D&D 5E Enhancing "Dragons of Stormwreck Isle"

[robus]

We’ve actually begun and had our first session. A good time was had by all!

A new idea: I‘m thinking of moving the wizard‘s tower complex to a caldera within the island. Having it be yet another sea oriented location seems tedious and this way they get an opportunity/reason to explore the island’s interior. And perhaps the caldera formed as part of the internment of Sharruth?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

For a tiny island (it's only about 4 miles across), pretty much everything is "sea related". It has no interior to speak of.

 

[robus]

For a tiny island (it's only about 4 miles across), pretty much everything is "sea related". It has no interior to speak of.

Should have mentioned, mine is 10 miles across.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Should have mentioned, mine is 10 miles across.

Even so. I've stayed on Jersey and Shetland, and visited Anglesey, Skye and the Isle of White. You can't walk for very long on any of them without seeing the sea. You really need to get up to the size of Iceland, Tasmania or Sri Lanka for there to be any interior to speak of, and even then, most of the population probably live on the coast.

 

[robus]

Even so. I've stayed on Jersey and Shetland, and visited Anglesey, Skye and the Isle of White. You can't walk for very long on any of them without seeing the sea. You really need to get up to the size of Iceland, Tasmania or Sri Lanka for there to be any interior to speak of, and even then, most of the population probably live on the coast.

Good thing this is a game of imagination I guess. I too have spent time on small islands, Alderney and Guernsey for a few years. I picture Stormwreck to be much more dramatic.

 

[TerraDave]

Good thing this is a game of imagination I guess. I too have spent time on small islands, Alderney and Guernsey for a few years. I picture Stormwreck to be much more dramatic.

For a tiny island (it's only about 4 miles across), pretty much everything is "sea related". It has no interior to speak of.

So you made me check. I have been on two islands with volcanoes, and been adjacent to or inside a caldera on each one. One was about 15 miles from the coast, another 10. Definitely felt different than the seaside.

5 miles is less, but again imagination is there. And it would literally not involve the shore or seawater (though a caldera can have a fresh water lake).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Good thing this is a game of imagination I guess. I too have spent time on small islands, Alderney and Guernsey for a few years. I picture Stormwreck to be much more dramatic.

It just seems an odd choice, with all your initial posts being about making the adventure more realistic, to then throw away realism with regards to what it's actually like to be on an island.

The Ship of Theseus docks again. How much can you change an adventure and it still be the same adventure?

 

[EdgeWiseInAnnArbor]

@robus For Seagrow caves, I scattered some barnacle crusted undead body parts around the octopus and violet fungi. The myconids then explain they added the defenses because of prior undead attacks. Without their leader and now without the defenses (thanks PCs!), they are terrified. This adds to the urgency to deal with the recurrent undead threat if the PCs haven't already done that.
I think this better explains the Myconid motivations and ties things together better.

Also, I used Sly Flourish's advice that the plant octopus is waving one of Tarak's boots. Not only can it whack someone with a tentacle but bonk them with a boot as well. Just a bit of fun, and Tarak was happy to get his boot back.

 

[EdgeWiseInAnnArbor]

Also, DM Paul Weber has some excellent additional free battlemaps if you are playing using VTT, as well as a small optional extension of the adventure, "Sharruth's Tomb":

 

[EdgeWiseInAnnArbor]

Another DM I know is also running Stormwreck, and is looking for ideas for non-combat resolutions to the Clifftop Observatory. Any thoughts?