Campaign Idea: Island-Hopping, Swashbuckling Fun!

[Breakstone]

So today, in the car, I came up with an idea for a new campaign. The campaign would have a light-hearted, swashbuckling theme, and would center around the characters traveling on a ship from island to island, following a map given to them by an old dying mentor.

Basically, on each island there'd be a treasure, and a challenge in getting said treasure.

But I figure it'd be really, really redundant if each island was a dungeon with minions and a final big, bad boss. So I've been trying to come up with a different challenge to get each treasure on each island. This is my main idea so far, inspired by the picture of the Tortle in the latest Dragon Magazine:

Isla Cascara (the Cracked Island), an island split in two by volcanic activities. Isla Cascara is inhabited by the Tortle, a slow but friendly race of turtle-men who are traditionally isolationists. In order to attain the treasure of the island, the players must defeat the Tortle's four (or however many characters there are) best warriors in unarmed combat- should be pretty easy, right? Wrong. These Tortles may be slow, but they've carried the ancient martial arts through the generations. But don't worry- in a subsequent pirate attack, the characters will earn the trust of these estranged warriors and earn the treasure... if they survive!

How about you? I figure not all the islands will be this light-hearted, but it would be fun to keep the general swashbuckling, no-epic-fight-against-evil-to-end-all-evils theme going.

 

[mac1504]

Wonderful idea. I immediately thought of an "Island of Dr. Moreau" adventure. Perhaps a wizard with strange mutated experiments running around the island.

I think linking some of the islands with an overarching storyline (perhaps not every island is linked- but every other or so) would be interesting, or perhaps another group of pirates has found a copy of the map and it becomes a race to find the treasures on each of the islands.

 

[Arc]

I think linking some of the islands with an overarching storyline (perhaps not every island is linked- but every other or so) would be interesting, or perhaps another group of pirates has found a copy of the map and it becomes a race to find the treasures on each of the islands.

Melikes. Adding competition to the situation will immediately spice up the campaign, and suddenly seafaring combat, group battles, and other fun things are available for your DMing pleasure.

 

[Nightfall]

Well you could have your second Isle be the home of a Dragon graveyard/holy site. This way it's not QUITE a dungeon crawl, but a chance to explore something unique.

 

[bushfire]

Check out this thread on the Necromancer Games board. It describes 7 islands from the upcoming Judges Guild Wilderlands box set. These sound just like what you are looking for.
http://pub123.ezboard.com/fnecromancergamesfrm42.showMessageRange?topicID=1.topic&start=1&stop=20

btw the Wilderlands setting has *lots* of islands such as this scattered about.

bushfire

 

[Ashrum the Black]

Sounds like it's in the same vein as the old Dark Water cartoon. Worth a look for some gaming ideas at the very least.

-Ashrum

 

[rounser]

Sounds like a couple of places in FR, actually.

1.3.2. What and where is Anchorome?

In Ed Greenwood's original conception, Anchorome was a joke archipelago;
each island was a dungeon, and at the bottom of the dungeon were just
enough supplies and a map to the next one. With the release of the
Maztica mini-setting, Anchorome became the northern end of the new
continent. It has not been detailed in any fashion apart from a couple
of brief mentions here and there.

[BTW, it's pronounced AN-chor-oh-MAY.]

Additionally, if you can find a copy of Treasure Hunt, there's a map of the Korinn Archipelago, which has heaps of islands, many less than a mile wide, and apart from some broad notes on the larger isles, heaps of scope for development.

 

[Munin]

If you're going for a island theme, you might as well include the beautiful, half-naked, native women only island.
They greet the party at the shore; sing, dance and feast with them, seduce that night and then roast them for dinner!

 

[rounser]

More inspirational chatter from Ed on the freedom islands afford the DM:

Or why not pile aboard a leaky boat and do the Anchorome campaign thing, from my early Realms days? Either seek to find, explore, and win some loot from a new continent, or be forced into an epic voyage by storms that drive the ship (leaking and with breaking masts, etc.) from uncharted island to uncharted island, each one holding an adventure (ruins, active inhabitants, etc.)? If you're low on DM time, buy DUNGEON, grab a really good atlas, and whip yourself up some island maps, each one home to a 'potted dungeon' from the magazine?

Want to try something from a DRAGON article or one of the Monstrous Arcana
products, or Ravenloft or Planescape or Birthright or Greyhawk... but don't want to leave the Realms? Take the element you're interested in and shove it on an island. If it doesn't work or isn't to your taste, sail away...if you like it,
that next island can have more.

Worried about TSR coming out with products that don't have islands where you put yours? Well, islands sink and rise apparently at random...or is there some huge magic causing it? If so, why? Not all the Imaskari or Netherese are dead...and there are other power groups galore, in a world so drenched in magic... I hope some of these ideas have been of help to some of you; thanks for listening.

 

[Gregor]

Dont forget to add in another pirate crew, the arch-nemesis of your PCs who races from island to island as well, hoping to beat them to the treasure. Have him steal the map and force the PCs to chase him down and meet head on in a swashbuckling battle on the high seas. Maybe have some underwater ruins that the party has to explore?

Cheers,