Need input on a ship based mini adventure

My group has a bit of a rotating DM thing going on and I'm due up again soon. My wife tells me that we will likely still be on-board a ship at sea unless we do something incredibly stupid (which is a distinct possibility). It is a group of five 5th level characters.

I've been the main DM and I want to encourage the players to take more control of the narrative rather than picking up the breadcrumbs I lay in front of them. That is, I don't want to be too railroady, but I'm finding that tough on board a ship. Sure they have the open ocean to explore, but if I don't nudge them, they'll just sail back to the mainland and hunker down in a tavern and wait for me to throw the next adventure at them.

Scenario A

• a sea monster attacks the ship near a rocky reef off-shore of a large island
• I cobbled together a CR 6 monster with some Kraken-like abilities and called it a juvenile kraken
• fend off the sea monster before it destroys the ship
• if the ship is destroyed then some sort of skill challenge to get to shore safely
• how they do with the skill challenge determines how many crew members survive

Scenario B

• the same rocky reef and island
• a storm is approaching, the captain recommends on the leeward side of the point of land (the island)
• unknown to them, that same quiet cove is a hideout for a crew of slavers
• the slavers have them outnumbered, but most of the slaver crew is low-morale (looking for easy money, not wanting to give their lives to line some one else's pocket)
• fight vs overwhelming odds or surrender and hope to escape?

Scenario C

• a combination of A + B --> attacked, possibly ship-wrecked, likely taken prisoner by slavers - what do you do?

A feels like I'm forcing a situation on them. B offers much more choice of RP and player agency. C keeps us busy for probably 2 or 3 sessions.

Thoughts?

I'd keep A, and use the storm in B as an encounter in and of itself. You can have the storm be a danger that they have to face and have them act appropriately to protect themselves and save the ship.

If you can grab Tomb of Annihilation, one of the side-quests is finding a pirate gang's secret hideout. That may help you fill out some crunch for your storyline.

For something a bit different: the PCs' ship survives the storm OK but finds somebody else's shipwreck as visibility clears. There are signs of survivors on the shore nearby, but it is not clear how to get your own ship safely through the reef / currents / whatever that wrecked the other vessel.

I'm not sure if you're aiming for a very short adventure, or for something that could possibly span multiple sessions.

But what I usually do is give my players various rumors of interesting locations that they can sail to. I then leave it up to them where to go next. They usually inform me at the end of the session where they want to go next, so that I know what to prepare.

Once they reach such a location, I sprinkle various interconnected mysteries around, along with some sight seeing / exploration. It is up to them which of the clues they follow up on, but I'll usually also have an npc approach them directly, to provide a quest hook. Sometimes there's even more than one npc that approaches them for a quest, although one quest may lead straight into the next.

Plot hooks that I've used myself:

- An excommunicated monk asks the players to help him steal an ancient religious manuscript from the local church, which details the last journey of an important saint. This then feeds into a side quest to find the shipwreck of this saint, which was supposedly carrying a powerful weapon.
- A local pirate captain has been behaving very strange, and been making lots of midnight trips to an unknown location. The players are asked to spy on him, follow him, search his house, and uncover the truth.
- An important allied ship was sunk by an unknown cause just a few days ago. The party is tasked to investigate the site and find out what the cause was, which may involve diving and searching the nearby coast.
- An important pirate leader has decided to live a hermits life on a cursed island, but someone requires his help. The party is asked to find him, and return him alive.
- The party is asked to free a group of pirates from a horrid prison tower, just off the coast of a nearby island.
- A meteor has landed in the sea, which may yield valuable metals. The players are asked to travel where it landed, and retrieve pieces of the meteor from the bottom of the sea.
- An infamous cruel pirate lord has been causing much harm to a local coastal town. The players are asked to bring him to justice... preferably alive. But he won't go down without a fight.
- An important trade route has come under attack from an evil sea serpent. The players will be paid well if they slay the creature.
- A local pirate lord pays well for any sea monsters that are brought to him in one piece, so that he may display them in his private museum. Upon delivering his end of the bargain however, the players discover that all the gold they were paid is marked with the imperial seal. And the emperor will not be happy that his gold was stolen by pirates.
-The players uncover a hidden stash of Black Betel, an illegal narcotic that is banned from most port cities, yet also worth a lot of money. If the players can smuggle it to the right people, they could earn a pretty penny.
-A shipment of rum has washed onto the shore of a tiny island off the coast, that is crawling with giant crabs. The players are asked to retrieve the barrels for a local tavern.

