While I designed an adventure for Calidar’s Skies of Fury, I had the opportunity to set up a possible ship-to-ship battle as one of the game’s outcomes. Skies of Fury is a promotional booklet available exclusively to the Kickstarter backers of my present main project, Beyond the Skies. This was the perfect opportunity to put some numbers on paper as regards the two vessels’ performances, and how they might relate to a hex grid.
One challenge is that Calidar is intended to use generic stats which can be fairly easily converted to your chosen RPG. I’m bringing this up because guidelines on such system-neutral game stats are included in Beyond the Skies (due out August 2016), along with extra details about ship stats and their armament. On the other hand, CAL1 In Stranger Skies, the original book in the Calidar series, delves into ship movement in a theoretical manner. This article helps clearing up a few things. Another challenge lies in how the maneuver diagram may be used with a hex grid.
First off: the stats!
Unless indicated otherwise, ratings (such as armor, abilities, defense checks, etc.) are expressed in the rules-neutral guidelines as percentages of customary ranges featured in the chosen game mechanics. For example, a Personality rating of 50 (%) would translate to a Charisma of 9 in a D&D game (50% of 18).
Structural Rating (SR): This number indicates how much damage a skyship can withstand before its enchantments fail catastrophically. At about 70% SR loss, a skyship becomes hard to maneuver and, if not in the Great Vault, starts losing altitude. A ship the size of the Star Phoenix has 120 SR, that is approximately 1 SR per foot of length (rounded up to the next ten). Subtract 20% for a clipper-style vessel (such as Alorean skyships). Add 20% for a skyship designed primarily for war rather than speed (such as Draconic vessels). Double the rating instead for a dwarven ironclad.
First off: the stats!
Unless indicated otherwise, ratings (such as armor, abilities, defense checks, etc.) are expressed in the rules-neutral guidelines as percentages of customary ranges featured in the chosen game mechanics. For example, a Personality rating of 50 (%) would translate to a Charisma of 9 in a D&D game (50% of 18).
Structural Rating (SR): This number indicates how much damage a skyship can withstand before its enchantments fail catastrophically. At about 70% SR loss, a skyship becomes hard to maneuver and, if not in the Great Vault, starts losing altitude. A ship the size of the Star Phoenix has 120 SR, that is approximately 1 SR per foot of length (rounded up to the next ten). Subtract 20% for a clipper-style vessel (such as Alorean skyships). Add 20% for a skyship designed primarily for war rather than speed (such as Draconic vessels). Double the rating instead for a dwarven ironclad.
