Feeling creative? Help me with some plot ideas...

[That One Guy]

Nosferatu, anyone? Seriously, the ambusher and disease made me think of that readily.

Also, I ran a 3.5(ish) game that featured a pirate ship for about a year and a half...

O Merchant ships. Merchant ships are always good. They can be simple trade vessels going in one direction, or hiding some secret.

O Some of my favorite NPCs were a pair of navy-esque guys from an enemy nation (who didn't know that nation was evil) who were rescued on planks of wood. Basically, decent guys who didn't know the prominent figures were allied w/ the campaign's version of Tharizdun.

O The immortal pirate. Have them fight a Cervantes (from Soul Calibur series) type of badguy. Dead crew and the works. The way I employed this was by having the party kill an evil pirate captain early on (who taunted them and put up a pretty brutal fight), and then had him show up later much more evil, but still as taunting.

O An intelligent item is held by a monster or evil villain. Upon examination, it claims that a party member is the real owner. This led to one of my most fun... NPCs of a sort. He was named Valgyr after the Heroes of Horror weapon. Stories about his evil power and legends around him made the PC who he was keyed to never quite trust him... and he was so unintentionally evasive (He actually had forgotten a lot of his original purpose and use).

O Nomads and water gypsies. Have them ride giant sea sheep or something. This can allow for a good interaction, quest, or a bartering skill challenge.

Hope that helps!

 

[Tikigod]

I have always liked the "Lost Island" ideas. They run across an island where the natives worship a giant monster of some sort, but the giant monster guards something the PCs will need.

Or, while getting supplies on the island the natives capture someone important from the ship and are going to sacrifice him to the giant monster. Or chain the NPC up for the monster to eat.

After reading over your campaign you could even make the natives slightly resemble the scaly humanoids from the image box...being decendants of that race.

The giant monster could be some crazy abomination from the Far Realms trapped on this plane of existance.

If you have access to the module The Isle of Dread, I would recommend plundering it for ideas. http://www.waynesbooks.com/DDModulesXseries.html

It's one of my all time favorites.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

Any more?

How about;
• pirates,
• sea monsters,
• ninjas,
• waterspouts,
• a submarine run by men who protest war by attacking every ship in sight,
• ugly mermaids looking for someone to marry,
• an angry iceberg that follows them around trying to sink the boat,
• fish-men who go spear hunting people,
• pirate-ninjas,
• base treachery by the crew

 

[megamania]

There is more to the ship than just a sailing vessal. Are they smugglers also?
If so, when the law comes.... do as the law suggests or protect your transportation? Could lead to future challenges (assuming PCs need to sail back eventually)

caught up in a mysterious fog that (unknown to anyone) teleports / planeshifts ship for a short bit. Return but where are you? Closer to destination? Further away? Does it relate to the artifact magical box?

Pirates. But with a backstory. Pirates of the car. was neat because these pirates had a problem that anyone would want fixed. You both routed for and against them at the same time. What is their curse? How does it include you?

spell stitched Undead Dire shark that wants you for a snack. (did this at 18th level using a prehistoruic megadone (sp) shark. Naaaasty encounter.

 

[weem]

Thanks for the feedback again everyone - I definitely see some I will touch on. I haven't posted on my site what has happened since getting on the boat, but I will give a brief update of what I went with for this last session...

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Basically, they got to know the crew a bit over the first few days while they helped perform menial tasks, etc.

There are four players, and they had sleeping quarters to share (2 to a room) so they paired up. There is currently a lack of trust between a few of the members so this was interesting... anyway, in the middle of the 4th or 5th night, one of the two players was awoken to a scratching on the wall - in the dim light of the room he could see a girl running her nails along the wall near the door. He said hello and got out of bed to see her... she seemed to be a normal girl until she suddenly looked off (in the distance) as if alerted to something and then ran to a wall where she faded away and disappeared. So, of course a ghost...

After questioning the crew they found out that yes, there are ghosts on board, but they didn't need to worry - they were totally harmless. The crew told them that the ghosts congregate on the deck every week or so in exactly the same way for no apparent reason.

