Two and a half years ago, I was working on a naval combat system, when I was interrupted by life changes and other things. At the time, the project was ballooning in size and keeping track of the wiki pages, as well as what content went on which page, was getting out of hand. I could feel I had bitten off more than I could chew, and that I would have to retreat and reorganize.
This week, between other projects, I've been reviewing my original content and figuring out a better way to manage the complexity of rules and details associated with naval waterborne adventures. It isn't straight forward stuff; there are so many elements at play. But I feel I have a management scheme in place and I have tentatively begun making new pages on the wiki. This Naval Combat page would be the new opening index.
Anything that is tagged "naval warfare" is the old work. The new work is tagged "naval combat." For those visiting the wiki, you may find numerous blank pages; that is because, to keep track, I am creating files in word that mirror files in the wiki, so that I can more easily manage the rules as a single concept as well as isolated wiki pages.
It would seem to be slower, but I think I've got that problem licked also.
I hope to have a practical, rational naval combat system built that anyone can use within a few months, if I can keep my focus. I have built the frame; mostly, at this point, I just need to translate it into a D&D setting.
Somehow, I doubt that anyone would ever use it; or that I will use it. Though I do plan on figuring out how to run a test playing session on the blog at some point.
Working on stuff like this is therapy. We've been going over our financial situation, the money we saved over the last six months and the help we're receiving from Patreon, plus book sales, plus isolated donations and another project I'm not ready to unveil, and it looks like we're going to be fine. So long as nothing goes horribly wrong.
I have you, dear readers, to thank.
I'm looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteThe only naval combat systems I've seen that I like are the ones that simplify the DND rules to one page, but only because I think it is better to use an extremely abstract system than to create a detailed system that is arbitrary and poorly researched.
I'm excited to see this develop. I've tried my hand at naval combat rules and simply ended with a muddle - nothing I'd ever want my players to see.
ReplyDeleteHere's me raising my coffee cup to you in the hopes that nothing goes terribly wrong, man!
ReplyDelete: )
I have also started to draft naval combat rules in the past and abandoned the project for a lack of immediate need and the pressing of other needs which were immediate.
ReplyDeleteAs a sailor, I've been disappointed with attempts at this that I've seen in the past, but I'm excited to see where you go with it. Perhaps I'll be inspired to take up my own attempt again.
Yes, I can see the sailing aspect on your avatar, Sterling, and I know you're up in the northeast, sailing country. I'm a lubber myself; but I believe in reading and I think you might be somewhat satisfied with my approach (or rather, wooden ships and iron man's approach). I believe I have solved the hardest difficulty; how do you manage the movement of the ship AND the movement of little tiny people on board the ships at the same time. I also think I've solved the hit system. If you're not familiar with WSIM, the old game Star Fleet Battles used a similar method for resolving hits to hulls/weapons/crew.
ReplyDelete