Skyfarer: Captain's Edition
What is Skyfarer: Captain's Edition?
Captain's edition is simply an extension off of the vanilla Skyfarer rulebook, which allows roleplayers to participate in Skyfarer in the role of Locomotive Captain. Captain's Edition features extended rules that address ways Captains can approach challenges in the Sunless Skies through the use of their crew and their locomotive. No core mechanics of Skyfarer are reworked or edited in any way - Captain's Edition simply adds to them without changing them. It is still possible to create ordinary Crew characters while using Captain's Edition, and it is entirely possible to have a roleplay with both a Captain character and Crew characters under them that are controlled by regular participating roleplayers as opposed to just the GM.
Your Captain
Your character is the Captain of their own (presumably) fine locomotive. As any zailor could tell you, any (successful) captain is an exceptional individual indeed. When filling out all the tedious paperwork and identification for your captain, use the normal character sheet and advance your Captain four times. Although your captain may start with higher maximum tenacity using their advancements, they always start the roleplay with an empty pool rather than having the usual starting two.
Note that since your Captain's profession shall (one prays) always be that of the Captain of the locomotive, they are only permitted secondary profession rolls whenever they perform an action and are personally placed In Danger, in which case they may attempt to roll again to try and get a result higher than their accumulated Peril. The highest roll is then used to determine success or failure of the action. Read more about Captains and Perilous Situations below.
Note that since your Captain's profession shall (one prays) always be that of the Captain of the locomotive, they are only permitted secondary profession rolls whenever they perform an action and are personally placed In Danger, in which case they may attempt to roll again to try and get a result higher than their accumulated Peril. The highest roll is then used to determine success or failure of the action. Read more about Captains and Perilous Situations below.
Your Crew
As the Captain of a locomotive, you control a (questionably) competent crew of various backgrounds and qualities. They shall be your companions, confidantes, lackeys, minions, and should worst come to worst - either your scapegoats or bullet catchers. At the outset of your journey you will start with a number of crew equal to the crew capacity of your locomotive minus 3 (there was a bit of a tiff concerning staffing just the other day).
Whenever your Captain is out and about, you may choose to have them accompanied by a number of their crew, (ostensibly) to help keep up morale. You may leave as many as you like back at the locomotive, or otherwise instruct them to meander and malinger about locally to whatever extent you think is wise. Crew are (usually) discrete and sensitive to your needs - unless you so otherwise state, they will usually hover around in the background of the scene, out of sight and mind until they are needed. This can manifest in various ways. Perhaps they are all leaning against a wall just outside the door of the study you are examining, or have become curiously fascinated with the features of a handsome potted plant in the corner. Generally speaking they are always within shouting distance but cannot overhear conversation carried out at a regular and reasonable volume.
As Captain, you are free to personalize your crew however you see fit - you can even treat them as fully fleshed-out independent characters of their own, if you like. A word of warning to the wise: Do not grow over-attached to any of them.
As you journey across the merciless skies, a thousand deaths await you - and will befall your crew. You will have to look for opportunities to sign on replacements over time to replenish the fallen. As the story unfolds and as the personal dynamics of your Captaincy are made manifest, there will be events which may influence your crew, affecting their morale, loyalty, and well-being. Crew will usually follow you to the bitter end under normal circumstances, but do not take them for granted and treat them as faceless, mindless automatons and cannon fodder. You just might come to regret it.
Whenever your Captain is out and about, you may choose to have them accompanied by a number of their crew, (ostensibly) to help keep up morale. You may leave as many as you like back at the locomotive, or otherwise instruct them to meander and malinger about locally to whatever extent you think is wise. Crew are (usually) discrete and sensitive to your needs - unless you so otherwise state, they will usually hover around in the background of the scene, out of sight and mind until they are needed. This can manifest in various ways. Perhaps they are all leaning against a wall just outside the door of the study you are examining, or have become curiously fascinated with the features of a handsome potted plant in the corner. Generally speaking they are always within shouting distance but cannot overhear conversation carried out at a regular and reasonable volume.
As Captain, you are free to personalize your crew however you see fit - you can even treat them as fully fleshed-out independent characters of their own, if you like. A word of warning to the wise: Do not grow over-attached to any of them.
As you journey across the merciless skies, a thousand deaths await you - and will befall your crew. You will have to look for opportunities to sign on replacements over time to replenish the fallen. As the story unfolds and as the personal dynamics of your Captaincy are made manifest, there will be events which may influence your crew, affecting their morale, loyalty, and well-being. Crew will usually follow you to the bitter end under normal circumstances, but do not take them for granted and treat them as faceless, mindless automatons and cannon fodder. You just might come to regret it.