The cleric decided he wanted to sleep on the deck until this occurred again.

A week later, the players in the other room were awoken by a couple arguing in next to them. The ghostly couple were arguing, but what was being said could only be heard in chunks - as if skipping or buffering (hehe). They then suddenly looked up as if they heard a sound on the deck above and ran out through (literally) their door - the group followed them up and found themselves making their way to the deck along with many other ghostly figures, all of whom seemed to be in a hurry to get there.

On the deck the cleric watched as they all huddled to the center of the ship around the little girl who stared down at her feet. The crew on the ship seemed relaxed and those who did watch seemed bored.

Once all the ghosts were on deck, the girl began walking to the side and the surrounding ghosts parted the way for her and she walked to the edge and off the side of the ship without hesitation - all other ghosts then followed her off in a single file line.

The group looked over the edge as this happened and saw the ghosts simply fade as they hit the water. The crew shrugged and went back about their business having seen this every week for years now.

A few days later, the box they have been carrying began to shake and glow eventually projecting a new image for them. This time the view was focused on a pedestal with an orb on it - one they had seen in a previous image. Only this time it was accompanied by an annoying ringing sound in their ears and as the sound got louder, they noticed ghosts from the ship coming in to view the image. They were not part of the projection and they did not seem to notice the players at all - only the projected image of the pedestal and orb. When the image faded, the ghosts turned to walk away fading as they did so.

The next day, the ship reached it's first destination at which the group will have 1 night to do as they wish - the boat will leave the next morning (next game session)
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@Tikigod

After reading over your campaign you could even make the natives slightly resemble the scaly humanoids from the image box...being decendants of that race.

Yea, they are on their way to a temple in a swamp and this temple will have been built by that race so in a way, this is close to what the end results of the boat trip is - good idea.

@Gilladian

One thing I would definitely do is play up the crew. They're gonna be stuck with these people for months, so make sure there are plenty of possible interactions.

Yea, I definitely did this, thanks. Primarily, the captain, first mate and 2 crewman are very unique individuals who the PC's have interacted with frequently now.


Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate the ideas - if you think of more, feel free to post em

 

[Rechan]

What suggestions do you plan on using, Ween? Further assistance can be given to flesh them out if necessary.

 

[Ravilah]

Ever read a short story called "Three Skeleton Key"?

I ran a campaign that had a three-session long sea-faring adventure and the best encounter ever was this:

They encountered a ship, adrift, with not a soul on deck. They climb aboard, and there wasn't so much as a fingernail to suggest what happened to the crew. Then they looked in the hold...

It looked like the hold was filled hundreds of furry bags. Then the furry bags began to move, and dozens of pairs of shiny eyes began to open up. Giant Barge-Rats! They multiply exponentially, devour a whole crew, and then hibernate for months until new food arrives.

Those guys ran off of that ship faster than they did for the dragon turtle later on. And they had to be SURE that not a single one of those rats got on board their own ship. They used fireball and fiery arrows to sink the ship from a distance.

I used a combo of rat swarms and some dire rats. The encounter wasn't really hard, but the freak out factor was awesome!

 

[weem]

What suggestions do you plan on using, Ween? Further assistance can be given to flesh them out if necessary.

Well, let's see...

There is more to the ship than just a sailing vessal. Are they smugglers also?
If so, when the law comes.... do as the law suggests or protect your transportation? Could lead to future challenges (assuming PCs need to sail back eventually)

The captain/crew etc claim to be merchants of some kind - the PC's haven't really dug deep here - but they are indeed smugglers - so running into the law in some form is a cool idea

Or, while getting supplies on the island the natives capture someone important from the ship and are going to sacrifice him to the giant monster. Or chain the NPC up for the monster to eat.

Not so much about capturing someone important, but perhaps capturing the ship - I was thinking they could be on the island off somewhere and when they get back they see the ship is surrounded by throngs of people/natives/(whatever) who then are alerted to the PC's pretense - maybe chase them through the jungle until they run into some ruins - and in they go!


@ravilah

Ever read a short story called "Three Skeleton Key"?

I hadn't, but I did a quick google search, found and read it - very interesting