| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
So this AP has been a perfect fit for the group of friends I play with, and because I know my Players' familiarities with pirate/nautical themes, I've come up with a "Shares" system before it becomes an issue with them. I've also decided that it will be integral to preventing mutiny amongst their own crew(s), they are going to have to ensure the crew, even pressed ones, receive payment/compensation in some form.
I figured I'd share it here for others, as I hadn't seen anything concerning this yet. As with all things, adjustments may be need to compliment your game and players, and your mileage may vary.
So here it is:
-The Ship itself receives 50 shares. This represents supplies for ship and crew, Upgrades, and general treasury/payroll for crew.
-PC's (i.e, Captains and Senior Crew) get 5 share each.*
-NPC "officers" (If needed) get 2 shares each.
-NPC general crew get 1 share each.
-All treasure/Plunder/Magic Item values are determined before share are calculated. Some situations may require crew shares of plunder be calculated at another time.
-If an NPC or PC performs "above and beyond" may, on a consensus of the Captain and other Senior Crew (other PC's) be assigned additional shares.
-Shares awarded to NPC's remove that value of gold from the PC's access. Wether or not the GM keeps track of NPC gold is up to them.
-Magic Items found are first put into the ship's stores and may be bought from the quartermaster. PC's may then buy the items at face value from the quartermaster with their own money once they have their share of booty and can afford the item.
*I know it's not "historically accurate," but it's already going to be hard enough to get them to agree on a Captain. (I'm thinking I'll have to come up with a mini-game of some sort to sort it out for them until an extra ship or two comes along.)
Wether or not the PC's feel the need to give shares to crew who died (either to next of kin, or simply sent with the pirate overboard as their tribute to Besmara) is up to them. Simply leave these crew out of share calculations. [In my game, too much of this may change crew attitude.]
------------------------
Example: After having run down a fat merchant ship loaded with treasure, the total haul looks like this:
a total in coinage and magic items equal to 14,800 gold pieces;
a total in plunder (after sale & trade) equal to 5,000.
14,800 + 5,000 = 19,800 in GP value.
The PC's Ship gets 50 shares.
The 4 PC's get 5 shares each, so 20 shares here.
There are 25 general NPC crewman who get 1 share each, so 25 shares.
Additionally 3 of the NPC's went "Above & Beyond" and get an extra share each, so 3 shares.
50+20+25+3=98 shares
So 19,800 ÷ 98 = roughly 202 Gold (and 4 Copper) per share.
The Ship gets 10102 gold.
The PC's get 1010 gold and 2 Silver each, so 4040 gold and 4 Silver
and each NPC Crewman gets 202 gold and 4 copper each, so 5051 Gold
with 3 of those NPC's getting an extra 202 gold and 4 copper each, so 606 gold, 1 silver , and 2 copper.
This adds up roughly to 19,799 gold, 5 silver and 2 copper.
Which Means that the GM must be embezzling 4 silver and 8 copper...
Actually, that's just the placement of the decimal point. If you want to you can round up for your players, I round down.
...And Yes, I DO work with money for a living. Can you tell?
|
Sounds like a lot of extra book-keeping for very little payoff.
I was thinking of adding a Consumption Score to the ship, that must be paid weekly (or monthly in port, yearly in an owned port) similar to Kingdom Building or Caravan rules. In order to keep PCs from getting complacent and to keep them hungry for plunder.
I actually quite like the idea. I was considering something like this myself. One question though RoninUsagi: what happens to the 'ship's money'?
Sounds like a lot of extra book-keeping for very little payoff.
Doesn't sound like that to me.
I think that's probably too much loot going towards the ship's upkeep, considering that the members of the crew all have their own shares of loot.
It should probably be pointed out that one of the later modules (Part 2? 3?) suggests setting aside one point of Plunder to represent the NPC crew's share of booty as a "quick and easy" method of dealing with loot.
That said, I really like the looks of RU's system, particularly the idea of "ship's shares" to cover operating expenses. I probably will use something very much like this when my game gets to this point.
I do have one question, though: you show part of the ship's 50 shares as being spent on "payroll for crew", but in the breakdown of where the 98 shares go it appears the PCs and NPC crew are given other shares of loot as their payroll. What do you consider the payroll from the ship's 50 shares to be?
Looks interesting, however I am unsure about the concept of ship shares, especially since the crew are getting their own shares. The ship should in my eyes have a fixed upkeep cost for minor repairs, food ammunition etc. while bigger repairs cost extra. Catching an unarmed merchant vessel would be more profitable than getting your mast shot off by an enemy who only has vegetables aboard. That would also allow you to mess with them in case they don't save a bit of gold to pay the upkeep during hard times.
Things that should be noted about Shares (and hopefully answer your ?s):
1 - These rules are only in effect for when the PC's are "Aboard Ship" - i.e., if they're in a dungeon or otherwise "off the sea" and come across loot, it's all theirs.
2 - Crew shares are not the same as crew payroll. Crew shares of booty and bounties are more like a "bonus" to the paycheck. Historically, every crewman on a naval ship earned a wage, and shares of treasure were the "incentive program" to get them to, you know, actually fight and risk their lives.
