Help with a LONG sea voyage (TEWLIGAN - stay out)

[Angcuru]

This is one of the things that I just don't like about mid-high level magic: people can create their own food and water. Imagine the drama that could occur should the ship's food supply become spoiled or rat-infested, what happens? The cleric whips out a feast, and all is good.

I say have the cleric encounter an unknown debilitating disease or curse that prevents him from casting anything but the simplest spell, and THEN throw in some scurvy, yellow fever, loss of food supply, the water got lost, etc.

It's interesting to see how a group will react when they encounter a problem which they cannot overcome with sword, spell, or prayer. Make them use their heads and THINK about how they are going to survive.

Plus the ex-pirate captain Idea sounds promising. Go with it.

 

[Jeph]

Someone mentioned having ghosts fill the hold. I think that's a really cool idea. Or maybe fill it with something else--water demons are always good. Fiending Medium-Sized Water Elementals should suffice, but they won't be much a challenge for lv 9-10 PCs. Of course, they won't have access to their precious blasting spells within the ship, so you never know.

For a more high-profile water demon, just turn to the ol' Pile o' Templates. It's particularly fun to apply them to seemingly standard beasties, and revel at the horrific monster you create. For instance:

Start with a Merrow, or aquatic oger.
Add 4 more HD (bringing it up to 8).
Add the Water Element template.
Add the Fiendish template.
Add the Half-Dragon template.

What you end up with is a pretty scary demon, with long arms, lots of scales, and a few nasty suprises up it's sleeve. And no need to have it resemble an oger in any way, really--it's statistics definitely shouldn't. It should have an ungodly strength and a good bit of Reach, perfect for pulling the PCs under the water. And it should have an Int 8 or so, smart enough to know what's what and how not to be quickly caught. You could also give it some motivation for sticking near the ship; it could eat the crew's feces or something, or the dolphins that come to frolick in the ship's wake. Or it could be infecting the barnacles on the hull with a malign magic, twisting them into infected demons that will slowly take control of the ship and the minds of all on board...

I love demons.
--Jeff

 

[Dirt]

More ideas:

A murder mystery on a ship could be great fun. Maybe the Captain/First Mate/Cook/Whoever is killed and the remaining crew look to the PCs to investigate. The longer they take to solve the case, the more surly and mutinous the crew become. Fights break out, discipline must be harsh etc., etc.

Lots of interesting characters could be found on a ship and should give great RP opportunity.

Someone mentioned a Ghost Ship encounter. I ran one of these once that was great fun. An immense Galleon appeared out of a fog bank every night and chased the PC's ship. If they ran it would chase them, firing seige weapons when in range. The ship itself was immune to magical attacks and was crewed by undead. Make it clear that eventualy the ghost ship will have the weather gage and catch up to the PCs. When it does have the deck crew be suitable undead for the PCs level.

Of course the trick is that the only way to stop the ship from reappearing every night with new crew members is for the party to descend into the bowels of the ship and defeat the ghost captain or set right something that keeps the ship and it's crew from their rightful resting places.

I had several decks with different rooms and different challenges. My favorite was the cockpit with a ghostly doctor and piles of severed limbs. The limbs would animate and crawl after the PCs. If destroyed they just regenerated in the grisly pile.

Anyway, you get the idea.

An undead ghost ship idea won't work for this group. There would be cries of "it's the Black Pearl!" and "where's Captain Jack Sparrow?"

It may sound like I'm joking...but I'm not. I once had an NPC jump in to save the group in a rather nasty combat encounter in a less than savory district. The group nicknamed him "Batman". The name stuck and I had to kill the NPC off...it just ruined the ambience for me.

 

[Dirt]

No, no improv goodness for me.

I was more of an old-school buddy than that. When the improv thing happened we stopped hanging out. Plus we used to work together at Pomeroy...or Suckeroy as some would call it.

Also you can never have too many sea zombies or giant squid.

Dan Stone

Hmmmm...you must have known him in the days when he hung out with Tim's brother, John Buckley? Maybe? Or Ernie?

 

[Dirt]

Let them buy a stolen boat. Loads of fun there. This assumes they don't use gather information. Instant fun.

When they leave the harbor have a sea cleric on a spiffy little skiff offer to bless their ship for a "minor" donation (big enough to make the greedy ones howl).
Have the crew mutter about bad luck if the PCs don't do it. Plague them a week out with doldrums and oddly becalmed regions mixed with overcast skies that lasts 10 days. Break a rudder chain on the first good day (fixable, but will take all day). Consider having the crew mutiny.


