D&D 5E (2014) Your Players Stole a Pirate Ship and Made Way for the Seas. Now What?

[Mistwell]

Whenever my players do something crazy or unexpected that leaves me in a slightly dangly position as DM, my response is always, "What do the players want to do now?"

In your case, I'd ask the players why they stole the ship, what they intend to do with it, and (most important) why I should believe they know how to drive the thing.

If they have trouble answering any of these questions, they'll probably eventually talk themselves out of the high-seas adventure thing. But if they have a clear purpose and the ability to follow through (or the willingness to gain that ability), they will have handed you all the plot hooks you need. (As well as some lines and sinkers!)

I accidentally described this as "stole" the ship when I really meant this:

"The PCs fought pirates on the shore who had found their way into the back-end of the mega dungeon the PCs had been exploring. PCs then killed all the pirates, got their ship that was run aground on the rocks, and spent most of their loot to get it repaired in town and hire a new crew".

I don't want to talk them out of it. I gave them around 20 potential adventure seeds and directions they could go in, and made it clear they could choose whatever they wanted outside those 20 ideas, and they chose "Repair the ship, rename it, hire a crew, and set out along the coastal seas seeking adventure". I'm cool with that, and want to roll with it and give them some additional adventure seeds and possibilities to choose from.

 

[Mistwell]

Depends on if the ship is a centerpiece of the campaign or just a tool to get them from adventure points.

I suspect they will want to hang onto the ship long-term and use it as at least a frequent base of operations. So a pirate themed adventure is a possibility. I will check out Isle of Dread...been a long time since I looked at it but I do own it.

Challenge #2, alternate - once the change of ownership gets around (if they stopped for repairs, it probably has gotten around), other pirates, knowing the leadership is inexperienced, try to take the ship. Survive.

Challenge #3 - some government, city state, or major merchant guild comes for you, thinking you're the pirates. Survive.

These are both good ones and mesh well with some other ideas mentioned in this thread. Thanks.

I would put them up against a powerful seafaring empire and its navy. Read up on the behavior of Europe's colonial empires in the real world's Golden Age of Piracy; there's a strong case that they were worse than most of the pirates who preyed on them. Slave traders, brutal colonial governments, ships full of unwilling sailors impressed into service... plenty of room for villainy there, and for the PCs to become hero-pirates opposing it.

Oooh I like slave traders. I could maybe use part of the A1-4 series of AD&D modules.

I went with Merrow. Lots of Merrow. The MM's bit about seaweed and corpses added a lot of flavor/fear to their sailing.

Yeah I like that seaweed idea marking the borders of their territory. I would like the party to go underwater for at least part of this, if they are interested in doing that.

A ghost ship could make for an interesting session. Late at night a crew member spots a bluish glow in the distance approaching the ship. As the glow gets closer a decrepit ship becomes visible. Perhaps some of the crew have heard legends of this ship. On the ship itself, have a few encounters with ghosts, skeletons, animated cutlasses, etc. When the party makes it to the captain's quarters they find the log and read about how the captain was hunting a sea monster ever since it killed his beloved on another voyage. The last entry cuts off abruptly and as the PCs finish reading they themselves hear noises from outside. When they rush out the ghost ship is being attacked by a kraken! To give peace to the ship and her crew they must defeat the creature that the captain zealously hunted but was unable to defeat.

Nice one! I like it!

Second, I'd set up a conflict triangle. The PCs are on one corner, and the other two are civilization and anarchy. Civilization has some warships out subjugating primitive islanders and taking their stuff, but who also protect legitimate shipping trade. Anarchy has a large fleet of pirates that target anyone - the navy, the merchants, the islanders. I'd have two recurring villains. For the pirates, some demon commodore or something with a bad-ass ship. No big plan or anything; he just likes being in control and making people suffer. Then there's the leader of the navy who's a merciless lawbringer.

I like this one a lot too, and meshes well with a couple other ideas in this thread like Umbrans and the slave trading one.

2) Sargasso Sea - just some sea worthy Shambling Mounds and lots of old ships.

4) Fresh Water and re-stock - head hunters and ruins

Oh nice, I like both those ideas! Thanks.

