Interest in a Universal Pirates Story Setting?

[Lord Admiral Helden Ravensdorn]

G'day sirs,

I have started this thread to find out if there is interest in a Universal Story Setting - Namely, my Pirates of the Archipalego project.

Basically, what I am proposing here is a fictional setting where the wooden ships and iron men of all the various members of the Pirate community can gather, meet each other, and interact. A world that is theirs for the taking, a place of discovery and wonder. A place where they will be forced to face each other and other threats completely out of their control, and create their own stories within the Story Setting.

This world would have 8 factions in which you could sign your ships and men under:

1 The British

2 The French

3 The Spanish

4 The Americans

5 The Pirates (duh)

6 The Dogs of War (Freelancers, privateers, anything that isnt straight out Pirates)

7 The Islanders

8 The Otherworldly (Ghost ships, sea monsters, the works.)

Each would, in the overall, be working toward their own ends, but there would be tons of room for the individual person to have his Lego Pirates explore, conquer, plunder, and fight. Simply because most of the islands are settled does not mean that the Archipalego isnt a savage land, after all.

The point of the effort overall would be to promote activity in the Pirate community, add a focus to peoples storys and ships, and generally be overall fun for everybody to basically create a world from scratch.

What do you think, me lads? Drink up, me heartys, yo ho!

- Helden

[Mister Phes]

Lord Admiral Helden Ravensburg, if you get succifient interest how would you go about managing this? Would there be certain rules participants would need to abide by to prevent things from getting out of hand. I.e. I started a Pirate roleplaying game last year but the rules weren't strict enough and in the end there were dragons and steam punk tanks in the storyline. Needless to say I opted out because it was getting too ridiculous.

Also, how is your Pirates of the Archipalego project progressing?

[SkaForHire]

G'day sirs,

I have started this thread to find out if there is interest in a Universal Story Setting - Namely, my Pirates of the Archipalego project.

Basically, what I am proposing here is a fictional setting where the wooden ships and iron men of all the various members of the Pirate community can gather, meet each other, and interact. A world that is theirs for the taking, a place of discovery and wonder. A place where they will be forced to face each other and other threats completely out of their control, and create their own stories within the Story Setting.

This world would have 8 factions in which you could sign your ships and men under:

1 The British

2 The French

3 The Spanish

4 The Americans

5 The Pirates (duh)

6 The Dogs of War (Freelancers, privateers, anything that isnt straight out Pirates)

7 The Islanders

8 The Otherworldly (Ghost ships, sea monsters, the works.)

Each would, in the overall, be working toward their own ends, but there would be tons of room for the individual person to have his Lego Pirates explore, conquer, plunder, and fight. Simply because most of the islands are settled does not mean that the Archipalego isnt a savage land, after all.

The point of the effort overall would be to promote activity in the Pirate community, add a focus to peoples storys and ships, and generally be overall fun for everybody to basically create a world from scratch.

What do you think, me lads? Drink up, me heartys, yo ho!

- Helden

I think you know my answer... couple questions....

How would it be organized?

also, obviously you want people to play a couple different factions if possible, would there be a specific "leader" of the more organized factions like the brits and the spanish? and how would that be determined

Also, say i have a storyline already in mind (ie the legowind straits background my stories follow now) would that just become part of the archipalego, or would it be like next to it or something? or does everything have to happen in the archipalego, which I assume you are making a map of?

just some things to kick around...

Also... what if my spanish wanted to attack someone elses brits, how would this be handled? random dice roll by a third party?

i hope you can garnish support, this would be fun.

[Lord Admiral Helden Ravensdorn]

I think you know my answer... couple questions....

Seeing as your post is the one that sparked this topic, I think I may :P

How would it be organized?

Thats what i've yet to figure out. But rest assured, I will make sure it doesnt suck.

also, obviously you want people to play a couple different factions if possible, would there be a specific "leader" of the more organized factions like the brits and the spanish? and how would that be determined

Of course! I wasnt thinking one faction per person. You could enter as many factions as you like!

Yes, a leader of at least some of those 8 factions would probably be neccesary, to do two jobs:

First: Moderate his faction (as in, no people entering steam-power octupi or something)

Second: Act as narrator/organizer of his faction, working with the people in it for storyline effectiveness of that faction.

