I have no problem at all with the idea of a crew of newbs owning a ship. I think it's a really neat idea, in fact. But I think that they should expect to fail a lot. Forget about the opening, even if they stick to the coasts, and try to play it pretty safe, if they don't have some experienced people on board, they're going to have problems. And that's awesome. Far from being a problem, I think that situations that generate problems for the characters are precisely what players should be looking for.
I'd love to play the newb crew. That's not nearly the same thing as saying that I'd let the newbs operate as experienced sailors.
Which is not the same thing as saying that newbs are incompetent, actually. Interestingly in HQ, I think that newbs do pretty well (expecially as compares other RPGs). They're competent. But sometimes baseline competence is simply not enough to fill in for expert leadership. In reality there's no ship that sails without some really, really experienced people in the leadership roles. The economic investment is too great. Competent merely means that it'll take a little longer til disaster occurs. Only with great experience can you be remotely safe in an endeavor like sailing a primitive sea-vessel.
So, OK, the newb crew is an exception to the rules - fine, as everybody is always pointing out, the player heroes are exceptions to the rules of normality. But then this *is* an exception.
What I find is common in HQ play - I have made this mistake myself, and in some ways continue to make it - is thinking of "starting characters" (those made using the book rules) as experienced. It simply doesn't match the scale as presented, and leads to all sorts of problems if you intend to use the scale later for building resistances. You can, in fact, play completely relative if you want, but that's a whole 'nother discussion. In that case, any published TN is right out the window, because they all assume the scale that the book promotes.
The point is, quite simply, if you want experienced characters, use the Advanced Experience rules, and use them liberally. I think that narrators are a bit gunshy about allowing high level abilities (for reaons related to RPG culture), and so tend to underestimate. Try to think big when trying to come up with experienced characters.
Mike
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