This database of WWII convoys has a lot of good ship names....

http://www.riapress.com/

has some decent pdfs and online versions of some sailing books. So they're mostly 19th c. accounts of sea voyages but there's not going to be many 20th c. works available for free. And some things never change about sea travel/ports. Henry Major Tomlinson's The Sea and the Jungle*, Jack London, Conrad, Melville, and more.


* "Being the narrative of the voyage of the tramp steamer Capella from Swansea to Para in the Brazils, and thence 2000 miles along the forests of the Amazon and Madeira Rivers to the San Antonio Falls; afterwards returning to Barbados for orders, and going by way of Jamaica to Tampa in Florida, where she loaded for home. Done in the years 1909 and 1910."

Quote from: Erik BoiellePossibly theres mileage in salvage and looking for sunken treasure?

I strongly recommend Arturo Pérez-Reverte's book The Nautical Chart.  The story centers around a sailboat, but the plot could easily be adapted to a small tramp freighter.

!i!

So I stumbled across a mint copy of Merc 2000 - Bangkok: Cesspool of the Orient (thanks for the tip, Casey777), and I've been reading the old Gamelords Traveller adventure "The Drenslaar Quest", which involves diving off a maritime salvage vessel, and I'm going off the deep end.  I'm getting in touch with my old Merchant Marine buddy and am going to write an adventure for Classic Traveller (maybe a series) that revolves around a salvage crew based in Singapore and operating primarily around the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand.  Out comes the old Twilight 2000 Small Arms Guide, out come the maps.

!i!

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaSo I stumbled across a mint copy of Merc 2000 - Bangkok: Cesspool of the Orient (thanks for the tip, Casey777), and I've been reading the old Gamelords Traveller adventure "The Drenslaar Quest", which involves diving off a maritime salvage vessel, and I'm going off the deep end.  I'm getting in touch with my old Merchant Marine buddy and am going to write an adventure for Classic Traveller (maybe a series) that revolves around a salvage crew based in Singapore and operating primarily around the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand.  Out comes the old Twilight 2000 Small Arms Guide, out come the maps.

!i!

Throw in a legend about a sunken WW2 Japanese submarine on its way to Nazi Germany and full of gold in payment for German secret weapons, complete with old coot American sailor from the ship that sank her who knows "exactly where she is..."

I'd play the hell out of that!


TGA

International marine salvage? Check.
Small cargo smuggling?  Check.
Rumors of sunken treasure?  Check.
Moral quandary over jobs taken? Check.

I'm thinking something along the lines of a small operation not entirely unlike Team Banzai from The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai (no, seriously!), and a small flotilla of useful vessels -- a tug, a trawler, a small support freighter.  The structure of the adventures (there's obviously more than one now) revolves around the company itself, which will not be populated by stock NPCs -- the players themselves need to fill those roles, from the owner/operator on down.

What do you do when the treasure hunt/salvage of the WWII submarine brings you into conflict not only with the Chinese navy, but the Japanese government as well?  What do you do when the simple smuggling job you signed on for turns out to involve live bodies for the sex trade?

Man, I need to include a bar like Rick's Cafe Americain, don't I?

!i!

Man alive, that sounds like some good eatin'. Let me know if you need playtesters.

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaMan, I need to include a bar like Rick's Cafe Americain, don't I?

!i!

If you didn't, you'd need to invent a reason to put one in.

-clash

The PCs should have a running tab with the bar, not for drinks, but for property destruction.

And in a strange, creepy sort of development...

...I'm suddenly finding myself considering d20 Modern.*

:eek:

!i!

(*Or has this sort of thing already been done?  Is this a good idea, or is modern/contemporary Traveller better?)

throw in a down-on-his-luck oceanographer/filmmaker a la steve zissou . . .

what a cast!  and quite the flotilla you'd have, too

I would dearly love to see this, but in the name of god with a ruleset that's reasonably light like Traveller, not with the utterly flavourless and overcomplex d20 Modern.

Savage Worlds, Traveller, hell a ton of systems could do this, but d20 Modern just isn't right IMO.  Too complex, too bland.

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaAnd in a strange, creepy sort of development...

...I'm suddenly finding myself considering d20 Modern.*

:eek:

!i!

(*Or has this sort of thing already been done?  Is this a good idea, or is modern/contemporary Traveller better?)

I think Modern Traveller would be more original, more fun, would capture that Traveller vibe in a new way and would be more accessible too.

Quote from: BalbinusI think Modern Traveller would be more original, more fun, would capture that Traveller vibe in a new way and would be more accessible too.

I've been vascillating on the issue all day here at work (why, yes, I'm getting my work done -- why do you ask?), and this is my feeling, too.  I like the notion of dragging the Traveller mechanics into a contemporary setting instead of sci-fi.  Does anyone know off hand who currently sits hen on the publication rights for classic Traveller?  Is it Far Future Enterprises, or have they simply licensed the rights to reprint the existing body of Traveller works?

!i!

(P.S. Their website is a mess and provides a broken e-mail link.)

I think it's FFE, but I could be wrong.

I was reading the Robert E Howard boxing short stories today, and they are full of this stuff.  Tramp steamers in dodgy ports with their crew getting into fights and adventures.

Wonderful stuff.