Narrative Mass Combat: Part 3 - Narrating a Scene

Narrative Combat. Natural Language and Playing out a Scene.

Step 1: Pick a Style. The first place to get a style is to absorb the style of my favorite author. Currently it is Christian Cameron and Bernard Cromwell for low tech, for Scifi its David Webber and John H. Hemry (aka Jack Campbell) when it comes to ships.

Step 2: Study the Style. What I did was I re-listened to the scenes again and again. The tool that made it more possible than my previous attempts in studying is using Pacing to study the method. There are 3 stages in Pacing and it is the tool by which I can find out what the writer is trying to achieve and what tools he's used to achieve the pacing goals.

After Identifying the Tools, I examine their formula and try them out. These tools include ready phrases and formulas to describe a scene. Keep a close eye for these.

Here are my Tools as an Example.

Geographic Storytelling:

I learned in mass combat and in Airsoft, the Terrain needs to be verbally mapped. The spatial area has to be communicated step by step, making the other person repeat or ask for clarification. When ever I describe terrain the first thing I need to have everyone have mentally mapped is the point of orientation. 

If we use in this there are a number of ways to do this, here are the ones I use: 

1) Have a Map! Simple, still one needs to give maps context. Note a map is not-realistic because people really dont have full information. Unless there is magic there are no accurate maps and distances, which gives the GM a ton of room. As one runs narrative combat this wiggle room just makes it easier for GMs and Players to run narrative combat. 

Go to Google Maps and visit many old battlefields via Terrain view to see the small the gaps and choke points are in the terrain.  

2) Map it from the PC's view, and tell the player what the PC's terrain mastery tells which vision alone cannot (this means telling him what normally lies beyond what he can see). Start from the immediate surroundings and proceed towards the horizon. Describe how much "noise" or concealment the area has, the weather, and the many tricks of the light that happens as time passes over the outdoors. Brightness makes shadows darker, Dimness lights up cavernous canopies, etc... A rich outdoor experience is the best teacher and school in this kind of narrative and if it improves one's GM why not have more outdoor experiences!

3) Map it from the Stories of the Scouts.  Like #2 but you have a composite and even more confusion and inaccuracies. This is pretty great as such methods emphasize key information gathering skills of the players. 

Formations and Geography

Some great french general said warfare was geometry. He's kinda right because people occupy space and people cannot help but follow the paths of the land. We may walk over difficult paths but we cannot not do that all the time when endurance is a finite resource. 

So it helps to know a man is as wide as a shield, about 0.7m or 2/3 yards. The same distance as a pace. That ranks are as much deep because of shields and weapons. That a 30m/yrd pass takes 45men to hold.

I discussed organization and groupings in a previous chapter. Here the 300 man battalion can hold 200m/yards three ranks of men deep. I learned to play with the ranks and numbers.  It helps to know that there are channels and paths in the geometry in the land, herding mentality, and crowds follow a sort of fluid dynamics. These tools help us visualize, and describe the scene. 

Since I use roll20, my Effective Communication Training tells me I have to keep sentences mid sized (not running), and limited to 2-3 before checking for confirmation and comprehension. Every 10-15 minutes I have to spend 3-5 minutes (1/3) trying to have this mental sync with the audience and narrate the scene.  

 Since I'm limited to ~3 sentences I have to describe efficiently. I describe directions oriented to where the cardinal directions. I have to be consistent and always moving from Cardinal to Ordinal. Confirming understanding then proceeding to describe whats happening.   

Experience and Mastery Kicks In.   

Mount and Blade, Airsoft, Athletics, and Martial Arts training along with an avid love of history and authors and professors who teach the subject is the deep well by which i draw from. I constantly deepen this well all the time. While movies and popular media give everyone some idea mastery makes it easier. I dont think its fair to make something out of nothing without any skill and practice involved and that is the expectations and the fun of mastery.   

Step 3: Know the Gap and Build a Skill Map. Reading this article is not going to make anyone like Neo and master a skill. No such thing exists, but Identifying (or learning to Identify) the small easily learn-able skills and building up towards the harder skills can be possible through the advice here and from the advice of others willing to share their techniques.

• Geographic Story Telling
• Outdoor Experience: Camping, Hiking, Area Knowledge of actual places visited, 
• Team work and experiencing some Play skirmishes in Larp, Airsoft, PC Games like the Total War Series, Mount and Blade, etc... Take my favorite games and put them into words I can describe to my players
• Understanding Groupings, Organization and Workstreams. The Art of War and Strategikon have maxims and take the Economies of Defense or Economies of Action and contemplate its full implications. 
• Understand Communication, Command, and Entropy of an Organization under pressure. The stories of confusion, fear, and human frailty under adverse conditions colors the scene and informs us how and why and what it looks like. 

What happens next is how or if we choose to prepare. Preparation is prevention to cure, or to solve problem while they are easy before they get harder. In Narrating a scene I need to build up my skills and my well of knowledge. I cannot expect it to be perfect and awesome all the time, but I do want to learn and capture what magic manages to show up in a game (by recording that game).

If this feels like overwhelming and a sudden explosive challenge after the slow build up of the two previous articles, its fine. It is gonna get harder and its going to be about active and conscious practice and consistency. There is time to get things right, as long as there is a rough start vs not starting at all.

Narrative Mass Combat: Part 2 - Applying Groupings and using Economies of Defense

This post is for GMs who want to tackle mass combat or scale the game at the level of armies and states.

Strategikon and the Art of War has rules of thumb about how much I need for certain victory. First I want to discus Economies of Defense. In later posts I will go into Terrain and Circumstances which is discussed in the Sun Zi's Art of War (AoW for short in future discussions) but I will go into implementable examples and aids. I will then go into Force Multipliers or Dividers, these are Meta Systems that can be plugged into Game systems that do not have Mass Combat.

Economies of Defense

I found this concept very useful in both combat, in sparring and airsoft, and in Mass Combat. The concept allows me to focus on economies of Attention.

This simplifies how having greater numbers of soldiers works. That greater numbers over another force allows me to divide the defense of another side. That One against One means both having 100% of their Defense available, while Two against One halves the defense of the lesser Force.

This concept means numbers don't matter as much if the greater force cannot divide the defense of the other lesser force (numbers mean more "Shifts" of fighting, wearing down the smaller force). This simple matter means that in Narrow or Contested Ground (the Art of War: The 9 types of ground) I cannot take advantage of greater numbers as effectively.

Reiterating that in a fight of 2 to 1, the casualties of the greater force depends on how efficiently one can take advantage of the opening created by the flanking of the other. This flexible mental concept of dividing the defense is so useful it will greatly improve the GM's narrative when describing forces and organization. In the geometry of battle ranks thin to cover flanks against greater numbers. When ranks thin, gaps are not filled as quickly and when lines break flanks are exposed and the men in ranks despite how tight they may be may see too many men and fright takes over while the other side gains bloodlust.