Qualifications for this job? More of a sense of duty then Jack Sparrow has, and as good an imagination and disposition as Jack Sparrow has. Historical knowlage would also almost have to be a must for the leaders of factions such as the Americans, Spanish, French and British.

Also, say i have a storyline already in mind (ie the legowind straits background my stories follow now) would that just become part of the archipalego, or would it be like next to it or something? or does everything have to happen in the archipalego, which I assume you are making a map of?

Hm, a most intriguing question, I must say. I suppose this wouuld be up to the disgression of the originator: Phase his story location into the Archipalego itself, or have it as an outside force with units operating within the Archipalego?

just some things to kick around...

Also... what if my spanish wanted to attack someone elses brits, how would this be handled? random dice roll by a third party?

A most difficult question, this one. I would have to say that some manner of 3rd-party dice rolling system would have to be developed. Basically, I wouldnt want the outcome of the battle to be decided on a simple toin coss.

Hear me out, mates. What I am thinking along this subject is basically a "Battle mod" to be the neutral 3rd party. I will think on a way to come up with something simple yet realistic - Sailing ship battles are NOT easy things. One must take into concideration wind, ships, crew training, and the tactical thinking of commanders in question. Something that would'nt be overly complex or boring or aggrivating but could take all these into account.

i hope you can garnish support, this would be fun.

Aye it would be mate!

Lord Admiral Helden Ravensburg, if you get succifient interest how would you go about managing this? Would there be certain rules participants would need to abide by to prevent things from getting out of hand. I.e. I started a Pirate roleplaying game last year but the rules weren't strict enough and in the end there were dragons and steam punk tanks in the storyline. Needless to say I opted out because it was getting too ridiculous.

In a nutshell, yes.

Obviously, era-specific guidelines would have to be enforced, such as "Nothing steam powered", "Mythical creatures at the disgression of the Otherwordly Faction mod"

Basically, whatever is needed to keep the project as a whole focused without choking creativity or letting too much flotsam in.

Also, how is your Pirates of the Archipalego project progressing?

Well enough, still working on the site. *Lots* of updated background info :)

[SkaForHire]

too many quotes to quote...

If you want, to lighten the burden i can figure out the combat system for this.

I would offer my services as a mod / commander as i feel i fit the description, however it all depends on how much effort has to be put towards this, beacause i need to limit commitments due to the work both my masters programs put on me.

[Mister Phes]

You lads are coming out with some interesting ideas so we can't let them go to waste.

It would be good if we could find someway of combining the ideas in this thread, Skaforhire's Fleet Listing? Army Listing? thread, Dreamweb's Treasure Map thread and Tole's Suggestion thread.

The only problem I have is when someone comes up with an idea, is really enthusiastic about it for a month then completely drops it because they can't be bothered anymore. I want to entertain as many ideas as possible and I accept that people get busy and have important things in life but I can't support someone that won't follow through.

[Lord Admiral Helden Ravensdorn]

RE-READ THIS POST, YOU MAY NOT HAVE SEEN THE FINAL VERSION OF IT

You lads are coming out with some interesting ideas so we can't let them go to waste.

It would be good if we could find someway of combining the ideas in this thread, Skaforhire's Fleet Listing? Army Listing? thread, Dreamweb's Treasure Map thread and Tole's Suggestion thread.

The only problem I have is when someone comes up with an idea, is really enthusiastic about it for a month then completely drops it because they can't be bothered anymore. I want to entertain as many ideas as possible and I accept that people get busy and have important things in life but I can't support someone that won't follow through.

Which is, incedentally, why I am here.

Let me tell you a story. About three years ago, there was a boy who liked Lego Castle. This boy found Lugnet, and they became great friends. First, this boy made a lot of noise and stirred up alot of discussion and debate, which, in a chain-reaction, led to the re-vitalization and re-organization of .Castle. The boy then lost interest. About a year later, the boy saw The Two Towers, and came back. This time the discussion he stirred helped in the creation of www.classic-castle.com, particularly the "games" section. He even spent about a year trying to make a castle game for publishment on .Castle! However, after so many failures, he declined to be moderator, a place now filled by... um... whats-his-face. Anyway, He came back one or two more times, promising great things, from games to MoC's to whatnot. But he always lost interest and never followed what he said through.

