PDA

View Full Version : Help with a first adventure of a pirates' campaign



Kol Korran
2012-04-14, 01:15 AM
Guy, Alon, Ariel, Ayellet and Tomer, please don't read this thread, will only ruin things for you.

(This is in 3.5, but any general advice would be welcome, it's mostly about fluff anyway, fantasy setting).

hi there! soon enough I'll start DMing a fairly sandbox(ish) campaign for my friends. the general theme is pirates. though they will have quite a free reign after the first adventure (or two, depending on how you define an adventure) i do have a few ideas as to the first, which will help set a good starting point. (i don't yet have much knowledge of which characters they are going to choose. just inklings, one rougish charming type, one brute, the others some kind of dark casters probably. sort of like witches)

goals of the first adventure (or two):
- brings the characters together, give them some binding factor. (the characters begin not knowing each other... well, two might, but not all of the party)
- introduce quite a few potential hooks, allies, enemies.
- focus on getting a ship and a crew. i'd like them to have a choice between a few ships, and several colorful and interesting crew members (not DMPCs! think of them as "on board plot hooks"). getting the ship should be somehow memorable, a defining moment at the begining of the campaign.
- give more flavor to the specific setting, custom and cultural interactions (this i don't need help with)

do you have any particular ideas so far, i'd love to hear. i welcome ideas that are not my own. i'll detail my rudimentary thoughts and problems below. no need to read the spoilers if you got some other ideas.

"X marks the spot"
(pardon me for the brief version, i don't want to bore you all). various people come to a fairly small smuggling island, from different walks of life. they come since some legendery captain has put a word he's looking a crew for an extra ship. he tells them it's about a glorious treasure hunt.

and so he puts on a test: they will be split into random groups (the PCs get thrown together) and given some clues. on the isalnd there are more clues, for the cunning to use to lead them to a token treasure.

(finding clues, fighting off rival teams, getting to the treasure). i'm thinking the treasure might be some mystical device which imprints something in each of the 4 characters (my thoughts are map pieces) that come together (an iluusory image) under certain conditions (but requiring all the PCs, perhaps passing to a different character if someone dies) so they have together a part of a ttreausre map (with the legendery captain perhaps having other parts, enemies as well and so on).

this seems a bit heavy handed to me, a bit forced. :smallsigh: do you have other ideas?


The Empire strikes back! (or first)
an annoying powerful colonial force makes it's presence known, by besieging the island, trying to track down the legendery captain, his associates, and possibly taking him away (enter one of the major villains). their presence on the isle is oppressive. i'll let the party evade/ saboteur/ foolishly get caught and so on. but in the end the emprie leaves with the legendery captain, their ships and most of their crew. but the characters are left "mostly" unharmed (unless they are douchebags).

We need a ship!
hopefully by now the party has some clues, including their imprinted illusory map thingy (great riches await?) and they will look for a ship. only they are fairly poor. so they need to do some sort of job to buy one of the few ships in the ship yard.

another possibility is that the island has a secret ship yard, in a great enourmeous cave, that he empire doesn't know about. so the party find a way to get loot/ persuade the dock master they deserve a ship while the empire is still about, making their escape through it's blockade.

only these two ideas feel a bit forced, and mostly lack luster to me. i want the getting of the ship to feel special, memorable, with it's own story to it. ideas?

thanks you all. :smallbiggrin:


(searchword: piratewitch)

Grinner
2012-04-14, 01:44 AM
"X Marks the Spot" sounds a bit like One Piece, but I think it gives some great roleplaying opportunities.

In "The Empire Strikes Back!", you'll need to play up the occupying military's oppressive nature, lest they become comical. But the idea could progress into something a little more tense than you might want.

"We Need a Ship!" will require baiting the players...a lot. Why not also give them the option of stealing one? They get their ship with minimal fuss and a campaign goal: avoid capture.


You still need to answer the most important question. What tone do you intend to set for the game?

Heroic and light-hearted like One Piece?

Dramatic and dark like Pirates of the Caribbean?

Zombimode
2012-04-14, 05:51 AM
[LIST]
You still need to answer the most important question. What tone do you intend to set for the game?

