G6 Ferry Island

Written by Adsmalley

by Aaron Smalley

The Ferry Dock from Gorled to South Shore occurs by way of a two-part crossing through this Ferry Island, then connects to either (depending on the direction of the crossing) F6 Great Hall District of Gorled (dock #1) and/or H6 City Hall District of South Shore (dock #2).
Please note that if the map/image of this district is opened (in a new window or tab) it will show at a higher resolution on most computer systems and will be easier to read, if needed.
Ferry Island is a small island that is controlled by the Bád (pronounced as Bay-ed) family. Rumors have it that they settled on the island when Martelain and Gorled were but tiny towns that formed to trade with the merchants from the ancient Ruglund Empire that founded the port village of Argentum on the largest of the channel areas 13 islands. No one knows for certain (except maybe the Monks on the Isles of Stars, as they are the recordkeepers of all the worlds’ history) if this story is true, however that is the commonly told rumor. But regardless, this family has controlled the island, as far back as anyone can remember which is a very long time. They have a modest size house on the island and grow some of their own food as well as doing a fair bit of fishing. Their primary activity is ferrying people back and forth between the cities of South Shore and Gorled. This family also owns and operates the other 4 ferries in the channel area.
All of these ferries are quite large and utilize very large and heavy ropes as well as a capstan system that is spun to pull the ferries along the ropes (the ropes are actually wrapped around the capstans 2-3 rotations, thus creating a gripping of the wet hemp ropes) for motivation. Most of the ferries have decks that are large enough that they can easily fit four wagons with a pair of horses at a time (as well as a handful of people or more). The decks on most of these are about 6 meters (20 feet) wide and 10 meters (35 feet) long, with a small section off to one side (about a 2-meter by 2-meter area) where the capstan system is located for motivation. Each crossing has two sets of ropes, with most having two ferries that cross at a time (usually timing them so that it is rare for both to be on the same side of the crossing at the same time). These ropes are specially made from hemp to be resistant to the salty water and rotting as well as being heavy enough (4 inches diameter) so that they are heavy enough that they sink below the surface of the water far enough that they do not interfere with ships passing through the channel area when not being pulled upon by the ferry crossing.
#3 on the map is the house of the family that owns/controls all of the ferries, the

Their tolls for crossing on these ferries varies depending on which ferry is being used, as per the following chart. Note that horses and any cart/wagon they are pulling are charged separately. Also please note that Rolemaster uses a much more reasonable and accurate coinage system than most other RPG's (especially D&D, where iron is worth more than silver and gold is so common that it is only semi-precious (comparable to what copper should be). Please see this link for coinage conversions for other RPG systems.

Channel Ferry Crossing prices and times using the Rolemaster coinage system.

Item or Creature	F6 Great Hall Dist. Gorled / H6 City Hall District of South Shore	I5 Coliseum Dist. Argentum / I6 Guild Hall District of South Shore	E4 Silver Shore Dist. Gorled / F4 Little Maze District of Argentum	I5 Coliseum District of Argentum / J5 Smelter Dist. Martelain	L5 River District of Martelain / L6 Warf District of South Shore
Person	2 cp	1 cp	1.5 cp	1 cp	1 cp
Horse	4 cp	2 cp	3 cp	2 cp	2 cp
Cart (2-wheels)	3 cp	1.5 cp	2 cp	1.5 cp	1.5 cp
Horse Cart (2 wheel)	4 cp	2 cp	3 cp	2 cp	2 cp
Wagon	5 cp	3 cp	4 cp	3 cp	3 cp
Crossing Time	~30-40 minutes	~ 15 minutes	~20 minutes	~ 12 minutes	~10 minutes
Waiting Time	2d20 minutes	2d10 minutes	2d12 minutes	2d8 minutes	2d6 minutes

Note that some merchants and others who use these ferries frequently work out package deals where they pay reduced rates for the service (usually only about 10%-20% reductions for frequent users).
The ferry operators try to time their departures such that they minimize risk of having the ropes taught when ships are passing through the area that their ropes cross. The wait time (a suggestion for GM's for immersiveness) can also vary by a fair amount. It is a matter of when characters arrive and where the ferries are at in their crossing, or if they will need to wait for the next ferry to arrive due to the current one being full or just having left the dock.
Return to the Channel Cities districts page. Or to either Gorled or South Shore.