Since then, he has always felt that he owed something to the LEGO community for what he promised and never delivered.

Which is, as I said, why I am here. Sure, its a completely different theme on a different forum with none of the origional people anymore, but I am determined to repay my debt to the LEGO community in some way.

I am here to stay, and I will follow through on my promises.

Anyhow, I will edit this further once I check those links out up there... C'mon, scroll buttons, dont let me down now!

EDIT: Well, they all look good, thats for sure. I have declined posting in fleet listing seeing as I havnt even finished rebuilding the one ship I own, and I certainly dont have an army.

As for maps, I would have to say that we should keep the map reliativly vague to allow maximum origionality on the part of the players. Basically, I see it as a world where players could, essentially, conquer an island and then fill in all the details themselves. Only places like Port Cochraine and the iron mines of Cortimer would have that level of detail to begin with.

And Toles Suggestion - If we can get the UPSS off the ground and get a fair sized player base, this is, as I said, almost a must. Just think of it as someones personal pirate blog with their own statistics. If you ever want to do that, I could work up a format people could use.

The combat system: Lets see what you've got, Ska! Just as long as you can take commentary and suggestions - Among other things, I am also a pretty veteran warhammer player :P

Basically, what I am seeing here is at least one sub-forum dedicated to this. All the essentials could be in stickys at the top, and the game itself run in multiple threads within the sub-forum.

Just remember that the goal is to make something thats quick, fun and easy to play without allowing room to go out-of-character, such as with the aforementioned steam vessels. Also, I believe we may have lay down some guidelines so as to keep the ships in roughly some kind of realistic format.

To further this end, I am already thinking on a post to put up that would cite how real historical ships were built, looked, were run, etc etc.

I was thinking, for ease of the combat system, we could use this system on the ships:

My ship ranking:

Frigate: 3 middle hull sections, wide, 3 masts, 4 Cannon

Large Sloop: 2 Middle Sections, wide, 3 masts, 3 Cannon

Small Sloop: 2 Middle Sections, Skinny, 3 masts, 3 Rotating Cannon

Large Brig: 1 Middle Section, wide, 2 masts, 2 Cannon or 2 Rotating cannon

Small Brig: 1 Middle Section, Skinny, 2 masts, 2 Rotating Cannon

Large Schooner: No middle section, Wide, 1 mast, 2 Cannon or 1 rotating cannon

Small Schooner: No middle section, Skinny, 1 Mast, 1 rotating cannon

Rotating cannon means the setup on the Armada Flagship.

Cannon rating is "guns per side" or Rotating.

This would allow for ease of combat pluses and minuses in combat, but could limit creativity for those of you who like mounting tons of cannon on ships. On the other hand, it DOES give a realistic designation to the ships.

- Helden

[SuvieD]

Well I am all for fun and doing things together to increase it.

If you want something good you need to do things right. The problem with the internet is that so many people want things "their" way and unless you have huge and strict rules it is hard to govern such a story.

Isle of Mist failed for numerous reasons. Any project in which you let too many hands into it will ruin it. You need a leader for this. Someone who lets the players have fun and get involved but lets them know what is utterly unacceptable, and when they are going too far. Sort of like a cowboy does with his cattle. Let them graze and keep them moving to the next water source while not letting them run wild or get into trouble.

It is easy to be biased, pick favorites, exclude people or simply use your position to furthur your own agenda. Any of these can and will decrease the number of people interested in playing along or even joining in the first place.

My suggestions.

1. Start a "game" by yourself and possibly a few other people who are interested. Don't open it up to eveyone at first. Start something and see if it goes anywhere and if people are interested.

2. Make short concise rules that anyone can understand and follow. Rules that limit freedom enough to keep the story in control but open enough that anyone can join. I personally recommend that you disallow any type of magic, make it so that monsters (like dragons) are not controlable, no one gets to be higher ranked than a ship captain or small town mayor and you as the game master (or whomever gets that role) has the final say in what is allowed or not. Keep it simple remember, things like magic and rulers muk everything up.

3. Allow others to join and leave when they feel like it.

4. Encourage people to build and photograph MOCs and create characters for the story. It will make things more interesting to look at and people can interact better with visuals.

