Rules of Engagement – Quick Naval Combat Rules for RPGs

We here at 2 Old Guys Games started by and continue to publish nautical adventures (Sinking the Stercorarius, Behold! The Aethernauts Rise!). To that end, we have decided that a set of naval combat rules for DCC are in order. These have shown up in bits and pieces of other adventures that are in progress or published by us. It made sense that we have a published set of rules all in one place for quick reference. Having played some great naval combat tabletop games like Sails of Glory, it was imperative that these rules not bog down the feel of DCC nor create such a complex construct that it subsumes the role-playing game that they’re inside of. To that end, we give you Rules of Engagement, Quick Naval Combat Rules for DCC.

What’s inside?

• A quick 6-page ruleset including cannon combat and boarding.
• Cannon reloading and firing mechanics
• Action for all PCs during combat (not just pilots and gunners)
• Handy dandy reference cards for Combat Action Options
• INTERACTIVE Cannon Reload and Cannon Hit Trackers
• Ship Orientation Handout – for determining positions and bonuses.
• Optional Rules – including Wind, Detailed Piloting, Magic in Naval Combat
• Ship tokens with and without cannons firing.
• An Open water map.

All that is jam-packed into an unsinkable package ready to set sail and blow holes in your enemy’s hulls!

In the immortal words of Ron Burgundy….

CANNONBALL!!

While technically made with DCC in mind, the modular nature of these rules mean they could easily be imported into any d20 system or any system that uses numerical stats or skills though it would take a bit more work for those.