Defense can be translated as adapting to the circumstance externally dictated. That in an organization I act defensively when I am adapting and reacting, instead of directing and attacking. This takes the concept to an abstraction for scenes not as geometric as battlefields.

Quality and Quantity of Force

Because of various biases humans use these numbers to determine their force instead of going by quality. It is easier to mass the numbers by using full-time or part-time soldiers forcing other men to fight in the army. 

That in earlier eras numbers mattered more than quality and they would get all the fighting age males (and sometimes too young, too old, and women depending on the circumstance; typically aged 14-40) and herd them. One realizes that this "buffering" of numbers is why one hears about 1 out of 10 or 1 out of 5 fighting men. Spartans and Vikings (Raiding northmen) were typically 4 out of 5 fighting men (20% being servants who dont really fight but may be made to do so in the rear). In the poorest quality of troops one needs at least 1 warrior beating the shit out of people to control 8-9 other people (1-2 of these people mostly serving as servants).

One realizes that it is a Herd of humans, disciplined by violence, threats, conditioning, practice, punishment and rewards. That these marvelously arrayed blocks of battalions or regiments of humanity can be compared to herded animals. There are times of great motivations and prize to be won, but fear and pain are the most common tool of disciple. No wonder Sun Zi talks about the dangers of cornering a foe, when cornered every man becomes a fighting man. 

In Sins of the Crusade, the army is made up of 1 of 4 are fighting men. Slaves, Criminals, and the many second sons and disguised daughters of a Europe that is experiencing the limits of its carrying capacity. 

Using Groupings and Economies of Defense

Now begin by taking the Strategic and Tactical strength used in an Era. Great Empires during Ancient Eras waged wars in the scale of Corps and Divisions (100,000 to 30,000 per side on field of battle) where they moved pieces of Divisions (10,000). This includes the Ancient Near East Eras, Ancient Roman Era, and Most of the Chinese Eras (eras I know fought in this scale prior to renaissance eras).  In other eras it was battles of Divisions to Brigades (50,000 to 10,000) with pieces of Brigades to Regiments. In the Medieval eras they fought in the scale of Divisions and Regiments (30,000 to 5,000).  

Once I know what size I will be dealing with, this is broken up to its "Tactical" and "Strategic" units.  These are relative terms, with the emphasis of Tactical being what is on the ground or being used. Strategic is the forces that takes more preparation, they have various stages of readiness, and factors what can be raised or what is in reserved. 

A Corps of 50,000-30,000 men can be Strategic if its the total pool of manpower that State can draw from or as a Tactical unit, it is the force being deployed and used. In SotC the Strategic unit depends on who I are talking to: The Emperor or Bohemmond or Abu'l Qasim. Bohemmon's Strategic force is his whole army of a Brigade sized force of 10,000 men (but at 1 warrior out of 10 men), and his tactical units are two regiments of ~2000 controlled by his Hypodoux (visduc in french; the terms change as they don't want to use the greek terms) Tancred and Mauger. Alexios has about 60,000 and as he assigns them they are his strategic units: 20,000 which he's assigned to Megas Doux John Doukas, and 10,000 to deal with the Balkans. How these forces are deployed is their Tactical level.

Finally at the Tactical level, when forces are engaging each other I can factor economies of defense. In the Tactical scale I examine the terrain realtive to the size of the army. A man is a Pace wide (2/3 a yard or meter), so to hold a line of 40m I need 60 men. I reinforce these men with ranks, as armies are mobs that smash into each other and a line can easily fall without reinforcing ranks. In open terrain numbers are even more pronounced and important, even if the quality is questionable.

Ill go into Force Multipliers in another post.  

Translating it to Dice

In 1 to 1 each has a 100% resources to defend and there is a 50% of either one to make an attack penetrate the defense then we can work with this baseline. In odds of 1 vs 3, the lesser force has 1/3 of their defense available. Multiply the defense penalty to the 50% baseline, in this case 15% chance to defend. This translates as a -35% penalty to the defender or a +35% bonus to the attacker. Just to be different I will recommend a penalty

Two forces can be of equal in number, but if one force is able to divide the Other's ability to defend this would allow the other to better overwhelm the other.

If there are penalties for "Fatigued" or "Spent" forces it would apply to their defense as well. Again, at "half" strength, the half the odds of success and translate that to dice odds. 

Narrative Mass Combat: Part 1 - Groupings and Leadership

3 part post about Narrative Mass Combat. This helps in running Mass Combat since it gives some basic principles to consider.

I will give more specific examples and show how I use this foundation from recordings of my on going campaign. An open and system agnostic system.

Learning the Groupings and the Leaders

On a game table there is only a limit to the number of Players a GM can handle. This concept of groups and the tasks they can handle or, for training, the amount a trainer can train is called workstreams. If the GM considers how many players he can handle, this is an example of the kind of thinking that goes into workstreams or group tasks.

Key Concepts

• Smallest group is a Team. Very similar to a Game Table or a Group of friends talking - typically 4-5 people. The team is found in military as Fire Team and lead by a Non-Commission officer called a Corporeal and in many Business Settings we have the team and have a team leader. These teams assigned for a particular task, project or department.
         A Household or Family is a Team with the head of the family the leader. A Clan or Tribe elder is the head of a group of households in as far as representing them and remembering their traditions, history, and rituals. Another leader of a group of households is a Bailey aka Bailif aka gobernadorcillo ("Little Governor") aka Steward.
• A group of groups. The next size of group is Section or Squad. A Section is made up of number of teams, typically a couple of Teams. Depending on the size of the group Sections can be made of a number of Teams, but we do have conventions of just a couple of teams.
         Administrative groups have their own Teams which is separate from the Population they manage. The basic unit of many eras are Scribes. Other terms for such basic units are Pages and Clerks. Administrators have a lot of terms for them, a lot in the Roman tradition. Some religious orders draw their administration from other successful Administrative organizations. Christianity draws from Roman traditions, while in the east philosophical and religious organization are the pattern for bureaucracies - example is the Taoist and Confucian systems. 
         Religious Orders also follow some kind of grouping and leadership. Novices serve as team members while their leader is a rank higher having some some religious office. A Friar or Monk is part of a Mendicant order. They are in effect Novices until they gain rank and holy orders. To keep things simple, they are all Novices, even lay people, with minor differences in vows from their mendicant order or place in the community. Novices are separate from the Laity as they are the ones managing the laity.     
• The group leader cannot be the leader of a subgroup. This is when the pattern becomes fractal and repeats as we Zoom out at larger and larger groupings. Each team will have a leader, and the one in charge of the entire Section cannot also be the leader of one of these teams.  The overall leader of a Section is a Foreman in worker groups, in some militaries we have Sergeants, in the Roman tradition we have Dekarchs, Decurions, and Conteberions.
         In religious groups there is the Priest with his team or his section and teams. Depending on the era Priests have varying degrees of importance and status. the "product" a Priest provides is sufficient for a community or wealthy patron. The size of novices and laity that support his activities depends on the status he serves. In the next level, bishopry, typically is at the level of generals and counts. The Bishopry or Patriarchy (Theophylact) are considered "princes" of the church. Its really up to the GM or the Setting how much influence they have.  
• Conventions of Leadership and Groups change all the time. Different Eras have different conventions of conventional group size for a particular task. A platoon is a small group of 4-5 Squads under a Lieutenant (Pentakonarch) while a company is 8-15 squads under a Captain (Centurion, Chief, Captal, Hekatonarch etc...). 
       There are many forces that determine convention: the ability to support full time soldiers, traditions of leadership (the ability to create and train leaders), and the body of knowledge peoples possess about warfare. This also changes as armies lose their numbers over a period of a war. Note the repeated expression of the pattern found in the Section level.
        Typically a region provided 1 fighting man per household in earlier eras where these men were the Pater Familia of the household. This changed to almost 2-3 households per specialist fighting man (Heavy Infantryman or Archer) as soldiers became dedicated and specialized. light cavalry was supported by three times their infantry counterpart (6-9 households), while heavy cavalry twice that of light cavalry (12-20 households).  