Eltab said:

If you can grab Tomb of Annihilation, one of the side-quests is finding a pirate gang's secret hideout. That may help you fill out some crunch for your storyline.

For something a bit different: the PCs' ship survives the storm OK but finds somebody else's shipwreck as visibility clears. There are signs of survivors on the shore nearby, but it is not clear how to get your own ship safely through the reef / currents / whatever that wrecked the other vessel.

Click to expand...

I work in mapping/GIS and stumbled across some aerial photos with some shipwrecks in a shallow harbor which sort of spawned a lot of my ideas (they look like old sailboats and fishing vessels just left to rot on the beach, but a little imagination works wonders). I'll see if i can get my hands on ToA - thanks!

Imaculata said:

I'm not sure if you're aiming for a very short adventure, or for something that could possibly span multiple sessions.

But what I usually do is give my players various rumors of interesting locations that they can sail to. I then leave it up to them where to go next. They usually inform me at the end of the session where they want to go next, so that I know what to prepare.

Once they reach such a location, I sprinkle various interconnected mysteries around, along with some sight seeing / exploration. It is up to them which of the clues they follow up on, but I'll usually also have an npc approach them directly, to provide a quest hook. Sometimes there's even more than one npc that approaches them for a quest, although one quest may lead straight into the next.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure either. I probably have as many sessions to fill as I want, but I'm not sure how long I can go before they want to get back to civilization and the mainland. The ship is a convenient 'left-over' from the previous DM and I thought I could try some things I never get to do on land. I was planning on sprinkling some things to explore or ignore as they saw fit.

None of the characters or players have any sailing experience, so anything on-board the ship other than combat leaves them as bystanders, which I would like to avoid.
[MENTION=6801286]Imaculata[/MENTION] - you posted your hooks while I was writing. Thanks! I'll take a look at those and see what I can work with.

akr71 said:

None of the characters or players have any sailing experience, so anything on-board the ship other than combat leaves them as bystanders, which I would like to avoid.

Click to expand...

If the ship is about to sink in the storm, the sailors will look at the passengers for help (see also St. Paul's shipwreck or Jonah). The PCs can do skill checks to tie down wildly flailing rope ends, haul cargo to the rail and throw it overboard, pray to their gods to disperse the storm, bail out leaks with a bucket brigade, lash the wheel so the ship at least moves in a straight line, &c.
Xanathar's Guide to Everything has a picture of a wizardess who uses Mage Hand to control rigging at sea. Your players can get inventive with their class features and equipment - for instance, the Travelers' Pack has a 50-foot rope on the side so they can replace a broken rope in a pinch; somebody with Inspiring Leader feat can give a motivational speech - see what they can think up. If the players get into the spirit of the thing, the sailors credit them with saving the ship from the storm and spread that reputation at every subsequent port town.

Yes, I guess I was a little hasty with my words. I was thinking a regular storm or bad weather - something that doesn't put the ship in peril.

So now I'm thinking
-bad weather --> skill challenge to help regain control of the ship
-results of the challenge determine whether or not ship gets by rocky safely, gets damaged or destroyed
-if wrecked, another skill challenge to save sailors and make it to shore
-if safe or damaged - shelter in cove while waiting out the storm
-explore?

I can keep the sea monster for another time - especially if they want to continue sailing. I may still keep the slavers, especially if they explore inland looking for fresh water and food. While the crew is making repairs, the pirates show up. A mini-sandbox with some time constraints.

Hmm, time to talk to my players...

They may enjoy ToA in its entirety. If they're up for it, I can just have the storm blow them ship off course, finding themselves near Chult/Port Nyanzaru as the weather clears.

Give them a scenario with a few ways to go within an isolate locale.

There is a storm forcing them to take shelter on an island. The island is home to a tribe of orcs and goblins. The orcs and goblins are being taken as slaves. The goblins and orcs are hiding most of their population in a sunken temple deep in the island. Fearing that they'll all be taken eventually, the Orc Shaman unleashes something deep in the Temple... which caused the storm and releases a 'LOST' type monster on the island that is attacking the slavers... before it turns on everyone else.

The PCs could side with the slavers against the orcs and goblins, trying to stop the demonic threat from the temple so that they can all escape.

They could aid the orcs and goblins against the slavers, trying to save them from a life of slavery and from the demon they turned to in their desperation.

They could kill everybody.

Lots of options...

Perhaps the Juvenile Kraken is known to the pirates and they placate the beast. Learning this is essential to getting off the island safely after their own ship is wrecked.