Putting together a crew, Part Two

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ocayucos
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Putting together a crew, Part Two

Post by ocayucos »

As a starting note, this is all planning for now. I will get all of this going in an IC manner when it is viable and my character is established and can get to the coast, but right now I just want to put the idea out there and gauge interest. The plan is to put together a ship's crew, for purposes of exploration, adventure, and freedom. With my character's background I am hoping to do some merchanting and or shipping as well if that ever becomes possible. There is no intent to go pirating and pillaging. I think having an established crew would be a great way for players to form relationships and work together on things, even when not onboard a ship.

When it comes to recruiting a crew I don't plan to be picky. I said there won't be pirating and pillaging, but those with such a past will be welcome as long as they abide by the captain's orders. We will hopefully have a wide variety of skills available through the crew, but here are some of the roles I would consider hard necessities we can't do without:

Quartermaster who is charge of fairly distributing provisions, pay, and shares of loot or treasure. There is a lot of pressure on this individual because they need to figure out how to best be fair by everyone's account.

Physicker, who tends to the mental and physical health of the crew. I'm really excited about this one because of the Physicker class in this game.

Cook, who provides quality food as an important part of crew morale.

Carpenter, leading ship maintenance and repairs, so woodworking skill is a must.

Mascom (Master of Combat), skilled warrior who leads in combat situations and directs tactics.

Treasure Hunter, able to pick locks and disarm traps.

Rias has mentioned that he is keeping in mind previous efforts by myself and others to do this, and acquiring a ship and getting it fixed up and seaworthy before, so that is encouraging. He has also said that while sailing mechanics will not be looked into for a long time yet, there could be GM run sailing events even without that. So, we have GM support for this idea. I don't know if anything will come of it any time soon, but I'm really excited about this idea and the support it has gotten so far, and I think the more prepared we are as players for an opportunity, the likelier it will be that something will actually happen.
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Bonehead
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Re: Putting together a crew, Part Two

Post by Bonehead »

Sea RP hype!
Wut?
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ocayucos
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Re: Putting together a crew, Part Two

Post by ocayucos »

I'll admit, I have barely any sailing experience IRL, I'm just a beach bum surfer. I do think part of the experience though will be using some basic sailing and nautical terms, so I'll be reviewing those myself and using them, and I'll provide a cheat sheet others can use for reference. That doesn't mean pirate talk! It means things like port and starboard, afore and abaft, stem and stern, windward and leeward, and terms like those. But, if anyone also wants to use pirate talk, they're welcome to! I won't be doing it, but I know a lot of people love it.
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Rias
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Re: Putting together a crew, Part Two

Post by Rias »

Yarrrrrrr, avast there, mateys! It be true, I be givin' this nautical enterprise me own support, but ye should be warned: It'll likely be slow goin', gettin' around to it. Yer likely to run into some doldrums while waitin' for things ta progress, while I got me own duties ta tend to with gettin' all the riggin' ready for the various parts o' the game at large. Yer cap'n here does have some wise words, though: the more players are prepared to set sail on their own actions, the easier it makes things for me and me own crew to get ye all out ta sea. I know they be hard words, tellin' ye all to make ready to weigh anchor as much as you can on yer own, and yet hold fast until the GM crew is ready to work with ye. That just be how the tides roll around here at the moment though, yarr.
<Rias> PUT ON PANTS
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ironcross
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Re: Putting together a crew, Part Two

Post by ironcross »

I like this. I don't think it's appropriate for this char I have now though.
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ocayucos
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Re: Putting together a crew, Part Two

Post by ocayucos »


[Vagrant's Hope, Main Deck] (OutUr) Early Evening,
Constructed from redwood and oak, the sloop is a modest vessel that obviously has a history but is clearly still quite serviceable. Topsail, mainsail, and jib are all rigged to a single sturdy redwood mast equipped with a heavy yard and boom, with thick rope netting allowing riggers to climb up and do their dangerous work. To the aft is a door leading into a small cabin, which looks to have been inexpertly repaired in a few places but still secure. The helm is rather large and varnished a dark red, equipped with a large ship's wheel. Gunwales surround most of the deck, minimizing the risk of both cargo and crew going overboard. A heavy wooden hatch allows access belowdecks.
The area is poorly-lit. The area is mostly quiet.
Heading: West By Northwest, Full Sail, Raised Anchor, 6 Knots
Wind: Moderate, West By Southwest
Helmsman: You
You also notice a thick rope halyard, a maple-spoked capstan, and a ship's wheel.
Also here:
Keleran (heavily-armored)
Sarah
Suzy (heavily-armored)
Verence (lightly-armored, bloody, sweaty)
Volinn
Obvious paths: a ship's cabin door (closed), a heavy wooden hatch, some rope netting.

You're sailing in to your destination!
You'll want to completely raise sail so you can coast in at a safe pace and come to a stop.
After raising sail you'll want to lower the anchor to prevent the vessel from drifting off.

You yell, "Raise sails!"

Sarah begins pulling at a thick rope halyard, raising the sails.
Keleran begins pulling at a thick rope halyard, raising the sails.
Verence begins pulling at a thick rope halyard, raising the sails.
Suzy begins pulling at a thick rope halyard with unflagging stamina, raising the sails.

