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

[the Jester]

I've lazily not even read the rest of the thread yet, so this might have been mentioned by someone else, but the Savage Tide AP (the last one in the paper Dungeon Magazine) has some perfect stuff in it for you. There's one in particular, probably the 4th or 5th one in the series, that's either mostly or entirely set at sea, and it is awesome. It also ties in with the Isle of Dread, which also deserves mad kudos.

U3 is largely set underwater, and it definitely is a great classic adventure featuring sahuagin. There was a 2e trilogy of sahuagin-focused adventures, but I've only ever seen the second one, and it was a bit dull.

If you can find it, the 2e supplement Of Ships and the Sea- one of the "blue books"- is absolutely fantastic, though you'd have to adapt the mechanics. But it's got a ton of good stuff on ships, the undersea environment, etc. A bunch of cool spells, too.

 

[Derren]

What type of ship is this anyway and are the PCs even qualified to command it (or rather, can they even give the crew orders or are they running the ship while the PCs are glorified passangers)?

I assume you do not model logistics very much as otherwise "just sailing around looking for adventure" is a pretext to disaster.

 

[Lidgar]

If heading towards a more tropical location, have them resupply at a small village where they learn about the Dwellers of the Forbidden City - and a Great Treasure (your choice what it is - perhaps a minor artifact?) hidden within. Can also insert the Hidden Shrine of the Tomoachan inside the City. With 5e, Yuan-Ti are back!

 

[The_Gneech]

Get ye a copy of the Savage Worlds plot-point campaign 50 Fathoms. It has tons of seafaring adventures and generators for more. It's a brilliant sandbox-on-the-sea.

-The Gneech

 

[Bupp]

This is a location I always wanted to take seafaring players to:

 

[Jester David]

Well, there's the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path from Paizo.
And they have a module called Plunder & Peril that was just released.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

I thought this scenario sounded familiar to me and I just figured out why. It's a lot like a LBB Traveller campaign, just not set in space. I'd consider checking out LBB Traveller and see what can be adapted.

 

[GSHamster]

A ship also gives access to various "lost" islands, which could be self-contained enough to be weird and wonderful. For example, an island of dinosaurs, or one with giant apes.

 

[Quickleaf]

My 6th level players just stole and repaired a pirate ship, and hired some local crew to enable them to sail the coastal seas (they do not know the crew). I could use some ideas for challenges and adventures they can face during this part of the campaign.

They have no real goal in mind, other than adventure. They know the pirates they took the ship from came from somewhere "out there". And they know the world along the coast is populated by a variety of humanoids and monsters. But other than that, there is nothing fixed. No fixed geography or kingdoms or anything like that. I did think to give them some potions of water breathing just before they got to the ship, so there is the opportunity for at least a brief underwater adventure.

What sorts of challenges would you throw at your party? Or published adventures you like for this sort of thing?

You, my friend, are in luck! I've been setting up for a pirate game on these very forums. Click the link to "Spell & Crossbones" in my signature and scroll down to the fifth post where you will find extensive encounter tables for just this sort of thing. Cheers

 

[occam]

That's weird. I've just been planning a sea-based campaign, and the night before this thread was started, hit upon the idea for the starting adventure: PCs defend a settlement from pirates in a ship that became separated from its fleet, after which they have a ship they can use to leave their islands….

A lot of the ideas I've been playing with have already been mentioned, including the Isle of Dread and Dwellers of the Forbidden City, merrows, a kraken, etc. I've also added a few ideas from this thread, so thanks!

Other inspirations include The Odyssey and Star Trek, as well as serialized television in the style of Joss Whedon, and Chris Perkins' Iomandra campaign (which drew on similar elements).

On the serialized television angle, build up large threats gradually. For instance, after acquiring their pirate ship, they set out and have an adventure or two that are (at least seemingly) unrelated, although they may acquire allies or items or information that will come in useful later. Then they encounter a detachment from the main pirate fleet which introduces them to the larger danger, foreshadows the coming threat to civilized societies in the region, provides hints of the nature of the pirate leader (the demon-captain idea from this thread works well for this), and lets the PCs know that there's an interest in the ship they acquired. Maybe something important is hidden on their own ship that they haven't yet discovered. Later they spy the pirate fleet on the horizon, or sail into a port that has recently been laid to waste in a pirate attack. The players should feel increasing tension as they build to a climactic confrontation.

That's just one possible thread. Maybe the pirates are actually the B thread, or the demon-captain is part of a longer-term plot of infernal invasion.

Some other random ideas:
- Not all pirates are bad. Some are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. If the PCs need crew, pirates who had been press-ganged into service could make long-term loyal companions with useful intelligence about pirate methods and goals (although one will probably end up betraying them down the line).
- Submerged ruins
- Dragon attack at sea!