A lost flying creature decides to nest on the vessel. I recommend something like a Yrthak that can scuttle the vessel if they give it grief or a large flock of normally inoccuous good-aligned creatures that are making a nuisance of themselves by numbers. Infant coutl, maybe.

I like both of thes ideas. The idea of a creature nesting on the ship just sounds comical...and there is a druid on board who has a fondness for infant evil creatures (long story).

They could very easily purchase a stolen ship...they are currently in a pirate port (which they reluctantly travelled to, since they weren't having any luck in the other coastal cities due to the war). They have aligned themselves with a former pirate, and are just now learning of his shady past...which could get them into some good roleplaying situations here in Underway. Also among the current crew are :an elderly giant named "bard" (he can't carry a tune), 4 gypsies, and a general rag tag crew of brigands...it should be interesting.

Oh, and tell Wainscott to be quiet or else monkeys might fly out of his butt. He should blink about six times and then get very thoughtful.

-James McP

Hmmmm...very strange and creepy...but I'll relay the message.

 

[der_kluge]

Unfortunately, sinking their ship (although immensely fun) would only briefly effect them. There is a mage who has been abusing his teleport. There is also a cleric who can provide endless amounts of food and water.

So, while "Survivor:The Jungles of Gargargia" sounds like fun, it wouldn't last very long...

Well, I house-ruled a lot of that stuff to not be so game-breaking for my campaign, but Teleport does have a range of like 100 miles per level now (not unlimited like in 3.0), so if you move them far enough away from civilization, they're hosed. At least until the really high levels.

 

[Dirt]

Well, I house-ruled a lot of that stuff to not be so game-breaking for my campaign, but Teleport does have a range of like 100 miles per level now (not unlimited like in 3.0), so if you move them far enough away from civilization, they're hosed. At least until the really high levels.

Yep, I definitely do like the range limit that was imposed in 3.5. I heard someone say that Arcana Unearthed had an even more revised teleport. I'll have to take a look at that. The current rules don't carry much danger in teleporting to a new location.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Hmmmm...you must have known him in the days when he hung out with Tim's brother, John Buckley? Maybe? Or Ernie?

I consider Ernie to be (still) my best friend. I knew him since 3rd grade, and we used to be next-door neighbors. He is how I originally met TEWLIGAN although we didn't really become proper friends before the day he coerced me into buying Warhammer 40,000 at Comic Book World. I was a 1995-2000 friend. Now I work with his brother, who if you can can believe, is even bigger than TEWLIGAN is.

Man how much money that game (40K) sucked from my bones!

 

[Dirt]

I just had to post this one, because just the thought of it was humorous to me. Due to the fact that a naval war is ensuing, the group had difficulty finding a good ship. For some time, they debated about just purchasing several cauldrons of flying. The idea of an adventuring party flying across the waterways, perched in large black metal cauldrons just seems comical. Of course, I pointed out that the weight limit was 500 pounds, and that I could quickly fill the cauldrons with water during a good storm...thankfully, they still went with the ship option...

 

[kigmatzomat]

I just had to post this one, because just the thought of it was humorous to me. Due to the fact that a naval war is ensuing, the group had difficulty finding a good ship. For some time, they debated about just purchasing several cauldrons of flying. The idea of an adventuring party flying across the waterways, perched in large black metal cauldrons just seems comical. Of course, I pointed out that the weight limit was 500 pounds, and that I could quickly fill the cauldrons with water during a good storm...thankfully, they still went with the ship option...

Yep, that's definitely a game with Tewligan in it.

Couple of other ideas:

Bad cargo/stowaways. Depending on the length of the voyage you can do everything from carrion crawlers eggs hatching out of the supplies to a mimic being moved aboard as cargo. How will you find it when it looks like a crate or even structural members in the hold?

The wandering dutchman. One of the crew is cursed and something nasty's after him. If everyone around you might die, you might as well surround yourself with scum like pirates; less guilt.

Edge of the world. Nothing happens if they don't sail over, but they find the edge of the world. (Really a gate to elemental plane of water or something) Have there be some contradictory legends about "the place the ocean ends" (treasure, home of the gods, prison for monsters, etc) and imply that anyone who's found it once is likely to find it again. Then have various pirates/treasure hunters/etc keep trying to hire them to find the edge of the world again.