101 ship wrecks

[Joël of the FoS]

In a game, I will bring my players to an island surrounded by ship wrecks. An evil dude built a lighthouse to lure boats to its treacherous rocky coast.

I know the players will explore the wrecks, so I need ideas for these.

Please let the unbridled creativity work for these ship wrecks: what where they from, what kind of ship, what kind of cargo, boat name, what kind of secret is the wreck holding?

Thanks in advance!

Joël

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Well, Champions of Ruin. Everything Matrix except Matrix itself. Star Wars Episodes I-III.

Oh, wait, you meant that literally.

If you go for gruesome, have a slave ship crash. You can make this one quite tragic.

Or funny. Have it be cargo. Not just sourmeats, but funny cargo! Some alchemical components. The stuff is weird, the crates broke, and now a stretch of beach has coloured water with huge fish and crabs and stuff (turns out it's enlarge person and weird sea critters after all. Told you!)

 

[ivocaliban]

Flumphs! They'are all filled with flumphs!

Kidding. But see Dungeon #118 if you like the idea.


I have some questions first. What setting are you using? Where does your campaign fall on the high- to low-magic spectrum? Any restrictions on races? Is the island populated?


Without that information there's just the typical examples of treasure ships (be it pirate treasure, valuable goods, or mysterious relics/artifacts), passenger ships (be they carrying royalty, prisoners, or slaves), military ships (filled with marines or supplies that were on their way to support one side of distant war), and so on.

Of course, you can always have one of the ships be haunted by the long-dead crew (or prisoners, slaves, passengers). A band of kuo-toa may be scavanging the ships for valuables (likely at night as kuo-toa don't care for bright light) and have a run in with your party.

One of the larger ships might contain a cage capable of holding a creature of Large size. The cage is broken open and several of the bones of the crew appear to have been gnawed on by a beast of some sort. A beast which may very well still be alive on the island. (I'd suggest a gray render, but whatever works in your situation.)

The possibilities are endless!

 

[Grymar]

The Wreck of the Olpaltiouss

This was a merchant ship carrying good from port to port. Put in a type of ship that fits your world (trieme, longboat, etc), but I see this as a three masted schooner. She lies in 25-30 foot water and the hull is in two pieces with barrels and crates littering the sea floor in the 120' separating the two. On her last stop she offloaded most of her cargo of hardwood and picked up a load of wine, both in barrels and bottles. The wreckage contains mostly broken barrels, but some crates still contain good wine in unbroken bottles.

Investigating the wreckage the party will find little of value aside from a few corroded bells and chipped china from the captain's quarters. There would be a sizeable cache of coin in a hidden safe in the captain's quarters (sized of the hoard is up to you, but it shouldn't be very high).

If you want, you can throw in an aquatic undead as the remains of a sailor who died on his last voyage before going home to marry his childhood sweetheart.

Fairly mundane, but they can't all be massive adventures, right?

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

You might want to check out the Map-a-week on the WotC site. There is a great picture/map of a lighthouse with shipwrecks all around the base. I think it's under the category of "towers."

Edit: Here ya go:

www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mapofweek/TOD39873.jpg

 

[DrNilesCrane]

A ship that is actually alive (well, perhaps a construct): possibly it can communicate through an animated mast head or constructs that serve as its crew.

A ship with a crew suffering from an unusual plague: this could be a mini-adventure in itself if the party has to deal with the infected crew, those they infect (thinking "zombie movie" here but lots of possiblities), and perhaps finding a cure. Might tie into your lighthouse idea: if the bad guy inside doesn't mind, possibly a hoarde of fast moving, acquatic infested zombies might serve as an ideal defense.



Hope that helps a bit & great idea for an adventure (and forum topic) - looking forward to what ideas folks post.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The wreck of the Red Siren.

This ship is of a style that suggests it was originally built in one of the nations in the Distant South. But now, it lists, halfway on a reef, half out of the water, its mast at a crazy angle and its sail all but rotted away.

Over the sound of the waves beating against the reef, observers realize they can hear the sound of a woman screaming.

(The masthead of the ship -- a siren -- is enchanted, but with the wreck of the ship, the quasi-intelligence imbued in the wooden figure has gone mad, and just uses her magic mouth to scream in pain and fear.)

 

[Tonguez]

This low dark ship sits pecariously at the edge of a stony reef. It is still upright, apparently undamaged and rocks gently back and forth on the waves.

The ship is entirely devoid of life except for a single grey cat who stalks the deck. The cat will follow anyone boarding the ship but maintain a safe distance. The ship is made of a dark almost ebony coloured wood and the deck is quite sparse, featuring only single box in which is found rigging gear and similar.

There are two openings to the hull which are easily accessed by ladder.
The left hull has the mutilated bodies of the sailors piled within, their possesions and weapons with them and obviously unused. A closer inspection will indicate that the cat has been scavenging these corpses.
The right hull contains cargo boxes laden with fine cloth, spices and ivory. The cat becomes agitated as this hull is explored and seems to be trying to get everyone out. If anyone makes way towards the rear of the hull the cat will become violent and may even attack with suprising fury

If the cat is overcome and a search is made, a secret opening may be discovered giving access to a lower hull which makes the ship bigger on the inside than it appears on the outside and in this hull is found...

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

The Wrecks of the Hierophant Agamasthes and the Aspen Wind

Some years ago, the island kingdom of the Elves was at war with the human theocracy of [Insert Name Here]. This war was punctuated with numerous fleet and single-ship engagements.