5. Make it fun. Don't be too serious. You obviosly don't want it to be silly but you need to have fun and be funny. School and work are usually boring and unwanted. Make this something that people enjoy doing, not a chore or obligation they have to do. Remember what is fun for you is not fun for everyone, try and find a middle ground.

To recap

Good idea.

Needs a leader.

Start small.

Make rules.

Open enrollment.

Encourage more than text.

Have fun.

Best wishes and good luck!

[Lord Admiral Helden Ravensdorn]

Well I am all for fun and doing things together to increase it.

If you want something good you need to do things right. The problem with the internet is that so many people want things "their" way and unless you have huge and strict rules it is hard to govern such a story.

Aye, i've had numerous experiences with this... -_-

Isle of Mist failed for numerous reasons. Any project in which you let too many hands into it will ruin it. You need a leader for this. Someone who lets the players have fun and get involved but lets them know what is utterly unacceptable, and when they are going too far. Sort of like a cowboy does with his cattle. Let them graze and keep them moving to the next water source while not letting them run wild or get into trouble.

Exactly.

It is easy to be biased, pick favorites, exclude people or simply use your position to furthur your own agenda. Any of these can and will decrease the number of people interested in playing along or even joining in the first place.

Then I guess its a good thing that I am not a victim of nor user of any of said problems then, aye? ;P :P

My suggestions.

1. Start a "game" by yourself and possibly a few other people who are interested. Don't open it up to eveyone at first. Start something and see if it goes anywhere and if people are interested.

Due to the small size of the current Pirate community, this would probably happen anyway :P

2. Make short concise rules that anyone can understand and follow. Rules that limit freedom enough to keep the story in control but open enough that anyone can join. I personally recommend that you disallow any type of magic, make it so that monsters (like dragons) are not controlable, no one gets to be higher ranked than a ship captain or small town mayor and you as the game master (or whomever gets that role) has the final say in what is allowed or not. Keep it simple remember, things like magic and rulers muk everything up.

Exactly - These are *Pirates* after all. Not wizards and knights and magicians and all that nonsuch.

The trouble, of course, is making sure not to go too far, such as probably my Ship Ranking Sheet there, while still not allowing loopholes or anything uncharactersitc and unwanted.

3. Allow others to join and leave when they feel like it.

Aye... any other way would lead to discontent and thats no good for anyone..

4. Encourage people to build and photograph MOCs and create characters for the story. It will make things more interesting to look at and people can interact better with visuals.

Aye - A difficult thing to incorperate, though.

5. Make it fun. Don't be too serious. You obviosly don't want it to be silly but you need to have fun and be funny. School and work are usually boring and unwanted. Make this something that people enjoy doing, not a chore or obligation they have to do. Remember what is fun for you is not fun for everyone, try and find a middle ground.

Agreed on all points, mate! Luckily being something of a Napoleonic Era historical junkie, I should be able to lay it down so there is plenty of room for creativity and imagination while keeping it period correct.

To recap

Good idea.

Agreed. ;)

Needs a leader.

Seeing as I started the whole mess, that'd probably be me.

Start small.

Inescapably

Make rules.

I'll get to work right away ^_^

Open enrollment.

Eventually.

Encourage more than text.

Even grammatically correct text!

Have fun.

Aye!

Best wishes and good luck!

Thankee, me hearty.

[Tordenskjold]

im not very good at this and not quite sure i understand what Lord Ravensburg mean. do you mean that we use our own moc's in a roleplay style game or? like: i use my frigate and sail to some islands in the horisont that i know nothing about. and on that islands some other of us have buildt their port and forts etc snd so he tell me what i found there?

would be fun if i could have "visitors" in my part of the pirate world, that they could use my pirate inn or take refuge under the protection of my black fortress. but not sure if that what Ravensburg mean

[Lord Admiral Helden Ravensdorn]

im not very good at this and not quite sure i understand what Lord Ravensburg mean. do you mean that we use our own moc's in a roleplay style game or? like: i use my frigate and sail to some islands in the horisont that i know nothing about. and on that islands some other of us have buildt their port and forts etc snd so he tell me what i found there?

would be fun if i could have "visitors" in my part of the pirate world, that they could use my pirate inn or take refuge under the protection of my black fortress. but not sure if that what Ravensburg mean

Think MMORPG that allows you to not only explore the world and interact with other people, but shape the world as well. So yes, the scenario of sailing to an unknown island, finding another player there, and then the two sides interact is just about correct.

