this time I am curious about the kinds of ships you all use. I am quite likely the least naval type knowledgeable person I know, so I can’t get into what is better or anything, but…
I decided that I wanted the vast majority of ships in use on my world to be multi-hulled — catamarans and trimarans. I also have riverboats driven by paddle wheels, but that might not be interesting.
I set things up so that the designs for the skyships and sand ships (I have a sand sea) to have been based on the regular sailing vessels. This means I have had to creating deck plans and such for these large ships, lol.
There *are* single hulled large craft — the bugbear equivalents sail those, as do my Stitch inspired “grendels ”— or small craft like dinghies.
I figure this is a fantasy world. So as a hint for a possible future adventure, a five hulled ship is being built to travel the world and do the first circumnavigation, lol.
what kinds of ships do you use?
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
In one of my settings, the main method of transportation is “dropships,” which essentially resemble ordinary ships if they were just… all hull, all around. This, this creates a sort of teardrop shape. They then fly through the air, using graviturgical magic to change their local gravity and “fall” any direction they need to at terminal velocity.
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"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Mostly I just stick to regular ships. Partly because I never thought about it, partly because there’s plenty of deck plans, and minis already made for those, and I can be lazy. Also not a ship person. But, with my limited knowledge, I’d think single hulls would be better for cargo, as they’ll have more internal space, maybe? I just think, practically speaking, if dual or triple hulled ships were better at that sort of thing, it’s what major shipping companies would use irl. Not to mention the various navy ships which also tend to be single hull.
Of course, this is fantasy, so what works better irl doesn’t have to matter. But I’d be curious as to why, when we have the technology to make multi-hull ships, mostly we don’t. Is it just tradition, or are there other reasons.
I could really see dual-hull making sense on the sand, for extra stability, since you can’t really use a keel on the land.
Mostly I just stick to regular ships. Partly because I never thought about it, partly because there’s plenty of deck plans, and minis already made for those, and I can be lazy. Also not a ship person. But, with my limited knowledge, I’d think single hulls would be better for cargo, as they’ll have more internal space, maybe? I just think, practically speaking, if dual or triple hulled ships were better at that sort of thing, it’s what major shipping companies would use irl. Not to mention the various navy ships which also tend to be single hull.
Of course, this is fantasy, so what works better irl doesn’t have to matter. But I’d be curious as to why, when we have the technology to make multi-hull ships, mostly we don’t. Is it just tradition, or are there other reasons.
I could really see dual-hull making sense on the sand, for extra stability, since you can’t really use a keel on the land.
Single hulls do have a greater cargo capacity, but from what I have read, the only problem with multihulls is they sorta get tricky to load. It has to do with the way they displace water or something, lol.
One thing two different books gave me was an interesting insight: trimarans came before catamarans -- that is, two hulls came after three.
My sand (and snow, though I have left that a mystery everywhere for now) ships are totally a riff on all the wind driven stuff from several novels I have read -- including Moorcock and Foster. They just look cooler in the mind's eye, lol.
I do have an in-world reason why they are used, and it comes down to tradition stretching back thousands of years. funny how on our world there are so many companies shifting to catamarans for all manner of crafts, especially pleasure, military, and even shipping...
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
I use medieval cogs and viking style longships in my latest campaign. Simple to design (as a DM), and almost contemporary here on our world.
As for catamarans being used for shipping - the vast, vast majority of cargo ships are single hulled. I know of twin hulled passenger ferries, but container ships, bulk carriers, tankers etc are predominately single hulled. I expect that is based on economics of building them
I greatly enjoy reading nautical novels, but I am definitely not an expert on them. If you are looking for ideas of ships to use in your world, here are a few:
Xebec- a sailing ship with three masts, favored by pirates.
Brigantine- a two-masted sailing vessel square-rigged on the foremast and fore-and-aft rigged on the mainmast.
Dromond- a galley-style medieval warship propelled by both sails and oars.
The ancient war canoes of the Stone Giants were said to be shaped from pumice through lithomancy. All but indestructible by the weapons of the day.
Legend has it that instead of banks of oars, the indescribably strong crew would turn a drive shaft powering a propeller. Historical accounts (which should be treated with caution) suggest that as the vessel accelerated, the hull would be lifted out of the water on hydrofoils, eliminating drag and allowing them to achieve speeds approaching 60 knots. During the Dragon War, these craft were described cutting straight through the hulls of two or three enemy triremes at a time. They were not invincible, however. One such ship was swallowed whole by Bakunawa, The Coral Reef Dragon, with the entire crew lost.
As the pumice became waterlogged and lost buoyancy, the ships would eventually sink and as the Giants withdrew from the affairs of the world, the science behind these craft was lost.
