Hmm, good question - I'll have a stab but others may correct me.
Stormwrack (p26) lists actions to be taken by the crew and specifically lists the captain, master or commander as one, the helmsman as a second, oarsmen (not applicable here of course) and then the watch.
It says the watch must spend time keeping the sails in trim and adjusting the rigging. As that has a profession (sailor) skill and zombies have 0 int and no skills, and given that instructions given to them 'must be very simple' I'd say no to the zombies as any profession requires judgement - although they could come in handy in other situations:)
Hope that helps:)
Rich
Let's assume that the seven are working overlapping extra-long shifts of 16 hours total a day. (not much for a sailor to do during downtime at sea except cause trouble, plus every extra hand takes more space and eats more food which could be used to transport valuable cargo, and his pay comes out of the bottome line). Let's also assume that the navigator doesn't do much physical labor.
That leaves us with 6 active crew at 16 hrs/day for a total of 96 man-hours per day.
The lookout doesn't need to know much sailing, so undead work great here. Subtract 24 hours out of your labor total leaving 72.
You need a captain or appropriate subcommander 24 hrs/day. Subtract this "specialized" labor and that leaves 48 man-hours.
It says somewhere that not all the crew needs to have ranks in profession-sailor. I figure the 'general labor' needs one professional at all times directing the hands-on work. Take away 24 "skilled" hours leaving 24.
So, to sum up, running the ship takes 48 "unskilled" hours and 48 "skilled" hours of labor a day. Undead can work 24 hours a day, so labor can be seperated into:
3 sailors (1 with enough ranks to captain, and one with enough ranks to allow the captain to sleep)
2 undead general laborers (1 look-out and 1 sailor)
1 navigator
Of course, you would be at a penalty during extreme situations. When all hands are on deck (storms, battle, etc) you are short by two people. You may want more undead to pad the numbers.
I suggest you crew with zombies. They look alright from a distance and skeletons have pointy bits that can get caught in the rigging. ;)
Dag, assuming the crew are not undead :) working 16 hour days will leave them fatigued at the least, and probably would incite a mutiny. I'd suggest 8 hour days.
Its fair to say our gaming group hasn't gotten to the nity-gritty of our crew makeup for the Sea Wyvern in our game. As PCs, we generally just stand around and watch other people do stuff. Its like being on a cruise. Except that at the end of the cruise we know we're going to war.
We lost our regular "Captain" (a dread pirate player), so now our newly restored Sea Wyvern was lacking a Captain. We got into a fight with the Scarlet Fleet (something like that), and I hoped that there would be a derelict boat that I coould take as my own. Im no captain; I cant sail or anything, but a man can dream right?
My fellow party members gave me the Sea Wyvern. Since I leveled, I took a class that gave me profession (I took Sailor) and now I'm a new captain.
I've always found as a player that I could have cool weapons, jewelry, armor and all that jazz, but to have title to land, a castle, keep, a sea-capable ship....heck, even a small hovel to call my own....thats always the most rewarding treasure to me.
The writers wrote that the Sea Wyvern needed 7 full time crew members to function, so that's what I'm going with. I researched the common crew members and tried to work it so each role would be somewhat unique and all the major roles would be filled. This is what I came up with and use:
The roles and duties of a caravel class ship's crew
In order to effectively sail a ship such as the Sea Wyvern, at least seven crewmembers are needed. The party should decide who will fulfil what duties ahead of time and hire the others as needed. The crew role names and duties are:
1. Captain - in charge of hiring men, organizing finding, buying, and loading the supplies, selling cargo, dividing profits, and otherwise leading the ship's daily functions. The best sailor on the ship is usually the captain. Key skills, Profession(sailor) and Profession(merchant).
2. First Mate - in charge of keeping all functions of the ship running in the Captain's absence. Usually the second best sailor on the ship. Key skills, Profession(sailor).
3. Navigator - in charge of charting/plotting the ship's course and
consistently understanding where the ship is. Also usually in charge of
monitoring the weather. Key skills, Knowledge(geography) and Survival.
4. Helmsman - in charge of steering the ship by the ship's wheel for the
most part. Key skills, a strong arm.
5. Deckhand - in charge of aiding w/every other function of all other
jobs. Rather than being the easiest of duties, this is often the most
demanding as it requires the most diversity. Key skills, everything.
6. Boatswain - in charge of directing gear for the captain (much of the
more complicated operations of handling a ship) and relaying orders in
times when weather impairs sound. Key skills, Use Rope and a loud voice.
7. Cook - in charge of food preparation and food dispensation. Key
skills, Profession(cooking).
Those are the main seven roles. Optional functions are as follows:
1. Prelate (for praying)
2. Surgeon (for healing)
3. Artillery Sergeant (for shooting)
4. Marine (for fighting)
5. Page (for serving)
Repair Team
6. Carpenter
7. Caulker
8. Diver
To hire an entire core crew is 20gp/day.
The secret to sailing a caravel with only 7 crew is that most of the time, you only need a helmsman and an optional lookout. The ship basically sails itself, and the wind is very much constant in tropical waters unless there is a storm.
Creative Director
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To be honest, we simply went with Stormwrack's number of 7 as a number who can crew a ship the size of the Sea Wyvern. It's actually a minimum; in a best case scenario, there'll be more than 7 crew.
In any case, my own assumption is that the crew is made up of the following:
Amella
Tavey
Lythara
Skald
Urol
And four PCs
Which gives us a crew of 9.