Now, how to set it up is the problem :P

- The Lord Admiral

[Tordenskjold]

Think MMORPG that allows you to not only explore the world and interact with other people, but shape the world as well. So yes, the scenario of sailing to an unknown island, finding another player there, and then the two sides interact is just about correct.

Now, how to set it up is the problem :P

- The Lord Admiral

that sound like a lot of fun. or something that goes out of control fast. some of us have a strong feelings for being true to the same style as in the org LEGO sets. while others try to be as realistic as possible. so a SES which is big in the org style is small and have to few guns to match a moc line ship like SR. but lets not look negative on this :-)

one thing we can do for a start is to make a lot of maps. if we do that we can have control over the world, then you cant have a island that is "custom buildt" so that no other have any chance of conquer it or something like that. if islands or land was set, then there would be less chance of arguments over that at least. i like playing and making maps, so i could try to produce some for you if you want . can use some of the islands here in my district as a model :-) its over 300 small islands and bigger ones in this county alonne :-D

[SkaForHire]

RE-READ THIS POST, YOU MAY NOT HAVE SEEN THE FINAL VERSION OF IT

I can't support someone that won't follow through.

As for maps, I would have to say that we should keep the map reliativly vague to allow maximum origionality on the part of the players. Basically, I see it as a world where players could, essentially, conquer an island and then fill in all the details themselves. Only places like Port Cochraine and the iron mines of Cortimer would have that level of detail to begin with.

And Toles Suggestion - If we can get the UPSS off the ground and get a fair sized player base, this is, as I said, almost a must. Just think of it as someones personal pirate blog with their own statistics. If you ever want to do that, I could work up a format people could use.

The combat system: Lets see what you've got, Ska! Just as long as you can take commentary and suggestions - Among other things, I am also a pretty veteran warhammer player :P

Just remember that the goal is to make something thats quick, fun and easy to play without allowing room to go out-of-character, such as with the aforementioned steam vessels. Also, I believe we may have lay down some guidelines so as to keep the ships in roughly some kind of realistic format.

To further this end, I am already thinking on a post to put up that would cite how real historical ships were built, looked, were run, etc etc.

I was thinking, for ease of the combat system, we could use this system on the ships:

My ship ranking:

Frigate: 3 middle hull sections, wide, 3 masts, 4 Cannon

Large Sloop: 2 Middle Sections, wide, 3 masts, 3 Cannon

Small Sloop: 2 Middle Sections, Skinny, 3 masts, 3 Rotating Cannon

Large Brig: 1 Middle Section, wide, 2 masts, 2 Cannon or 2 Rotating cannon

Small Brig: 1 Middle Section, Skinny, 2 masts, 2 Rotating Cannon

Large Schooner: No middle section, Wide, 1 mast, 2 Cannon or 1 rotating cannon

Small Schooner: No middle section, Skinny, 1 Mast, 1 rotating cannon

Rotating cannon means the setup on the Armada Flagship.

Cannon rating is "guns per side" or Rotating.

This would allow for ease of combat pluses and minuses in combat, but could limit creativity for those of you who like mounting tons of cannon on ships. On the other hand, it DOES give a realistic designation to the ships.

- Helden

I didn't read any posts under this one yet so here is a response to Helden's post

First to phes, i never said i would not participate, just said real life may get in the way from time to time and not allow me to be a leader or mod for a faction, i will msot certainly contribute and play

Helden, I will whip something up maybe in the next week or so... I am more then up to the task, let me give you a little background... lol

1)i also have been an avid 40k player (have thousands and thousands of points of armies now, and no one to play with lol!)

2)I have played many many different games from table top to wargame to board game.

3)I have a couple totally finished boardgame prototypes and am trying to find the capital to launch a game company along with a friend.

4) i am in the midst of creating a lego war game on the scale of brikwars... with Mecha and pirate subgames.

... i list these because I want you to know i have alot of experience with wargaming, and also with writing rules... i can take critisism... not to mention I am a Naval Historian :P

Onto ships...