 

[mcbobbo]

I'd go see about mooching off of Paizo's Skull and Shackles campaign. The player's guide is a freebie, for example. I wouldn't go so far as to purchase the whole AP unless you just thought you loved what you found. But this forum, for example, could be a gold mine:

http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/pathfinder/adventurePath/skullAndShackles

 

[Wednesday Boy]

You could have them backtrack their ship's previous route to find a huge treasure that the pirates once buried. Or an Admiral might enlist them to backtrack their ship's route to find some artifact that the pirates once had.

I think it would be interesting if a kraken took an interest in their ship for some reason. Either it's constantly trying to destroy it or it destroys all other ships in its territory except theirs.

There should be a wizard who has a lighthouse instead of a wizards tower.

I ran a 2nd Ed. Ravenloft module called Neither Man Nor Beast that started with the characters shipwrecking on an island. It was so-so but with a little work could be more interesting.

 

[Joe Liker]

Treasure map in a secret compartment in the captain's quarters.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

I'd use it as an excuse to open up a new part of your campaign world. A few days into their travel they come across a man in an unfamiliar uniform clinging to some broken boards. After they rescue him, he tells them he's a naval officer from a city state they've never heard of and offers a reward if they take him home. The hired sailors are coastal sailors, not deep water men, and have never heard of the place. They head out with the officer navigating, and come to his home city about a month out with a few encounters along the way. There is a suitable reward, and the rulers of the city offer the adventurers a job recusing a kidnapped noblewoman. Their navy is mostly elsewhere engaged and a frontal assault rescue would likely result in the death of the kidnapped woman. And then go from there. The area is a very large archipelago with a handful of city states, but mostly wilderness. It's something of a trade hub, and while no trade routes go directly the the PCs home, it is possible to get home by an indirect route. So fun and games for a while, then a large orcish warfleet is seen approaching under unknown flags ...

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I had a similar thing happen in my 1st to 20th level campaign around 7th level - the PC's got hold of a frigate-sized ship and went privateering (rather than strictly pirating). I created a top-ten pirates list with lots of colorful pirates and wanted posters that included just enough info to make them sound interesting. I created a lot of "island of the week" sorts of adventures that could lead to various fun scenarios. Try to arrange at least one or two big sea battles - I had the PC's get called into a major naval confrontation with a naval power that I modeled on the Tripoli pirates and various other pirate kingdoms of the Mediterranean (I ended up tying two PC's to an anchor and tossing them overboard. Good times, good times).

The wanted posters were a big hit, though. I think I posted them on here at the time, I'll try and find them.

 

[Zaran]

I second the Isle of Dread idea if you don't want them to have the ship. Plus it's just about perfect for level 6 characters. The pirates could be part of a larger organization. Many real world pirates were members or small fleets. They could want the ship back.

Otherwise, figure out how much it takes to run a ship. Crew payment, maintenance, anti kraken armor all takes money. They could go into the merchant business. They can use the ship as a way of moving around but still need to go inland for the adventures.

 

[jrowland]

Isle of dread vis a vis Paizo's "Isle of Dread" vis a viz "Dungeon" has a pretty good intro part for the "sailing to the isle". I'd borrow from that.

Personally, I'd do part 1 and 2 from Umbran, then have them get involved in a storm that blows them wildly off-course and lands them on an island with a big step pyramid (chitzen itza style). One earthquake later and they are in area 1 of the Lost Shrine of Tamoachan...great adventure. They'll be in a hurry to get out for two reasons: poison gas, but also restless crew alone with ship = bad idea! Then, they can leave the isle with all the loot in the ship to fund any new upgrades and further adventures.

rinse and repeat

 

[the Jester]

My approach would begin with building random encounter tables suitable for the region. Merchants, more pirates, sea monsters, sea folk (aquatic elves, merfolk, etc), whales and dolphins (possessed of major intelligent sea-dwelling cultures in my game), weird weather, strange phenomena, etc.

I'd make sure that it had a lot of variety and a lot of things that could easily seed adventures. Then I'd see where the pcs lead.