Barge rules

The enemy lurks in shadows
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yoroba
Posts: 108
Joined: Thu May 14, 2020 11:25 am

Soon my adventurers will be sailing up and down the Reik in a barge of their own and I want the trips to be more than: "Ok, you passed your Sail test. Smooth sailing from here to Altdorf".

I just bought Death on the Reik, partly because I thought those rules would be there. I havn't found any and there doesn't seem to be any planned in the Companion either, as far as I can read.

So do any of you guys have any ideas or links to ideas for making the sailing voyages on the reik challenging and fun?
A more detailed test system perhaps. Perhaps with different tests for different positions manned on the barge, or something like that?
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Hyarion
Posts: 260
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 11:56 am

You can have other characters roll perception to see whether they spot rocks/logs below the water. Ballistic Skill (or other) to throw ropes around trees to tie off at night. Navigation tests to know whether to take the right or left fork in the river.

Also bear in mind that travel during the night is virtually impossible for all but the most well-crewed of vessels. Either because the daytime pilot needs rest, or because it's too dark and lanterns can't provide enough illumination for the speeds they're travelling at. Non-sail/non-steam barges typically travelled by being pulled by horses when going up river (when the current was too swift or the load too heavy for poles) that would be too hard at night also. The solution then is to have the barge tie off on the side of the river until it's daylight again. What could happen when the barge can be easily influenced by events happening on land?
I hold the glaive of Law against the Earth.
yoroba
Posts: 108
Joined: Thu May 14, 2020 11:25 am

Thanks for the great input!

By the way, is there some where a list of required crewmembers for each type of ship? Would it be like 2 deckhands and a rudderman for a medium sized barge?
Kaeptn
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jul 29, 2020 11:17 am

Try and make each stop memorable. "A wench in every port" may be a way, but also with enemies and friends. Let people make requests as taking letters with them or hitching a ride. Also the face of the rivers change: a part of the river can be unaccessable because of a draught or a flood has washed up a house, that they can investigate. All the interesting parts come with interaction.
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Totsuzenheni Yukimi
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Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 12:38 pm

yoroba wrote: Wed Jul 29, 2020 11:06 am I just bought Death on the Reik, partly because I thought those rules would be there. I havn't found any and there doesn't seem to be any planned in the Companion either, as far as I can read.
Was the 'RIver Life of the Empire' supplement in Cubicle 7's Death on the Reik for fourth edition? I seem to recall someone writing it wasn't, which i think means it's going to form part of the companion. Cubicle 7 have made a PDF of Hogshead's reprint/revision of Death on the Reik for first edition (including 'RIver Life of the Empire') available on DrivethruRPG, if you can't wait for the Companion to be released. 'RIver Life of the Empire' contains: RIver Navigation, Boat Critical Hits, Encounters, Hazard Encounters, Accidents, Locks, NPC Encounters, Trading Rules, River Folk of the Empire, and Boat Plans.

There's also a 'location' called 'The Emperor Luitpold', a "luxury river liner" if you can get hold of it. It was in the Warhammer Companion. I just checked and Cubicle 7 have made a PDF of that available on DrivethruRPG too.

The various White Dwarf Marienburg articles and 'Sold Down The River' supplement might (might) have something useful in them too. 'Sold Down The River' has been made available by Cubicle 7 on DrivethruRPG, and the White Dwarf articles are out their somewhere, in their second edition incarnation.
Last edited by Totsuzenheni Yukimi on Wed Aug 05, 2020 3:09 am, edited 2 times in total.
FasterThanJesus
Posts: 342
Joined: Thu Jun 20, 2019 4:30 pm
Location: UK

yoroba wrote: Wed Jul 29, 2020 11:06 am Soon my adventurers will be sailing up and down the Reik in a barge of their own and I want the trips to be more than: "Ok, you passed your Sail test. Smooth sailing from here to Altdorf".

I just bought Death on the Reik, partly because I thought those rules would be there. I havn't found any and there doesn't seem to be any planned in the Companion either, as far as I can read.

So do any of you guys have any ideas or links to ideas for making the sailing voyages on the reik challenging and fun?
A more detailed test system perhaps. Perhaps with different tests for different positions manned on the barge, or something like that?
River Life of the Empire will be in The Companion. It's called out early in the book as they swapped it for the first half of Carrion up the Reik.

If you look on DriveThruRPG there are a few other people complaining (at least a little legitimately IMO as it has been badly communicated and the description was not updated prior to the release) of this.

Edit: it's mentioned at the bottom of page 4.
SigmariteOrWrong
Posts: 44
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2020 5:55 am

Every day might offer something for the journey.

On the river there are lots of potential for fun... snags, submerged logs, shifting sandbars, assorted flotsam and jetsam, fouling lines and nets from wreckers and pirates, snags from prior wrecks, hull rot, effluvia from town sewers, hull fouling critters like borers, mussels, and worse... perhaps hungry river Trolls.

Docked in a town, there is always the difficulty in finding secure night mooring, paying for mooring or protection money, drunken sailor fights, thieves stealing cargo, stowaways hiding on board, shanghaied crewmen, unfriendly natives, the jealous lovers of tavern folk, pickpockets, pressed service to carry government cargo or officials... there is a lot to call on.
yoroba
Posts: 108
Joined: Thu May 14, 2020 11:25 am

Wonderful input! This will improve my comming adventure a lot. Thanks again!
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