I like mounting alot of cannons lol... i think we could still work with that... as in if extra cannons gave weight and slowed the ship down... there is many possibilities. if you made them cost prohibiting also it could help to balance.

I think your ship names need redone... sloops usually only have one mast! :P and schooners refer to the rigging type of a ship. (consequently the SES is not a schooner at all) schooners should be sloops, and the sloops you have listed should just be ships. then again since nautical terms can be trickey, if those ships were warships they could be called sloops of war... lol... anyway, i was just thinking that they should be named by number of masts....

It will be easier designating these through the combat system i think... if you want to let me have a shot at it.

also, once you get into ships (3 masts or more) then perhaps we should make up a rating system like the royal Navy had...

Royal Navy Example for this (not a final, just an example!)

First rate 100 + guns 10+ cannons per side

2nd rate 90-100 guns 8 or 9 cannons per side

3rd rate 70-90 guns 6-7 cannons per side

4th rate 54-60 guns 4-5 cannons per side

5th rate 32 - 40 guns 3 cannons per side

I dont think we have to get smaller then that, because if you have a ship (3 masts) then you probably have more then 3 cannons per side... but these numbers can all be reworked, it is just an example. there is also the problem that many people can build brig type ships and have jsut as many guns lol... so the numbers probably need adjusted to be much higher, but again it is just an example. and just in case you wanted to know, 6th rate in the RN was 20 - 28 guns. Also the classic frigate was usually a 5th rate ship, but grew in guns towards the end of the age of sail.

sorry, just throwing a bunch of stuff out there. lol.

i will post more as i think of it.

[SkaForHire]

more suggestions....

1) combat should not be the orientation of the game, at least PC vrs PC. it should be available, yet not made to be the centerpiece... this is to avoid players ending up disliking each other in an already small community

to incorporate this there should be alot of islands available. this will allow players to go out and find their own treasure, adventure, what not... and to keep it from being limited to "I go conquer Helden's island X"

fostering cooperation would be ideal, so working together would be encouraged... especially if you were the same side.

also, perhaps and this may suck, the mod shouldn't play as a character. He or they would control the database, so that people could say ask to "explore sector A5" and then he would tell them, "ahoy, there be a small pirate outpost there!" And there could be NPCs that could give people a scened to set up for their visual presentation of the outcome of their meeting.... also a mod like this would help when players get mad at other players and decide they are going to go attack one another... the other player can keep "hidden" via telling the mod what sectors he has things hidden in.

actually i am going to stop right at that.... because perhaps i am getting ahead of the game.

I feel the original sentiment that it should be light, widely open for adventure, combat with others if nessasary, and foster MOCs and stories should be observed.

[Lord Admiral Helden Ravensdorn]

Another Wargamer and Naval junkie, eh?

Man after me own heart :) Or maby im after yours.

...

GET AWAY FROM MY HEART!

Ahem, back on topic...

- Helden

[Tordenskjold]

Hi skaforhire. i think you have to upnumber the guns. see the BRB. a big ship but with only 2 guns broadside my hint is to say about the size of SR is a first rate ship. the SR (Soleil Royal)design is not so good, but this thing should have room for a ship this big. in case someone actually get a chance to buildt a ship that big

and a 1. rate ship would not fight alone. so a moc builder would need more ships to get a seabattle right.

but a 4 and 5th rate could fight alone.

so a 3mast ship with about 5 gun broadside would be my choice for 5th rate and to make it easy, each rate up is 5 more guns like

1.rate 25guns

2.rate 20

3. rate 15

4 rate 10

5rate 5

5 guns means that you need more length of the hull. and therefore 3 mast would look better.

just my wiew of it

[Mister Phes]

At the beginning of this year I wrote the psuedo code for a game like this but never got it finished because university started. The game was as close to the SYSTEM Pirate theme as possible making full use of the actual sets. I was going to finish it in November.

[Lord Admiral Helden Ravensdorn]

In essence, gentlemen, I made my ranking list for two reasons:

First, these are *legos* with *lego* cannons. Lego cannons are about the size of a real-life 42-pounder. Since Legos are not realistic models anyway, I figured, why try to make a realistic cannon ratio? Why not just say they all have 42 pounders in ratio to their various sizes?

