D&D General Help me with a nautical Halloween adventure: Becalmed near a ghost ship

[Zardnaar]

Should there be a second option that forces them to head to the other ship. Say a giant octopus attacks them and damages the hull. This forces them to seek the other ship for a means to repair their own ship. This may be a bit of forced action though. There could be a shiny piece of bobby-dazzler (I almost wrote bobby-dangler which is totally inappropriate for your father and son game) glinting off the other ship. Another idea is that a captive manages to S.O.S. them from the other ship.

I used Salvage Operation from GoS with the giant Octopus.

My ghost ship was kind of a throw away encounter using ideas from the Savage Tide AP which has your ship get stranded in Sargasso.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Won't work if they can purify the water or create new water.

Another way is a fatigue wave of negative energy.

The bard doesn't have anything like that, fortunately/unfortunately.

 

[robus]

It seems like an opportunity for a ship that just follows their ship, no matter what they do it just keeps getting closer and then their ship becomes becalmed thanks the otherworldly nature of the ghost ship. Perhaps there is some treasure on their ship the ghost captain wants returned to lift the curse?

Heck it’s the Black Pearl and it’s Captain Barbossa and his literal skeleton crew

 

[aco175]

I saw these and though they would be good for ideas.

 

[keynup]

Have them becalmed a few days with nothing significant happening. Have a few minor things happen, some they might not notice unless talking to crew or looking for.

• torn sail (with no wind?)
• food missing (the good stuff)
• cannon loaded and ready to fire
• water bad / missing
• a pigeon lands on deck (or any small bird that would never be at sea)
• dead rats being found, the way a cat would leave a present, but there is no cat on bored
• a board rot through mid deck. only enough rot for 1 foot, the rest is untouched.
• maybe even some helpful things, finding a fresh apple etc.

Don't even hint at what it could it at first, Let them use there imagination. You might even get more ideas from listening.

When the ghost ship first shows up, it's noticed only a few hours before dawn (night watch asleep? or fog?) Ship disappears in sunlight. If they on it they fall into the water.

For what is on the ghost ship use one of the other ideas

If you want an extend version, have this ship only have clues and something to summon (bring you to) the real cause of the calm waters.

 

[Eltab]

Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the source of the phrase "to have an albatross around your neck". The full story might serve as inspiration.

Whatever the problem at sea is, the solution might involve a sacrifice ... in blood, because it is Halloween.

And Ghosts of Saltmarsh has other drop-in adventures (abandoned / haunted island settlements) that can be made spooky.

 

[NotAYakk]

Lots of good spoook. The dehydrarion exhaustion is gold, with increasingly horrible random naughty word hapoening.

Literally keep saying "another day, what do you do?" - and have a bunch of horrible things happen with no explanation.

I would, myself, be tempted to have it end with the possibility of the PCs on the ghost ship, able to pilot it. Because that is a fun D&D story for after the horror. (not a requirement, but a possible outcome).

The human captives who aren't what they seem is awesome. And if they mollify the right ghosts, they get to keep the ghost ship.

Have the "humans" be ghosts, and the ghost ship being an intelligent magic item? Maybe the humans are pirates or mutineers who killed the ship's crew/captain, maybe ghosts themselves?

The mutinee was triggered by entering these haunted waters, which drove the crew insane.

The ship's soul is powered by moonlight, which is why it sleeps during the day.