The Komnenian Roman Tradition

• The Tetrarch or Corpreal commands a team 4 men. 
• The Dekarch or Sergeant commands a squad of 10 men. A learned Dekarch would be wise to have his 2nd of command lead a Tetrarch and another lead the remaining men of the squad. 
• The Hekatonarch or Captain commands 8-12 squads. He will have a lieutenant, one of the "Primary" Dekarks, who will command his personal squad while he maneuvers his other squads. 
• The Comes or Count (also called a Tribune) commands a group of 4-5 Hekatonarchs. The group is called a Tagma, or Bandon. This means he administers over a Tagma, a region of about 1200 households. 
• The Doux (Duke) commands 3-5 Comes (Counts) or Tribunes. The region administers is of the same name as the force he commands: A Themata or Theme. This is made up of 4000 to 20,000 households. In earlier Eras this was much densely populated or bigger to make for the lower density. Alexios commanded about 8-12 Doux or Strategos. Sometimes he had problems with the Doux and separated the Administrative role from the Military leadership having Strategos. He lacked capable administrators and borrowed heavily to finance his armies created many "orphan" forces that did not have a Themata to fully finance the force. 
• Rome's Pretoreans or Constantinople's Scholae are Battalion (Bandon/Tagma/ Marian Cohort) level forces that draw its finances from the households of the Capital. These "House Guards" are similar to the Houscarls or Huskalars. The important thing to remember is that these House Guards are client families of the ruling family, and are typically very loyal and dedicated. They are also very wealthy as the wealth of the households that support these have the Patronage of the ruling Family or Faction. This is a source of loyal manpower if the line of patronage in uninterrupted. 

The rule about the Group Leader has to delegate the leadership of all subgroups and cannot have a subgroup under him, creates "Hypo" (under) versions of his Title like Hypo Strategos or Hypo-hekatonarch. Of course its easier to just call the lieutenant the same rank as the sub leaders under the Group leader. 

Learning Notes. 

• As the group gets bigger various rules get harder and requires dedicated people. At Company level you have an officer, an Optio, who is in charge of logistics. Other than the Lieutenants/Sub Leaders of the Group Leader, he has a Sub leader who is in charge of all support personnel. He may not command a sub group but all the support people counts as the subgroup under him. 
• I should be able to move up and down the scale of group easily. Once I master how to break up a force into its subgroups I can better work with the numbers without being overwhelmed. Remembering I deal with the Sub-leaders of this groups helps both in visualizing the kind of entity I'm dealing with. That communication degrades per level the information disseminates. That the sub-leaders have to communicate it to his men. 
• I realized how important training particular maneuvers are because it requires less interpretation when a command is given. 
• In Part 2, we talk about some rules of thumb and generalities that give us an idea of what each Group Scale can do and expected to do. 

Sins of the Crusades - Season 02, Episode 06 - Betreyal

Thanks +Wilton Heath, +Dan Mungham, +Thunder Clonch , and +Il Pella for playing.

• The team was planning an attack, the problems and challenges were plenty
• the closest target was Nicomedia (Izmit), assailable by sea and land
• it was a small prize, and vulnerable to Nicea. A wealthier city that can easily send reinforcements. 
• they had enough ships to move only 5000 troops. That would be 
• 300 Large boats
• 15 Merchant ships
• Some knew of the Sakarya River, able to take them close to Nicea or Nicomedia depending on the weather. By estimations, they were sure it could bring them to Nicea. 
• The Need for a Sea Port (after they deal with the Genoans)
• Tertius spent the past two months working on his men and their discipline. 
• Familiarization on Norman Warfare
• Gains Teamwork Perk for his men and himself. 
• Nightfighting Technique (H) 4cp, he negates -3 worth of penalties associated with night time combat and coordination. He's conditioned his men, 500, to fight and operate at night.  
• Olek sets up a kitchen for the Army, and uses it to cover for his cooking of flammable grease. He constructs a heavy scorpion able to lob the concoction a good 700 yards. 
• He proceeds to cultivate his own circle of thralls, using old and intuitive techniques of indoctrination (brain washing). He grows and feeds the beast, and these creatures come to know him as their master - enabling their twisted nature. 
• He instructs Tertius Men, in how to safely handle and use the incendiary grease. 
• Xeno, Empress Maria, and Cato approach the Genoans
• They were able to make introductions, and Cato befriends Micheal of the Agostino family who later introduces them to Nikolas, the Patriarch of the family. In exchange for the ships, the Genoans want a way to move their goods without Imperial duties by way of a friendly port to make their way West. Cato arranges something with young Constantine and the Agostine Family. 
• They learn that the Genoas facilitate some trade for Doux Theodor Garbas, in the black sea. Xeno uses the opportunity to arrange the a way to meet the "imprisoned" general.They hint on an agreement with the Doux is possible, especially if they can acquire his son. 
• Xeno, Tertius, and Theodore.
• Xeno continues his investigation on who betrayed them and caused his capture. He learns of Theodores role and that of Nikophero Milesenos. That Milisenos was making deals with the Turks, was something the Emperor knew well but who tipped off Tzarchas to take Symryna was something else. Something the emperor was not aware of, to lose such a valuable port and so many ship builders. The Taronites is a new suspect, as the Bureaucrats they possess the means to leak the attack and some influence over the emperors own Intelligence agents. 
• In the last days Cato is trying to read bohemon and see where he is in circle of trust. Given how important the next days will be he is high in his lords esteem more so when he spends the time to reassure his Lord (managing expectations). 
• Rumors circulate of the streets becoming less safe and more of the homeless disappearing. Even criminals take care to do their business in the streets when words of how so many have disappeared lately. 
• In the night they leave Olek's agents poisons one of the guest palaces and takes Gregory Garbas with them. 
• When the army finally mobilizes, it was unexpected and by the time word arrives to the emperor, the city is in confusion. The army makes it way quickly to Nicomedia, aided by Genoans and Garbas ships. They arrive in the Seljuq city and quickly move their ships to the walls and begin scaling them. Such an unexpected attack took the city by surprise and many of the defenders were slaughtered inside the walls. 
• They sacked the city, and moved quickly to gather the nobles. The city's Amir was not inclined to surrender. Cato' was very convincing, and Olek's fire caused confusion and betrayal. By the Dawn the city was taken, and Bohemmond has left Constantinople with his land force.  
• Everyone got the usual rewards 2cp for themselves, and 3cp for others. 
• Hiatus till March 13/14 2015 because of a ton of Social Obligations and Prep for a War Campaign. Which means making armies, re-familiarizing with Mass Combat Rules, and Digging up the Seljuq Generals and the Intrigues they had. 