Pigeon (Orange-Red) jumps the last foot from the netting to land with a thump on the deck. She is windblown, hair a wild birds nest of tangles, and radiating joy.

Sarah releases the lock on a maple-spoked capstan and lets the anchor fall!

** The vessel has made port at Porto D'esilio, West Docks!

Speaking to Sarah, you say, "Release the anchor lock on the capstan, Miss Sarah."

Sarah exclaims, "Oops! Er -- Sorry!"

You say, "Now that's a crewmember who anticipates her captain's orders."

You exclaim, "All ashore for Porto D'esilio!"
We finally did it!! This was so many years in the making, with so many false starts and delays spanning two different games. Thank you so, so much to Rias and his team for finally making this stupid dream of mine happen. It was one of the coolest things I've done, and I can't wait to do it many more times to help more people get to Porto D'esilio and check out one of my favorite places in the game!

Thank you to my shotgun crew who joined me on a moment's notice to make this happen when game staff were ready to give it the first try, and I'm eager to take more people on trips, especially those who supported me back when this was all still being built up to. Before we setting sail, we talked about how part of Dylan's soul was in the Hope itself after all the work he put into repairing it, and so I hope, Dylan's player, that you can feel like his character was with us in spirit because of that. Get one of your alts to take a trip on the Hope sometime!

(We need Nereia smilies for the forum!)
Frisbee
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Re: Putting together a crew, Part Two

Post by Frisbee »

Just wanted to extend a massive thank you all around for the amazing RP today. It was so unexpected, yet so delightful. Definitely one of the highlights of my time here. There was lots of interesting talk aboard the ship and ashore, lots of rare goods to be discovered, and bonds to be made, hopefully!

More importantly, though, I am bucket master, so nothing's got anything on that. :D
Stop putting watermellons into the first thing you see that looks like it can hold a watermellon. It is most rude, because you'll only make them feel like they don't belong.
Navi
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Re: Putting together a crew, Part Two

Post by Navi »

I'm so glad this is something that was continued. It has so much potential, as does all the rest of the game. :) Thanks to all the players who drove it to it's fruition. It was so well-timed. Someone on Discord had just said the boats in game don't actually do anything, but that's no longer the case, so of course, thank you to Rias and the rest of the GM team for making this place feel alive.
wander without wanting, thrust into lands unknown. the shadows shift and change, and the worlds with them.
I'm not a soldier but I'm fighting
Can you hear me through the silence?
I won't give up 'cause there will be a day
We'll meet again
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Rias
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Re: Putting together a crew, Part Two

Post by Rias »

I'm glad this was able to finally happen! One thing we've learned from this whole experience is that the stars are never going to align just right. You just need to take opportunities when they present themselves, which is why we pushed Orris with "Do it now just find a crew and go go go!!" I know it didn't have the same impact as it would have with a whole established crew-gathering and bonds having already formed and collecting of additional sailing supplies and all that for the maiden voyage, but at this point we were long, long overdue for this even to just happen. (It technically started, what - back in 2015?) And everything (mostly) worked, so these little sailing voyages can be now done without any GM supervision. Huzzah!

P.S. All the above is aimed at myself and GMs in MUDs/campaigns in general. We have a tendency to want the situation to be set up juuuust right and have just the right people around at just this exact time to kick off an event or special happening or new mechanic or whatever, but scheduling is the bane of all things MUD/tabletop, so that creates delays, and the longer something is delayed, the more awkward/frustrating it gets, and the less fun it becomes to work on until it's in danger of just being abandoned or indefinitely stalled. So no blame is being put on the players! This has just been a Reflective GM Ramble, and hopefully serves to explain to players why sometimes something might feel rushed or executed in less-than-ideal circumstances - because sometimes we just need to get it done before momentum and interest are lost, or frustration sets in.

I'll admit that another contributing factor is my crippling inability to consider something "ready". Sure, I'd have liked the sailing mechanics and experience to be a little more involved (especially having automated stuff happening up in the crow's nest instead of staff feeding it manually, but it worked for now) but again - this just needed to finally happen. The mechanics were "done enough" and I'm glad to see that people had a good time! We'll likely expand on the sailing experience and mechanics at some point, but now Orris can finally captain his sloop and take people out sailing, which was, as stated, literally years in the making and actually started back in CLOK before COGG was even a thing.

I'm both thrilled and relieved at how things went, and watching the little crew interact was a joy. Here's to Captain Orris, the Vagrant's Hope, the Crew, and many more voyages!
<Rias> PUT ON PANTS
<Fellborn> NO
Lamia
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Re: Putting together a crew, Part Two

Post by Lamia »

Speaking for myself alone, as one of the lucky crewmembers, I think we had just the right group of people and the entire experience was absolutely brilliant :D Best. Unexpected. Adventure. Ever.

Thank you, Orris, for inviting my gal along!

Thank you, staff, for creating something so wonderfully engaging!
You say, "Well, they probably use goblets, but better table manners are still no reason to join a bloodcult."
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