D&D 5E Sea Voyage Advice?

[Baldurs_Underdark]

I don't know how chaotic your players (and their PCs) are...
Ask yourself how important it is that the PCs arrive at the Isle of Dread. If they get encounters along the way, will the captain and navigator be at risk? What happens if they die or fall overboard? Can the PCs navigate and sail the ship, or will they run aground at some random location (to be decided by the dice)?

 

[not-so-newguy]

I don't know how chaotic your players (and their PCs) are...
Ask yourself how important it is that the PCs arrive at the Isle of Dread. If they get encounters along the way, will the captain and navigator be at risk? What happens if they die or fall overboard? Can the PCs navigate and sail the ship, or will they run aground at some random location (to be decided by the dice)?

The intention behind the voyage encounters would to reinforce the idea that the party is moving away from the familiar "civilized" world and moving towards a different, alien setting. Those particular encounters would be by design, rather than random dice rolls. That being said, all sorts of unfortunate (and fortunate) things may happen during the course of an encounter.

 

[Baldurs_Underdark]

The intention behind the voyage encounters would to reinforce the idea that the party is moving away from the familiar "civilized" world and moving towards a different, alien setting. Those particular encounters would be by design, rather than random dice rolls. That being said, all sorts of unfortunate (and fortunate) things may happen during the course of an encounter.

Having encounters along the way to flavor the world and change the setting is great.

But be ready for the possible consequences of the combat/encounters. If you need to railroad that ship without a mast and no captain to the Isle of Dread, then it will still feel awkward to the players, albeit for different reasons.

 

[aco175]

The Dungeon magazine campaign for the Isle of Dread in 3e had several encounters while getting to the island. My favorite was the sargasso sea one with the ship becoming stuck in a vast bed of seaweed. The seaweed was controlled by some strange undead plant thing and the area also contained several other ruined ships with undead and supplies they needed to continue or maybe fix their ship. There could be NPCs there needing rescue or become workers on the ship.

The end of the voyage to the island had a bit of railroading when the ship was wrecked on the other side of the island and the PCs needed to cross over several elements to the settlement.

 

[Scott Christian]

PF's Skull & Shackles, while an AP has a great set of encounters, rules, and advice.

On a personal level, I think as a DM you can approach it a few ways:

1. Have them run an adventure while on the boat. I know I wrote a one shot that detailed a sea voyage, complete with ghost, crew, mystery, and a golem in the cargo hold. It is a bit of a railroad, but the group found it entertaining, especially since they just thought it was going to be random encounters for ten days. It gave the voyage a unifying theme.
2. Random encounters. I still try to make it thematic depending on the area they are in. You can also use individual random encounters to push forward the PC's character arc. I was in a group once that had a druid use the time for her craft, another player spoke to a chance encounter with a pod of whales (speak with animals) at midnight under the stars, and yet another started a relationship with one of the sailors. All these pushed the character arcs forward. The druid learned something new about her potion making ability. The whale player used the encounter to create one of the pillars of his character - his main trait (from traits, ideals, bonds & flaws). And the PC would often get letters the DM wrote from their past love. Then at one point, the sailor showed up at the group's stronghold.
3. Narrative journey. Write a short and send it to them.

Hope that helps.

 

[not-so-newguy]

PF's Skull & Shackles, while an AP has a great set of encounters, rules, and advice.

On a personal level, I think as a DM you can approach it a few ways:

1. Have them run an adventure while on the boat. I know I wrote a one shot that detailed a sea voyage, complete with ghost, crew, mystery, and a golem in the cargo hold. It is a bit of a railroad, but the group found it entertaining, especially since they just thought it was going to be random encounters for ten days. It gave the voyage a unifying theme.
2. Random encounters. I still try to make it thematic depending on the area they are in. You can also use individual random encounters to push forward the PC's character arc. I was in a group once that had a druid use the time for her craft, another player spoke to a chance encounter with a pod of whales (speak with animals) at midnight under the stars, and yet another started a relationship with one of the sailors. All these pushed the character arcs forward. The druid learned something new about her potion making ability. The whale player used the encounter to create one of the pillars of his character - his main trait (from traits, ideals, bonds & flaws). And the PC would often get letters the DM wrote from their past love. Then at one point, the sailor showed up at the group's stronghold.
3. Narrative journey. Write a short and send it to them.

Hope that helps.

These are all great ideas and I might use them in the future

I do need to point out that this was posted in September and I'm not actively looking for advice on this.

 

[Scott Christian]

These are all great ideas and I might use them in the future

I do need to point out that this was posted in September and I'm not actively looking for advice on this.

D'oh. Thanks for the clarification. It just popped up in one of those bottom threads and I replied because the ideas were popping into my head. Well, here's hoping you can use them in the future. And also, here's hoping the idea you did use went well.

 

[TerraDave]

There are also pirates. The party may tangle with the pirates.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh has expanded nautical rules and encounters for 5e, but that may a bigger investment then you want to make. The 5e DMG has a little (pgs 116 - 119 and coastal and underwater monsters in Appendix B). There is also a little in the Expert Set and AD&D DMG, both available as PDFs.

 

[Thunderfoot]

I'm going to give some sound advice that everyone who takes on air, water and space adventures needs to be mindful of....
DON'T FORGET THE THIRD DIMENSION.

In that ship/boat/raft the players will think 2D. Point A to Point B. They forget that the majority of water borne adventure lies at point C-Z far far far below them. If the party or you as the DM aren't willing to face this massive logistical nightmare, your ship is just a horse and a cutscene. Hope this helps.

 

[not-so-newguy]

Post #16