I seconed this question. From your descriptions it looks like you call this a "pirate" campaign because it seeks to capture the "ARRR matey"-feel of modern seaborne adventure tales, without the PCs actualy beeing, you know, pirates (http://houston.culturemap.com/site_media/uploads/photos/2011-01-03/Real_Pirates_Whydah_by_Gregory_Manchess_Arts_and_E xhibitions_International.800w_600h.jpg) :smallwink:

Kol Korran
2012-04-14, 07:37 AM
[LIST]

You still need to answer the most important question. What tone do you intend to set for the game?

Heroic and light-hearted like One Piece?

Dramatic and dark like Pirates of the Caribbean?


I second this question. From your descriptions it looks like you call this a "pirate" campaign because it seeks to capture the "ARRR matey"-feel of modern seaborne adventure tales, without the PCs actualy beeing, you know, pirates (http://houston.culturemap.com/site_media/uploads/photos/2011-01-03/Real_Pirates_Whydah_by_Gregory_Manchess_Arts_and_E xhibitions_International.800w_600h.jpg) :smallwink:

well, i don't know what One Piece is, and i have wronged many for never have seen pirates of the Caribbean. i tend it to be between a serious game but with quite a few light hearted themes, at least to begin with. the game is planned on being a fairly open sandbox (that was ANOTHER thread) so i'll be looking to see what the players seek to make of it.

I think that the closest i can come to what i'm aiming at is something very akin to the feel of Fire Fly (though i do not acclaim to have such skill), serious enough to have consistency, depth and believability (to a degree), but light hearted enough so it's not considered gritty fantasy, and have enough place for heroic ventures, dasdarly genius (or foolish) plans and the like.

i do not intend to follow any historical accuracy of how pirates or colonial powers (the above mentioned Empire) and the like behaved. for the sake of this arguments "pirates"= sea faring scoundrel opportunists of grey to questionable morals (though the party may play however they like).

does it answer the question? or do you need further clarification? if so please narrow it down.


"X Marks the Spot" sounds a bit like One Piece, but I think it gives some great roleplaying opportunities.
In "The Empire Strikes Back!", you'll need to play up the occupying military's oppressive nature, lest they become comical. But the idea could progress into something a little more tense than you might want.
"We Need a Ship!" will require baiting the players...a lot. Why not also give them the option of stealing one? They get their ship with minimal fuss and a campaign goal: avoid capture.

the three (at least the first two) are supposed to be a part of one fairly short adventure.

X mark the spot is intended to help them round up their characters by roleplaying them. it indeed offers a lot of roleplay opportunities. i plan for it to have unique non standard challenges to shake things up a bit.

The Empire strikes back introduces the first serious opponent, and put the party under a lot more stress. The depth of the interaction with the empire is up to the characters. i don't worry about it going tense, the party does well to provide it's own light hearted moments.

I like the idea of possibly stealing a ship... i'll need to think about it, but the idea does hold quite a bit of merit. very.. "piraty" :smallsmile:
hhhmmm... this might be a VERY good idea, as they will need to assemble their crew, steal a ship of a private person or one held by Empire soldiers. interesting indeed.

only thing that bums me is that they'll feel it's not "the party's ship", but someone elses... it allready has a name. perhaps a ship that just finished construction? :smallconfused:

still, i need more suggestions, please keep them coming

Jay R
2012-04-14, 09:02 AM
Occasionally, especially after a storm, a ship needs to be careened (pulled up on shore) for repairs. Sometimes this has to happen immediately, wherever the ship is, because it is not seaworthy, and can't limp back to a port.

So if they find an Empire ship careened, there will be a crew with no immediately available ship, waiting for the repairs to be finished. That gives the party several days to plan how to steal it when it's ready. If necessary, make it a bad storm and reduce the numbers of the remaining crew. (Or put a raucous town nearby where they can hire a big enough crew to take and sail the ship.)

Kuma Kode
2012-04-14, 12:33 PM
When I ran a pirate game (it was a sky pirate game but still) I started with the party already under the command of a pirate captain, and it began with the players dropping onto the deck of the enemy ship a la Skies of Arcadia. If you haven't heard of THAT, then it pretty much is that the party suddenly drops through the clouds onto the deck of the enemy ship and says "Hi! We're taking your stuff."

