Help Produce 40 Sea-Going Encounters!

[Morrow]

-If the PCs are pirates, someone comes looking for them.
-A member of their crew is not what he seems.
-"Man overboard!" or other shipboard accident.

I'm running a "Piratey" campaign (out of Freeport) and I have a pretty good line-up of advenutres set to take my guys all the way to 20th level and beyond.

As a Freeport DM myself I'm always interested in what others are doing with the setting. Care to give a rundown of what you have in mind?

Morrow

 

[Chaldfont]

-mermaids seduce the common sailors away from their jobs. The mermaids aren't evil, but something has to be done or the ship's not going anywhere.

-Somebody earlier mentioned an iceberg--that would be a perfect place for a dungeon!

-At higher levels, the PCs catch the attention of the God of the Sea. The god picks the PCs' ship as his champion in a race. They incur his wrath if they don't win. They go up against the champions of other gods (Death, Nature, whatever you have in your pantheon).

-A roc tries to steal the sails and rigging for its nest.

-A becalmed sea strands the ship and they start to run out of food. How do the PCs keep their crew fed and happy.

-They take on a vampire in its casket as cargo.

-They take on tainted food that causes hallucinations.

-You could make a dungeon consisting of dozens of ships caught in a vast raft of seaweed.

-The PCs stop at an uncharted island to pick up food and water and...
--The island is really a giant turtle and it submerges
--A cyclops captures the crew
--A sorceress polymorphs imporant members of the crew (navigator, bosun) into animals.
--The island is populated by cannibal headhunters lead by an evil druid.

 

[fafhrd]

Classics:
Dead calm
Whirlpools
Sargasso
Blood colored waters

While sailing over shallow, clear coastal waters, one crewmember leaning over a gunwale witnesses an eye the size of a wagon wheel blink on the sea floor.

Edit: too slow:\

 

[Hand of Evil]

bad food/water on the boat
Iceberg
Edge of the World
Waterspout
Lights under the water
Winds fair or foul
Broken Rudder
Doldrums
Man overboard

 

[painandgreed]

Boarding party of Sahuagin. Sahaugin sneak aboard at night and kill the look outs and then others sneak aboard to kill everybody else leading to a vicious battle. if the party still keeps watch even at night, then it might be avoided as the sahaugin might not attack a farewarned ship.

Pirate ship with skeleton and zombie crew and a divine casting lich captain. Perhaps the captain only wants to parley and requires the party to preform some task for him like venture into a town and buy some material components he needs for which he will reward the party for (or will he?)

Mysterious mist shrouded island with canibals and dinosaurs... wait, that's X1 - Isle of Dread.

Derilict boat that ran out of food and water in the doldrums. Only one survivor and he is from a strange part of the world (oriental adventures). He might make a good new NPC or be willing to tell them how to get back to his homeland. Charts and the knowledge of how to read them would be a decnt treasure worth much to merchants willing to make the trip.

 

[Immak Antunel]

Cabin Fever (muppets optional)

 

[Hand of Evil]

Bottle with message in it.

 

[fafhrd]

Net an aboleth.

 

[interwyrm]

Get lost in thick fog. When it clears, they are sailing on the river styx.

The Ghost Pirate LeChuck!

For that matter... a ghostly ship of the undead, maybe the result of transporting the vampire's coffin.

Escort missions... defend an allied ship against all sorts of attacks.

Have the allied ship carry a vampire's coffin. At some point, have the players find out that everyone on the ship is dead.

Have a terrible storm shipwreck them and have them find a way to build a new ship

Coral reef?

 

[GMSkarka]

Have you used the Encounter Tables in Buccaneers & Bokor Issue 2? I know you've got a copy....