Crew Actions
Your Captain's qualities rub off to an extent on their crew. Whenever you like, your Captain may have a crew member make their roll for them in performing various actions. Crew members undertaking such actions are not as competent as your Captain and receive a penalty according to which stat governs the action's outcome. For your Captain's highest stat they receive a -1 penalty, -2 for the next highest, -3 for next-to-last, and -4 for their lowest stat. If your Captain has tied stat values, use the lowest penalty (-3 if you are tied for your lowest stat, -2 if they have three tied stats, and so on). You can also dedicate more crew to the task, reducing the penalty by 1 for each crew member assigned to the action - although additional crew typically do not convey a bonus to the action unless otherwise stated.
Whenever a Captain has their crew perform an action in their stead, any Conditions resulting from the action will usually be applied to the crew members involved rather than the Captain. Conditions applied to crew are typically none of your business and beyond your discretion to take interest in, and so will usually be converted directly into Peril or Tenacity after the fact. Because your crew are not quite so gracious as your Captain, they generate an additional point of peril per crew member should they fail at the action, and generate one less point of tenacity at the same rate. Using fewer crew members therefore decreases the chance of success, but will reduce the penalty for failure and increase the reward for success.
Whenever a Captain has their crew perform an action in their stead, any Conditions resulting from the action will usually be applied to the crew members involved rather than the Captain. Conditions applied to crew are typically none of your business and beyond your discretion to take interest in, and so will usually be converted directly into Peril or Tenacity after the fact. Because your crew are not quite so gracious as your Captain, they generate an additional point of peril per crew member should they fail at the action, and generate one less point of tenacity at the same rate. Using fewer crew members therefore decreases the chance of success, but will reduce the penalty for failure and increase the reward for success.
Peril & Danger
Perilous situations work somewhat differently for you as a Captain, so long as you have your (hopefully) loyal crew at your back. Each time your Captain is In Danger, they permanently lose a crew member if any are accompanying them. Their peril then decreases by 1 regardless of success or failure of the accompanying action (this is in addition to vanilla Peril gains for failed actions, so it is still possible to gain Peril despite this). If you choose to have your Captain placed In Danger without risking the life of your crew, it is still not the end! Your Captain will usually sustain a Wound or have their Nightmares increased. Having three wounds or Nightmares will kill your Captain.
There are also certain events - usually events concerning the morale or state of your crew - wherein you cannot have crew perform actions for you at all. Additionally, if you leave crew hanging around the locomotive or elsewhere as you travel, you may need to have them take remote actions as events unfold for them while you are away. Their action rolls are calculated the same as if you were substituting them for one of your own actions. If they are placed In Danger, you lose them permanently, your Peril decreases by 1, and life for your Captain will go on. Do note, losing all of the crew safeguarding your locomotive in any circumstance where you feel guarding it is necessary can result in uniquely bad things happening for you. Weigh the risk of being stranded in the High Wilderness carefully when deciding how many crew to take out with you. Note though, that crew tasked specifically with guarding the locomotive get a bonus of 1 to every action they must roll for. They are particularly determined not to die while guarding their one and only method of escape.
There are also certain events - usually events concerning the morale or state of your crew - wherein you cannot have crew perform actions for you at all. Additionally, if you leave crew hanging around the locomotive or elsewhere as you travel, you may need to have them take remote actions as events unfold for them while you are away. Their action rolls are calculated the same as if you were substituting them for one of your own actions. If they are placed In Danger, you lose them permanently, your Peril decreases by 1, and life for your Captain will go on. Do note, losing all of the crew safeguarding your locomotive in any circumstance where you feel guarding it is necessary can result in uniquely bad things happening for you. Weigh the risk of being stranded in the High Wilderness carefully when deciding how many crew to take out with you. Note though, that crew tasked specifically with guarding the locomotive get a bonus of 1 to every action they must roll for. They are particularly determined not to die while guarding their one and only method of escape.
Your Locomotive
Your Captain might be of a particular nature, or affiliated with certain group of interest which might normally dictate what kind of locomotive they might make use of. However, feel free to make use of any locomotive seen in the actual game Sunless Skies, including non-player locomotives such as marauders, dreadnoughts, and so forth. The only exceptions to this are large ships and constructs such as the Berrenger and the Parzifal.
Regardless of what locomotive you choose to make use of, note that their stats and functionality do not correspond to what they would be normally in Sunless Skies. The Atlani Outrider and the Moloch Liner are no longer the best ships in the game by default, so do not pick them for that reason. Ship actions and combat are otherwise identical in mechanics to vanilla Skyfarer.