They had a quick little battle, the rest of the boarding party arrives (the implication being the party are the ones who jumped the gun) and the group heads down and has a bit of a fun hack n' slash on their way through the enemy ship (who are also evil pirates, so it's okay).

Until they get to the bottom and see the sorcerer using a member of a shapeshifter race as a quasi-human shield. After the battle, they find more under the floorboards, and realize it's a slave ship. Being all of the Chaotic Good/Neutral robin hood style, this really bothered them. Without a second thought they began to actively attempt to find out who is running the slave ring and try to stop them.

Maybe something like that would work? Have them start off as part of a crew already with the option to eventually break off when they get more powerful and start their own crew, possibly even on friendly or even allied terms with their previous captain. That could be useful for pursuing the empire plot idea; pirate navy vs. THE WORLD.

Hyudra
2012-04-14, 07:11 PM
For decades there has been a kind of uneasy truce between seven pirate fleets. None would make war with any other for fear of what the others would do to them. Some ships might be raided, the occasional treasure stolen, perhaps an exchange of blows in a port... but by and large, everyone left well enough alone.

Until last summer's night. The captains of each major fleet, their favored lieutenants, misters and mistresses, all met for their yearly drinks and negotiation in Skullport, that ever archetypical port where only criminals and dastardly pirates tread.

And they all died of poison that night, despite the various priests and priestesses who were supposed to be checking for such things.

Chaos has erupted, bloodthirsty fighting even among members of the same crews. Old grudges inflamed, the infighting at the heart of Skullport has grown so heated that many are hopping on whatever boat has room for them.

It is here, with fire and all-out war spreading across the town of driftwood, salt and old blood, that the PCs must gather their crew, find a ship and fight to escape.

Kol Korran
2012-04-15, 04:49 AM
ok, some itneresting ideas



So if they find an Empire ship careened, there will be a crew with no immediately available ship, waiting for the repairs to be finished. That gives the party several days to plan how to steal it when it's ready. If necessary, make it a bad storm and reduce the numbers of the remaining crew. (Or put a raucous town nearby where they can hire a big enough crew to take and sail the ship.)
so... a careened empire ship to add to the possible ships to steal? that might be interesting. and might prove a great plot hook for later. the "careened" status might explain why it's stripped of most of the amenities Empire shups usually have.



Maybe something like that would work? Have them start off as part of a crew already with the option to eventually break off when they get more powerful and start their own crew, possibly even on friendly or even allied terms with their previous captain. That could be useful for pursuing the empire plot idea; pirate navy vs. THE WORLD.

I'd prefer it if they don't start under another captain. but rather captain themselves fairly quickly. the game is supposed to be sandboxish and a captain will control their action too strongly. there may come a time for full fleets to fight (definitely an option) but that i leave to the future for now, we'll see how it evolves.


<awsome starting idea>
cool idea, but the world has an established enough history, setting and such into which great pirate lords don't fit into easily. plus, i don't want to start a whole story yet, i want to through hooks and see what bites, and develope from there.

HOWEVER, i think i could use this at some point, in a sort of "gathering of the clans/ leaders" situation.

thanks you all. any other ideas? mostly about how to make the getting of the ship more special, memorable, personal? :smallsmile:

Jay R
2012-04-15, 08:19 AM
I've considered that the next time I run a pirate game, the PCs will start as galley-slaves chained to an oar. Their first task is to escape and defeat the crew of the ship they're on, and voila! They have a ship, as well as a willi9ng crew (the other slaves they just rescued) to man her.

jackattack
2012-04-15, 09:42 AM
If there are not any established pirate lords, there might be a rising pirate force, secret or open, nascent or powerful.

The characters might be approached by NPCs who offer assistance against future "favors" or loyalty to their organization.

At various points in the game, the PCs might cooperate with the organization, oppose it, be on the run from it, or take it over.

