Re: SJ Reviews: The 'SJR' References

Dreamer wrote:

> And, in the case of 'Lost Ships' which ship designs are probably
> OK, which are flawed, and why, and which will trash your
> campaign, if you allow them? Could there be any agreement on what
> tweaking is needed?
OK, here's my take on that.

Good as is:
-Angelship (but see Adam's Goblin Gear article for better background info)*
-Flying Pyramid*
-Ogre Mammoth (again, see Adam's Goblin Gear article for better 
background info)*
-Skeleton Ship
-Space Leviathan
-Turtle Ship

Just Need Tonnage Adjusted:
-Barge of Ptah*
-Cargo Barge
-Deathglory
-Eel Ship*
-Goblin Blade*
-Stoneship (actually IMC I adjusted the dimensions to match the tonnage 
rather than vice versa)
-Swan Ship
-Wreckboat

Other Fixes Needed:
-Bloatfly (adjust the tonnage and trade the pairs of medium ballistas to 
dual ballistas and it works)
-Lamprey Ship (adjust the tonnage and make the mechanics for the cone 
ram a little more balanced and you're good to go)*
-Porcupine Ship (tonnage should be adjusted, but the ram-mines are the 
real problem here since the goblins wouldn't be able to afford all that 
smokepowder - Adam's Goblin Gear article fixes this problem nicely, as 
well as adding a plausible origin for the ships and a cheap method of 
propulsion allowing for hordes of these vessels)*
-Scorpion (tonnage is the big problem here, since there's no way that's 
a 60 tons ship - personally I use Adam's idea from his Goblin Gear 
article about the ship being built from the metallic husk of an enormous 
scorpion, but I use 3 different sizes of Scorpion ship representing 
husks from 3 different moultings: the sizes all use the same deckplans 
but change the scale from 5' to 10' to 15'; giving a 10 ton Scorpion 
Scout, a 30 ton Scorpion, and a 60 ton King Scorpion)*
-Shrikeship (tonnage is the big problem here as well, but once you 
adjust the tonnage to fit the 1 ton = 2700 cubic feet standard the 
weapons take up more tonnage than the ship, so the weaponry needs to be 
downgraded)
-Vipership (tonnage needs to be adjusted, but the real problem is that 
this ship is just a munchkin - there's no way it should be that 
maneuverable and only need a helmsman to operate it - reduce MC to B, 
increase minimum crew size to 3, adjust tonnage, and you have a ship 
that's still very good, but no longer a game breaker)*

*Ships marked with this are designs that really jumped out at me as 
being cool. Each one of these ships, even the ones that need fixes, has 
inspired adventure ideas for me.


> If this ignorance is the main sticking point, would adding some
> sort of errata which gives one or more explanations be a good
> idea?
Yes, but see below.

> The classic reason for this would be "The Gods Will It So!",
> maybe with some long-a-go council of the gods which agreed that
> SJ would not be encouraged, except that it be allowed among those
> who already knew about it. 
See, to me this just seems like a bit of a cop-out, and a fairly 
overused cop-out at that. IMO it could work well for Krynn, considering 
that world's background, but if you do this with more than one world it 
becomes tiresome unless you're able to come up with an excellent and 
interesting reason why the gods would go to such trouble. I find it's 
just easier to say that the "big three" are on the fringes of the known 
spheres, and simply see a lot less SJ traffic than most active spheres.

> Throw in a few Council of the Gods empowered demi-gods, who are
> supposed to maintain the SJ status quo, while being as covert as
> possible (you can bet that some gods, or groupings of gods, would
> see other uses to put these to [grin] ), and this might even give
> some interesting adventure ideas!
This would work pretty well for Krynn, but I wouldn't really want to use 
it on Toril or Greyhawk.

> As for who knows, in some settings the idea of "secret knowledge"
> could be very tempting to nations/wizards/priests - one big
> difference between medieval and modern settings is the guild
> system with its idea of craft secrets, for example. 
This is a good point. Still, I think that this one also works best with 
Krynn. Greyhawk and Toril (especially Toril!) are both crawling with 
high-level spellcasters, often with networks of supporters/agents. Even 
if it's purely through independant research, a large percentage of those 
spellcasters should know all about spelljamming, unless it's fairly rare 
in the sphere as a whole. If Manshoon of the Zhentarim knew about 
spelljammers, why would his organization have expended so much energy 
and gold trying to create a faster overland trade route to Waterdeep? 
Buying a single galleon with a minor helm would have been far cheaper 
and more effective, with fewer risks.

-- 

Yes, Mr. Death ... I'll play you a game!
But not chess!!! Bah ... Fooey!
My game is Jarts!!!