Fantasy RPGs with Flying ships.

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kozos

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Hello all, first post here.

I am on the lookout for RPGs that contain flying ships and airships, ideally in a mechanically robust way.
I know Talislanta and Eberron have airships aplenty but I am always on the lookout for more.

Thanks in advance.
 
The D&D Companion set gave elves "light ships" that could fly.
Spell Jammer did flying ships that went into space.
Didn't Chaosium do a Hawkmoon rpg with flying ships?
They did a couple hawkmoons. I'll check my edition and see if it has flying ships in it.
 
We've got "Mutants Down Under", originally a supplement for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, now for After the Bomb. In addition to mutant animals from Australia and all, it has rules for building and using airships. Not exactly fantasy, but... it's as compatible with all the Palladium stuff as any other Palladium stuff. :-)
 
The D&D Companion set gave elves "light ships" that could fly.
Spell Jammer did flying ships that went into space.
Didn't Chaosium do a Hawkmoon rpg with flying ships?
Doesn't Mystara have airships? Or is the Princess Ark a one-off?
 
Exalted, though I'm not sure how "mechanically robust" they are (due to them being rare as hen's teeth in my Exalted - and no, you're not more likely to find an airship close to a Wyld zone, unlike hen's teeth:grin:)!
 
Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies. While neither PDQ nor PDQ# (the version found in S7S) is what I'd call a mechanically robust system (for which I love it), it does provide explicit rules for sky ships and their workings. It even gives a fair amount of terminology, some of which is repurposed from nautical terminology but also some unique to the setting, so that you can describe ship maneuvers with pirate-y lingo. It also provides a nice set of ship-wide actions to take as a member of the crew that keeps sky sailing from being all about the pilot / captain. Highly recommended.
 
I think Volant should count as well. I never got that much into the flying rules, but they seemed robust enough to me!
 
Shadow World for Rolemaster had flying ships (and dirigibles), but no specific rules for them that I'm aware of.

GURPS Spaceships can be used to make them with the right supplement (SS7 from memory), thought you'd want a couple of Pyramids for their articles as well (one's for more non-spaceship stuff that's useful, and the other is for skyships and such, so will have more detail you'd want). Between that and the normal vehicle operation rules in the Basic Set you'd have all the system support you need.
 
Another vote for Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies. It's one of my all-time favorite games and the PDQ system is fantastic.
 
There was a D20 supplement called...wait for it...Airships. Bastion Press released it. A lot of their offerings for D20 was pretty decent, as was Airships. I think FATE had a supplement/setting or two that had airships, but I'm drawing a blank on their names at the moment.
 
If we're mentioning Mystara, we have to include Calidar, which is basically the Princess Ark setting with the names filed off, done by its original author.
 
Cakebread and Walton wrote Abney Park’s Airship Pirates, though I’ve never seen it and have no idea about the rules.
 
The D&D Companion set gave elves "light ships" that could fly.
Spell Jammer did flying ships that went into space.
Didn't Chaosium do a Hawkmoon rpg with flying ships?

Doesn't Mystara have airships? Or is the Princess Ark a one-off?

Dark Dungeons, a Rules Cyclopedia clone, has flying ship rules.
D&D Rules Cyclopedia has complete rules for building flying ships. (Beyond the elven “light ships” which IIRC are more or less hand waved.)

I think ACKS never replicated those but I’m glad Dark Dungeons does.

Also for BECMI/RC, PC2 Top Ballista (I always cringe at the name) features a gnomish flying city, complete with an Air Force.
 
The D&D Companion set gave elves "light ships" that could fly.
Spell Jammer did flying ships that went into space.
Didn't Chaosium do a Hawkmoon rpg with flying ships?

They did a couple hawkmoons. I'll check my edition and see if it has flying ships in it.
Rogue-Mistress.jpg

Rogue Mistress has a flying ship that can also Spelljamm ... planeskip ... Multiverseswap...
I don't recall if there are specific rules for flying ships.
 