Secondly, in a realistic setting, they would not be using ships of the line to hunt out pirates. They most likely would have nothing larger then a frigate. Similarly, the Pirates would also have not much more then something the size of a frigate. And lastly, anything bigger then something about the size of an 80-gun ship of the line would be too deep on the draft for working in something like the Archipalego - The shallower the draft, the better.

[Tordenskjold]

why not my Lord. a 100 gunner with only 42pounders. imagine that broadside :-D

but i see your point.

a 42 pounder was foung only on the largest ships. and then in small numbers. as far as i remember the scandinavian navyies had 32 as their biggest gun

[SkaForHire]

In essence, gentlemen, I made my ranking list for two reasons:

First, these are *legos* with *lego* cannons. Lego cannons are about the size of a real-life 42-pounder. Since Legos are not realistic models anyway, I figured, why try to make a realistic cannon ratio? Why not just say they all have 42 pounders in ratio to their various sizes?

Secondly, in a realistic setting, they would not be using ships of the line to hunt out pirates. They most likely would have nothing larger then a frigate. Similarly, the Pirates would also have not much more then something the size of a frigate. And lastly, anything bigger then something about the size of an 80-gun ship of the line would be too deep on the draft for working in something like the Archipalego - The shallower the draft, the better.

i realized after i wrote all that junk... that it would be way to in depth.. though i kinda like the idea of classes going up every 5 guns.. we might even deal with the "ship" qualification for ratings that way those two masters that have more cannons can become rated... all depends i suppose.

[Lord Admiral Helden Ravensdorn]

Yup.

So, I do believe we have sufficient interest to get started creating it?

I'll be sending you a PM in a while here, Ska.

- Ravensburg

[SkaForHire]

Yup.

So, I do believe we have sufficient interest to get started creating it?

I'll be sending you a PM in a while here, Ska.

- Ravensburg

aye aye

[Tordenskjold]

Hope you dont mind Lord that i try to make some maps for this. if you like them you can use them. if you dont like them, well dont use them :-)

[Sean]

I'm going to take a risk of not trying to quote everything, so if anyone wonders what exactly I might be talking about, just go ahead and ask :-)

I have a couple questions that I couldn't quite answer by reading thus far.

First, I take it this is more designed for System ships, or at least a criteria based on those System ships, rather than large MOC ships?

Second, How much naval knowledge and prowess would it require to be able to sail around all piratey like in this game?

Third, Would it not be possible to trust each other in more of a 'free-form' sense to a point, and each player would kind of give and take to make a cool storyline? I think it was mentioned that solid rules are required for this to succeed on a large level, so I assume that this is indeed not possible.

Also, how strictly would we be basing this on a historical sense? I personally feel it may take a little fun out of it if it gets too aligned, seeing as we are playing with legos here. ;-)

God Bless, Sean

[Lord Admiral Helden Ravensdorn]

I'm going to take a risk of not trying to quote everything, so if anyone wonders what exactly I might be talking about, just go ahead and ask :-)

I have a couple questions that I couldn't quite answer by reading thus far.

First, I take it this is more designed for System ships, or at least a criteria based on those System ships, rather than large MOC ships?

I personally had origionally based it along the lines of System ships (per my ranking chart there). This, of course, brings up the problem of people who like doing MoCs to try to make it look like the real thing and people such as myself who like doing MoCs of a cool looking ship.

Second, How much naval knowledge and prowess would it require to be able to sail around all piratey like in this game?

Any knowlage required would be provided.

Third, Would it not be possible to trust each other in more of a 'free-form' sense to a point, and each player would kind of give and take to make a cool storyline? I think it was mentioned that solid rules are required for this to succeed on a large level, so I assume that this is indeed not possible.

Not quite sure what you're trying to get at here, but if its what I think you're saying... no. Mostly because a "Round Robin" kind of story set up usually leads to people putting something they like in, having other people take it away, and then everyone gets pissed. Much better to lay something solid down and let people build on that, IMHO

Also, how strictly would we be basing this on a historical sense? I personally feel it may take a little fun out of it if it gets too aligned, seeing as we are playing with legos here. ;-)

Basically, think Pirates of the Caribbean. Ghost ships? Yes. Giant steam-powered dreadnaughts? Dwarves and Elves? Aliens? No.

God Bless, Sean

-The Lord Admiral