Im doing a pirate campaign right now in a pre-cannon world. I thought the Dwarves should still have a lot of technical advancements, though, so they have copper plating on the hull, lateen-rigged sails, fore- and aftercastles to repel attacks from Orcish longboats, a Greek fire flamethrower, smoke-screen generator, and a few skyrockets that they use to scare away superstitious humans.
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Hi all.
this time I am curious about the kinds of ships you all use. I am quite likely the least naval type knowledgeable person I know, so I can’t get into what is better or anything, but…
I decided that I wanted the vast majority of ships in use on my world to be multi-hulled — catamarans and trimarans. I also have riverboats driven by paddle wheels, but that might not be interesting.
I set things up so that the designs for the skyships and sand ships (I have a sand sea) to have been based on the regular sailing vessels. This means I have had to creating deck plans and such for these large ships, lol.
There *are* single hulled large craft — the bugbear equivalents sail those, as do my Stitch inspired “grendels ”— or small craft like dinghies.
I figure this is a fantasy world. So as a hint for a possible future adventure, a five hulled ship is being built to travel the world and do the first circumnavigation, lol.
what kinds of ships do you use?
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
In one of my settings, the main method of transportation is “dropships,” which essentially resemble ordinary ships if they were just… all hull, all around. This, this creates a sort of teardrop shape. They then fly through the air, using graviturgical magic to change their local gravity and “fall” any direction they need to at terminal velocity.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Mostly I just stick to regular ships. Partly because I never thought about it, partly because there’s plenty of deck plans, and minis already made for those, and I can be lazy.
Also not a ship person. But, with my limited knowledge, I’d think single hulls would be better for cargo, as they’ll have more internal space, maybe? I just think, practically speaking, if dual or triple hulled ships were better at that sort of thing, it’s what major shipping companies would use irl. Not to mention the various navy ships which also tend to be single hull.
Of course, this is fantasy, so what works better irl doesn’t have to matter. But I’d be curious as to why, when we have the technology to make multi-hull ships, mostly we don’t. Is it just tradition, or are there other reasons.
I could really see dual-hull making sense on the sand, for extra stability, since you can’t really use a keel on the land.
Single hulls do have a greater cargo capacity, but from what I have read, the only problem with multihulls is they sorta get tricky to load. It has to do with the way they displace water or something, lol.
One thing two different books gave me was an interesting insight: trimarans came before catamarans -- that is, two hulls came after three.
My sand (and snow, though I have left that a mystery everywhere for now) ships are totally a riff on all the wind driven stuff from several novels I have read -- including Moorcock and Foster. They just look cooler in the mind's eye, lol.
I do have an in-world reason why they are used, and it comes down to tradition stretching back thousands of years. funny how on our world there are so many companies shifting to catamarans for all manner of crafts, especially pleasure, military, and even shipping...
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
I use medieval cogs and viking style longships in my latest campaign. Simple to design (as a DM), and almost contemporary here on our world.
As for catamarans being used for shipping - the vast, vast majority of cargo ships are single hulled. I know of twin hulled passenger ferries, but container ships, bulk carriers, tankers etc are predominately single hulled. I expect that is based on economics of building them
I greatly enjoy reading nautical novels, but I am definitely not an expert on them. If you are looking for ideas of ships to use in your world, here are a few:
Xebec- a sailing ship with three masts, favored by pirates.
Brigantine- a two-masted sailing vessel square-rigged on the foremast and fore-and-aft rigged on the mainmast.
Dromond- a galley-style medieval warship propelled by both sails and oars.
Corvette- a small, highly maneuverable warship
The ancient war canoes of the Stone Giants were said to be shaped from pumice through lithomancy. All but indestructible by the weapons of the day.
Legend has it that instead of banks of oars, the indescribably strong crew would turn a drive shaft powering a propeller. Historical accounts (which should be treated with caution) suggest that as the vessel accelerated, the hull would be lifted out of the water on hydrofoils, eliminating drag and allowing them to achieve speeds approaching 60 knots. During the Dragon War, these craft were described cutting straight through the hulls of two or three enemy triremes at a time. They were not invincible, however. One such ship was swallowed whole by Bakunawa, The Coral Reef Dragon, with the entire crew lost.
As the pumice became waterlogged and lost buoyancy, the ships would eventually sink and as the Giants withdrew from the affairs of the world, the science behind these craft was lost.
Im doing a pirate campaign right now in a pre-cannon world. I thought the Dwarves should still have a lot of technical advancements, though, so they have copper plating on the hull, lateen-rigged sails, fore- and aftercastles to repel attacks from Orcish longboats, a Greek fire flamethrower, smoke-screen generator, and a few skyrockets that they use to scare away superstitious humans.