Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 kiljoy795 Feb 03, 2014 12:54:07	Write now I'm in the works of writing an adventure arc for my Dark Sun campaign where the PC's have to get together a crew and then steal a Silt Schooner from the navy of Balic to go on an expedition out into the Sea of Silt. I want their preparation for this expedition to take a session or two before they actually put it into the works.   What kind of crew members should I have them have to recruit? They need a psionic helmsman, I know that much. But what other kinds of crew members and supplies do you think they'd need to gather? They're going from Balic to the Road of Fire, far in the north.
#2 flindbar Feb 04, 2014 0:05:21	I would guess it would all depend on the size of ship they were stealing ! Its a long journey so unless they were planning to make stops (or raids??) along the way, it would have to be a largish vessel.   Won't the Balican navy want its ship back after it finds out its been stolen ?? therefore will they be stealing a very fast ship? which potentially may be smaller. (starting to sound very PotC'ish)   As to crew numbers I'd say a minimum of ten rising to possibly 30 or 40 for somethng really big !!
#3 Alphastream Feb 19, 2014 8:54:30	You could take a look at the organized play adventures AOA7-1 and AOA7-2, where we provide some crew ideas for silt skimmers. We even have some maps you can use for the ships.    Our approach to crew was to create different kinds based on peoples with whom the PCs had delt. PCs 'unlocked' the crew as an option based on what they had done during the organized play campaign. Examples include Veiled Alliance operatives, converted members of the True, Gulgan and Nibenese, etc. Each crew had a different "power" it could provide, such as fast-loading siege weapons.    Depending on how much emphasis you want to place on crew, you could take some of the ideas from 7-1 and position it around different crew members, and then take the powers we used and provide them based on those individual members. Maybe they can find a master ballista operator from Urik, plus her assistants, and this provides an advantage with siege weapons. Then they might choose amongs several psion pilots, and the choice determines a certain benefit. A preserver could add firepower, etc.
#4 Kamelion Feb 20, 2014 3:08:53	You can also check out the Dragons' Crown adventure. It has the PCs aboard a silt schooner heading to the Road of Fire - so, exactly where your game is going. It's a single vessel (the Balimarash, iirc) but isn't one with a psionic engine - it uses the big wheels instead.   I'd also recommend checking out City by the Silt Sea as it has a whole section on tricking out and rigging your silt ships. And Dragon #237 has an awesome article all about building and crewing skimmers. Those are all 2e materials, but they should convert over to your edition of choice (if it isn't 2e already).   There's also the Athasian Emporium from athas.org which has 3e stuff on skimmers as well. That's pretty cool too (although I'd make the cargo capacities bigger, personally.)
#5 jespley May 14, 2014 11:46:33	Sorry to be late to the thread, but there is some silt skimmer information in my adventure "Isle of Death" in Dungeon #202. The rules are obviously 4e but the general information could be adapted for any ruleset. I originally had a second Silt Sea encounter in the adventure but it got cut (despite my strenuous objections) during the editing.   I assumed that all the silt skimmer's would be quite small (crews of about 10 or less).