From ship to dungeon...hmmm

[WesternWolf]

I'm writing an adventure right now as an intro to my campaign. Without going into too many specifics the PCs embark on a long sea voyage and end up on a heavily damaged ship, with most of the crew dead. The captain decides to change destinations and head for a closer port. I have a dungeon I want to get my players into as a follow up, but it doesn't mesh well with the small port city the captain has in mind. The dungeon would work best if just stumbled upon in the wilderness, how do I get the still wet behind the ears, and down on their luck characters to the dungeon door without just wrecking the ship there, or metagaming it?

 

[Ibn Khaldun]

What if the ship sinks in a cove where the players are stuck in a cavern with a cave leading into your dungeon?

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

How about the PC's ship spots some pirates before being spotted themselves, or is forced to play a bit of a cat-and-mouse game amongst an archipelago of islands, finally finding a nice hidden sheltering bay. The pirates stay watching the area for a while, and the PC's have to go ashore to forage for food/water, and in the process stumble upon the dungeon entrance...

 

[WesternWolf]

How about the PC's ship spots some pirates before being spotted themselves, or is forced to play a bit of a cat-and-mouse game amongst an archipelago of islands, finally finding a nice hidden sheltering bay. The pirates stay watching the area for a while, and the PC's have to go ashore to forage for food/water, and in the process stumble upon the dungeon entrance...

I like that idea, thanks. I was thinking about it last night as well, and I came up with a couple things myself. I'd be interested to know what people think...

A) The PCs land in the city sucessfully. They have no where to go and as this wasn't their intended destination, so nothing really to do. After wandering around the docks for a bit, they are approached by a dirty goblin, who asks for their help getting into the dungeon, so he can worship at a forgotten temple there...

B) The captain blames the PCs for the various misfortunes that have befallen the ship and crew. He's a kind man, but very superstitious, and so he puts the PCs on a small boat within sight of shore, and wishes them good riddance. They land in the wilderness, and spot the smoke from previously mentioned goblin's campfire...

C) (alteration of Kid Charlemagne's idea) The captain decides the remaining water supply won't last until they reach City. So he asks the PCs to row ashore and find some fresh water. The PCs go ashore and after some hours of searching, find the water. As they return to the rowboat, they see the anchored ship in flames and sinking into the bay, apparently the work of pirates. They are forced to strike out on their own along the coast, and they run into said goblin a few days later.

So which one is best?

 

[Ibn Khaldun]

I actually like Kid Charlemagne's original idea the best. The "dirty goblin" feels a bit cliché. What if the players become stuck in a grotto and the grotto becomes the dungeon entrance? They could be in a row boat - trying to escape from pirates - and race into the grotto for shelter only to discover the dungeon entrance. With no other way out and pirates on their heels, what choice do they have but to descend into the depths?

 

[Slapzilla]

How about the PC's ship spots some pirates before being spotted themselves, or is forced to play a bit of a cat-and-mouse game amongst an archipelago of islands, finally finding a nice hidden sheltering bay. The pirates stay watching the area for a while, and the PC's have to go ashore to forage for food/water, and in the process stumble upon the dungeon entrance...

While avoiding pirates and not whomping them is a bit... not DnDish (for lack of a better term). Taunting them with pirates and then sending them on a fetch quest not involving those pirates, well, it would annoy me as a player. I think the cat-and-mouse needs to include a couple of volleys of spells back and forth between ships to satisfy the action fan in all of us. And if one of those volleys destroys food/water, well, then need presents itself doesn't it. Heck, then you could whomp on the pirates who upon losing the battle, scuttle their own ship preventing resupply (among other things) from it. Players get the action and satisfaction they want and you get to send them into the woods.