Pirates Of the Vistula thoughts

[Adm.Lee]

Originally Posted by weswood

The Tugboat- yes, I've seen pictures of pointy bowed tugs.

I have nothing on this. The nearest tugs to me are on the Ohio, and most of those have flat bows, and are called towboats, even though they push their barges. I suppose some research could turn up what Vistula boats look like. I figure this is a case of "everyone knows what a tugboat looks like, it has a pointy bow and a big stack aft."

Another thing about the Vistula Queen is it being a diesel tug converted to steam. Okay, I realize it's a game....

Me, too. I know a tiny bit about steam locomotives, and their boilers look nothing like marine diesels. Now, if the VQ had a electric drive, I suppose you could remove the diesel power plant and swap in a wood-fired boiler to power the generators. It would be a s***-ton of work, and would wreck the boat's balance and deck strength, but you could do it. Or, you could just hand-wave it and say she had a steam powerplant all along.
EDIT: Or add a 2nd barge, holding the boiler and generator, wired to the drive motors still in the VQ, with the diesels disabled.

Then there's the mission. ... So they're taking a tugboat that doesn't have enough cabin space for the characters, plus a half decked barge?

I never had a problem with this-- my PCs moved their vehicles onto the barge and set up tents or shanties on the half-deck. The refugees could set up on the deck, too. What's the problem? OK, maybe they would need to pick up another barge for the trip home.

My idea is dump the tug/barge and have Adam captain a restored paddle-boat steamer, similar to what cruised the Mississippi in Mark Twain's time. Already steam powered, plenty of cabin space, easier to repair a wooden hulled vessel than a steel hulled vessel.

That could work, too, provided there was a tourist-style steamer on the Vistula. Not something I could see the communist Polish government spending money on, but stranger things have happened.

Now I'm kinda jonesing to take this adventure and run it again. Especially the return trip, I never did that. I think my first group took off overland to start Going Home from near Warsaw, and my second just ended after the Warsaw battle.