>You're also assuming the pirates are using sail, in the ancient world
>oars were more common because they were faster for short distances.
I think that's an oversimplification. The vast majority of ships in the ancient world used sails as their main means of propulsion. This was far cheaper (oarsmen cost plenty of money), left much more room for cargo (oarsmen, likewise, take up a lot of space) and over the long haul was also much faster (the wind doesn't get tired and need a break).
The disadvantage of sails was, obviously, that you are dependent on the wind - not only its strength, but also its direction. Ancient ships mostly had primitive square rigging that was highly inefficient at sailing in directions other than directly before the wind. So, a ship might carry a few oars in case it was caught in a flat calm, or had to manoeuvre into harbour, or sail up a river (downriver, it could drift on the current) or needed a burst of extra speed to escape some sudden peril. Mostly, though, they tended to wait in port for a favourable wind. This is why mediaeval accounts talk of it taking days or even weeks to sail from England to France!
The only ships that could rely on oars were purpose-built warships funded by a wealthy government. They didn't need to carry cargo. They could employ huge crews of oarsmen, paid for by the taxpayer. Even so, your average war galley still had a sail, and a wise captain saved his oarsmens' stamina until it was needed.
So in other words, I still think it's likely that the pirate ship will be sailing the 5-10 miles or more from the horizon to your ship. :) It might strike its sail (and mast) and switch to oars once it gets close enough, however.
>This also indicates that pirates are most likely along coasts, hiding
>among islands and inlets rather than sailing the open seas.
Fair enough; that does make an ambush using oars easier. But this is also a good reason for ship captains to stand out to sea instead of hugging the coast when sailing past a region known to shelter pirates...
>Of course
>there is also the question of how often ships sail out of sight of
>land in Glorantha. I would imagine Mostali ships do but probably not
>many others.
_Missing Lands_ has plenty of information on shipping routes which cross the open ocean. And hugging the coast is only essential if you're in an oar-powered galley (since there isn't enough room on board one of those for the crew to sleep, and you won't have space to carry enough water for the whole crew for very long). Sailing ships can easily head out to sea, as long as the captain knows where she's going - and I doubt any self-respecting Gloranthan sea captain would set out without navigation magic or a working knowledge of the stars and currents.
>Surely any competent pirates will have some magic to enable them to
>intercept other shipping rapidly.
That works both ways - my rule of thumb is that whenever one side in Glorantha has useful magic, the other side is almost certain to have a magical counter.
>Equally the average merchantman
>won't have anything beyond the captain's magic
But a ship is a huge capital investment, representing the total wealth of an entire trading family. I'm certain every such ship will be wreathed around with the best protection a such wealthy and powerful group can buy, strengthened after every successful voyage. Not to mention that the ship will, of course, have a guardian to focus its crew's power...
>so a bunch of PCs on
>a merchantman is going to be a nasty shock for the pirates.
Naturally :)
>I would think the answer is c). The wolf pirates sack at least one
>city which implies they were strong enough to do so
Caribbean pirates in the 16th-17th centuries also sacked cities ocasionally (and, more often, failed) but they never dominated the Caribbean to the extent that the galleons stopped sailing or trade halted. They were a nuisance at best.
>having run out of merchant ships to take. A bit later Harrek turns
>up with his crew in Dragon Pass intent on plundering the Lunars. I
>don't think anyone has explained what happens to the rest of the
>pirates. Without Harrek they probably aren't as deadly anyway.
Conan usually stopped being a pirate chief, raider khan, mercenary leader, or what-have-you when somebody else decided to contest the leadership, and Conan decided he was bored with the life and couldn't be bothered to fight for the top spot, so he just left instead. Not that this necessarily has any similarity to how and why Harrek left the Wolf Pirates :)
Stephen
Powered by hypermail