3 - The "Ship's Money" is, at my table, more like the the community chest whereby they can make group monetary decisions, such as upgrades and "group" magic items (or even the occasional Ressurection Spell). I also plan to remove a portion (probably along the lines of the rule mentioned above) for upkeep and basic stuff about every month or so of In-Game time. What other GMs and their groups decide on is up to them.
And of course, groups may decide the ship gets a smaller amount of shares to up individual share worth. I wouldn't drop it below 25 or 30 though, as it puts more money into NPC hands that the PC's can't touch.
In all honesty, this system is based off of several I've seen in pirate and nautical themed books, like the "Jacky Faber" series.
|
Sounds pretty good. How do you determine how much one share is (not that good with money)? Also, I'm not sure my PCs would be okay with purchasing magical items they've earned in fights. Why would someone pay for an item that they can just pick off the body of the enemy and take it right then and there (which was common for real-life pirates anyway).
Shares are basically a percent of the loot (see above in my example for how to calculate share).
And the magic item clause is in there to actually prevent fights over certain items and everyone actually gets a " fair share." every group is different, and yours may not need that to be part of the system. Mine is full of greedy bastards that think their monk actually needs that +2 Flaming Axe for example.
|
|
Shares are basically a percent of the loot (see above in my example for how to calculate share).
And the magic item clause is in there to actually prevent fights over certain items and everyone actually gets a " fair share." every group is different, and yours may not need that to be part of the system. Mine is full of greedy bastards that think their monk actually needs that +2 Flaming Axe for example.
Oh, I see, now. the 202 equals one share yada, yada, yada; ok, I got it. Yeah, I'm kind of lucky my group is so diverse and full of seasoned role-players. I've got one guy in my group who's playing an undine that was born and raised on the Shiv. He knows NOTHING about civilization (once believed that Cheliax was a person) and mostly just picks up watever he can use underwater.
Oh, I see, now. the 202 equals one share yada, yada, yada; ok, I got it. Yeah, I'm kind of lucky my group is so diverse and full of seasoned role-players. I've got one guy in my group who's playing an undine that was born and raised on the Shiv. He knows NOTHING about civilization (once believed that Cheliax was a person) and mostly just picks up watever he can use underwater.
You're lucky. My friends are the kind that even thought they know I've spent a chunk of time prepping everything for game night, they still feel a need to pull those switches that say, "DO NOT PULL: INSTANT DEATH" just to screw with me. Which is why the Half-Orc Gunslinger named East Clintwood is *probably* going to bite it when he get's his requested duel with Mr. Plugg.
|
|
Oh, I see, now. the 202 equals one share yada, yada, yada; ok, I got it. Yeah, I'm kind of lucky my group is so diverse and full of seasoned role-players. I've got one guy in my group who's playing an undine that was born and raised on the Shiv. He knows NOTHING about civilization (once believed that Cheliax was a person) and mostly just picks up watever he can use underwater.You're lucky. My friends are the kind that even thought they know I've spent a chunk of time prepping everything for game night, they still feel a need to pull those switches that say, "DO NOT PULL: INSTANT DEATH" just to screw with me. Which is why the Half-Orc Gunslinger named East Clintwood is *probably* going to bite it when he get's his requested duel with Mr. Plugg.
** spoiler omitted **
That's funny because one of my PCs did the same thing and would have been killed if one of the other PCs hadn't come to his rescue. :P
That's not likely to happen with my group, as interfering with a duel is deathly dangerous, and the rest of them got the hints as to how powerful Plugg and Barnabus really are. They've even tried to tell him too. In fact, Xian Wu, the group's monk, and Jackie Calico, the rogue, layed it out pretty bare bones for him.
However, both the player and the character are very Stubborn, so it's not likely to end well.
|
|
That's funny because one of my PCs did the same thing and would have been killed if one of the other PCs hadn't come to his rescue. :P
That's not likely to happen with my group, as interfering with a duel is deathly dangerous, and the rest of them got the hints as to how powerful Plugg and Barnabus really are. They've even tried to tell him too. In fact, Xian Wu, the group's monk, and Jackie Calico, the rogue, layed it out pretty bare bones for him.
However, both the player and the character are very Stubborn, so it's not likely to end well.
This was during the actual mutiny, though. When the PCs are supposed to fight him. It was a close fight, though, but Plugg was just better equipped at the time.
Hmm I had a player on lookout jump into the sea storm to rescue the overboard NPC. I thought that was insta death. To my surprise and amusement another PC immediately cut the rope to drown the other.. Fun times.
The have a Fear of Barnabas though. I simply show them his picture on the cover of the AP each session.
So of course the Character I'm talking about above is now Captain...
Far too complicated for my brain, keeping track of events and a sandbox its a hard enough job for me.
I think i'll stick to the simplified and abstract 1 pint of plunder for the crew when they pull into port. I don't have to think then lol
I commend you for putting a system togther though, good work :)
Have you thought about not giving the ship shares and just using the money made from the sale of the magic items sold to cover ship cost? This would allow more booty to go to crew which would allow for crew then to purchase magic items.
Me likey.
We used a similar, simplified, system in a Star Wars campaign. The ship also had a share for similar reasons you provide: upgrades that benefit the whole group but should not come out of any one person's loot.
Pirate crews drew their own charters or contracts which regulated share distributions.
I'll let the PCs devise their own system. More than fair partition of shares can definitely earn a PC the Generous modifier for the Leadership feat.
+1 to you, OP.