we'd have to pay an FP each at best, or be unable to all board at worst. Now, this CAN be okay, we can have ourselves devote actions to other things like maneuvering and discipline (using one's Will, if anyone's good at it, against enemies' Provoke attacks, which could kick our ass if we're not careful because they'd still essentially cause Condition damage).

 

We could really use a dedicated Navigator.. i.e. someone who does the Sail rolls. An has +2 sail right now, she's actually not that experienced at it, I COULD switch things around but I don't feel it'd be realistic to have it very high. We just might end up having to rely on the crew's own +2 sail, which could suck against enemies focused in it, it's really a power stat since it's for positionals AND ramming attacks AND defense against... everything. Except Provoke.

[Jana]

Jana's boat sheet would be centered around gunning and her direct ship stunt would probably be loading up airburst shells to attack crew directly. I'm at work and can't go make a mock-up sheet now though.

[LystAP]

Jana's boat sheet would be centered around gunning and her direct ship stunt would probably be loading up airburst shells to attack crew directly. I'm at work and can't go make a mock-up sheet now though.

 

Was thinking about Shoot, which Ai has automatically given her Gunner/Machinist offensive ability. But Ai would also be one of the few qualified to steer a ship, although she prefers airships.

[Jana]

Jana steered a small ferry once using Physique to work the rudder, but I don't think that'll translate to this kind of ship very well

[Caspar]

It may have to be Ai or the crew, since Virara usually didn't drive boats. She was a frequent stowaway but even if she did drive them, it would still be much smaller than this.

She tends to learn things really quickly, but that might be too much for her.

 

[EDIT]

Here is my Dead Gods version character sheet.

I went with the stuff I think Virara would be good at, which is fighting, and being a lookout. Other stunts could include survival related rolls or predicting weather, but I felt Notice bonus could be useful in most of those contexts.

I swapped some of the Skills to be more nautical-focused.

I swapped a Fate point for a Stunt and changed the existing ones around.

I changed an Aspect to be more relevant to the current story line.

I kinda almost want to have the Zeninage/Nageru Stunt on my normal one in some form, lol.

 

This is a work in progress and still needs to be ok'd by Eva, so any necessary edits can be made at any time.

[Anstarra]

(Sorry for my inactivity here the past few days, it's been kinda my birthday weekend and been busy with various thiiiiings)

[Anstarra]

Alright, so. Just for IC referencing, I'm gonna start RPing An as having actually received her Captaincy. I don't know if any of you have started RPing being on a crew yet? If you wanna do it ICly, we can, though scheduling remains a bitch... optimally we can find a day where we can actually all get together and RP it out. Maybe this Saturday?

[Anstarra]

Also to review. Right now, per the new temp rules, our ship cannot have more than 4 stunts. As written, it only DOES have 4 stunts, so technically she's good to go. If we want to make changes, let's be official about them.

 

It bears mentioning that unless I swap a stunt or someone else does, our ship doesn't have terrific Sailing prowess. An's is +2, tied to the crew's basic score. With her current stunts, and the ship's, this means her most efficient course is in settling in to board, whereupon she's rolling at +4 to initiate and maintain /preparing to board/. With size-difference rules in effect that means +3 vs. a small ship or +5 vs a big one.

 

Once actually alongside the enemy ship, An herself has +2 to an attack where she leads a boarding action. This means it's her most efficient course of action, to initiate and maintain a boarding sail maneuver in round 1, then be part of any number of actual boarding actions in round 2.

 

All this ALSO means we're pretty crap, as listed, for ramming, with only +2 overall.

 

None of this is set in stone. I could change An's whole suite of stunts, I don't care. Let's collaborate on how we want to do this, though, so no one ends up useless before or during combat.

[111]

Also to review. Right now, per the new temp rules, our ship cannot have more than 4 stunts. As written, it only DOES have 4 stunts, so technically she's good to go. If we want to make changes, let's be official about them.

 

It bears mentioning that unless I swap a stunt or someone else does, our ship doesn't have terrific Sailing prowess. An's is +2, tied to the crew's basic score. With her current stunts, and the ship's, this means her most efficient course is in settling in to board, whereupon she's rolling at +4 to initiate and maintain /preparing to board/. With size-difference rules in effect that means +3 vs. a small ship or +5 vs a big one.

 

Once actually alongside the enemy ship, An herself has +2 to an attack where she leads a boarding action. This means it's her most efficient course of action, to initiate and maintain a boarding sail maneuver in round 1, then be part of any number of actual boarding actions in round 2.

 

All this ALSO means we're pretty crap, as listed, for ramming, with only +2 overall.

 

None of this is set in stone. I could change An's whole suite of stunts, I don't care. Let's collaborate on how we want to do this, though, so no one ends up useless before or during combat.

[Jana]

Don't worry, I've been gone for the entire 3-day weekend too.

 

I wanted to make the alt-sheet based around gunning/crew-killing but I need to take a better look at the rules to figure out ho to do it effectively.

[Caspar]

^_^' I'd like to increase that stat as well but I don't think Virara has the background ICly for it as of yet. Would it be redundant for Virara to also be good at fighting? The things I aimed for were utility (notice) and boarding (her fight and two anti-crew stunts.)

[Khunbish Avagnar]

Just poking my head in, I'll catch up the reading later.

[Anstarra]

'tis a fine thing, being able to make new sheets for this. I may tweak An's some more before going into this all, make her more leadery and less fighty, leave most fite to my loyal thugs- er- companions.

[Anstarra]

Checking in, we're possibly doing our first ship event this Thursday evening! Unless NO ONE can make it. Reply quickly, GMs are eager to get rolling so some people might have to be subbed if they can't make it. Again, contingent on overall availability.

[LystAP]

I might be able to make Thursday, but I'm fine with being replaced if not.

[Caspar]

I am free then.

[Jana]

I *should* be free, if my car doesn't die between now and then.

[Anstarra]

Seems Klyn's not free Thurs, tonight, she's the one running the ship stuff. So. I offered upcoming Monday, we'll see who that's good for

[Martiallais]

Considering some RP things that've happened I'll need to either withdraw or bump Armand down from being the first crew member backup. >_>

[Caspar]

That should still be fine for me