Nautical Fun!

[ScubaGoomba]

My campaign just got sent on a nautical adventure, which I've been very excited about throwing their way, but a clever creative decision I made has suddenly caused a lot of headache for me when it comes to actually preparing sessions.

You see, the "sea" that my players have chartered a ship over is actually a massive desert. I plan to liberally use any aquatic creatures with reflavoring as sand (imagine a Kraken emerging from the desert ground!), but have realized that there's little reason for the players to ever stop in their tracks to go exploring. Any ideas at getting them motivated?

I've already thrown them one abandoned village for them to go find parts after their ship was under siege, so I don't want to reuse that for too long. I'm going to put some shipwreck/ghost ship out at them at some point. Soon enough, I need to introduce them to an important NPC I had mentioned earlier that they'll find in an oasis, but I don't know if I want to get there just yet. I'm just running out of things to throw their way.

The nice thing about the desert, which is also what's giving me a lot of trouble, is that the desert is walkable. The players are free to jump ship to explore something, but they also don't ever seem interested on exploring anything that's not on the rails that I try so hard not to lay.

[Water_Bear]

I went to check the forums and saw Nautical Fun! over and over in the thread titles. Now I can't get it out of my head, it's like a chant.

Nautical Fun!

But seriously, the best way to control Players is through their innate curiosity. If you need them to go somewhere, have them see something so bizarre and out-of-place they -need- to hunt the source down.

My example would be a giant flying Eel trailing rainbows, and then diving into the earth in a misty spot off in the distance. When they arrive, they find an oasis, seemingly eel-less. Then the Mirage Mullah [Sandstorm] who set the illusion trap shows up and starts messing with them. If the encounter is interesting enough players will forgive you for denying them their Rainbow Eel.

Or you could just have some contrivance destroy their water supply and make them scramble to find a new source, thus stumbling onto the rails. But I'm not a big fan of that kind of DMing.

[vampire2948]

Rainbow Eel.


+1 to anything involving flying rainbow eels.

...

I suggest having them stop to gaze at something of astrological importance, during the night, maybe make it into something interesting magically. Such that they want to stay in the same place for a few days to complete some ritual or another that their wizard came up with using Knowledge (Arcana) and a bit of spellcraft. If they survive whatever you have planned, throw them a Teleport Ship casting or something, making their trip a bit shorter.

[ScubaGoomba]

I went to check the forums and saw Nautical Fun! over and over in the thread titles. Now I can't get it out of my head, it's like a chant.

Nautical Fun!

But seriously, the best way to control Players is through their innate curiosity. If you need them to go somewhere, have them see something so bizarre and out-of-place they -need- to hunt the source down.

My example would be a giant flying Eel trailing rainbows, and then diving into the earth in a misty spot off in the distance. When they arrive, they find an oasis, seemingly eel-less. Then the Mirage Mullah [Sandstorm] who set the illusion trap shows up and starts messing with them. If the encounter is interesting enough players will forgive you for denying them their Rainbow Eel.

Or you could just have some contrivance destroy their water supply and make them scramble to find a new source, thus stumbling onto the rails. But I'm not a big fan of that kind of DMing.

Yeah... sorry about the reposts. My computer timed out but apparently also sent the posts every time I redid it.

And, yeah, I definitely don't want to rail them. I've actually been trying my best to keep it as free as possible, but whenever I set them loose, they look to me to tell them. I want the ride to take a while, but I also don't want it to drag; I'll just start thinking of some interesting bits of set dressing that I can populate the deserts with. Any ideas? I like the flying rainbow eel idea, actually. Is that some kind of a reference I'm missing? Because I'm all about references.

[Vizzerdrix]

Okay, I'm just gonna toss loose ideas out there. They're bare bones ideas, so take what ya like.

A "whirl pool" of sand with an ant lion at the bottom.
A tricky route through a canyon/ rocky area
Bandits on horseback.
Pirates.
An opportunity to partake in a ship race.
they spot someone swimming in the sand.
A sandstorm holds them up for the night, but something hungry is using it for cover.
They "run aground" on the upper part of an ancient temple/castle.
A ship graveyard full of half buried wrecks, ranging in age from very old to futuristic.
Undead things use a large area of Black Sand (thing from Sandstorm) to ambush travelers
A fishing fleet asks them to assist with the yearly sand crab/worm/tasty monster hunt. Could be a contest.
Stowaways.
Dwarfs accidentally tunnel up and their cave fills with sand. They need a ride to a surface entrance.
They are offered a large sum of cash to transport a group of people. Murder mystery ensues.
A ship crewed by undead ask them for help getting revenge on the sand beast/pirate that did them in.

[Kerilstrasz]

A goblin or gnomish or anyrace suits you zepelin or other kind of flying mashine spotted at the distant sky... a few days later the same flying mashine found wrecked on the desert..ehm.. sand sea.. all occupants missing except a hidden one thats fatally wounded that tells em a (smthing) attacked em and kidnapped the rest of crew.. and went "that" way...
and then this crew member dies before the manage to do anythin...
if they go on search of them and they manage to save the "Mechanic" crew member, they get some cool new things on their ship as Xtra quest reward :)