looking for shipwrecks

[Gilladian]

I am trying to find maps or modules that would give me a couple of good shipwrecks to use in an upcoming homebrew scenario. In case it matters, the adventure I'm plotting is for 3.5e, and the PCs are roughly 6th level (E6 and they've just passed the line to 6th but have not yet begun earning feats).

They'll be exploring the first wreck, and coming up empty-handed in their quest to find the Crown's Glory, a ship that went down here about 400 years earlier. I'd like the first ship to be interesting, but not significant to the plot. The second wreck, however, will be the ship they seek. I'll have to write the adventure there myself, as it involves at least one ghost, and a major lost treasure, and I'm sure some devastatingly wicked sea-monster...

Any good maps? Any modules I could steal bits and pieces from? Or just ideas for what they could find? They WILL meet merfolk and sharks during their underwater excursions, I am certain, but all else is open...

 

[CarlZog]

This idea reminds of the book/movie, The Deep. In it, a honeymooning couple diving off Bermuda stumble onto the fact that a lost Spanish galleon was hiding underneath a WWII wreck. But they run into a group of bad guys trying to get to the secret cargo of the WWII wreck. Definitely worth watching for inspiration, if you haven't already completed work on this adventure. Lots of underwater action involving both monsters and bad guys, and it's really good at evoking the claustrophobic environment of being inside a sunken ship, digging for treasure in the sandy broken bottom of a hull.

 

[Razjah]

I don't know any good maps, but Paizo does have the ship pack of Game Mastery mats and cards.
This has the ship pack, interior ship pack to stack with it, and the flip mat for pirate ships. They may be able to help.

As for the adventure being plot insignificant, I would just fast forward. It takes X time searching the wrong wrecks before you find the Crown's Glory. Or bring this in to be plot relevant. This vessel may have seen the Crown's Glory last and have a captain's log, chart, or rutter (ship's pilot's book describing all the details of the travel that could help the pilot navigate) describing the location of the ship they are looking for. Otherwise this adventure may feel like filler to your players.

As for adventure ideas? It is a shipwreck, which would generally imply it being derelict. So the ship could be breaking apart. Perhaps this ship was the last one to see the Crown's Glory. With the merfolk attacking, or use Sahuagin in force. The adventure could become a race to find the captain's log describing the location of the Crown's Glory before the ship is nothing but drift wood. The Sahuagin may be speeding the process of the ship's destruction-trying to herd the party to a trap.

Ghosts could be cool too. If you have played Oblivion, it could be similar to the mission to get the crystal ball from a ship's hold. The crew who were killed during the wreck could still haunt the ship and try to fight the party as they search for a way to find the Crown's Glory. Wights, Wraiths, or other haunts could be used if you don't want ghosts.

 

[Gilladian]

Thanks! We played through this adventure a few weeks back, and it was very successful. The first shipwreck turned out to be a small tramp freighter that had sunk in shallow water, and was now being used by a merfolk druid to raise giant clams that fed many of her people. While she was guarding it, the local sahuagin came raiding on shark-back. The PCs spotted the sharks as they were arriving and intervened. While the druid and her guards COULD probably have defeated them on their own, they would have taken losses. The humans saved them quite a lot of trouble. So she was happy to tell them about the OTHER shipwreck she knew about in the area...which turned out to be the Crown's Glory (which was haunted by several ghosts).

 

[Razjah]

Woops, I didn't pay attention to the original post date. But I'm glad to hear that your adventure went well.