Chairman7w
First Post
Wow! - GREAT ideas!!! That makes we want to start a new campaign...
-
NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
To Sail the Sunless Sea
- Thread starter Olgar Shiverstone
- Start date
Chairman7w
First Post
Okay - THAT's a cool picture! Fits right in the theme too. Nice!
Stormborn
Explorer
Cool pic.
More ideas:
Factions in Bolthole (or another city)
Slusemen: A guild of scavangers who watch the tunnels where surface water empties into the sea for flotsam that might be vaulable. Most are poor but proud but everyone had heard of one of them that got rich when he fished out a bag of jewels or a magic sword. plot hook: One of them fish out body that isn't quite dead yet.
Lightbringers: An evangelistic sect of a Pelor (or other sun/light god) that has established a mission in the city to bring the light of faith to the masses. They have had some success, even among the normally underdark dwelling tribes, but are getting bold and sending out clerics and paladins to find other cities. That has brought them to the attention of some things in the dark that don't care for the light.plot hook: a missionary wants the PCs as escourts to a small mining settlement on the far side of the local sea.
Swineheards: Pigs eat anything. The swineheards shepard droves of these great blind pigs through the fungal forests outside of bolthole and sell the animals in town to be butchered. plot hook: Never trust a man who owns a pig farm. (for those of you who do not get the refrence let's just say that a pigs are good ways of disposing of bodies.)
Batriders: This gang of aerial pirates is made up of small creatures who ride direbats. Mostly thought of as thugs they have proven themselves in defence of the city and so are grudgingling accepted as long as they do most of their thuggery outside of town. plot hook: The 'riders are being attacked and killed off one by one and come to the PCs for help.
Wardens: The bolthole works on vaguely democratic principles. Wardens rule the city for indefinite terms until a popular vote is organized to depose them. Occasionally this hasn't alwasys worked out. The Wardens Council, always with an odd number of members ranging from 3-7 depending on the whims of fate and the populous, has only one mandate "keep the city safe". That directive has been interpreted several ways over time, but most often it means maintaining a laize-faire if not lawless society with in the walls and an armed watch on the walls maintained by harbor taxes. Plot hook: When one of the wardens dies under mysterious circumstances the town is thrown into chaos as the remaining wardens declare martial law and order the watch into the city to look for the murderer leaving the walls unprotected.
Deadmen: These sentient undead (awakened zombies or similar) have found a small enclave in the city. Most are harmless but are still the object of prejudice by the living. They need little and so mostly sit around telling stories of all the thigns they saw and heard in their travels. Sometimes they hire themselves out as watchmen to get money to buy the rare and expensive books that sometimes make it into town. They are building up the largest library in the city. Plot hook: The Deadmen's library has many secrets in it, one might mean the difference between life and death for one of the PCs.
Other ideas:
Bolthole was not made by humans, but seems to have been carved out of rock by some race of large creatures that has left no other evidence of their passing. Huge gates guard the harbor and the secret of their operation is carefully guarded by the Wardens. Rumors have it that other great marvels are to be found in secret chambers under the city. Humans and other creatures have built walls and partitians of their own to divide up the prexisting buildings and add on to them.
Duergar ships are made of stone. Great seemless stone hulls made by earth shaping magic and the careful work of hammers and grinders and are enlaid with antimagic runes. The oars are animated objects the fit almost seamlessly into the hull. Makes them virutally indistructable.
Most trade is barter or duergar coins but several of the free cities have begun using coins minted in Bolthole. Platinum pieces (actually oversized gold bars but of equivalent value) are called Forests, gold piecs are Trees, silvers are logs, and coppers are sticks - recognizing the value of wood in the sunless enviroment.
More ideas:
Factions in Bolthole (or another city)
Slusemen: A guild of scavangers who watch the tunnels where surface water empties into the sea for flotsam that might be vaulable. Most are poor but proud but everyone had heard of one of them that got rich when he fished out a bag of jewels or a magic sword. plot hook: One of them fish out body that isn't quite dead yet.
Lightbringers: An evangelistic sect of a Pelor (or other sun/light god) that has established a mission in the city to bring the light of faith to the masses. They have had some success, even among the normally underdark dwelling tribes, but are getting bold and sending out clerics and paladins to find other cities. That has brought them to the attention of some things in the dark that don't care for the light.plot hook: a missionary wants the PCs as escourts to a small mining settlement on the far side of the local sea.
Swineheards: Pigs eat anything. The swineheards shepard droves of these great blind pigs through the fungal forests outside of bolthole and sell the animals in town to be butchered. plot hook: Never trust a man who owns a pig farm. (for those of you who do not get the refrence let's just say that a pigs are good ways of disposing of bodies.)
Batriders: This gang of aerial pirates is made up of small creatures who ride direbats. Mostly thought of as thugs they have proven themselves in defence of the city and so are grudgingling accepted as long as they do most of their thuggery outside of town. plot hook: The 'riders are being attacked and killed off one by one and come to the PCs for help.