Regardless of what locomotive you choose to make use of, note that their stats and functionality do not correspond to what they would be normally in Sunless Skies. The Atlani Outrider and the Moloch Liner are no longer the best ships in the game by default, so do not pick them for that reason. Ship actions and combat are otherwise identical in mechanics to vanilla Skyfarer.
Locomotive Stats
Your locomotive has four stats: Crew Quarters, Cargo Spaces, Secure Compartments, and Auxiliaries. After filling out your locomotive sheet normally, assign a priority value to each of these four categories between 0 and 3 (with 3 being most important). Assign each number only once.
- Crew Quarters define how much space your locomotive has for Crew members in it. You have free berths equal to four times its assigned priority value, up to a maximum of 12 Crew members.
- Cargo Spaces are secure areas of your locomotive's hold where items of interest can be securely stored without risking damage to them. You have open hold equal to four times its assigned priority value, up to a maximum of 12 Cargo Spaces.
- Secured Compartments are chambers in your locomotive which are secreted away and unlikely to be found even when subjected to close scrutiny by, say, port authorities and customs inspectors. As an added bonus, Secured Compartments are sturdy enough to contain even the most spectacularly violent of guests. Usually. You have hidden compartments equal to twice its assigned priority value, up to a maximum of 6 Secured Compartments.
- Auxiliaries are customized integral assemblies of the locomotive that serve a particular purpose, such a mining rigs, assaying devices, and canneries as seen in Sunless Skies. You can have a number of Auxiliaries equal to its assigned priority value, up to a maximum of three.
Locomotive Weaponry & Specialized Equipment
Each class of locomotive may have two weapons. This list is provided for inspiration, but note that most Captain's Edition roleplays will not be focusing strenuously upon the overall quality of shipboard weaponry beyond making note of the functional nature of the weapons themselves (whether they behave like rockets, shotguns, etcetera). For this reason, you are free to indicate the presence of weapons seen in Sunless Skies that might not otherwise be available to the player, such as Dreadnought's tracking mount. Some creative leeway is allowed pertaining to the nature of the weapons allowed, but they should usually be limited to a munitions-reliant system rather than something arcane.
Each Locomotive should also have its own scout. Describing a scout for your locomotive is completely optional, but your scout will act as an extra trait for your locomotive, lending bonuses or penalties to certain action checks whenever they are used for scouting purposes. Scouts, although they may be varied in form, are nonetheless uniform in their functionality.
Last but not least, your locomotive is permitted to have one unique augmentation installed onboard. This augment takes up space if you decide to have one, and subtracts from your Locomotive's core stats. It costs either half of two of your locomotive's non-zero core stats, rounded up, or else the entirety of one core stat with a priority value of 2 or greater. You may also use your locomotive's weapon slots for this purpose. A single weapon slot can take the place of one of two core stats, or half of a single core stat's value with a priority of 2 or greater. You may also use both weapon slots to store an augment without sacrificing any of your locomotive's core stats.
Augments can do very nearly anything you like, within reason according to the context of the setting itself - in many ways, an augment might be comparable to a more powerful or functional Auxiliary device capable of serving multiple roles. Like most things in Skyfarer, a good Augment is a device with both benefits and drawbacks to its use. An example of an Augment might be an Unclear Pulse Device, used by a Douser locomotive to extinguish all nearby light sources and shut down electrical devices - useful for Dousers who abhore the Law of Light, but which can occasionally backfire on them since it might disrupt or damage their own equipment or even items contained in their cargo hold.
Each Locomotive should also have its own scout. Describing a scout for your locomotive is completely optional, but your scout will act as an extra trait for your locomotive, lending bonuses or penalties to certain action checks whenever they are used for scouting purposes. Scouts, although they may be varied in form, are nonetheless uniform in their functionality.
Last but not least, your locomotive is permitted to have one unique augmentation installed onboard. This augment takes up space if you decide to have one, and subtracts from your Locomotive's core stats. It costs either half of two of your locomotive's non-zero core stats, rounded up, or else the entirety of one core stat with a priority value of 2 or greater. You may also use your locomotive's weapon slots for this purpose. A single weapon slot can take the place of one of two core stats, or half of a single core stat's value with a priority of 2 or greater. You may also use both weapon slots to store an augment without sacrificing any of your locomotive's core stats.
Augments can do very nearly anything you like, within reason according to the context of the setting itself - in many ways, an augment might be comparable to a more powerful or functional Auxiliary device capable of serving multiple roles. Like most things in Skyfarer, a good Augment is a device with both benefits and drawbacks to its use. An example of an Augment might be an Unclear Pulse Device, used by a Douser locomotive to extinguish all nearby light sources and shut down electrical devices - useful for Dousers who abhore the Law of Light, but which can occasionally backfire on them since it might disrupt or damage their own equipment or even items contained in their cargo hold.