where Nicomedia (Izmit) was relative to Constantinople (Istanbul)

where Nicomedia (Izmit) and Nicea (beside the Lake) 

 Where Nicea was compared to Doryleaum (Eskisiher)

Where Doryleaum was compared to Ankara and Konya

Dwarven Loadouts, Encounters, and Mass Combat Encounter

My dwarves are a bit shorter, but wider in proportions compared to humans. So they even out a bit but clothing and armor that has a "dwarven" descriptor cannot be worn by humans, but have enough material to be adjusted for humans. Evening-out is important because it saves the GM tons of calculations.

Dwarves

Dwarven template plus social background even out to zero cost template.

Dwarf Template

-15 points

• Slow Move - They begin with Move 4 instead of Move 5
• Lifting  Strength +3 – Calculate Basic Lift for Dwarves, as though they have 3 levels greater ST.
• Night  Vision 9 – Dwarves have excellent night vision, negating 9 levels of darkness penalties.
• Extended Lifespan – Dwarves are long lived and slow maturing, they become a young adult at around 36 years, an adult at around 60 years, middle aged at around 100 years, old at around 120 years, and Venerable at around 140 years.
• Workaholic – Dwarves are hardworking to a fault, they are so single minded with their work their relationships suffer. They suffer -1 reaction penalty with those who are affected by it.  
• Stubborn – Dwarves unusually stubborn people, it takes a great amount of effort to change a Dwarves mind. Double the time and resources it takes to argue an opposing point across to a Dwarf. Because of this inherent nature Dwarves are get along better with each other intoxicated or not minding the business of others. Often the Dwarf suffers a -1 reaction penalty to anyone affected by their stubborn nature.
• Taciturn – Dwarves are a naturally grumpy, cranky, and taciturn people. Other peoples find these offensive and rude. The Dwarves suffer a -1 reaction penalty to other races.
• Elven Ire – Dwarves have don't get along with Elves in many levels.
• Social Stigma: Minority Group – Dwarves are a Minority Group, they suffer -2 reaction penalty to other races and +2 reaction bonus to their own.
• Features:
• Stocky and Heavy Build (Height x0.85, Weight x1.3 of a human of the same strength).
• Male facial hair grows faster than head hair.

Dwarven Social Background

15 points

• Language Speak/Comprehend Dwarven (Native) [0]
• Cultural Familiarity: Dwarven (Native) [0]
• Literate in Dwarven (Native) [3]
• Cultural Familiarity (Imperial) [1]
• Language Speak/Comprehend Common (Fluent) [3]
• Language Read/Write Common (Fluent) [3]
• Numerate [5]

These dwarves have all the traits of a strong culture, that is destined to self destruct lolz. Because of magic, consider them at TL3+2 economically and infrastructure. In this setting dwarves have evolved separately from humans but can breed with them (the evolutionary difference between neanderthal and humans, you can say that dwarves are more neanderthal like descendants with their obscene strength that it bends/deforms their bones - hence the squat nature of dwarves). 

In this setting elves are superior because of magic and intelligence, and humans are their vassals, slaves, and playthings (the way modern fantasy gamers would see goblins and kobolds). They interact so much that some humans can "appear" attractive to elves. Elves in this setting are Iron alergic, and they use their magic to affect the economy - banning the use of Iron and lead and requiring all metal to be bronze and copper (see GURPS magic notes: earth spells; its possible to have a high tonnage bronze industry see Chinese dynasties before Qin and add magic) and have TL2+4 level of economy and quality of life because of their magic. (the elves are inspired by John Wicks' Ven)  

Dwarven Archer

Equipment   $7,061,  59.65lbs lbs

• [Body] Winter Clothing DR0 (+1 vs cut), $90, 5lbs
• [Skull 3-4] Med Plate Helm DR6 $600 4.8lbs 
• [Face 5] 1d6 
• 1-3 Nasal, Cheek and Ear Guards DR6F
• 4 Fine Mail Ventail DR4 (-2 vs cr) $27, 0.45lb
• [Neck 17-18] Fine Mail Aventail DR4 (-2 vs cr) $45 0.75lbs (covers the rear of the face) 
• [Torso 9-11] Medium Lamellar DR4F (-1 vs cr) $275, 12lbs
• [Arms Right 8, Left 12] 1d6
• 5-6 Medium Lamellar Pauldaons  $110 4.8lbs 
• 1-3 Medium Lamellar Vambraces $137 6lbs
• [Hands 15] Gloves and Light Mail DR3 (-2 vs cr) $80, 1.2lbs
• [Legs Right 6-7; Left 13-14] 1d6
• 5-6 Medium Lamellar Fauld DR4F (-1 vs cr) $69 5.4lbs     
• [Feet 16] Shoes DR2, $40, 2lbs
• [Pouch] Wooden 1 Quart Water 3lbs $15
• [Primary Weapon] Composite Bow $4,500 2.5lbs 
• Bow-14, Acc4
• Dmg 2d-1 impaling 
• 60 arrows, $154 8.5lbs (Quiver is 2.5lbs see LT34 containers)
• Bow Holster $34 2.5lbs (Quiver is 2.5lbs see LT34 containers)
• [Secondary] Fine Balanced Axe 
• Axe-12, Parry-11U (3base, 6skill, 1cr, 1db) $750, 4lbs
• Axe Dmg 2d+2 cutting