Getting too caught up in the details of who's doing what might be cool for a novel or movie, but it more likely than not does not make for very interesting D&D gaming. It's probably best to keep the non-encounter sections of the journey in the background as much as possible, is what I'm getting at.
Hmm, my ten bobs worth for what its worth - punishing players is a bit of sticky wicket - I'd play it for fun - if they want to animate them let them, and have the zombies as a fun part of the voyage - getting in the way, waking the cleric up in the night looking for him to give forgotten orders, turning up for dinner and putting everyone off by eating (race memories?) - like James says have some fun with it, don't worry too much about detail.
Rich
and if they let the sailors die - who's to say one won't come back to haunt them?
Well, zombies make great oarsmen, but I'd say they are ill-suited to most ship-handling tasks. They are too slow and clumsy, and the tasks are much to complicated. If you allow them to be used, you should impose a penalty to the captain's profession (sailor) checks to handle the ship--maybe a penalty of -2 per human crewman replaced by zombie. Since they are too dumb to tell a whale from a ship or an island, they are poor lookouts as well.
While underway, a caravel can be sailed by one person, but not very efficiently. You have no one to trim the sails, so slight shifts in the wind will reduce your speed or force you to change course to keep your sails full. You have no one to keep a lookout from the crow's nest. And you really can't make a significant course change, which requires coordination by multiple crewmen with the helmsman to reset the sails in a timely fashion. And if a gale comes up, you can't reef the sails.
Typically, a sailing ship would have a captain and two watches, each headed by an officer (a first or second mate, if you want to use contemporary merchant titles). The captain is free to move about the ship, or take the helm, or go below and rest, but he spends pretty much all of his waking hours making sure everything is running smoothly. For the caravel, the watches probably alternate in four or six hour shifts, going below to sleep while off watch except when tacking or changing the point of sail, which requires all hands on deck. This way, each crew member gets about 9-10 hours of broken rest per day, enough to keep from being fatigued except when exceptional circumstances (battle, storm) keep them on deck for a significant portion of their off hours. While on watch, the watch officer takes the helm, and the other two take turns in the crow's nest (looking out) and working on deck (adjusting the trim of the sails or performing minor maintenance and repairs on the ship's gear). When changing course, reefing, anchoring, or performing any other major maneuver, the captain takes the helm, the first mate directs the sailors from the deck, and the remaining sailors work the appropriate ship's gear.
While modern shipping companies keep crews to the minimum possible size to lower the bottom line, the reverse was true in the old days. Today, seamen's wages are very high and mortality at sea is relatively low. In the old days, seamen were paid poorly, while mortality rates from disease, scurvy, and accidents were quite high. If you had a minimum crew, you'd be crippled a month into the voyage, most likely. So it made sense to set sail with as many crewmen as your ship could accommodate. In addition, more crew makes maneuvering and defending the ship easier--a very desirable thing when you're sailing in waters frequented by hostile powers (Scarlet Brotherhood), pirates (Crimson Fleet), and various fearsome sea monsters. If I were outfitting the Sea Wyvern, I'd take at least 14 ordinary seamen and a couple of officers (the named NPCs can do for these, or party members with ranks in Profession (sailor)), and fill out the rest of the crew with marines or settlers bound for Farshore. Lavinia Vanderboren can certainly afford to pay their wages, and certainly wants to attract more colonists to the colony, even if they are of dubious qualifications.
As for getting the Sea Wyvern back from the pirate cove, I'd allow the party to do it with fewer than seven sailors, but throw a couple of hazards in their way to illustrate the perils of trying to handle a ship that size short-handed.
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>>Getting too caught up in the details of who's doing what might be cool for a novel or movie, but it more likely than not does not make for very interesting D&D gaming. It's probably best to keep the non-encounter sections of the journey in the background as much as possible, is what I'm getting at. <<
See, to me the story isn't as beleivable if people don't know their roles aboard ship. They're on this ship for 3 months, the PC's should have some idea what's going on during most of those 3 months.
I understand clearly that a certain healthy level of abstraction is necessary to keep the story going and not get bogged down in details, but overdoing it kills the suspension of disbelief.
Not trying to argue as such, just presenting an alternate viewpoint. :)
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Creative Director
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>>Getting too caught up in the details of who's doing what might be cool for a novel or movie, but it more likely than not does not make for very interesting D&D gaming. It's probably best to keep the non-encounter sections of the journey in the background as much as possible, is what I'm getting at. <<
See, to me the story isn't as beleivable if people don't know their roles aboard ship. They're on this ship for 3 months, the PC's should have some idea what's going on during most of those 3 months.
I understand clearly that a certain healthy level of abstraction is necessary to keep the story going and not get bogged down in details, but overdoing it kills the suspension of disbelief.
Not trying to argue as such, just presenting an alternate viewpoint. :)
Oh, I understand the viewpoint. And it's absolutely important to spend the first day on the ship in the adventure introducing the PCs to the NPCs and their jobs on board and the ship layout and all that. Just be careful about keeping that level of detail on day 45 of the journey and so on is all I'm really saying. :)
It's good for the DM too to know how the Sea Wyvern functions, just to keep a layer of versimilitude.
I also wanted to make sure that zombies aren't the answer for everything. ;-)
DM: You're lost in the jungle.
Cleric: Make zombies!DM: You weren't invited to the ballroom dance.
Cleric: Make zombies!DM: You're party has died.
Cleric: Make zombies! (Although this has merit.)
I don't know, if you are lost in the jungle the zombies can always carry your food (or be your food if you run out). Also, if you aren't invited to the ball you could dance with your animated zombies and have your own ball (NPC's be damned)!