Blueprints/Maps for sailing or oared ships

[bluesguy]

Eventually the characters in my campaign are going to be involved in traveling by ship. They will be going up and down rivers on barges (oared mostly) or on larger bodies of water via sailing ships. Will the Hero System Vehicle Sourcebook or The Ultimate Vehicle help me out that much? I have looked at some other threads about sailing ships.

[mattingly]

Re: Blueprints/Maps for sailing or oared ships

 

The Vehicle Sourcebook has some ship write-ups, but no maps.

 

There was an old (1st Ed?) Fantasy Hero book called Vikings, that I think had some maps in it.

[Old Man]

Re: Blueprints/Maps for sailing or oared ships

 

If you mean the Rolemaster Campaign Classics books, I think both Pirates and Vikings had diagrams, but not deck plans per se. I might be able to check later. It's been a while since I pulled those out.

[Barwickian]

Re: Blueprints/Maps for sailing or oared ships

 

As mentioned, TUV and HSVS provide game stats for vehicles, not plans. There are some sailing ships between them, though not many.

 

Are you after real plans or fictional/fantasy ones?

 

For real plans, Britain's National Maritime Museum has hundreds [link]. You might also google for nautical archaeology if you're looking for older vessels.

 

I did a little work as a digger on some 17th/18th-century river barges known as Humber Keels a number of years ago; if I can find the archaeology report, that may be useful. Those barges weren't oared, though, and finding those old notes may not be easy. They're sail=powered, rather than oared, but it should give you a good idea of one form of pre-industrial barge. I can't find the old excavation report right now, but here's a plan of later version, near identical to the ones we were working on [link]

 

For fantasy ship plans, Flying Buffalo's old Citybook III: Port of Call has three, I think, with ships and crews detailed. The Pilots' Almanac for Harn/Harnmaster has plans for around 30 medieval-ish boats and ships, ranging from riverboats through Viking longships, through cogs, carracks and massive trade galleys.

[tiger]

Re: Blueprints/Maps for sailing or oared ships

 

0one games has some PDF of blueprint of ships as well

[Old Man]

Re: Blueprints/Maps for sailing or oared ships

 

Plans are one thing, but does anyone have a link to a good, very basic guide to ship operation for gaming purposes? As in when to raise or furl which sails, how to deploy a jib, trimming sails depending on wind direction relative to the boat, what rope to cut to drop a yardarm, which ropes you might be able to swing from, where you might find a peg or axe handy to bash your enemies with...

[bluesguy]

Re: Blueprints/Maps for sailing or oared ships

 

Thank you. I will get back to everyone when I get somethings worked up.

[Cancer]

Re: Blueprints/Maps for sailing or oared ships

 

Old thread on similar topic

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Blueprints/Maps for sailing or oared ships

 

Plans are one thing' date=' but does anyone have a link to a good, very basic guide to ship operation for gaming purposes? As in when to raise or furl which sails, how to deploy a jib, trimming sails depending on wind direction relative to the boat, what rope to cut to drop a yardarm, which ropes you might be able to swing from, where you might find a peg or axe handy to bash your enemies with...[/quote']

 

I've got basic ideas from having watched movies and read books, but not enough to be considered an authority. A book like that would be an awesome game resource though.

 

Thinking about it, I've used writer's guides as fodder for gaming details before...I wonder if there's a writer's guide to sailing ships....

[bluesguy]

Re: Blueprints/Maps for sailing or oared ships

 

I did some downloading of files and research on the information that everyone posted. The Humber Keel is exactly the river barge I was looking for. The main rivers in the immediate campaign area are very wide. But the source book said barges were rowed up and down the river. That seemed crazy to me but I don't know anything about boats/ships at all. Thank you so much Andy!

 

I also went to DriveThruStuff and got a number of PDFs that will meet my needs.

[Barwickian]

Re: Blueprints/Maps for sailing or oared ships

 

Plans are one thing' date=' but does anyone have a link to a good, very basic guide to ship operation for gaming purposes? As in when to raise or furl which sails, how to deploy a jib, trimming sails depending on wind direction relative to the boat, what rope to cut to drop a yardarm, which ropes you might be able to swing from, where you might find a peg or axe handy to bash your enemies with...[/quote']

 

It varies drastically depending on the type of vessel, the rig, the wind and the capabilities of the hull. Very little is basic when it comes to moving multi-masted ships by wind.

 

Assuming you're talking of late 18th to early 19th century ships (Napoleonic/War of 1812), I recommend:

 

1) Any of the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. Napoleonic ship operations manuals disguised as historical fiction. I recommend starting with Master and Commander [link].

 

2) A Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor by Darcy Lever [link]. This IS a ship operations manual of the period, reprinted by Dover.

 

3) Patrick O'Brian's Navy: The Illustrated Companion to Jack Aubrey's World [link] Full-colour coffee table book, packed with information, plans, illustrations. How to sail them, life on board, ships in battle and more. Highly recommended.