Dwarven Horse Archer

Equipment

$10,017,  45.65 lbs

• [Body] Light Leather DR0 (+1 vs cut), $360, 5lbs
• [Skull 3-4] Light Plate Helm DR4 $240 3lbs
• [Face 5] 1d6
• 1-3 Nasal, Cheek and Ear Guards DR3
• 4 Fine Mail Ventail $27, 0.45lbs
• [Neck 17-18] Fine Mail Aventail $45 0.75lbs
• [Torso 9-11] Light Lamellar DR3 (-1 vs cr) $160, 8lbs
• [Arms Right 8, Left 12] see body
• [Hands 15] Gloves and Light Mail DR3 (-2 vs cr) $80, 1.2lbs
• [Legs Right 6-7; Left 13-14] see body
• [Feet 16] Boots DR2, $80, 3lbs
• [Pouch] Wooden 1 Quart Water 2.5lbs $15
• [Primary Weapon] Composite Bow $4,500 2.5lbs
• 60 arrows, $34 8.5lbs (Quiver is 2.5lbs)
• Bow Holster $34 2.5lbs
• [Secondary] Fine Balanced Axe and
• Axe-13, Parry-11U (3base, 6skill, 1cr, 1db) $750, 4lbs
• Axe Feint-17
• Axe Dmg 3d-1 cutting
• [Shield] Metal Heavy Small Shield $160 4.5lbs
• Shield-12, Block-11 (3base, 6skill, 1cr, 1db)
• Shield Dmg 1d crushing DR4/HP15/OP7

War Pony $1800 (Move 6/12)

264lbs Carrying Capacity (Move 3/7)

Rider 180lbs, Rider Gear 51lbs, Horse Gear $425, 27lbs, 258lbs/264lbs

Stirrups $125. 5lbs; Horseshoes $50, 4

lbs; Riding Saddle $150, 15lbs, Saddlebags $100, 3lbs

Dwarven Scout

Equipment: 

$2,778; 45.7lbs

• [Body] Winter Camouflage Clothing DR0 (+1 vs cut), $360, 5lbs
• Camouflage Cloak $40, 2lbs
• [Skull 3-4] Light Plate Helm DR4  $240, 3lbs 
• [Face 5] 1d6 
• 1-3 Nasal and Cheek Guards DR3F
• [Neck 17-18]  Fine Mail Aventail DR4 (-2 vs cr) $45 0.75lbs
• [Torso 9-11] Fine Mail DR4F (-2 vs cr) $450, 7.5lbs
• [Arms Right 8, Left 12]  see body
• [Hands 15] Gloves and Light Mail DR3 (-2 vs cr) $80, 1.2lbs
• [Legs Right 6-7; Left 13-14] see body 
• [Feet 16] Shoes DR2, $40, 2lbs
• [Pouch] Wooden 1 Quart Water 3lbs $15
• [Primary Weapon] Composite Bow $900 2.25lbs
• Bow Case $34 2.5
• Quiver of 60 Arrows $154, 8.5lbs 
• [Secondary] Balanced Axe $200, 4lbs
• [Shield] Heavy Small Steel Shield $220 4.5lbs
• DR4/HP15/OP7   
• Rim Edge Cutting Sw-2

Dwarven Heavy Infantry

Equipment  $5,268;  71.7lbs

• [Body] Winter Clothing DR0 (+1 vs cut), $90, 5lbs
• [Skull 3-4] Med Plate Helm DR6 $600 4.8lbs 
• [Face 5] 1d6 
• 1-3 Nasal, Cheek and Ear Guards DR6F
• 4 Fine Mail Ventail DR4 (-2 vs cr) $27, 0.45lb
• [Neck 17-18] Fine Mail Aventail DR4 (-2 vs cr) $45 0.75lbs (covers the rear of the face) 
• [Torso 9-11] Medium Lamellar DR4F (-1 vs cr) $275, 12lbs
• [Arms Right 8, Left 12] 1d6
• 5-6 Medium Lamellar Pauldaons  $110 4.8lbs 
• 1-3 Medium Lamellar Vambraces $137 6lbs
• [Hands 15] Gloves and Light Mail DR3 (-2 vs cr) $80, 1.2lbs
• [Legs Right 6-7; Left 13-14] 1d6
• 5-6 Medium Lamellar Fauld DR4F (-1 vs cr) $69 5.4lbs 
• 1-3 Medium Lamellar Greeves DR4F (-1 vs cr) $69 5.4lbs 
• [Feet 16] Shoes with Lamellar Sabatons DR4 (-1 vs cr), $95, 4.4lbs
• [Pouch] Wooden 1 Quart Water 3lbs $15
• [Primary Weapon] Very Fine Balanced Axe $2,700 4lbs 
• Axe-16, Feint-20, Parry-U
• Dmg 3d-1 cutting  
• [Secondary] Fine Balanced Large Heavy Steel Shield $1035 15lbs
• Shield-13, Block-13
• DR4/HP22/OP9   
• Rim Edge Cutting 1d+2 cutting

Dwarven Sapper

Sappers are not supposed to be near the front lines. No armor to conserve fatigue which is their most precious asset to activate their gauntlets of shape earth and stone. 

Equipment   14lbs

• [Body] Winter Clothing DR0 (+1 vs cut), $90, 5lbs
• [Skull 3-4, Face 5] None
• [Neck 17-18] Beard Notch of Earth to Stone (M51)
• [Torso 9-11] see Body
• [Arms Right 8, Left 12] See Body
• [Hands 15] Gauntlets of Shape Earth and Shape stone  4lbs (M50-51)
• [Legs Right 6-7; Left 13-14] See Body
• [Feet 16] Shoes 2lbs
• [Pouch] Wooden 1 Quart Water 2.5lbs $15
• [Primary Weapon] Gauntlets
• [Secondary] Very Fine Balanced Small Knife $720 0.5lbs

Dwarven Encounter

Maul'doon's Mountain

Appearance: Heavily terraced mountains, sculpted with decades of work to serve as a stronghold and home. 

Population: ~100,000 or ~20,000 dwarven families. 15,000 human servant and slave population. 

Land: 8,000 Mountainous Acres (3,200 ha)

Economy: Annual Administrative Revenues of $72M; 15% is in reserve, 40% is in military upkeep, 20% is Administration and the rest is maintenance and public services (25%). The treasury has $42M reserves in gold surplus for the past 10 years. 

Because of earth spells, the dwarves have made the mountain into a kind of Arcology. The level of agricultural productivity and the population need to support this is similar to TL3+2 despite terrain (the food technology would be considered TL3+4), with a large specialist, merchant, and military population. This is effectively a city, drawing raw materials in human settlements and cities, selling high quality durable hard goods to humans in return for slaves (human cast-offs), fodder, hardwoods, metal ores, textiles, and surplus food. 

of the 5,000 dwarves standing force the mountain can mobilize 5,000 reserve and 2000 support personnel. 

of the Standing 5,000 force they are divided into bands/battalion of 500 and rotate paroling operations.  

