Ship-based adventures

[Gilladian]

I’m going to start a campaign set in a large, lawless port city soon. I fully expect my PCs will try to obtain a ship fairly soon. They may own it, be crew, or hire it That’s up in the air. I would like to find any and all adventures, in most any system (I have Freeport and Goodman Games DCC modules) that involve ships, islands, pirates, etc… I run 3e, but I can convert any system. Also, are there any good blogs or youtubes that feature similar content?

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Idea mines include parts of 7th Sea, Savage Worlds 50 Fathoms and Pirates of the Spanish Main, Fragged Seas, and this listicle I randomly stumbled on while looking around. If you want a real conversion challenge, Spelljammer was always a nautical campaign set in disguise and had quite a few adventures published - but adapting them to not-space purposes might be tricky.

Just reading some Age of Sail fiction couldn't hurt either. Ought to be able to find something to taste over here.

 

[payn]

Paizo did Skull and Shackles AP during PF1 era.

 

[Tonguez]

Skulls & Shackles - Pathfinders 6-part Pirate Adventure Path is good and got its own box set too (it does need a good GM to fill out some of the stuff that the rules dont support very well - including Ship handling/combat)

 

[the Jester]

Depending on exactly what you mean by ship-based, I can think of several:

U1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (redux in Ghosts of Saltmarsh)
Salvage Operation (Dungeon Magazine, also in GoS)
The Styles (Dungeon Mag, also GoS; the ship is in dry dock)
Several of the early Savage Tide adventures from Dungeon
Can Seapoint Be Saved (from Dragon Magazine, before there was a Dungeon Magazine)

 

[Celebrim]

No.

At some point I ought to actually do the work to write up a good ship to ship combat engine but I can tell you that you won't find one in an RPG.

For example Skull and Shackles has a great introductory adventure, but it's ship rules are bad to the point of being unusable.

But I will tell you that even if you can get to the point that you find some good rules, probably built off some specialized wargame rules, the fundamental problem with all vehicular combat is having the party work together in a way where it feels everyone involved is not only meaningfully contributing but actually making real and meaningful choices. That one I've never overcome.

 

[Tonguez]

Depending on exactly what you mean by ship-based, I can think of several:

U1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (redux in Ghosts of Saltmarsh)
Salvage Operation (Dungeon Magazine, also in GoS)
The Styles (Dungeon Mag, also GoS; the ship is in dry dock)
Several of the early Savage Tide adventures from Dungeon
Can Seapoint Be Saved (from Dragon Magazine, before there was a Dungeon Magazine)

yeah its a huge bugbear and missed opportunity that for all the good things there are in Ghost of Saltmarsh they failed to have an actual nautical adventure that took place on a Ship at sea

 

[overgeeked]

Came here to say Skulls & Shackles, but it was already mentioned.

There’s also Pirate Borg, a pirate-themed Borg game, in case it wasn’t obvious from the name. The adventure in the book is good. There are a couple of adventures already out for it that are worth checking out. If you go to the discord the author has a spreadsheet of sources and inspirations that includes fiction, non-fiction, film, TV, comics, music, and RPGs. It’s a fantastic resource.

 

[Voadam]

A couple things come to mind.

En Route II By Land or Sea 3.0 D&D Short encounter anthology, some with nautical themes.

Maiden Voyage 3.0 D&D 40-pages levels 1-3.

Razor Coast Pathfinder pirate themed adventure path/mega-adventure.

Heart of the Razor Four pathfinder adventures that are pirate themed, same setting as the Razor Coast but not directly part of the AP.

Northlands Saga Complete Pathfinder mega adventure path that is Norse themed including ship adventures.

Ship of Horror AD&D Ravenloft involves a cursed ship a lot.

Corsairs of the Great Sea, AD&D Al Qadim pirate area sourcebook with a 64 page adventure.

I don't know if the AD&D Sahuagin Monstrous Arcana adventure trilogy involves boats or just the sea devils, but it starts off with Evil Tide.

Gazzetteer 9 Minrothad Guilds Basic D&D mercantile island guild run area sourcebook with some adventure hooks/short adventures.

X7 War Rafts of Kron Expert Set D&D investigating piracy.

In the Phantom's Wake Basic D&D whole adventure on a cursed ship.

 

[kapars]

Secret of the Black Crag for OSE