A constant problem nagging GM's is what to do with all the money PC's can make by selling off captured ships and helms. It seems that if PC's find a ship with 50% damage and a minor helm and sell it at a port for just 50% of its remaining value, they are still going to make a killing. Many SJ players/DMs' agree that the prices for helms are a bit high. One solution is to set the value of helms at 10% of listed book price, but this would throw other internal balances out of the window. What follows are some suggestions on how to deal with this problem.
As to adversaries not much needs to be said: whoever finds a treasure has to see to it that he will be able to enjoy his profits at the end of the day. So even if your PCs get the listed 100,000 gp for the salvaged helm, there will be many, many people out there willing to relieve them of the burden of carrying around such a pile of money (which amounts to a TON of Gold if you calculate 1 GP = 10 grams as suggested in the PHB; historically it was closer to 5 grams per gold coin, pretty uniformly everywhere in Europe in the middle ages; quite a lot of weight still). Robbers, thieves and tax collectors abound, and the PCs will usually be strangers in a strange land, making them the top target on anybodies' list.
The market will also help to get a grip on this problem. Will there be any buyers for the goods at this price? And even if there are, what will a massive influx of money do to the value of money (cf. the massive inflation the Spanish gold and silver imports from South America caused). The PCs will either not be able to sell their helms, have to sell them at a price way below the price given in the box, or get devalued money for it.
A good "official" guideline is given in the SJ adventure "The Sea of Sorrows" in Dungeon 36, where the PCs can salvage nearly a dozen ships and/or helms from a sargasso. They may sell the ships and helms right where they found them, in Pirtelspace, at a somewhat reduced price. This price is actually quite a good price, as the goods are in high demand in Pirtelspace. If they fret and mumble "but this is not the price listed in the Spelljammer box", they are in for an even bigger surprise when they reach Refuge: the Arcane offer even less for their goods, since they had a lot of salvaged ships come in recently.
This is my favourite. Usually PCs assume that as soon they got their hands on something, it is theirs. Dead wrong. Quote from Baker, An Introduction to English Legal History, p. 438:
"Certain categories of lost property belonged to the Crown by the royal prerogative. ... The best known instance is treasure trove. Gold and silver artefacts, coin or bullion ... belong to the Crown unless and until the true owner makes good his claim; and they may be seized into the Queen's hands by a coroner. Wreck of sea belonged to the Crown unless the owner claimed the goods within a year and a day. The rhetorical Elizabethan explanation for this ancient rule was that it compensated the Queen for her expensive naval obligations."
As you see there are two parties to be reckoned with: the authorities and the former owners. Maybe there is such a thing as serial numbers for helms (in the form of wizard marks and such). There will definitively be something like a ships' register. If the PCs haven't got any documents proving that they are the owners, this will be the last they have seen of their salvaged ship. Whether it will go to the former owners or to the Crown will most probably not be of major interest to the PCs.
Another thing to consider are the prize laws, if the PCs tooks the ship off some nasties in combat, scro, pirates, you name it. Again, they will enjoy their gains only if they are either a ship of war, fighting for the Imperial Elven Navy or such, or bear a Letter of Marque recognized by the local authorities of the port where they want to sell their prize.
If they do not have the status of a ship of war or a privateer, the captured ship is considered Droit of Admirality and will be confiscated. The PCs will have no legal claim whatsoever, since they had no right capturing the ship in the first place. Why, they should be happy not to be accused as pirates! Their best bet then will be that they acted in self defense. If the ship they captured belonged to a pirate they just might get some reward for their good deed, but again this is not obligatory.
If they are a ship of war or a privateer, the captured ship is considered Droit of the Crown and seized by the authorities as prize. The PCs will then get a share of the prize money (only a share, not all!), but only after all the relevant facts of capture and ownership have been ascertained by a Prize Court - and this means a lengthy trial, which will take away months of the PCs time. Of course they may settle for a lesser amount of money if they waive their claims. ... :)
Well, I suppose you get my drift. Just for those aspiring prize lawyers amongst you, here's some more technical detail: Prize is the term for a ship or goods captured at sea or seized in port by the maritime forces of a belligerent. A ship or goods may be lawfully taken as prize at sea or in port, at any time after a declaration of war and before its final termination. Enemy ships, and neutral ships acting in an unneutral manner, such as attempting to break a blockade, are lawful prize. Enemy goods carried in a neutral vessel and neutral goods carried in an enemy vessel are not lawful prize, but neutral goods declared by a belligerent to be contraband (i.e. weapons, warlike material and stores) are liable to seizure if destined for an enemy country.
The commander of a belligerent warship may visit a ship at sea or in the belligerent's port and examine the ship's papers, and if not satisfied search the ship. If not satisfied, he may seize the ship and sent it in to a convenient port for adjudication by the Prize Court whether it has to be condemned as lawful prize or must be released. A sentence of condemnation is necessary to vest the property in the ships and goods in the captors.
Enemy vessels or goods seized at sea will be condemned as Droits of the Crown, and if seized in a port as Droits of Admiralty, provided the ship entered the port voluntarily and not by reason of war or operations of war. Ships and goods captured by a ship other than a ship of war or by land forces are also Droits of Admiralty.
As prizes taken at sea were Droits of the Crown, they had to be specifically granted to the captors by an order of the Privy Council which waived the rights of the Crown. Such an order was customarily given for prizes in times of war, but not for wrecks found at sea. And while a grant of Droits of the Crown or part thereof may be made to the actual captors, Droits of the Admiralty are generally paid to the Exchequer.
It is quite important to look at the specific words, i.e. belligerent or ship of war. Generally the PCs will NOT fall under these categories, that is, they may own a warship, but not be a ship of war (waging war as a ship of some state's navy). Then again, it might not be a time of war (wars generally being fought only rarely in space [Unhuman and Vodoni Wars]), even if the parties involved are hostile to each other. In all these cases this means that the ships captured fall under the category of Droits of Admiralty instead of Droits of the Crown (where they MIGHT receive some prize money if there is an order of the authorities as to this respect, etc.).
