Hey all!
So I ran a one and a half shot recently with heavy Innsmouth vibes and ended up with the party summoning a Spelljammer from the waves and hurtling into the writhing tentacles of a Nautiloid which had also risen from the depths.
We didn’t play out the combat, but it got us thinking and after the session (as often happens) we chatted about what we might do next.
We stumbled into the idea of playing the crew of a fantasy version of a submarine, a spelljammer in deep space or a vessel in the deep sea (pretty interchangable I think) tasked with hunting down and killing gigantic horrors of the dark.
This idea has grabbed our imagination and now I’m trying to see if we can whip together some kind of simple mechanics or gameloop to simulate the tense “silent running mode” cat and mouse feeling of sub hunters with the big scale enemies of like Shadow of the Colossus.
Any thoughts?
Any old school mechanics that might help or systems that might be fertile ground for rules pilfering?
Wow! It sounds awesome! I would probably start with some simple naval rules (as in Expert) or elsewhere and then bolt on mechanics or procedures for anything that comes up, using Spelljammer for inspiration. I find Spelljammer itself gets way too caught up in a bunch of crunch that kill the fun of it. I think I’d rather work from something simple and add crunch as needed than try to distill simplicity from Spelljammer’s messiness.
I found an article or two summarizing naval combats through the editions, but the more I researched the creatures living in the depths of the ocean and listened to some good ol nautical horror stories on youtube I think I want a game experience that doesn’t put the players in the role of adventurers, but more in the tense role of pushing their luck exploring the briny deep.
Marking off AIR and FUEL each round, and having their SANITY challenged.
Can you capture something worth the risk and haul it back to shore? If you can you might be able to upgrade the ship enough to go deeper next time.
And so I’ve gone off the deep end and started trying to get some mechanics together that let the players operate parts of the sub to operate different features of a weirdo water vessel with ocean monster parts grafted on.
Here’s some battlemaps I used for our dockside oneshot as well because WHY NOT?!
One nice thing about a sub, and ships to lesser degrees, is that there are more rigid roles that players can take on. You can’t both be at the listening station and at the con or at the con and at the helm, etc. There isn’t the sort of overlap that you find in overland travel.
That said, adventuring is all about going into dangerous places and surviving to bring something back, whether from dungeons, caves, and castles or the deep shelves of bottomless depths. The added currency with submarine adventures is air which, having played through a Traveller dungeoncrawl, is no small consideration and it can add a lot of tension!
The sanity piece comes from how much horror you want to inject wherever you are. It sounds like the deep sea gets those horror juices flowing for you so you should absolutely embrace them!
EDIT:
I REALLY love that last map. What tools did you use? Those textures are awesome!
I did those maps in Procreate on my iPad.
The last one was just using some of the built in texture brushes and the organic shape selection tool to kind of block in the coastline.
Still chipping away at this idea when I get the time, spent some time noodling around designing a cover image as well. Mostly trying to get the flavor of the setting communicated.
A massive heap of wrecked ships and spindly walkways snagged upon a jagged reef. Mildewed sails and torn rigging have been repurposed into a ramshackle port town, weathering the Endless Squall.
For the levels, are there more flavorful, thematic names for them than just lowest, middle, main, top? Are there naval/ship nomenclature terms that you can borrow instead?
oh there’s totally gotta be some more evocative names. probably need to list out a few useful locations on them as well.
I’m trying to sort out how a game would play where basically your character is kind of a randomly generated shmuck and it’s more about deciding on your submarine actions together, getting deeper and deeper.
From one of the better answers we get some good info. First up is a list of ranks.
Ranks
Ensign (ENS)
Lieutenant, Junior Grade (LTJG)
Lieutenant (LT)
Lieutenant Commander (LCDR)
Commander/Commodore (CDR)
Rear Admiral (RADM)
Vice Admiral (VADM)
Admiral (ADM)
Next up, they list up the different duties.
Duties
Baker (Bkr): Operate ovens. Do any kind of baking.
Boatswain’s Mate (BM): Work with canvas and hoisting with block and tackle. Handle rope, wire, and anchor chain. Handle power and sail boats. Steer ship and chart courses. Direct salvage.
Commissary Steward (CS): Supervise ship’s galley.
Cook (Ck): Take charge of galley.
Coxswain (COX): Work with canvas and handle boats. Know signaling.
Electrician’s Mate (EM): Use electrical tools and repair electrical equipment. Charge storage batteries. Wind armatures. Stand watch on main gyrocompass and in main control room of electrically driven ships. Repair telephone circuits. Apply first aid in case of electrical shock.
Fire Controlman (FC): Stow, inspect and repair fire control instruments. Take charge of fire control equipment. Know electricity - A.C. and D.C. Man fire control stations.
