Stuff

[Lyndon Alton Liberty]

Well here is how I see it: 

-----Original Message-----
From:   Scott Cohan [SMTP:scott.cohan at SSA.GOV]
Sent:   Wednesday, November 12, 1997 2:09 PM
To:     POWERS-AND-PERILS at DUTCGEO.CT.TUDELFT.NL
Subject:        Stuff

  Well, had a successful game last night.  The party managed to fight off three
  Athachs with only one member getting near death (An Athach bit his head).
(COOL)
  Got a question:  I've noticed a blank space on the web site for characters.  I
  have a good character from a previous game that I think I could write up
  (although I'd collaborate with the player).  Would people like to see this?
(YES!)
  Also:  What is the tech of the Perilous Lands? (?Pre-Copernicus? Magic; no need for lenses) 
  We have Plate Armor, which is
  Late Medieval, we have no gunpowder, (<- +4 magic arrow) and shipbuilding skills seemed to have
  stagnated in the trireme stage.  Now, I'm no expert, but it seems to be that
  it's a little unbalanced.  (NOT REALLY, AFTER ALL THEY HAVE GODS DIRECTLY INTERFERING)
  Does anyone out there have any good information on
  pre-gunpowder ships?  (yes, I do, and I'll explain below.)
Likewise, perhaps true sailing ships haven't been
  developed because of the vast number of Climan Priestesses with Sea Powers
  (Friendly Current). (STORM POWERS)

see below

     As far as P&P v2, I'd like to see some more rules for sea travel.  (me too) The "Sea
  of Tears" article was helpful, but left much to be desired, like what sort of
  ships are commonly used, perhaps some tactics of naval warfare, how far away
  you can spot that Climan excise vessel and how to lose them, that sort of
  thing.  Questions, comments, suggestions?

Well, it seems to me that ships would never have to be more than the transport or trade required, in Perilous Lands at least. Magic makes transport fairly safe, and I feel that SOME peoples should have developed teleportation or inter-world gate travel ports too. This is not covered in Perilous Lands. 
The ships they offer work for the populations the game designers set, but are lacking in that they are ships that cannot take on the high seas. That makes MAGIC a MUST. Which is not to say that this is a bad thing, just a necessary feature of the Lands. Since there are no bigger ships that can handle rough weather, magic has to be used to safeguard the ships they have, either personal magic or prayers to responsive Deities. Another problem which is often missed is cost. A Spanish galleon would cost around 210000 gold based on the cost for a war galley. Not even the Dwarves would pay that much for a hunk of flotsam. And why spend all that money when it can be sunk by a few fireballs or lightning bolts?
The only reason bigger and faster ships were developed on earth was because we had to meet demands of trade and the conquest of 1million plus nations.  In the Perilous Lands nations have traded hands very often and the populations have not had time to be built up at all. War would seem to be the biggest factor on earth for making bigger faster ships, but in the Lands it would not be a necessity due to the inherent magical nature of the Lands and it's Deities.   Please read this and think about the ideas it gives you, it too me over 2 hours to write, like I told Wout, I'm not normally articulate in these matters, but here is my attempt.   Lyndon Liberty