What is it? A Napoleonic RPG?

It's a straight historical RPG (i.e. no fantasy or dragons... though you probably could include them if you wanted to runa Temeraire-style campaign) focussing on the naval battles of the French Revolutionnary and Napoleonic wars.

It's meticulously researched but nonetheless keeps its feet on the ground thanks to the heavy influence of the Hornblower novels thereby placing the onus on naval battles and daring land and boarding actions.

It's set up so that you can play characters from any navy of the period so you could also run anti-Pirate campaigns in the carribean and things like that.

In truth one of its strengths is its flexibility because the game allows for loads of different campaign designs and it gives you the detail to allow all of them.  You can run it troupe style with a pool of characters of different ranks or run it traditionally where everyone starts off as midshipmen and have to clazw their way up the ranks or you could even run a game where each player commands a different vessel.

It's also got some lovely detailing like having rules for how much it would cost you to join a gentleman's club or if you wanted to build an observatory onto the stately home you had built with the money you made from capturing french ships.

Ah, so you could play palace & social intrigues too?

There are a number of social skills available to officers that can be applied to palace intrigues and diplomacy - after all, diplomacy and intrigue are in the literature it's based on, the Hornblower, Aubrey, Lambdin, Drinkwater, etc. novels the game is designed to emulate.

I've only read the first of the Temeraire novels - which I really liked, btw - but I don't think it would be a problem to adapt the game to that setting.

-clash

Absolutely.  The bulk of the game is about playing naval officers but if you look at things like the basic skills they vary for social class and as a lieutenant you can take templates such as "the charmer" or "the socialite" and the source material generally features quite a bit of socialising.

I mean, it's not all about political intrigue (it's all about being a naval officer) but it should be more than capable of handling such a game should your officers have to impress a senior officer or charm their way into someone's bed chamber.

For example - in one of my current IHW campaigns, the players are all commanding their own ships in a small American flotilla in 1803 during the First Barbary War - two ship-sloops, two brig-sloops, a captured cutter and a schooner. At the end of 1802, they siezed a small Algerian port by storm, and installed a puppet ruler - the action that gave them their commands. While they were away in the USA, the British engineered a palace coup in which they installed their own puppet, and the old puppet was strangled - the traditional death for supernumerary rulers in those parts.

The new puppet kicked the American consul and traders out. The PCs then engineered a popular uprising backed by the merchants who were trading with the Americans. Along the way, they swooped into the harbor at night after blowing the walls of the central battery with black powder, and deliberately destroyed a British frigate - which was hove-down on the beach, repairing it's hull - with a borrowed Spanish mortar vessel, claiming they thought it was an Algerian frigate.

A diplomatic firestorm ensues, with the British demanding a frigate from the Americans in compensation, the British frigate captain claiming the abandoned fortification as a British colony and moving his almost 400 men into it, the PCs claiming the town and surrounding area as an American colony, appointing the proper merchant as pro-tem governor, PCs getting chewed out for destroying the frigate and not occupying the fortification before the British, and getting praised for gaining a vital supply port, working out a livable arrangement with the British while simultaneously each tries outmaneuvering the other - PCs building tunnels under the agreed upon border and cutting the Brits off from getting supplies from the town, Brits reinforcing with what the PCs suspect are Algerian troops in Brit uniforms and resupplying by sea from Gibraltar, tensions build, etc.

Wild stuff!

-clash

Looks like fun. Think it can do the mid-17th and 18th centuries too?

Quote from: JongWKLooks like fun. Think it can do the mid-17th and 18th centuries too?

If you are familiar with the histories and naval technology, sure. The ships would be slower and less nimble, and certainly smaller. The ordinace would be more complex and simpler at the same time - you might be dealing with match-fired culverin instead of flintlock-fired 18 pounders, along with cannon and demi-cannon and demi-culverin, and your mizzen course might be a lateen sail instead of a gaff-rigged spanker.

Back to the mid-18th century would be a breeze - like the War of Jenkin's Ear or the Spanish Succession or the American War of Independence. It would get harder to do as you went back in time from that, as technology and cultures changed, though if you know the period, you cna make adjustments. Although just past the time period in the game, the Latin American Wars of Independence would be a treat to do, and a sorely under-played period.

I concentrated on the French Revolution-to-Napoleonic period because if I didn't, I'd have a game three times the size of In Harm's Way.

-clash

Hell, here I was thinking it was a John Wayne WWII naval warfare movie.

Quote from: ColonelHardissonHell, here I was thinking it was a John Wayne WWII naval warfare movie.

Hehe! That one causes me no end of pain when I try googling for references to the game! Even adding RPG to the search criteria doesn't help because of Rocket Propelled Grenades...

-clash

Jong, you might get a chance to check out the game yourself, and maybe even play in a playtest of it... assuming that someone who's promised me a review copy sends it my way.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPunditJong, you might get a chance to check out the game yourself, and maybe even play in a playtest of it... assuming that someone who's promised me a review copy sends it my way.

RPGPundit

It went out in record time! Tracking it by the ultramodern tools used by the USPS, I find it is currently strapped to the back of Juan Valdez' burro as he wends his way across the Columbian cordillera, picking only the choicest coffee beans for the discerning American consumer, for whom he has only deep and abiding affection. At the Columbian border, it will be strapped to the back of a highly trained and dedicated howler monkey, who will brachiate it swiftly across the Amazon basin, up the Rio Roosevelt, and into Paraguay. There, it is to be sealed in a rubberized canvas bag, marked with a brightly painted cork float, and tossed into the headwaters of the Plata, eventually to make it's way to the good postal fishermen of Montevideo! I am assured this is the absolute truth by anonymous people I trust uncritically, as is proper for the net.

Enjoy!

-clash

What I like about IHW is that it can be played as a straight action game - ship to ship battles, boarding actions etc - but it's more interesting facet IMHO is it's ability to generate roleplaying moments without the GM having to do much work

With it's Honor & Practicality rules, players are thrust into situations in which (at least in my games) they have to balance ambition with personal ethics. When you add cool stuff like Giving Notice it's a convenient method of adding the old frisson to situations involving superior offcers and their sometimes objective or personal views depending on the characters involved.

What I have done, is to reenact the cliche, treat the ship as a small world. A world were class politics, professional ambition, petty rivalry and personality conflicts are simmering under the thrill of kick ass missions or adventures.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: David RWhat I like about IHW is that it can be played as a straight action game - ship to ship battles, boarding actions etc - but it's more interesting facet IMHO is it's ability to generate roleplaying moments without the GM having to do much work

I'm a terribly lazy GM.

Quote from: David RWith it's Honor & Practicality rules, players are thrust into situations in which (at least in my games) they have to balance ambition with personal ethics. When you add cool stuff like Giving Notice it's a convenient method of adding the old frisson to situations involving superior offcers and their sometimes objective or personal views depending on the characters involved.

Yes! I hate coercion, so I designed the Honor & Practicality rules to reward PCs no matter which way they choose, but they are rewarded in different ways. What they choose to do has an impact on their reputation. Giving Notice makes career advancement personal between the PC and his superior officer.

Quote from: David RWhat I have done, is to reenact the cliche, treat the ship as a small world. A world were class politics, professional ambition, petty rivalry and personality conflicts are simmering under the thrill of kick ass missions or adventures.

Regards,
David R

I'd say you understand the game exactly, David!

I've never heard of this game. I'll be looking forward to the review.