Ships are Underutilised in Fantasy and Here's Why - A Response to  

I agree with everything you've said here, and I think that the best example of a ship based story which is not about Pirates is the Liveship Trader Trilogy by Robin Hobb. And I think a reason as to why that series is so good and why the ships all have such a defined personality is because of sentience. Most ships lack sentience, they have no quirks and unless they are heavily customised - as are pirate ships - they just fit in with the rest of the batch. And I think that's a hard mould to break in writing except for when it is a sci-fi or futuristic story because in that case the possibilities are endless for rare, original or artificially intelligent ships which don't need much more characterisation beyond just existing as a unique and cool idea. Hence it is so much easier to create futuristic ships with personality and so much harder to create unique ships inspired by history.

I think one big difference is that you can walk from place to place in general in Fantasy. But in a science fiction setting in space, you absolutely can't. And because you can not, the ship become important. And you generally want your heroes to have their own ship so they're more independed. (but there is plenty of exceptions to this to of course). So it not odd that they show up. And funny enough, if a spaceship is not needed, then there tend to be no mention of them. Or at least there not spotlighted as much. Like in the Stargate series. Seldom is a spaceship needed due to the stargates. And so there are a lot less central. Personally, I like an excuse to have a portal home when a play roleplay games. Even so, it not something I often do get. Many times it just a bit impracticable. Often costly to actually get in a game. But love to have everything from airships to mystical trains to wagon homes.

In fantasy, you run into a whole other dimension of potential trouble and, therefore, a greater need for heroic sailors than "simple workmen". Monsters in the deeps, supernatural weather, horrific moving disasters like a 'hunting' whirlpool. As in real life, ships are built to handle the perils they will face to the best of the ability of the shipwrights. In fantasy, they ought to get pretty good! Fortified hulls of wood taken from thousand-year treants or the like, runework and enchanted rams/figureheads that ward the ship from the awareness of major aquatic predators, sails that can conjure wind when needed, self-guiding rudders, ect - this makes sailing in unsafe regions far, far more expensive but also absolutely the work of heroes! The sea would require a nearly full-time patrol of some sort, or perhaps regularly placed buoys that have magical wards or... something. Treaties with aquatic sentient races, perhaps. In any event, ships shouldn't just be earth-ships if they expect to survive the troubles most fantasy oceans and seas offer! Even in greek myth, the ships of heroes were magical themselves in many cases! Like as not, though, you'd have a lot of cheaper, more fragile ships that would be far more expendible for civilian purposes of shipping and transportation while military vessels would be rare and extremely pricy. Such positions might belong exclusively to nobility, a form of knighthood, while those piloting civilian craft for troop transport would be practically a punishment role in war time. For war purposes, in any setting with grand magic, surely naval warfare would make use of it as much as they can! On the grand scale, weather can be called upon to smite an oncoming fleet that would have to be countered. Tidal waves could be called to smash them, whirlpools, conjured monsters, and so on. The addition of magical components also would have vastly changed even truly ancient naval warfare from a matter of grappling/ramming and boarding actions to whatever is most suitable to not only fight other sentients but to fight sea monsters (if present) capable of magic.

If you like historical naval warfare AND dragons, I *HIGHLY* recommend "His Majesty's Dragon", aka 'the Temeraire' series. It's about a naval officer being forced into the Dragon Corps, and the friends and conflicts he finds while adjusting to this new lifestyle. Also, it's taking place during the Napoleonic era, so theyre having Dragon battles with Ol' Boney!

A few points to consider in addition to the excellent points made. Firstly, a lack of interest in south-east asian warships in fantasy is unfortunate. You get maybe the odd junk if you are lucky, but otherwise unnoticed. Its a shame as many interesting and cool vessels came out of china throughout the ages. From colossal multi-storeyed castle ships armed with traction trebuchets and battering arms to nimble paddlewheel ships unleashing volleys of crossbow bolts, there certainly isn't a lack of inspiration to work off. Secondly, a point about ancient galleys is their crew size. Even the smaller warships such as penteconters could have crews in the dozens. frontline warships of the Hellenistic age ranged from the low hundreds to even thousands for the largest ships. Think how many peoples lives are at stakes there. even in engagements with a handful of medium sized warships the casualties could be in the hundreds or even thousands. And not even to touch on larger battles like economus, where hundreds of thousands of men were present. Think of the stakes for a battle, a win could be enormous and a loss incredibly devastating depending on how many vessels can escape the slaughter. Significant portions of an empires' or kingdoms' workforce could be decisively gathered for these battles and their fates decided on the waves. Another thing to mention is the stakes of ramming. Usually ships would become swamped when rammed (sunk if they were heavy enough (i'd imagine) and/or if the seas were violent). If you were rammed, you would either be sunk or left to the mercy of the enemy as you were immobilised but still afloat. Broken apart by follow up ramming attacks, have your decks cleared and captured, towed away or burned, you are at your enemies mercy. Hundreds of mens fate could be sealed with a simple misjudgement. Its this sort tension which is unique to ramming as opposed to boarding which i find really unique. also, things like greek fire as a small number of ships with them could be interesting as a small number could prove decisive in a given setting. With regards to character. i'd recommend reading about a captain from the first Punic war named "Hannibal the Rhodian". Whilst little is wrote about him, what is gives such a sense of character not only to him but his ship as he outsmarts and outmanoeuvres the romans, and taunts . You could probably write a short novel based off him from his and commissioning of his vessel and his career as a blockade runner to his unfortunate demise. Thanks for reading this mini essay lmao

Another problem i see is how a design for a ship is much more limited (which i like) before it starts to look silly, something that space ships don't have bc of their non real nature Another banger from almost good channel!!!

if Pillars of Eternity 2 had a Sea Dogs kind of combat and some sea monsters instead of text base combat , I guess that would be your dream game because it would be mine D

Does One Piece count in any fashion?

Your ship is sentient. It is a devout follower of the sea god. This devotion has resulted in levels of cleric. Now your ship can conjure food. Fantasy Replicator!

Ok so when are we getting the ship ranking list Prof? Also dreadfleet video when?🤭