One of the bloodiest occurred in the waters surrounding [Island], where a small Elven squadron came upon a human task force watering and provisioning. The battle was quickly joined, and much damage was done to the human ships, a large part of whose crew was still ashore.

One human ship, however, was able to slip its moorings and engage the superior Elven force. The flagship, the Hierophant Agamasthes, with little more than a skeleton crew, stood out to sea and brought the smaller picket ships of the Elven squadron to battle. Captain Idanian, knowing his chances of survival were slim at best, and nonexistant against the more powerful Elven cruisers waiting in the offing, attempted to wound and slow the Elven escorts before making good his escape.

Captain Al'tuar, of the Elven schooner Aspen Wind, saw the Hierophant's intentions, and placed his ship directly athwart her path. Idanian, heedless, pressed on, increasing sail and raining what weapons he could into the much smaller Elven ship.

Al'tuar nevertheless held his position to the end, and the two ships crashed into each other with a horrendous rending of wood, steel, and bodies. Those elves of the Aspen Wind still standing let fly with countless grappling hooks, binding the two ships even closer together, and then began climbing into the Hierophant Agamasthes.

It is not know from surviving reports what exactly happened next, except that, seemingly simultaneously, both ships burst into fire nearly from the waterline to the maintops. Then, amidst the screams of the dying and great gouts of steam, both ships slid beneath the waves, still held in each other's embrace.

The wrecks now lie in approximately 50 fathoms of water, still locked together. It is rumored that, every night, the elven corpses try once again to storm the Hierophant Agamasthes, where they are met in slow, soundless battle by the once-living human crew.

The wrecks of the ships contain many secrets and valuable items, from the powerful enchanted sword last wielded by Captain Idanian to the presumably still intact battle plans and ciphers used by each navy. There's also the mystery of why the ships caught fire and sank so quickly. A new spell? A new weapon?

 

[Imagicka]

The Wreck of the Daemon Ship Meshabber

#10 - The Daemon Ship Meshabber

Description: This is an ancient ship, though the ship appears to be fairly intact since it is make of stone. It does have the appearance like a typical barque, though it does have a number of differences in design. Black in appearance, it looks rather wicked, with jutting spikes and horns all across it's bow and stern. The prow of the ship looks like the snout of some evil draconic beast. The ship looks like it's been grown since it has an organic look to it. Whatever rigging and masts it had have long since broken off. However, the hull is still in tact, despite the fact that it is listed on it's side. As you get closer to the ship, you can see that lots of mussels and baracles have attached themselves to the hull.

[sblock=GM Notes]Investigation: The ship is fairly well in tact, and could be sea-worthy if it were given new masts, rigging and a crew. But for now, it is beached on a shoal of sand and rock.

Once aboard the ship, because of it listing on it's side, it makes it difficult to navigate around. Requiring a Dex Check of 15 in most places, DC of 20 closer to the starboard side that is closest to the water.

Inside: The hatches down into the lower decks of the ship are stuck shut, either requiring brute strength to pry them open, or some other means, such as magic. Once below deck the party will find that the ship in indeed air-tight, since it is dry and dusty within.

Upon entering, the ship below-decks looks very much like a normal ship. Nothing out of the ordinary exists in the ship, other than it's outer demonic exterior. The only exception are numerous arcane symbols all throughout the ship. Most times above the door-frames to each of the more important compartments. Sometimes carved into the beams of where the crew compartments are located.

Searching: Searching the ship will reveal that:

• There is no magic auras, above deck or below decks in any of the compartments. In fact the crew was forbidden to possess any magic onboard.
• No animals have made this ship their home. No nests, no insects. Nothing. Any animals contacted nearby will only state that the ship is 'spooky' and 'unnatural'.
• The ship has been stripped of all goods, cargo and possessions. Anyone with a high search check will realize that it seems the crew was able to take all their possessions and leave, not in a hurry, but in a timely manner.
• All the compartments are unlocked and open except for the lower hold, which is locked and sealed.

This loation DOES register as magical.

The Lower Hold
The entrance to the lower hold was designed and built to be reenforced. There is only two ways into this hold, one is the opening above midship into this cargo-hold which as long since been stuck shut and would take weeks to clean and pry open, the other is a hatchway belowdecks. This lower hatchway has been sealed with numerous arcane symbols and wax which have remained untouched until this time.

Anyone with [u]Arcane Knowledge[/u] can easily tell that the arcane symbols warn
anyone attempting to break these seals will be placed in mortal danger.  
Only authorized persons are to attempt to break the seals on the hold.

GM Background This ship was once an important part of <insert kingdom/nation here>. It was used to transport highly dangerous cursed magical items and immortal demons to a prison island that only the ship's captain and pilot knew the location of. Or at least that's wha the crew was led to believe. In fact they had a relic that allowed them to find the island, because navigation proved that it was never in the same location twice.

The ship was a secret of the kingdom, since they wanted no one knowing of it's existance, and off of it's shores, anyone who saw the daemon-ship thought it was either a ghost-ship, or pirates...or even worse... ghostly-demonic-pirates. Through the years during it's operation many a sailor's tail was told about the daemon-ship, and how it had taken this ship or that... this pirate or that...

Now the ship lays abandoned upon a shoul, it's deadly cargo untouched... [/sblock]