Shipbased adventure ideas needed

[cwhs01]

I have need of a ship based adventure idea.

I am starting a Freeport campaign soon, and planning on running the trilogy more or less as is. I'll be ading a few extra adventures between parts 1 and 2. This is taken care of i think. But i'd really like to have a short(ish) introductory adventure before starting Death in Freeport. This can help me and the players get a feel for the pc's and giving enough time to identify anything needing tweaking.

The campaign will presumably be heavy in pulp/noir and piratey references and have some horror aspects. Any adventures playing up these angles are cool. And best if they tie into events of the freeport campaign (though not to obvious).

So i plan on having the pc's all aboard a ship (pirate or not) headed toward Freeport. But what is going to happen on this voyage? Is something hiding in the hold? is the professor headed for the freeport institute actually a cultist (or a paladin following a lead on cultists)? cannibals from a nearby island attack? sahuagin? Pirates? a weird weather phenomenon?
I'd like if the adventure could take place entirely on the ship, but not a requirement.

so. Give me a few ideas please (the more detailed, the better)

 

[Asmor]

Seems to me that a boat would be an excellent venue for a murder mystery...

Seems to me that a werewolf would be an excellent villain for a murder mystery...

Mmm... Too great tastes that taste great together!

 

[CarlZog]

Mutiny. Some of the best shipboard drama there is.

Mutiny is often depicted as a black and white affair: The captain is an evil tyrant deserving what he gets, or the mutineers are a bunch of would-be cutthroats for whom no captain would have been good enough.

But in reality it is rarely so, and the best drama, particularly in rpgs, comes from playing the gray area.

Make your Captain partly sympathetic, but perhaps with a secret agenda and/or a slight incompetancy. The lead mutineer should be ambitious; harsh but not ruthless, and competant.

For example: If it's a merchant ship, perhaps the captain has decided to take them somewhere besides where the ship is scheduled to sail to, and he's not telling anyone why -- or even that he's altered course. He could be on the run from the law himself, or running some illicit scheme that the ship's owners don't know about.

One of the mates makes the best mutineer. They tend to be only ones with the leadership and seamanship skills to pull off a takeover. The lead mutineer should be charismatic and able to enlist the aid of other crew, but his motives should be sketchy too. Although he's telling the other crew it's for their well-being and the ship's that he take over, he may be a bit of a pirate soul himself, just looking for an easy way to get his own ship.

Let the PCs decide who they want to side with and don't make the choice easy. There should be consequences and advantages to either decision. If this is the opening of a campaign, their decisions could shape the future and give you new ideas. After all, they could end up with the ship themselves! Or make a valuable ally in the captain whose life they saved.

Mutinies are best complicated by bad weather and other threats to the whole ship at the same time, forcing everybody to decide what's most important from moment to moment. This doubles the tension of the showdown.

Carl

 

[Nifft]

- Ghost Ship: see a ship, go towards it, only see flotsam and corpses. Maybe one that seems alive, but then dies, and attacks everyone as an undead horror.

- Disappearing Island: dragon turtle, faerie magic, dark sorcery, secretive druids, or a ghost island.

- Airborne attackers. Harpies could be deadly at sea.

- They Came From Below! Underwater attacks from fish-people are always creepy fun.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Slapzilla]

Mutinies are great but the action is led by others. Perhaps the Captain has all the difficulties described by CarlZog above but the crew's leader was murdered by a werewolf and the PCs are the ones they turn to. Also remember, sailors are as superstitious a lot as they come. The crew will then shunt them aside as soon as they can (handing them over to the merfolk druids angry at the ship's bilge dump wrecking a pearl grotto, perhaps?) and run off with the ship. If the PCs object, well.... And at any point, never, never, never be afraid to curse them with the restless dead spirits of the Capain's loyalists.
I assume you're up on Cpt. Jack Sparrow's adventures but I also suggest Master and Commander as it gives a great feel for atmosphere and that's what will set this apart and set the tone for Freeport. Also try any of Errol Flynn's shipboard fliks... Seahawk comes to mind. I'm not saying it's a winner but even though it's a sanitized, WW2 era British propaganda film, it has the action/adventure swashbuckling thing down.

 

[CarlZog]

Mutinies are great but the action is led by others.

That can be a pitfall, but if you play it right, it should only be the situation that's created by others, and the PCs lead the action in resolving it -- or simply leveraging it to their advantage! It does require players who have a good sense of their characters, pretty high interest in role-playing and are willing/capable of taking a lot of initiative.

Carl

 

[cwhs01]

Mutiny. Some of the best shipboard drama there is.
Carl

I don't think it will be the focus of my adventure, but i've got an idea where this would fit in quite nicely, as a consequence of other more serious problems

 

[funkysnunkulator]

wow. this is a really open ended kind of question isn't it?

idea 1 - the laws have changed and now the cargo is declared contraband. cargo is necessary to perform some great good and now pc's are pirates.

this will give you a good excuse to introduce npc's from all sectors and will really give you a chance to evaluate your players. do they like fighting these guys or those guys? do they like the rules for oceangoing? are they interested in this plot or that plot?


idea 2 - nations are competing or at war. think england vs. spain. thier ships jumped each other regularly in order to diminish the resources of the other.

this will give you a chance to give the pc's a chance to work toward something larger than just the campaign. or smaller. they could just be contractors.


idea 3 - horror works best when unbelievers are faced with evidence that "it" actually exists... "you'd better believe in ghost stories now, missy, you're in one!!"

this is your chance to really set the tone for your campaign. ask yourself questions like "why are the pc's afraid of it". players sometimes tend to play as if undead and demons are just things to kill. why be afraid when there are gods around every corner, right? in a world with gods and magic, "it" is still scary. really scary. in the face of godpower, magic and weaponry, "it" is still scary.... there has to be a reason.

this will probably get you started. when you consider these types of game elements, the adventures tend to write themselves.

 

[cwhs01]

wow. this is a really open ended kind of question isn't it?

Just brainstorming a little. I could have narrowed the question significantly, but then i'd be limiting the answers and possibly miss out on some good ideas.

But i think i'll just organize my thoughts and current plans for this adventure and post them, to see what specific ideas people come up with.

The brainstorming has paid of so far, with a couple of cool ideas i hadn't thought of myself (i should kick myself for not thinking about a mutiny).

so thanks for the ideas and keep em coming

 

[funkysnunkulator]

hmmm. not clear here. you will post details of your campaign and continue to take on new ideas from others...

is this a play by mail thing? if so, freeport rocks.

oh one little tip...

with regard to horror, mutiny, piracy and such, a little goes a long way. some (this gamer included) have a tendency to throw in every idea and plot twist including the kitchen sink. keep it simple, just not obvious. horror suspense and mystery need not be in your face.

any little kid can tell you, the scariest things that exist aren't seen or heard. they are only thought about...

good luck to you.