Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 bnickelsen Jan 19, 2015 20:35:21	I am in the middle of pulling together a new world for a soon to start D&D 5e Campian. I was getting all creative and then hit a wall. So at the basics I have world theat is mostly Island and only one small continent. As teh group and were discussing things the ideal of "Living Ship" came up. Something like Farscape.   And that was the wall.  I am definitly think animal intelegence at best but with telepathic link for controling it.  The question also came up about defence. and maybe Offence.    So anyone have any thoughts. even pitfalls you might see?   Brice
#2 CatLance Jan 20, 2015 11:28:56	I think some more info is in order. Is this low magic or high, are the physics cartoony or grounded in hard reality, is the feel of the world dark or light. All these things would factor into how a bioship "worked" and interacted in a game for me.    Off the cuff with no further info, it sounds like it could be used mainly as adding some flavour. The ship would sort of be like a pet, but still useful. It could get upset at them, or bored occasionally, it could help them find land, but also occasionally meander off to follow schools of dolphin sometimes...lol   Buit as far as Offense and Defensive capabilities go, I'd need to know how your setting works in a general capacity, otherwise I'd just be listing off a jillion different possibilities.
#3 BRJN Jan 21, 2015 15:46:55	A Living Ship - I'm imagining something like a surface-dwelling whale - might follow the schools of fish as they migrate with the seasons. It would be possible to plant tent stakes in its thick hide, but a building would be too heavy and it will try to shrug off the offending object. Are you going to have yearly Monsoons?  If so, the Living Ship migration can follow the seasonal changes in wind (and rain) ... or for variety could cut across them. A coastal Living Ship might just drift with the offshore current, completing one cycle around the ocean every few months.  Think: Gulf Stream / Sargasso Sea.  (But you have to map out all the shores). Any attack / defense powers have to explain why they don't get used on riders / hangers-about, as well as on enemies.  (Most common "defense powers": Swim Away and Dive.) All this is chosen to introduce a safe mode of travel.  If you want it to be dangerous or exciting or exotic, the Living Ship will be a natural diver or will like its privacy or will itch a lot.
#4 bnickelsen Jan 21, 2015 18:16:54	Still working on all those bits.    But much of the world will be very FR like and the magic will far in this range. The politics will be very similar to battle tech. I.E. each Island or range of Island will have a locale government / Family and the will have allegiance to a more powerful group and so on. Definitely going for the darker side of thing with a party leaning toward s Neutral party surviving in the rougher areas of the world where big government is not in full control. The ideal of living ships would be a common aspect of life. Not that commoners would own/use them but this would be the common way to travel. I am thinking different breeds might be trained and used for different functions from commercial shipping to a full on military.   As for living on the ship I was thinking as these ships grew in size there outer shell would need to grow with it and in doing that would form chambers inside the shell that people and cargo can be stored in. IE Farscape.
#5 CatLance Jan 22, 2015 10:16:54	bnickelsen wrote:
#6 BRJN Jan 22, 2015 17:56:23	If a Living Ship is going to be used by the military, base it on a Shark rather than a Whale.  This of course adds complications: (1) the penalty for losing a fight is to get eaten; (2) anybody who falls in the water is a potential target for #1; (3) your Ship is aggressive and likely will ignore strategic considerations in favor of heading towards blood in the water.   (Possibility: I would have an organized military use normal ships and competent tactics; barbarians &c use sharks the better to disrupt the enemy.)
#7 Melend Jan 24, 2015 20:35:31	I suggest taking a look at the Portuguese Man-of-War - not the ship, the oceanic organism.  It's extraordinarily weird, especially since what we think of as a single organism is actually four clones of a single organism that come together and specialize as specific organ systems.
#8 paulstrait Jan 24, 2015 20:52:18	There's an old 2e adventure called "A Paladin in Hell" that features a ship called Demonwing, which was demonic with wings, captained by a balor, and sailed the River Styx, taking passengers anywhere in the lower planes.  The ship actually constituted an entire layer of the Abyss, and the area below decks was massive, much larger in volume than the boat itself.   It's not exactly the same as your situation but you might get some ideas from that ship.
#9 BRJN Jan 25, 2015 15:26:29	Melend wrote: