Underwater Shipwreck

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phindar

First Post
This might just be my issues at work (I am pathologically afraid of animatronic sharks), but I like the idea of a giant, in-no-way-appropriate CR shark (advanced dire shark, megladon, dire megladon, legendary shark, legendary dire megladon, and so on) out there gliding silently in the crushing black depths of Davy Jones's Locker. Similar perhaps to Deep Blue Sea, the greatest movie about super-intelligent sharks ever made.

It might also be a neat idea if the ship was crewed by undead and when it sank the necromancer captain died or fled but the undead kept going about their daily business. So there's still a skeleton with a spyglass in the crow's nest, still a goblin skellie walking around "lighting" the watch lamps, a couple more mopping the deck.
 

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utopia27

First Post
I've been prejudiced by one of the games from D&D Experience back in January.. but... crystal ooze? Giant Crabby thing? mebbe a giant crabby construct thing they were transporting, gone amok? oohh... you could run disney's atlantis in the background... "a little clarified butter, and a white wine I think with that..."
 


Maldin

Maldin

First Post
Hmmm... how about a sleeping ghost ship? Raiding the wreck awakens the ship, which then begins to terrorize the region in its hunt to retrieve items that were removed from it. (Then liberally steal from... errr... borrow ideas from the Black Pearl in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.)

Damn, trouble-making adventurers! Why can't they leave things alone! ;)

Also, if I recall correctly, there was a short "adventure card" in (I believe) the From the Ashes boxed set describing a wreck on the sea floor.

Denis, aka "Maldin"
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
 
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Andor

Andor

First Post
Remember to display the enviroment. I remember diving on a wreck and there was a huge school of some kind of bait fish that formed a giant silver wall of glittering fish from the sea floor all the way to the surface and behind this shining wall of life I could see the great dark shadow of a Goliath Grouper hanging in the distance.

Wherever they go fish will follow. Barracuda in particular I can tell you are very curious and will follow them around like toothy torpedos. They are also harmless, unless you actually hurt one of them. I've been told that then the whole school will rip you to pieces....

Take advantage of the enviroment in unusual ways. Frex in the hold of the ship are some great barrels of brandy. Unfortunately the barrels are very weak and rotten at this point and combat in the hold might cause them to break filling the water with booze. Which the PCs will be breathing. Have fun with the inebriation penalties. :D

Octopi are amazingly squishy and can fit into absurdly small spaces. You can have one hiding in a perfume bottle or similar space. It doesn't need to be a threat, just scenery. Although the blue ring octopus is a puny little cute thing that can kill you with it's hideously potent venom.

See if you can come up with some merman graffiti to tag the wreck with.
 



Dannyalcatraz

Dannyalcatraz

Schmoderator
Staff member
Supporter
1) Surface-dwelling people (like the PC's players) definitely tend to think in 2 dimensions for most encounters. Most sea dwellers will think in 3 dimensions, even the "dumb predators." Have hostiles attack from oddball angles, above and below.

2) RE: Octopi and other Cephalopods

As I posted in another thread (link below):

I was talking to a guy who worked at an aquarium who was discussing some footage of a giant (6') octopus that was eating sharks in their main tank...he also showed some footage of an octopus climbing from a quarrantine tank to another one about 20' away (across dry land) into another quarrantine tank to devour its inhabitants...then crawling back. He also noted that one of the aquarium's young interns had been attacked and nearly dragged into a giant octopus' tank- it grabbed her with 5 tentacles while anchoring itself with its other 3 and started pulling. It took several other people to extricate her from its grasp.
Click to expand...

3) Even real sea life can be very dangerous.

Incredibly powerful poison is more commonplace- Sea Wasp & Box Jellies, Blue Ring Octopi, Cone Snails, and many others have stings/bites that can kill humans, and everyone knows that some critters like nudibranch, sea snails and puffer fish have toxins within them that make them unpalatable or even fatal to consume.

Then there are critters like mantis/pistol shrimp, which despite being small enough to hold in your hand, can deliver serious injuries. A pistol shrimp can strike hard enough to break tempered glass or human bone- similar in force to a small-caliber bullet (hence the name).

4) While you're at it, check out the rules for Anthropomorphic Animals in Savage Species- some of the critters listed are aquatic, like humanoid Octopi or Sharks. Imagine a small tribe of Anthro Great White Sharks, or an enclave of Anthro Octopi who could mistaken for Illithids, of course.

5) Also, check out these threads for all kinds of critters and other ideas for aquatic adventures & campaigns:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=202233
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=200844
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=194546
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=185243
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=181377&page=1
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=179818
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=179508
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=179402
 
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