Runequest 3rd edition has naval combat rules, really I suppose the only difference between a flying ship and an ocean going vessel is that it flies.
 
Calidar is a setting which does, but its a 'system' neutral (read for D&D or similar system) game, I'm not sure of how mechanical they are though since its system-free.
 
Wow, so many replies. Thanks a lot everyone.

Calidar, I have heard of but the absence of mechanics is a turn off.
I had completely forgotten of Rogue Mistress for Elric.
I need to check Swashbucklers and Volant as well as recheck my RC.
Thanks all.
 
Taking the term fantasy in its broadest sense. Not sure about "robustness" but:

Leagues of Adventure
Airship Daedalus
Barbarians of Lemuria
 
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Another 3e supplement, by Goodman Games, was Aerial Adventures. 3 slim (32 pages) volumes:
- Rulers of the Skies (player oriented, with aerial combat, skills, prestige classes Duh, feats)
- Sellaine, Jewel of the Clouds (setting)
- Monsters, Magic & Sky Ships (DM oriented)
I remember the last volume had stuff about Size, Crew, Armour & Armament for anything from a floating dinghy to a flying fortress (not the B17)
 
I love flying ships and have used Spelljammer ships in my D&D campaigns a lot. Also, I used to play Star Fleet Battles and I always wanted to make a set of SSD's for Barsoomian airships. So I guess games with flying ships would also include anything with John Carter of Mars in it. Warriors of Mars miniatures rules, Warriors of the Red Planet RPG, and so on. As to wargames there is SPI's old John Carter game and Sky Galleons of Mars for Space 1889.
 
We've got "Mutants Down Under", originally a supplement for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, now for After the Bomb. In addition to mutant animals from Australia and all, it has rules for building and using airships. Not exactly fantasy, but... it's as compatible with all the Palladium stuff as any other Palladium stuff. :-)
I had this. its amazing how a random roll could come up with airship captain quite so often when doing character creation. No idea how it played we just did endless chargen with these.

If we're mentioning Mystara, we have to include Calidar, which is basically the Princess Ark setting with the names filed off, done by its original author.
Was this the one that had a series of stories in Dragon with an airship exploring along a coast and stuff about cinnabar? I remember reading one in possibly the first Dragon magazine I ever read (if it was Dragon) but it was somewhere in the middle so I had no context what was going on. I just remember it being damn cool and nearly basing my first real campaign off it.
 
Soulbound RPG
Steam and Steel
The Grund Operations Manual

The Grund Operations Manual contains:

  • A detailed battle map and stat block for The Grund itself.
  • Stat blocks, background, and unique plot hooks for each member of the crew.
  • A whole host of upgrades from devastating weapons to eccentric endrinworks to install on The Grund or other Kharadron sky-ships..
  • Endeavours for The Grund and her crew to undertake during downtime, such as Aether-gold Prospecting and Cargo-hauling.
  • Minor and Major random encounter tables to bring your airborne adventures to life
 
Soulbound RPG
Steam and Steel
The Grund Operations Manual

The Grund Operations Manual contains:

  • A detailed battle map and stat block for The Grund itself.
  • Stat blocks, background, and unique plot hooks for each member of the crew.
  • A whole host of upgrades from devastating weapons to eccentric endrinworks to install on The Grund or other Kharadron sky-ships..
  • Endeavours for The Grund and her crew to undertake during downtime, such as Aether-gold Prospecting and Cargo-hauling.
  • Minor and Major random encounter tables to bring your airborne adventures to life
I gotta say AoS is growing on me. (In a D&D4, “this is not really WFRP but something else” sort of way)
 
Cakebread and Walton wrote Abney Park’s Airship Pirates, though I’ve never seen it and have no idea about the rules.

The game is a lot of fun. The rules are fairly simple with lots of flavor based crunch. Yes, Air Pirate ships are there and there are rules for ship things. They are fairly simple, but that is the game itself.
 
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