III. Of encounters at sea
During a sea voyage, rolls are made to determine if a ship meets other vessels, friendly hostile, or neutral. This roll does not require the expenditure of a Drama Die by the GM. Roll one Die, a roll of 10 indicates that another vessel or vessels, or a special encounter has appeared. An encounter check is made:
Once each day in coastal, Colonial, or Continental water;
Once each week in major sea lanes;
Once per month in uncharted or unexplored waters.
When an encounter occurs, roll 5K5 and consult the following the table:
Roll Type of Encounter
5 A heavily armed Eisen mercenary Small Warship
6 A lightly armed Montaigne Merchantman
7 A lightly armed patrol ship (Small Warship) belonging to the nearest sea
power.
8 A heavily armed Castillian Galleon
9 A heavily armed Pirate/Privateer Corsair
10 A lightly armed Vendel Frigate (Small Warship)
11 A heavily armed Avalon Merchantman
12 A Castillian convoy of 2 lightly armed Merchantmen and 2 heavily armed
Small Warships.
13 2 heavily armed Castillian Galleons
14 2 lightly armed Pirate/Privateer Corsairs
15 A heavily armed Vesten Small Warship
16 A heavily armed Castillian Merchantman
17 A heavily armed Large Warship belonging to the nearest nation
searching for Pirates/Enemy Privateers
18 A lightly armed Avalon Corsair
19 A heavily armed Vodocce Galleon
20 A small Avalon fleet (3 to 6 Small Warships)
21 A heavily armed Montaigne Merchantman
22 A heavily armed Pirate/Privateer Small Warship
23 2 heavily armed patrol ships (Corsairs) belonging to the nearest nation
24 A heavily armed Vendel Merchantman
25 A small Montaigne fleet (3 to 6 Small Warships)
26 2 lightly armed Castillian Merchantmen
27 A heavily armed Pirate/Privateer Corsair
28 A lightly armed Vodocce Merchantman
29 A lightly armed Vesten Merchantman
30 A small Vendel fleet (3 to 6 Small Warships)
31 A heavily armed Castillian Large Warship
32 2 heavily armed patrol ships (Small Warships) belonging to the nearest major
naval power (i.e. Avalon, Castille, or Montaigne)
33 A lightly armed Montaigne Merchantman
34 A heavily armed Avalon Large Warship
35 A Castillian convoy of 2 lightly armed Galleons and 2 heavily armed Large
Warships
36 An Avalon fleet of 1K1+2 Small Warships
37 A Montaigne fleet of 1K1+2 Small Warships
38 A Pirate/Privateer fleet of 1K1+2 Corsairs
39 A Pirate/Privateer fleet of 3 to 6 Small Warships
40 A heavily armed Montaigne Merchantman
41 A Castillian treasure fleet of 3 to 6 heavily armed Galleons guarded by an equal
number of heavily armed Large Warships
42 6 Sirens (p. 161 GM’s Guide)
43 Uncharted island (GM’s imagination)
44 A heavily armed Inquisition Small Warship (Their mission is up to the GM)
45 A heavily armed Crescent Corsair
46 The 7th Sea appears (Pilot check with a TN of 20 to avoid entering it)
47 1 Leviathan (p. 159 GM’s Guide)
48 An abandoned Ghost ship (GM is encouraged to be creative)
49 A ship belonging to one of the major Pirates (i.e. Allende, Berek, Kheired-Din,
Yngvild, or Reis)
50 The Black Freighter appears (Players should quickly sail away)
To determine how an encountered ship is armed, consult the following table:
Type of Ship Long Guns per Side Chasers Stern Guns Pont Guns
Lightly Armed Corsair 2 to 5 0 0 0
Heavily Armed Corsair 6 to 8 2 2 1 each side
Lightly Armed Sm. Warship 5 to 10 0 2 0
Heavily Armed Sm. Warship 11 to 16 2 4 2 each side
Lightly Armed Merchant 3 to 8 0 2 0
Heavily Armed Merchant 9 to 12 2 4 2 each side
Lightly Armed Lg. Warship 6 to 14 2 2 1 per side
Heavily Armed Lg. Warship 15 to 20 2 6 4 per side
Lightly Armed Galleon 10 to 17 2 4 2 per side
Heavily Armed Galleon 18 to 24 4 6 5 per side
How an encounter progresses once it is rolled is determined by the actions of the player characters (and their Captains) and the judgement of the Game Master. Usually, Merchantmen, Galleons, and Convoys encountered at sea will generally not bother other ships, and will try to evade if attacked. Corsairs will usually only attack Merchantmen, and will attempt to evade Warships. Patrol ships and solitary Warships may attack vessels which appear to be Pirates or Privateers, or those belonging to an enemy nation. If outnumbered, Patrol Ships may attempt to evade, in order to bring reinforcements. Fleets although powerful at sea are usually set upon some mission and will not take time out to engage other ships unless they are recognized as Pirates or enemy Privateers. However, a fleet will sometimes attempt to destroy a ship if they fear that the ship will give away its presence in enemy waters.
Encounters will normally appear at extreme range unless weather conditions reduce the sighting distance. Each turn thereafter, the encountered ship(s) or creature(s) will close a single distance interval. The distance range intervals in descending order are Extreme, Far, Long, Medium, Short, and Close. The players may make an Observation Check (Wits plus any bonuses) for their lookouts (if they are posted) each turn at a base TN of 10 plus 5 for each distance interval past close range (i.e. 10 for Close, 15 for Short, 20 for Medium, 25 for Long, 30 for Far, and 35 for Extreme). The GM may have the players roll each turn until either the encountered ship or creature is spotted, or until the player’s ship is attacked. As an alternative, the GM may just have the players make one roll and take it as the minimum distance that the encounter is first seen (i.e. a roll of 26 would indicate that the encounter was not seen until it was within long range).
If an encounter turns into ship-to-ship combat, use the rules in the next section entitled “Of Naval Combat” to determine the outcome, otherwise play out the encounter using the standard 7th Sea combat rules.