Livening up Shipboard Play

[Celebrim]

So, the time has come in my campaign for about a 3000 mile ocean voyage - largely going the wrong way against the wind, so slow going indeed. In general, I plan to make use of a lot of 'days pass, nothing' happens, since we're dealing with a between 1-2 month voyage game time depending on how things go and how well the PC's protect their ship, with an occasional encounter thrown in just to set the mood and feed the PCs some XP. But I also don't want to just handwave the whole thing, because the PC's are still of a level where making a huge voyage like this constitutes considerable challenge and adventure - and its certainly nothing the players are bored with by long exposure since for 4 years we've been doing mostly urban murder investigations with occasional dungeon crawling.

What I'm looking for is non-obvious ideas for making the adventure interesting - either as planned encounters, ship board intrigue, or things to add to my wandering encounter idea spawner. I'm sure we can have storms (we will have storms, one of the PCs has cheesed off the God of Storms), fight sea serpents, and the usual. But I'm curious what else I could throw in. I'm hoping for a voyage that is Jason and the Argonauts worthy, but obviously, not just those particular tropes. Anything you've done that worked for you, I'd like to hear about. Non-combat encounters, monsters you wouldn't think about on an ocean voyage, weird stuff. Pretty much anything that helps create the impression that this is a more serious undertaking than walking across town.

The basic set up is the PC's are minority shareholders in a ship, a privateer. The majority investor is a noble family in the nation the PC's are nominally loyal to (rank roughly equivalent to a Count), and the ship's captain is the son in law of the family patriarch. The crew is cutthroats, but they are mostly patriotic clean-cut cutthroats drawn from the noble families estates, kindred and bondsmen, so loyalty is pretty high. Morale is also pretty high, as with the PC's help they've just captured and sold 3 ships during a short naval war with a neighboring nation and slain a sea dragon (sent by the aforementioned cheesed off storm lord), all of which involved healthy profits. As far as pirates go, these are pretty respectable types. In fact, the some of the PC's may be bringing down the overall virtue level of the ship. And the ship is a fairly significant warship in game world terms, so really anything less than a warship from a major naval power is not a threat and won't be looking at the ship as prey. The size of the ship means I can throw some pretty serious sea monsters at it without fear of sinking it, but the PC's themselves are only 7th level so I have to be careful about anything that can do big damage spikes.

They have taken on a few new crew, and they might be willing to transport passengers or cargo if it doesn't lead to a long delay. However, they are more or less racing or chasing another ship to the destination. The voyage begins in temperate waters, but ends up deep in the tropics.

 

[Gilladian]

Well, you HAVE to have an encounter with a ghost ship, or maybe several encounters building to boarding and dealing with it. And a treasure map - maybe they find someone dead or nearly dead, adrift in a small boat, with the map. Why are they there? Where does the map lead? Do they really dare go there?

A Sargasso - a place in the ocean where currents carry masses of seaweed, and other things that drift freely. Nowadays, it contains mostly trash, but in a fantasy world, there could be ships adrift in the seaweed, floating islands, perhaps even a culture of folk who survive on what drifts in... and of course there is little to no wind in the area, so very hard to get away.

Pirate Isle. An island hidden by magic - maybe they find the key (a magic medallion?) to reaching the island either on the ghost ship or with the map. Can they get in, get reprovisioned/repaired/rescue someone and get away without revealing that THEY are not pirates? (Try reading the new Mercedes Lackey novel "House of Four Winds" for ideas along these lines).

Then there are all the traditional shipboard superstitions. The Jonah, the "no women" rule, the albatross (never kill it, or a dolphin), sirens and mermaids, etc... To get a feel for seaboard life, if you've never read them, try a Horatio Hornblower novel or two.

 

[Janx]

Rime of the Ancient Mariner meets Muppet Treasure Island. Bruce vs. Tim in an epic Rock Off for control of the crew's fate!

So:
some of the new crew is unsavory. One of them is angling for control of the ship (the instigator)
the ship runs into becalmed seas, and then somebody spots the dead albatross or dolphin with an arrow stuck in it.
The Instigator uses this to drum up support for an investigation, and a drum head, namely targetting someone in command, so that morale drops.

 

[Celebrim]

Well, you HAVE to have an encounter with a ghost ship...

Various types of ships with undead crews are already on my idea list for whenever the game lags. We've got your ship overrun by plague zombies, your ship with a literal skeleton crew, your ghost ship, your ship full of coffer corpses, etc.

And a treasure map - maybe they find someone dead or nearly dead, adrift in a small boat, with the map. Why are they there? Where does the map lead? Do they really dare go there?

The problem with detours to chase treasure is that they are basically trying to save the world so they don't really have a lot of time for lengthy side quests. In fact, one of the players is currently in a, "Do I save the world or save my family?', moral conundrum.

