Friday, February 27, 2009

Sailing Ships and Pirates

I've been working on some new rules for table-top sailing ships after playing the Original NES Pirates! by Sid Meier for way too long.

Pirates!
NES Player - Pirates! - Main - An overview of the original game.
NES Player - Pirates! - Game Manual - high-quality scans of the official Pirates! game manual
NES Player - Pirates! - The Map - You can't sail without a map!
AddictedToPirates.com - Sid Meier's Pirates! - Live The Life - FAQ / Walkthrough
TextFiles.com - Sid Meier's Pirates! Game Summary

Movies
Internet Archive: The Black Pirate - The Black Pirate (1926), recommended by Jordan Mechner

Tabletop Gaming
Cianty's Tabletop Wargames Blog - Setting Sail: Collecting Ships for Tabletop Games, There are a TON of other pirate/sailing posts as well.
WizKids - Pirates of the Spanish Main - Packaged like a collectible card game, the cards can be punched apart to construct 3-D sailing ships. You can probably pick some up on eBay.
A New Merchantman In The Caribbean! - The process of building a balsa wood sloop for war gaming.

History
Pirate code - Wikipedia - The code of conduct invented for governing pirates
The Black Book of Corsairs - On a pedestal near an eastern window is a book with black leather covers. Golden frames secure the back cover of the book on the pedestal, making sure it is taken nowhere.
Pirates & Privateers - The History of Maritime Piracy - Articles and Links on all aspects of maritime piracy from ancient times to modern day.

Actual Sailing and Sailing Ships
What About The Junk Rig? - All about Junk Rigging
Ships - Aelyria - Ships of the Aelyrian Empire - even though it's fiction, it's based on the real thing
Rigging of American Sailing Vessels - Adapted from the Peabody Museum Publication:
RIGS of the Nine Principal Types of American Sailing Vessels.
Complete list of Ship Types - A list to help you to understand the differences between different types of sailing vessels
sailing-ships.oktett.net - Chronological register of 1106 sailing vessel
Pirates Ahoy! - Here be some pictures of Ships. Make sure to check out the other links on the right.
Brethren of the Coast - Basic Pirate Stuff
YouTube - Tall Ships - Standing Tall - Tall Ship sailing. Cheesy, but has some good shots of how to lower the sails, etc.
YouTube - SL Sailing Tutorial (Combat Ships) Part 1 - A very basic sailing tutorial.
YouTube - Tall Ships Cannon Duel - a collection of the best moments during tall ships cannon duel
YouTube - Ship to Shore Cannon Battle - Great movie showing a small ship turning.

Festivals
NorCal Pirate Festival - The Northern California Pirate Festival - Only Six hours away, woohoo!
Pirate Festivals .com - Find information about a pirate festival, pirate fair, or pirate weekend by area.

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