A battalion of 500 dwarves is made up of 10 50-dwarf companies. 10% of the force is made up mountain horse archers (mountain ponies), 40% Scouts, 20% Archers, and 30% Heavy Footmen. All of them are Mountain Terrain feature and the Scouts and Horse Archers have Woods terrain feature. Among the reserve force are the Sappers - which is a humble term for Engineers who are armed with Gauntlets of Shape Earth and typically do full time work building and maintaining infrastructure. 

A Battalion is made up of men and women of a clan, who typically have steadings, terraces carved out of the mountain or large cave complexes, to oversee when in reduced readiness.  Dwarves use human servants and slaves as sharecroppers and factory laborers. 

Mountain Pony - this is not a horse, but a large Goat able to bear a rider and gear that has been domesticated. It has lost its horns in the domestication but most of its instincts are like those of goats, but its size and strength are comparable to ponies. Its called a mountain pony because of their appearance from a distance, but up close the goat-ness is unmistakable. 

The Hook

The dwarves of Mauldoon have made a few human settlements near by practically economically dependent on them. It has brought these settlements wealth and population, growing to small towns and the dwarves even helped them build their roads and walls. This is pissing the elven overlords mightily. 

Elven overlords have found dwarven trade disruptive to their economy, and despite treaties dwarves continue to circulate Iron and Steel into their Vassal economies (Iron is banned).  The town of Versef, a mere 60 miles (100km) away is being audited, and the Elven auditor is not satisfied with the results - this "village" is as wealthy as a town and should be taxed as such. Many of the stead holders are contesting as they have lived to the letter of their oaths and the dwarven merchant families who have their second home there are caught up in the argument.  In the middle of the auditor and its arguments, is a dwarven canal carved into the mountains (built to bear to bear 10dton flatbottom boats) that lead to the Versef. Once finished will give the Versef more access to dwarven goods which they can resell to its neighbors. 

The sides are - the Auditor (elves), The humans (who may want no trouble or want more prosperity), the Dwarves (who want to keep their trading partners) . 

Dwarves

5 Fine Horse Archers TS20 (F, Rec, Cv, Wood, Mountain)

20 Good Scouts TS30 (Rec, Wood, Mountain)

15 Fine Hvy Infantry TS120 (Mountain)

10 Fine Archers TS40 (F, Mountain)

Dwarven Mass Combat Encounter

Crap has hit the Fan and the Imperial Elves mobilize human vassal armies against the dwarves. The dwarves have holed up in Versef and a relief force is being assembled. Still a vasal human brigade of 3,000 men (20% light cavalry, 40% heavy infantry, 20% archers, 20% light infantry) have camped nearby.

60 Light Cavalry TS120 (Cv, Rec, Wood)
120 Hvy Infantry TS480 (Wood)
60 Bowmen TS120 (F, Wood)
60 Scouts TS120 (Rec, Wood)

GURPS Low Tech Notes: Galleys, Naval Encounters,

Galleys

Galleys are long narrow oared boats, sometimes with sails. They were used from BCE to the 1500CE. They were measured in total number of oars, and rarely by their dtons (which should have been noted), so you can expect them to be even and rounded numbers. You will find 20, 30, 50, 100, and 200 oars. Rare capital / flag ships being more than 200 oars. Ships are measured in Displacement Tons, Oars and Masts.

In the course of the centuries, these galleys evolved from simple square Sails, to multi lanteen or triangle sails. Ship engineering tried to solve many puzzles: height of the mast vs the capability of the foundation to sustain and the forces that affected it, size of the ship, carrying capacity, limitation of building material, turn around time,  storage of provisions, war-augmentations, navigation, etc... The increase of speed was about 20% in about +1500 years, but naval traditions and additional ports allowed farther and farther ranging.

Galleys follow a Beam to Length ratio of about 1:8+ because of the nature of its propulsion. You will know the era of the galley by the shape and type of sail, and the number of masts. The older the model the more reliant of oars and only one mast, near the emergence of the age of sail they are multi-masted with lanteen sails. Shipbuilding peoples made ships based on the wood they had, and they exported this ships to various nations that could not produce it themselves. Certain ports had to have everything just right: a river to feed it logs, plenty of trees along this river (ideally on hills to roll it down), and a good harbor from weather. Once you identify the shipbuilding ports, you can sketch the economics of ship building of various factions and powers.

Galleys are a coastal ship and was always sailed close enough to shore because it had so much man power to feed and water. The more oars relative to dtons the faster they become but the shorter their endurance. 30 oar ships, like the Viking ships can have 15 days of supplies if they were 15dtons (less if they bring armor and weapons), while 50 oar ships have 7 days of supplies at 20dtons (both assuming passengers). This meant wasting a two days provisioning and basing your navigation on how many "port" hops you would have to take. Seasons determined how many days it took for one particular direction. Ancient era ships used earthen jars, added about 30% to the weight and bulk of the supplies. You can say it removed the same proportion to its supply range.

What I love about galleys is the human heuristics that limited it. Rowing despite many idealizations from armchair historians or gamers worked with very very finite resources. It doesnt help that its an upper body exercise, which the human body had efficiency limitations compared to running. These Rowers will be needing more than the +2000 cal per day diet and a generous amount of protein (typically from wheat and fish) if their captain wanted his "cogs" to be working better longer. Wheat crackers which have the calorie density of x8 of oats (calories per grams)

One more important aspect of sailing is Navigation, you can't have just ONE navigator. You needed 3-5, for shifts and incase one gets injured. Navigators are scarce, you can imagine a captain having apprenticeships if he wants to maintain a steady supply. There are only stars, landmarks by day, and the sun, to navigate and you need a ton of experience measured in the number of sailing seasons and trips the sailor has made. Until the compass found its way west, you will be at the mercy of manpower scarcity of good navigators or you will have to delay and delay until the season changes.

3-5 Navigators with some crew still awake and available 24 hours meant being able to travel 24 hours instead of anchoring near land at night. When sails improved much during the medieval era, you have more and more productive sailing ranges. In clear night skies with so many stars, Sailors are guided with much greater precision. An asset is a Sailor with some Astronomy, Mathematics, and able to write, and a crew literate and able to learn and apply.

War Ships can be distinguished from Non-Warships by skilled sailors. Warships have castles, ramming prow, and fortified. Warships are more evident from shields along its side OR if disguised, will be evidence once you glance the inside, in allocation of supplies and the dedication for rowing seats. 20 dtons with 30-20 oars are optimal for trade in relatively secure waters. 50-80 oars are for long distance trade and security against attacks.150- 200 oared ships would have be at 90-130 displacement tons and designed to carry 100-350 elements for the same duration.

Naval Combat. 

