Ship to shore fight?

[Quickleaf]

How would you run a ship to shore fight?

Here's my situation: The PCs are traveling by ship to Blackreef, a pirate and smugglers haven in the Serpent's Teeth, a chain of islands. Last adventure they foiled a kidnapping attempt on the king and with their footwork they have tracked down the pirate crew hired to transport the king to Blackreef where he would be delivered to the real villains - the Order of the Chimera.

So that exchange is going to turn sour because (a) there's no king, (b) each side was planning to screw the other somehow, and (c) there's a major NPC-NPC personality conflict. Once things go south the PCs are facing a skirmish between the pirates & order villains.

A major part of that scene is the PCs need to gather intel on the Order of the Chimera (probably by capturing either the order villain's agent or the pirate's captain). All the while they are trying to evade overwhelming forces and eventually escape Blackreef (the PCs have info and plot items which villains would like to get).

Both the pirates and the Order of the Chimera have mobile ships with lots of firepower in the harbor, and they will use that to their advantage. So it's sort of a Pirates of the Caribbean moment - PCs chasing down bad guy amidst cannon fire and minion carnage, then having to get out with captured bad guy/intelligence while the ships focus attacks on them.

How the heck am I going to design this encounter? Right now I'm thinking treat the ship as a solo like the Colossus of Laarn in dragon #173, which was invulnerable to damage (but I can't recall how it was defeated). A layered skill challenge would interact with the ship's attacks, such as making a particular PC the focus of cannon shot or allowing a PC to disable one of the ship's attacks for a bit.

How would you suggest putting this ship to shore encounter together?

 

[Riastlin]

As to the Colossus, IIRC, there was something about several hearths behind it that had to have their fires quenched, at which point the colossus could be disabled, etc. Additionally, I think that there was the ability to use Thievery, etc. to disable parts of it, but I don't recall for sure.

Anyway, for this encounter, if I am understanding it right, the PCs will be on the shore, but trying to get to their ship while the bad guys try to stop them? I've only had 1 cup of coffee so my brain may not yet be working.

Anyhoo, assuming that's correct, I would definitely set it up as a skill challenge of sorts. I would set the SC up in several stages. First stage is getting past the initial sentries. Skills like stealth and perception to sneak around or Bluff/Diplomacy/Intimidate for a more direct approach. Second stage is getting to the ship. At this point they've been spotted so they need to evade the cannon fire as well as the swarming pirates, etc. Athletics and Acrobatics are the obvious choices but Streetwise and even History could play a role for finding a short cut, etc. Probably also throw in Endurance checks. Maybe don't have a failure on endurance count as a failure in the SC, but just delay the arrival on the ship by a round. Each round each PC must make an endurance check, etc.

For the final stage, that would be trying to get out of the harbor with the pirates in pursuit. Nature to navigate (perception as a secondary). Athletics and acrobatics to work the rigging, etc. Other PCs can man the cannons/ballistae, etc. or fight off any pirates that managed to board the ship, etc.

In between each stage, I would have a relatively small skirmish to simulate the chaos and the fact that they are being very actively pursued. In general, the fights are not hard, but could be made harder depending on how they do on the SC (see below). I view the stages of the SC as individual SCs in their own right. If the PCs fail the first stage, then the initial sentries join in the first skirmish (these sentries might be minions but at least make them dangerous enough that this is not the preferred method). If they fail the second stage, then the path to their ship is cut off and/or their ship is destroyed in the harbor before they get there. At this point, the PCs now need to board another ship and defeat its crew before/while they head out. If they fail the final stage, well then odds are they were at least captured, if not sunk at sea (capture probably being preferred since it makes it easier to continue the campaign).

Just some thoughts off the top of my head.