Fire Controlman S (FCS): Submarine fire controlman.
Fireman (F): Operate, adjust and repair pumps.
Gunner’s Mate (GM): Take charge of gun and crew. Assemble and fire all types of guns. Handle ammunition. Handle mines and depth charges.
Machinist (MACH) or Machinist’s Mate (MM): Operate main and auxiliary engines. Adjust, repair, and overhaul engines. Be familiar with ship’s drainage systems, distilling plants, evaporators and pumps.
Mess Attendant (MATT)
Motor Machinist’s Mate (MoMM): Operate machine tools. Operate and maintain internal combustion engines and engine auxiliaries. Knowledge of pressure and air systems. Be familiar with electrical apparatus.
Officer’s Cook (OC)
Pharmacist’s Mate (PhM): Take charge of sick bay. Do minor surgery and administer simple medicines.
Quartermaster (QM): Steer ship and take soundings. Use range finder. Plot bearings. Know signal control and navigation. Send and receive International Code by blinker, searchlight and semaphore.
Radarman (RdM): Stand radar watch and operate radar equipment.
Radio Electrician (RE)
Radio Technician (RT): Maintain radio equipment.
Radioman (RM): Transmit and receive radio messages. Encipher and decipher messages.
Seaman (S): Know naval drill duties, knots, steering and signaling. Stand watch and gunnery duties.
Ship’s Cook (SC): Supervise and prepare cooking.
Signalman (SM): Stand signal watch on bridge. Identify flags. Use blinker, searchlight and semaphore. Use range finder, searchlights, signal apparatus.
Steward (St): Take charge of mess arrangements.
Steward’s Mate (StM): Serve at table in officers’ mess.
Storekeeper (SK): Take charge of ship’s storeroom. Issue and account for stock and clothing.
Torpedoman’s Mate ™: Lubricate, assemble, charge and fire torpedoes. Lay mines and drop depth charges.
Warrant Officer (WO)
Yeoman: Take charge of ship’s office. Take dictation, write Navy letters. Prepare reports and keep personnel records.
In the same thread is a slightly simplified list:
EM= Electrician Mate
EN= Engineman
ET= Electronic Technician
FN= Fireman ( a striker for a below deck rate such as EN (ENFN)
CS= Commissary steward (Cook)
FN= Fireman ( a striker for a below deck rate such as EN (ENFN)
GM= Gunner’s Mate
MoMM= Motor Machinist’s Mate (called Auxiliaryman)
RM= Radioman
SC= Ship’s Cook
SO= Sonarman
SN= Seaman (or a striker for a above deck rate such as TM (TMSN)
TM= Torpedoman
QM= Quartermaster
YN= Yeoman
I had to look up what *strikers for rates" meant and I found a breakdown of terms that might be useful:
Rating – This is a sailor’s specialty in the Navy. Think of this like the modern MOS system in other services. Sailors who have a rating are considered “rated men.”
Rate – For the lay person, think of rate as rank. But, officially and still true today, officers in the Navy have rank and the enlisted have rates.
Paygrade – This is the level of pay a sailor made. Unlike today, paygrades did not necessarily correlate to rate and varied by rating. Paygrades were numbered with the 1st paygrade being the highest in pay.
Nonrated – A sailor without a specialty rating, usually within the first three paygrades. Sometimes referred to as unrated.
Striking – The process of an unrated sailor learning a rating through on-the-job training. A sailor in this program is considered a ‘striker.’
Branch – Navy specialties during WWII were grouped into seven branches: Seaman, Engine Room Force, Artificer, Aviation, Special, Commissary, and Messman & Steward. A sort of eighth branch for Specialists was temporarily created for specialties not covered by current rates to meet wartime needs.
Here’s the description of branches:
The Seaman branch comprised of what sailors today call ‘topside’ ratings, such as Gunner’s Mates and Boatswain’s Mates. The Artificer branch included ratings that repaired or manufactured things, such as Carpenter’s Mates and Painters, but also included other technical rates like Radiomen and Radarmen. The Engine Room Force was filled with rates specifically related to the operation engines and machinery that kept the fleet powered and moving. The Special branch included support ratings, such as Pharmacist’s Mates, Yeomen and Storekeepers. Commissary branch specifically comprised of food service for the crew, whereas the Messman/Steward branch was focused solely on officer’s wardroom support. The Aviation branch is, of course, focused on the handling of aircraft, but do know that Photographer’s Mates were also a part of this section because the Navy initially used photographers for air reconnaissance. Lastly, the Specialist branch covers every other odd-end technical rating created during the war that didn’t quite fit within the other existing ratings. Overall, a few ratings did shift from one place to another, but the majority of them stayed in the same branch throughout the war.
I think the whole article might be a good read. There are some really gameable ideas that you could explore.