Elaborating Naval combat,

• Map Preparation. 
• Various time scales maintain a number of hexes of movement. Shift scale if the ship is 1 turn away and gaining.   
• An hour Scale is 1.6km or 1mi per hex. Note the Ship's visibility range, once out of visual range and with an hour and cannot catch up, the ship is considered to have escaped. 
• A 15 minute Scale is 0.9km or 0.55 mi per hex.  
• 5 minute sacle per turn would be 0.3 or 0.2 miles scales. Shift to this scale when the 
• 1 minute scale is 60m or 66 yards. 
• Token Visibility ranges remain the same.  
• Visibility. The mast is what determines the visibility. the bigger the ship the taller the mast and the farther a crewman can peer over the horizon. (the Mast in Meters^0.5)*2.57km. 
• The Ship Token 
• Maneuvering and Positioning. 
• Movement
• Steady Pace (like Hiking) - Ship Move * 1.6kph or 1mph at 1FP per hour. 
• in 1 hour, cover a distance equal to a number of 1.6km or 1mi Hexes equal to the ship's move. That would be hexes with an area of 0.55 sq. km or 0.21 sq mi 
• Fast Pace (like Paced Running) - Ship Move * 3.6kph or 2.25 mph at 1FP per 15 minutes. In 15 minute travel a number of 0.9km or 0.56mi hexes in 15 minutes. 
• Tide and Wind direction (penalizes movement towards a particular direction). 
• simplify by adding or subtracting 1 hex of move per direction. 
• Time, Distance, and Arc of movement covered by the Ship.
• Sail, Oars and Both move *   
• Engaging: Resolve as Mass Combat or Below

Alternative to Resolving it as Mass Combat

• Ramming. 
• you need a ramming prow. Getting into position is contests of Shiphandling with ship handling modifiers.  
• Ranged Attacks. Side facing you get the total Size modifier of the ship, front or rear, -4 to SM modifier (these ships are very narrow, of 8:1 beam to length ratio). 
• Archers (note number of Volleys) 
• B557 for vehicle hit table, 
• Fire Arrows B410 very low chances to start a fire, penalty to hit. B433 Catching Fire Rules, basically you need to deal 10+ points of fire damage to catch fire. Crewman check to douse a fire. So multiple fire attacks has the best chance of burning a ship, fire attacks is really to shake up the crew and sow confusion and disorder as they try to put these fires out. Crewmen busy putting fires out means, crewmen who cannot row to maneuver the ship.  
• LT84 Incendiaries. Large Fire Arrow bolts more Fire. Fire arrow is 1 burn / sec. larger and larger arrows can do more damage. The square root the number of times heavier the fire projectile is to get the new fire damage. 
• A 1lb ballista would be x10 heavier than an arrow for 2x the damage. 1d-3 damage (1 dmg)  is  now 3 for 1d-1 burning. 
• An Arbalest is at x5 the weight would deal the 1d-2 burning but have the best range of delivery. 
• A 180 ballista is 1800 heavier for 2d x 5 burning damage which can only be placed on Naval defense wall or on a 200dton ship. 
• Ballistae or Scorpions (note number of Volleys and the time scale)
• Boarding Actions. Its best resolved via GURPS mass combat at this point. Although the GM can always quickly draw up the two ships if the players are not picky and run the combat. 
• Pulling in the enemy ship. Opposed Shiphandling check, the instigator with the right tools get '+2.
• Fighting on board. resolve as a mass combat small skirmish. (hella faster and simpler)
• Fighting adjacent. resolve as a mass combat small skirmish. (hella faster and simpler)

Ship Notes

• Oars and Size. Not all ships with a fixed number of oars are the same. Some are up to 100% in volume (you will notice that its not struggling for space for its oarsmen) but are slightly slower because the added volume allows it to support greater and greater sails. 
• Simply Use descriptors of Light (minimal tonnage/displacement, will be noted), Heavy (50% heavier), Very Heavy (100% heavier, typical merchant ship). 
• Ancient Vessels are typically Light when below 30 oars, and Medium Frame at 30 oars and up. Often they are Heavy Frames.  
• Viking Ships can be Extra Light and Light Frame in larger sizes, but they only have a maximum of 80 oars galley size and with only one square sail. This means they can carry more as their empty weight goes down, and their Loaded weight becomes unchanged.
• Extra Light Ships have about 50% lighter empty weight.    
• TL3 Medieval Galleys below are Medium Frame and Standard Materials. Venice and Byzantine Ship builders learned to use Lanteen Sails (up to 3 masts) and Extra Light Frames for up to 100 oar galleys. Merchant City State can make similar ships up to 70 oars.  
• Mixed Fleet. Slower moving Supply ships with a higher Displacement to Propulsion ratio compared to Faster ships which has more Propulsion vs Displacement means you can have a fleet of small fast ships accompanying larger ships which allow these smaller ships extended range. 
• 50 oar ships with only 13 displacement tons have a move of 4.75 vs a 50 oar ship with 50 oar ship with 26 displacement tons which have 4.16 move. Combined they have a shared 9 man day range but travel at the pace of the slower ship. When there is a need the lighter ship can pursue slower quarry or recon for the larger ship!  
• Mass Combat, the minimum Maintenance Cost of the Ship is the number of Crew calculated as  Sappers (which are the same). The Crew, when fighting on land is calculated as Sappers and use Sappers to calculate the cost of training more crew. 
• I've included Mass Combat Stats in this article because the differences are very remarkable. 

Crews and Passengers

• Assuming 160lbs or 73kg per person. 
• Rower with just Light Enc. worth of possessions is at 82kg or 180lbs.
• Passenger with just Med. Enc. worth of possessions is at 100kg or 220lbs.  

Supplies Breakdown. 

• Largest Earthenware Jars with packing material (LT34). 14lbs or 6.4kg per gallon (or one man day of water) and $2.5. 
• Large Water Barrels with packaging material (LT34).  11.6lbs or 5.3kg per gallon (or one man day of water) and $10.5. 
• Food plus packaging (4 meals) 2lbs or 1kg; $8 per Man day.
• 15lbs or 7.4kg per man day in TL1
• 13lbs or 6.3kg per man day in TL2-3
• Ship - Crew and Passenger Weight. Allocate other supplies, and divide the remaining weight according to the 

Every Navigator is 6 hours of good Navigation, or 8 hours of -1 navigation, or 10 hours of -2 navigation, or -4 penalty for 12 hours. 

Assume each Rower is 160lbs or 73kg

Rower carries possessions of about Light encumbrance 20lbs or 9kg. 82kg per Rower. 

Marines and VIPS carry posessions about medium encumbrance or 60lbs or 27kg. 100kg per Marine and VIP. 

