Stephen, how boring! And I still don't buy into this 'beginning characters are crap'. Is all about relative levels. And PC's get hero points.
> Far more likely that an experienced captain would hire replacements
> for dead/retired/missing crew, and they'd gradually learn the ropes
> and be trained in the needed skills... until after many years of
> experience, they were ready to be captains themselves.
Lets all be PC's on a boat where we don't get to choose where we go. Maybe not everyone wants to play in that game.
> The other simple alternative, though, is to have an NPC Opener on
the
> ship. If that's all (s)he does - cast the Opening ritual - it
> wouldn't be too disruptive.
Now thats a great idea. You can then have all sorts of fun keeping him healthy and on his feet! And its not such a pain to retro fit into an existing campaign.
But Trotsky has hit the nub of the problem - if you want to play seagoing folk, how do you play a campaign when you have trouble leaving port? I would say the best thing to do is assume that the opening ritual normally works (ie always works) but every now and then 'fails' and has to be re-asserted while at sea, requiring some sort of roll.
I guess Greg, who devised it, could give some insight into the closing mechanism. I always understood the ritual sidestepped the closing, not defeated it, and so I see no reason that in general the resistance is more modest.
Regards
Rob
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