They might also misunderstand (or be misled about) the power and goals of the organization. They might think it is a powerful organization with many ships and men, then find out that only a few captains with rickety ships and small crews are involved. They might think it is meant to keep its captains sailing free through bribery, coercion, and mutual assistance, when the inner circle is gearing up to gather its forces and make war on the empire (or another, smaller political power in the area).

Don't know if that helps, but there it is.

Kol Korran
2012-04-19, 04:04 PM
I've considered that the next time I run a pirate game, the PCs will start as galley-slaves chained to an oar. Their first task is to escape and defeat the crew of the ship they're on, and voila! They have a ship, as well as a willi9ng crew (the other slaves they just rescued) to man her.

that is a cool idea, which again (:smallsigh: ) i'll have to postpone for a later game. for historical reasons, Slavery is THE one vice/ sin/ atrocity not practiced in the setting. but a nice idea. however, i'd imagine the ex- slaves would want to change the slave ship for a different ship, no? and owuldn't the other ex- slaves just want to return to their homes?


If there are not any established pirate lords, there might be a rising pirate force, secret or open, nascent or powerful.

The characters might be approached by NPCs who offer assistance against future "favors" or loyalty to their organization.

At various points in the game, the PCs might cooperate with the organization, oppose it, be on the run from it, or take it over.

They might also misunderstand (or be misled about) the power and goals of the organization. They might think it is a powerful organization with many ships and men, then find out that only a few captains with rickety ships and small crews are involved. They might think it is meant to keep its captains sailing free through bribery, coercion, and mutual assistance, when the inner circle is gearing up to gather its forces and make war on the empire (or another, smaller political power in the area).

Don't know if that helps, but there it is.

I think the party will initially be invited by one of the pirate lords (as much as there are), and may like him or not, come to work for him or not. i want to keep his personality not so simple.

i think the idea of an organizations is good. there are two major bases that can act as a base for such an organization. i will try to incorporate that into the game, not sure yet quite how, where or when, but i will keep it in mind. i have a few candidates... hmmmm.

anyone else has any ideas how to get the acquiring of the ship to be special? an occasion? :smallconfused:

JustSomeGuy
2012-04-20, 11:03 AM
Random ideas streaming, in the 'Empire/rebels/pirates' mould:

One player is some sort of captive, with links to plot/knowledge to some important faction. They spend some time 'discussing' (euphamism) things they may or may not know with some local captain character prior to transportation to a permanant facility (they learn some key plot points/characters/arcs/etc).

Another player (or two) work in a local, small time smuggling operation, be it contraband, people (to escape the empire), black market/highly taxed goods or whatever. They know of (but don't work for, at least directly, the big factions and perhaps an intermediate pirate/rebel group who they deal with semi-regularly depending on alignment and junk)

Remainder live locally, for whatever reason they suddenly become wanted by the local guards (classic tavern brawl, mistaken identity, witnesses/vicinity of rebel attack assainating some minor empire/guard liuetentant) and are on the run, semi coralled/pursued to the dockyard/bay/coast, either to hide temporarily from the guard or hide on a boat, or possibly aided by player/group 2's band.

During player 1's transport, player/group 2's work and player/group 3's evasion, all parties end up at the docks/bay/coastline where the rebel attack proper begins (player/group 3's assasination/attack was some sort of commando raid thing leading up to it, aiming for an empire leader or some junk) - now the whole place is a commotion of 'stormtroopers' frantically manning their ships, rebels hitting everything they can and clearing out before the empire can properly counter, player 1's captors are taken out and everyone is scrambling to get away amid the confusion, with all groups now 'wanted men' for whatever reason.
Another slightly different option would be player 1 being captive aboard a ship, group 3 being led to group 2 and some imminent escape, whereby the smuggler's captain is sniped from the shore during the escape, and the ship is now leaderless, and the ship hodling player 1 is on the chase, partially disabling the smuggling ship and a boarding party attacks... only they haven't counted on (reason X) so the smugglers repel the attack, take the fight to the empire's coastguard type ship and take the vessel, and player 1 in the process. A bit more 'grand taking of their ship with a ready made crew of which they are the de facto leaders' but more ushering and shoehoring into specific situations.