request for ideas for Sea adventures

[Kyramus]

There is a boat.

There is a sea.
There are players.

The sea is known to be chaotic and has storms, water spouts, whirlpools.
What I need is adventure plots. I don't want something like pirates, or aquatic creature attacks. I want something a little more complex that requires 2-3 elements to get the big picture.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Find the map, find the island, find the treasure.

Raise the ship - cost of building is too much, so how about bring raising one from the sea, some repairs and hey you have one of the famous dragon ships.

Sink the ship(s) - be a wreaker, build your barn fire, signal ships to a safe habor only to run them aground. Then raid and off into the night with their cargos.

Sargasso Sea (posted in another thread) - in the middle, where the doldrums take hold. There is a vast forest of sea weed, inside this is a ships graveyard, hundreds of ships it is said. Their holds full of cargo! The only problem is getting out but I have a gnome friend, he has a thing he calls a merlin outboard!

 

[Silver Moon]

OK, how about this, it was the plot for one of the best and most fun modules I ever ran, titled "Chariots of Water".

Two countries are at war. One country is loosing, and decides to transport their "Chariot of Victory" to a safe place, as it is prophecied that loosing it would bring about their defeat. The enemy hears of this, and mounts an attack with their own fleet.

Sound good so far...that's just the beginning.

The ship with the chariot is sunk, and the chariot lost. The adventuring team is hired to recover it, and magically transformed into aquatic creatures for this mission (humans = mermen or triton; elves & half-elves = sea elves; dwarves, halflings & gnomes = selkies). They discover that the ship has been looted and the chariot taken by Melenti (Sahuagin/Sea Elf hybrids).

They arrive at the Melenti city, and the group discovers that these creatures are not evil. The history of the city is that it was founded centuries ago by escaped Melenti slaves who had overthrown their Sahuagin masters. They make their living by finding and reselling items from ship wrecks. Their major past time is underwater racing, using sea sleds pulled by domesticated aquatic creatures. The Melenti King wishes to keep the chariot to use in the races. The party agree to a challenge race, the winner keeping the chariot plus other treasure that the party puts up.

What follows is an underwater version of the race from Ben Hur. I had expected that once the party got their hands on the chariot they would just try to escape with it, but they instead decide to play the game out honorably and fairly. The party barely wins the race. They then negotiate future trade agreements with the Melenti, and all sides end as winners.

 

[fusangite]

I'd recommend that you avail yourself of Saint Brendan the Voyager literature and its ilk (e.g. Tale of Mael Duin). 7th to 11th century Celtic storytellers treated the Atlantic Ocean much like the Delta Quadrant in Star Trek: Voyager. Another, more obvious source (though not as rich is what you're likely looking for) is The Odyssey.

The Saint Brendan stuff is worth a read and is a gold mine for sea adventures.

 

[Kyramus]

chariot idea is good but it might not work too well.

The ship graveyard on the other hand is a nice idea.
What would be the creatures that would live either on the ships or in the seaweeds?

 

[Hand of Evil]

chariot idea is good but it might not work too well.

The ship graveyard on the other hand is a nice idea.
What would be the creatures that would live either on the ships or in the seaweeds?

You could have a few ships tied together with sailors, this would be a smallish fort/town. Cults and all.

As for monsters (just from the MM)...
..Sea Hag
..Kraken
..Sahuagin
..Shambling Mound
..Skeletons
..Tendriculos
..Tojanida
..Scrag (marine Troll)
..Zombie

 

[Kyramus]

Thanks Hand of Evil for the List. I'll have to double check the MM.

The Tendriculos jumps out to me.

Regeneration 10, wow, this could get dangerous.

Shp graveyard, seaweeds and moss.
Many old ships. might even add the chariot as one of the cargo in the ships.
Skeletons, sea zombies, sahuagin, a few scrags and the tendriculos should make for a good adventure.

Especially when they can't just run straight, they have to jump or swim or both.

I think I'll add that the area is covered in fog. Mist Moss effect. hmmm sounds like I could even make it feel like the ambiance of ravenloft without actually throwing them to ravenloft. lol.

 

[Ringmaster]

--- Don't forget the ever-wondrous sunken ruins. Tying in to Hand of Evil's post - it could be deep below the sargassum and the ship graveyard. The raft islanders (from Hand of Evil's second post) are barely surviving. Some think that the city is the key to escaping their miserable subsistence. Others think that the city sunk for a reason and should remain that way. And the PCs arrive...

--- Leaping fish sometimes hit the sails of ships and flop onto the deck. They become dinner. What if the "fish" was not a fish at all, but something entirely...
-- The Mermaid - She's escaping her people, they had imprisoned her. They're awful, horrible, terrible, bad, bad people. And the PCs must help her escape. Well, that's her story anyway. Oh, and she's beautiful.
-- The legendary golden fish who will grant a wish if thrown back into the water.
-- Oh yeah, that mermaid, the one from before, yeah, she'll grant a wish too. Sure she will.
-- A sea creature long thought to be extinct. It could be sacred to a once-powerful-now down-on-its-luck nation. It could be a source of a rare or lost spell component. It could just be downright tasty.

--- LOS on the open ocean for an earth-sized planet is about 6 miles. More for someone in a crows nest so the PCs don't have to go very far to get lost or into strange territory. As they are sailing the PCs see...
-- A Ghost Ship complete with Ghosts. Who were they? Where were they from? What happened to them? Why are they hailing? Permission to board? What? Wait, they're turning sideways and those funny little doors on the side of the ship are opening... wha--!!
-- Towers sticking up out of the water.
-- An island that is not a natural island, but has formed on the back of an enormous and ancient turtle. Do people live there? Do they want to stay? Do they know about the turtle? Do they worship it? Surely they don't practice human sacrifice... Similarly - does the turle know about the island? Does it know about the people? Does it care? What does the turtle really want? What does the turtle like to eat? Definately not a ship full of PCs...

Fun! Good luck! I'll have to try my hand at DMing some seafaring one of these days.