Four Things

This post is a bit of a hodgepodge, so I'm going to break it up into smaller parts.

-Nate


Skull & Shackles
This past weekend some friends and I started in on the Skull & Shackles adventure path for the Pathfinder roleplaying game. I am, of course, very excited about this. Right away our characters found themselves serving aboard the Unlucky Halfling, called upon to perform all manner of tasks related to sailing the ship. The adventure did a nice job of incorporating those elements, giving the scenario a distinctly maritime feel. I highly recommend it to enthusiasts of nautical fantasy.

Here's a link to the player's guide for the campaign, by the way, which is free for download.

Skull & Shackles Player's Guide


Legendary Games
For GM's who are running this adventure path, or for those running Freeport games or other pirate-oriented campaigns, I recommend checking out the PDF's available from Legendary Games. While I have not read any of them myself, they seem tailor-made for incorporating into a series of pirate adventures.

Pirate Plug-Ins


Crossbones
I've been following the show Crossbones on NBC for six episodes now, and I think the show is really starting to move. There were a number of major developments in the most recent episode, "A Hole in the Head," and they have me excited to see how it all concludes. Here's hoping that NBC manages to renew a series that gives the viewer something different from the usual medical dramas, police procedurals and reality shows.

Crossbones


Finally, here's a table with suggested heights for different positions in a ship's rigging, in case characters need to climb up to them or if they should fall from them. It's based on an image I shared previously.

Third-Rate Ship

Falling Distance

In any nautical campaign, chances are good that some of the characters are going to spend time in the ship's rigging. When that happens, Climb and perhaps Balance checks become necessary. Should any of those fail, it's important to know how far characters could end up falling. The following heights are based upon the schematic of a third-rate ship of war, presented previously. The GM can use these as a guideline when adapting heights for smaller or larger vessels.

Position	Mizzenmast	Mainmast	Foremast
Lower Spar	30 ft.	40 ft.	30 ft.
Middle Platform	40 ft.	50 ft.	40 ft.
Higher Spar	50 ft.	60 ft.	50 ft.
Top Platform	70 ft.	90 ft.	80 ft.