Wardens: The bolthole works on vaguely democratic principles. Wardens rule the city for indefinite terms until a popular vote is organized to depose them. Occasionally this hasn't alwasys worked out. The Wardens Council, always with an odd number of members ranging from 3-7 depending on the whims of fate and the populous, has only one mandate "keep the city safe". That directive has been interpreted several ways over time, but most often it means maintaining a laize-faire if not lawless society with in the walls and an armed watch on the walls maintained by harbor taxes. Plot hook: When one of the wardens dies under mysterious circumstances the town is thrown into chaos as the remaining wardens declare martial law and order the watch into the city to look for the murderer leaving the walls unprotected.
Deadmen: These sentient undead (awakened zombies or similar) have found a small enclave in the city. Most are harmless but are still the object of prejudice by the living. They need little and so mostly sit around telling stories of all the thigns they saw and heard in their travels. Sometimes they hire themselves out as watchmen to get money to buy the rare and expensive books that sometimes make it into town. They are building up the largest library in the city. Plot hook: The Deadmen's library has many secrets in it, one might mean the difference between life and death for one of the PCs.
Other ideas:
Bolthole was not made by humans, but seems to have been carved out of rock by some race of large creatures that has left no other evidence of their passing. Huge gates guard the harbor and the secret of their operation is carefully guarded by the Wardens. Rumors have it that other great marvels are to be found in secret chambers under the city. Humans and other creatures have built walls and partitians of their own to divide up the prexisting buildings and add on to them.
Duergar ships are made of stone. Great seemless stone hulls made by earth shaping magic and the careful work of hammers and grinders and are enlaid with antimagic runes. The oars are animated objects the fit almost seamlessly into the hull. Makes them virutally indistructable.
Most trade is barter or duergar coins but several of the free cities have begun using coins minted in Bolthole. Platinum pieces (actually oversized gold bars but of equivalent value) are called Forests, gold piecs are Trees, silvers are logs, and coppers are sticks - recognizing the value of wood in the sunless enviroment.
The Human Target
Adventurer
Chairman7w said:
I totally agree! Genius all around!
Now I gotta go think of soem ideas so I'm not shamed.
Herobizkit said:
I concur. Why wouldn't the entire cavern area be flooded? Or most of it, with pockets being where ports are, and re-airing places are.
Come up with either magical or unusual means of sealing the subs, and supplying air. Perhaps some kind of air-pocket spell, cast on the hulls.
Stormborn
Explorer
Full of ideas today:
Red Jack: Red Jack was a fairly succesful pirate on the surface until a rival placed a vampire in the hold of his ship. All of his crew were killed but Red Jack managed to survive to become a vampire himself and reak his vengence on his rivals. His activities s a pirate were curtailed by the curse of vampirism but he gained preternatural abilities that he was determined to use. He dedicating him self to finding the legendary "Lost Sea" and eventually made his way into the Underdark. Once there he quickly established himself as a force to be reckoned with, killing several pirate captains and taking their ships. He is styles himself as "the Admiral" of a pirate fleet known as the Red Sails. His men are fiercly loyal- as Red Jack rewards such amply and punishes trerchery severly. It is said that the last man who crossed him was turned, chained, and placed on the keel of one of Jack's boats. Someone checks on the man periodically to make sure that he still has unlife and is still suffering. Captains that who prove true can recieve the reward of vampirims themselves and hope to command a fleet of ships of their own under the rule of the Red Admiral. After 200 years or more on the Sunless Seas Red Jack is one of the most powerful and dashing figures in the Free Cities. A potentially valuable ally for those willing to deal with him, or an equally powerful enemy.
Red Jack: Red Jack was a fairly succesful pirate on the surface until a rival placed a vampire in the hold of his ship. All of his crew were killed but Red Jack managed to survive to become a vampire himself and reak his vengence on his rivals. His activities s a pirate were curtailed by the curse of vampirism but he gained preternatural abilities that he was determined to use. He dedicating him self to finding the legendary "Lost Sea" and eventually made his way into the Underdark. Once there he quickly established himself as a force to be reckoned with, killing several pirate captains and taking their ships. He is styles himself as "the Admiral" of a pirate fleet known as the Red Sails. His men are fiercly loyal- as Red Jack rewards such amply and punishes trerchery severly. It is said that the last man who crossed him was turned, chained, and placed on the keel of one of Jack's boats. Someone checks on the man periodically to make sure that he still has unlife and is still suffering. Captains that who prove true can recieve the reward of vampirims themselves and hope to command a fleet of ships of their own under the rule of the Red Admiral. After 200 years or more on the Sunless Seas Red Jack is one of the most powerful and dashing figures in the Free Cities. A potentially valuable ally for those willing to deal with him, or an equally powerful enemy.
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