Re: PC Fleets

> How do you tend to handle PC run fleets?  In one of
> the campaigns I ran I had a PC (in the Astromundi
> Cluster) capture a fairly large number of ships
> (roughly 12 hammer, squid, and dragonships) as well as
> a number of smaller blades and single person craft.
> He then took over a size A asteriod base (at least two
> days travel from any major trade route) from a clan of
> goblinoids.  He then began orchestrating the expansion
> of his empire.  Unfortunately the campaign dwindled
> before he got very much farther, but the topic on Big
> ships and their attendant fleets got me thinking about
> it again.  How do the other GMs out there reign in the
> expansionist drives of their players?

    Well, maintaining a fleet is fairly expensive.  Got to hire crews, make
repairs, provisions, etc.  And of course, if PCs start poaching on other
people's territories, they kinda fight back.  Dirty.  They might suddenly
find themselves unable to purchase supplies at port, crews suddenly
instigate mutanies, their ships are sabotaged, etc.  And of course, with
your game being in Clusterspace, you could have always had a Crystal Citadel
show up to put the upstart PCs in their place...:D
    Anyways, there's nothing wrong with letting fairly high-level PCs have
their own ships.  Especially if they have a host of henchmen (officers!).  I
think I'd even let them manage their own ship, perhaps even to the point of
letting them flesh out individual crewmen (while retaining ultimate DM
authority...ie the cabinboy is really an assassin, the backstory the player
wrote is just a big lie, that sort of thing).  Just some more ramblings ;)

Adam