Light Dromon (13 dtons, 50 oars)

Visual references of the Dromon makes it really a "destroyer" moving quickly to intercept and swarm slower enemy ships. This ship has a range of 1 man days worth of supplies. It is really meant for defense of a port. If it will travel it will need to be accompanied by a supply ship. 

• ST/HP 52
• Hnd/SR: -3/3
• HT 11
• Move
• Oars 0.3 / 5
• Sail 0.05 / 6
• Oars and Sail 0.6 / 7
• Loaded Weight: 10 tons
• Empty Weight. 6.7 tons.
• 13 displacement tons. 
• Load: 6.3 tons
• Size Modifier: +7
• 30m (90ft) : 4m (12ft)
• Occupants. 
• 50 rowers, 
• 3 crewmen, plus captain. 
• 10 passengers 
• DR 2
• Range: 
• 2 man days (65 occupants in all). 
• Cost:  $22,000
• Cost to Raise +$180k / $36k
• Locations: 
• 3 Masts
• A ramming prow. Rowing the ship deals 3d cr damage.
• Notes: 
• Ramming Prow.  
• 5 km or 3.2 mi visibility

Heavy Dromon (20 dtons, 50 oars)

This Dromon is a proper fighting vessel with range, armor, and the ability provide Archers a platform to fight. Slower than the Light Dromon, this is still a fast ship, and difficult to mistake as anything else but a war ship (the Castle and the Prow). 

• ST/HP 57
• Hnd/SR: -3/3
• HT 11
• Move
• Oars 0.3 / 4
• Sail 0.6 / 6
• Oars and Sail 0.6 / 7
• Loaded Weight: 10 tons
• Empty Weight. 6.7 tons.
• 19.5 Displacement Tons
• Load: 8.3 tons
• Size Modifier: +7
• 37m (111ft) : 5m (16ft)
• Occupants. 
• 50 rowers, 
• 3 crewmen, plus captain. 
• 10 passengers 
• DR 5
• Range: 
• 7 days
• Cost:  $28,000
• Cost to Raise +$180k / $36k
• Locations. 
• 3 Masts
• A ramming prow
• Rear Castle (fits 10 Archers)
• Notes: 
• Ramming Prow. Rowing the ship deals 3d cr damage.
•  5 km / 3.2 mi visibility

30 Oar Small Trader (20dtons)

A ship of minor trading cities and of smaller merchant families. This is very efficient in Overhead to revenue output, this can make up 2/3 of all trading vessels encountered. 

• ST/HP 63
• Hnd/SR -3/3
• HT 11
• Move
• Oars 0.1 / 4
• Sail 0.3 / 5
• Oars and Sail 0.6 / 6
• Loaded Weight: 10 tons
• Empty Weight. 3.1 tons.
• 19.5 Displacement Tons
• Load: 11.9 tons
• 3.4 tons of supplies
• 5.17 tons of trade goods
• Size Modifier: +7
• 37m (111ft) : 5m (16ft)
• Occupants. 
• 30 rowers, 
• 1 crewmen, plus captain. 
• 6 passengers 
• Instead of Goods, additional passengers would be 0.1882 tons (including 14 days food and 27kg/60lbs of luggage). This translates to 27 people being moved for 14 days (or 32-40 slaves). 
• DR 2
• Range: 
• 14 days. 
• Cost:  $7,500
• Cost to Raise +$120k / Maintain $24k
• Locations. 
• 2 Masts
• Notes: 
• 5 km or 3.2 mi visibility

80 Oar Large Trader (40dtons)

A ship of more powerful merchant families. The additional oars also mean additional Security and a much farther 

• ST/HP 67
• Hnd/SR: -3/4
• HT 11
• Move
• Oars 0.1 / 4
• Sail 0.4 / 6
• Oars and Sail 0.5 / 6
• Loaded Weight: 30 tons
• Empty Weight. 8.5 tons.
• 39.5 Displacement Tons
• Load: 21.5 tons
• 6.8 tons of supplies
• 6.76 tons of trade goods
• Size Modifier: +8
• 40m (120ft) : 6m (18ft)
• Occupants. 
• 80 rowers, 
• 5 crewmen, plus captain. 
• 16 passengers 
• Instead of Goods, additional passengers would be 0.163 tons (including 10 days food and 27kg/60lbs of luggage). This translates to 41 people being moved for 14 days (or 92 slaves). 
• DR 2
• Range: 
• 10 days. 
• Cost:  $20,000
• Cost to Raise +$270k / Maintain $54k
• Locations. 
• 3 Masts
• Bunks
• Notes: 
• 5.7 km (3.6 mi) visibility

Capital Ship (200dtons, 300 oars)

The capital ship able to support itself and flanked by many other auxiliary ships that support lighter and faster ships. This ship will plow through an enemy fleet knocking aside smaller ships. If it is not carrying any troops it can stand to have 4x 180lb ballistas burning down smaller ships with relative ease at a range of 430 yrds or 10 elements of Arbalests with each castle firing 20 firebolt volleys per minute at 450 yards.  

• ST/HP 95
• Hnd/SR: -4/4
• HT 12
• Move
• Oars 0.1 / 5
• Sail 0.2 / 6
• Oars and Sail 0.3 / 7
• Loaded Weight: 30 tons
• Empty Weight. 8.5 tons.
• 39.5 Displacement Tons
• Load: 21.5 tons
• 6.8 tons of supplies
• 6.76 tons of trade goods
• Size Modifier: +9
• 70m (210ft) : 10m (30ft)
• Occupants. 
• 300 rowers, 
• 59+1 crewmen, plus captain. 
• 60 comfortable passengers 
• 350 cramped accommodation passengers
• DR 7
• Range: 
• 8 days. 
• Cost:  $1,500,000
• Cost to Raise (including oarsmen that fight) + $1,080k / Maintain $216k
• Locations. 
• Ramming Prow 5d+2 damage
• 3 Masts
• 60 Bunks
• 14 Cabins
• 8 Luxury Cabins
• Notes: 
• 7.2 km (4.5 mi) visibility

Naval Encounters Table

This is only along "Sea Lanes"

3-4 - 1d6 80-Oar Large Trader, with 2 30-Oar Small Traders per larger Trader.

5-6 - 1d6 30-Oar Small Trader

7-8 - 80-Oar Large Trader

9-12 - 30-Oar Small Trader

13-14 - 1d3 Light Dromon/War Galley, if there are 3 Light Dromons, roll 1d6 - on a 1. Add a 30-Oar Small Trader acting as auxiliary.  

15-16 - Heavy Dromon/War Galley, 

17-18 - 1d6 Light War Galley, 1d6 Heavy War Galley, 1 30-Oar Small Trader (serving as auxiliar) per 2 war ships or 2 Heavy Trader for every 3 war ships.

Note that Dromons or Light War Galleys are Fast but have Low Range! They may force an encounter if they have the wind, current, and visibility advantage.