A Sargasso - a place in the ocean where currents carry masses of seaweed, and other things that drift freely. Nowadays, it contains mostly trash, but in a fantasy world, there could be ships adrift in the seaweed, floating islands, perhaps even a culture of folk who survive on what drifts in... and of course there is little to no wind in the area, so very hard to get away.

I do have one of these places on my global map, but they'll largely be avoiding it. In fact, the area they'll be going through is the Sea of Storms. They'd only end up in the Sargasso if they get blown there by a hurricane, which is possible, but is a huge detour.

Pirate Isle. An island hidden by magic - maybe they find the key (a magic medallion?) to reaching the island either on the ghost ship or with the map. Can they get in, get reprovisioned/repaired/rescue someone and get away without revealing that THEY are not pirates? (Try reading the new Mercedes Lackey novel "House of Four Winds" for ideas along these lines).

This is not a problem. They ARE pirates. They've got a Letter of Marque and have already, as I said, boarded and plundered 3 ships. The Captain is a gentlemen in a fancy feathered hat, and the first mate is a big guy with a beard, bone earrings, and tattoos all over his body. The cook is a goblin. I'm not sure how you get more piratical than that, but if that isn't pirate enough for you then I submit it's a really easy bluff check. Also, there aren't many pirates of a rank less than Lord of the Brotherhood that are going to pick a quarrel with The Valiant - 22 ballista tend to speak volumes.

Then there are all the traditional shipboard superstitions. The Jonah, the "no women" rule

So 'The Jonah' in this case is the woman. One of the running gags is that the PC's convinced the captain to break his long standing 'no women aboard ship' rule to take aboard one of the PC's (a priestess of the Sun goddess), and he's been having crazy bad luck ever since. He keeps bemoaning that he has to have a woman on board, would refuse to transport her, except that the PC's keep finding ways to make bad luck profitable (such as butchering the dragon that attacked them and selling the body parts at a high profit). Incidentally, it's the same female character that has Nuati the Storm Lord as an enemy - although the Captain hasn't yet figured that out.

Sirens however I do need to add to my random encounter list.

 

[Gilladian]

I just read a really really creepy story about a ship's crew that finds a small boat adrift on the sea; in the boat is a small child, alone, suffering badly from thirst. They, of course, take the child onboard. The child turns out to be a beautiful boy, but utterly silent, except that every time something harmful or dangerous happens, he laughs. The worse the danger or harm, the more he laughs, and the healthier he becomes. And the worst of it is that everyone finds that they ADORE the child, and cannot believe he is responsible for what is occurring. Until, of course, one night there's a storm. A crewman is washed overboard, and the child laughs wildly in delight. They all watch in horror as the storm grows worse, the ship begins to be ripped apart, and then they scramble for the boats; in the end, only the child reaches a boat, and the only survivor from the crew finds himself floating at sea, clinging to a bit of mast, while the child's boat drifts away, with the silent child peeping over the rim at him...

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=4937]Celebrim[/MENTION] You might find some interesting shipboard encounter ideas in my Spell & Crossbones encounter tables. Link is in my sig, then just a few posts down.

 

[Celebrim]

[MENTION=4937]Celebrim[/MENTION] You might find some interesting shipboard encounter ideas in my Spell & Crossbones encounter tables. Link is in my sig, then just a few posts down.

Ahoy, me hearty. That be just what the doctor ordered. Now I'm off to pillage and plunder your treasures. Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

 

[gamerprinter]

There's some high praise by the reviewers for Rite Publishing #30 Haunts for Ship and Shore that might add some real meat to a ghost ship and other kinds of encounters. Of course haunts are a PF thing, but easily work in any D&Desque game.

 

[Herobizkit]

Depends how much you like sci-fi in your fantasy, but how about an obnoxiously large submarine beneath the waves... the entry "port" is a tower above water that must be scaled/entered somehow and its defenses death with from within. Then, the ship's would actually have to be figured out. Make its underwater speed be hella fast with no need for stops (thus bypassing the storm)... but its energy/power source is mostly depleted.

 

[Grogg of the North]

Perhaps if the ship is becalmed or otherwise in an unfortunate scenario, the crew begin to blame the PCs. You had mentioned that the god of storms is upset with some of the party. Perhaps if the ship has been stuck without a wind for a few days the crew begins to grumble about the party. Slowly, grumbling turns to outright hostility until a sizable portion of the crew is convinced that if they just toss the offending PC overboard all their problems will be solved since the storm god will be appeased.

Now, the crew approaches the PCs while they're above deck and attempts to make good on their plan. I'd set a time limit on this encounter. Say five rounds or so until the Captain comes out of his cabin to restore order. The crew doesn't want to listen to the PCs excuses. They want them gone. Of course lowly sailors are probably no match for seasoned adventurers. But if the PCs cut down the crew, who is going to sail the ship? And they won't make any friends with Bob if they just killed his bunkmate, George.

The PCs could talk their way out of it. Use magic to calm everyone down. Or try to subdue the attacking crew members. Though if it comes to force of arms, I don't see the PCs improving their standing in the crew's eyes.