Airship heavy campaign ideas

[Invader]

I'm going to be running an airship heavy Ebberron campaign and I'm fishing for ideas for everything from settings to adventure hooks to the main plot. Starting at 1st level, everything but dragon mag is allowed.

[Anderlith]

A druid is angry about the whole "enslaving an elemental" thing, frees it & causes the ship to crash (Just say the druid has some ancient spell that can free them)

Dire Bats & bat swarms attack at night while traveling, this is really funny to play if you have a Dire Bat fly off with a party member, give him a chance to grab a featherfall buoy/lifesaver thing though.

Warforged airship pirates with homunculi & graping hook cannons for boarding other air vessels. No remorse for fleshlings!!!

Foggy day causes the ship to steer off course, now they have piloted too close to the border so someone & have to go through some very threatening customs agents, or they run into a mountain.... maybe some stone giants live on it

[ThiagoMartell]

Starting at first level? Are the characters supposed to be on training or something like that? That is too low to be in charge of an airship, IMHO.

[Anderlith]

Starting at first level? Are the characters supposed to be on training or something like that? That is too low to be in charge of an airship, IMHO.

I've done this is my game, actually all my examples come from my own game. I had the PC's have a patron questgiver charter the airship, the ship still had & captain & crew but would fly (mostly) where ever the PC's wanted to.

[ThiagoMartell]

I've done this is my game, actually all my examples come from my own game. I had the PC's have a patron questgiver charter the airship, the ship still had & captain & crew but would fly (mostly) where ever the PC's wanted to.

Oh, that would work. :smallsmile:
I usually start my games around 5th level, but that's not relevant for this thread.

[Invader]

Starting at first level? Are the characters supposed to be on training or something like that? That is too low to be in charge of an airship, IMHO.

I was kind of thinking along the lines of the PC's are just part of the crew starting out. Maybe the muscle instead of the regular "sailors". Or something like Anderlith mentioned at least until they're of an appropriate level to kind of take over for themselves.

This is part of my problem. I really want the entire campaign to take place primarily on the airship, air ports, and I have a few ideas for floating bases, islands etc.

As far as plot I'm pretty open to ideas about why theyre on an airship to begin with as long as they stay there, moreso than actual encounters they could have unless someone has a really unique idea other than flying creature X attacks the ship.

[Tvtyrant]

There is also the Xendrick Flying Boat (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cw/20070129a). Works for lower levels, as it is more affordable.

[ThiagoMartell]

Well, you can do plenty of cool stuff inside the ship.
How about a murder mistery? The first one to be killed is the only NPC spellcaster able to speak with the dead! Who killed him? Why? And who is next?!

Maybe one of the passengers has a dark secret. What if one of the players thinks there is a warforged hidden in a crate, or that he's seen an Emerald Claw tattoo on that creepy guy's shoulder? You could roll this along with the first idea.

The ship could have a cassino of sorts and that is a plot hook by itself. Players will gain money, lose money, try to cheat and be caught... Specially cool if you add interesting NPCs working there. The owner could be a retired Rogue, trying to go legit - and he knows all the tricks to protect his money! You could have an ogre as a bouncer - but he's a primordial giant, intelligent, educated and cult. He's also a warlock and uses his at-will detect magic ability to make sure no one is using spells.

But I advise you take them off the ship quite frequently, otherwise the ship will start to look boring.


There is also the Xendrick Flying Boat (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cw/20070129a). Works for lower levels, as it is more affordable.

That's pretty cool, but the difference in cost is... 16k? That's not much.

[Invader]

But I advise you take them off the ship quite frequently, otherwise the ship will start to look boring.


This is actully probably a good idea. Any other thoughts on airboynd locations. I know I read somewhere about floating earth motes kind if like the largest floating rock formations in movie avatar. That'd seem like a natural spot along with other airships, and I have plans for an entire floating town (not sure if the size yet).

[Wise Green Bean]

Possible main plot(mostly cuz I'm in the mood for a zombie apocalypse game and it's effecting my brain), there is a plague/revolution/invasion in the world below. Nothing too organized, or at least nothing outwardly organized, but suddenly the world below is getting pretty ugly. Manufacture some problem with the ship that gives them a good reason to go below a lot(the water tanks leak, the ship was about to restock on food, they need some resource or another to get by that they can only get below). Meanwhile, other airships are staying up too and it's getting Lord of the Flies-ish up there! Everyone's in the same fix; not enough resources to keep flying and stay alive.
While all this is going on, you're dropping clues about what made everything go to hell, slowly letting the piece stuff together until they die or figure out a solution.
Lots of RP fun. It's not original, really, but damn is it a good time. See any serious and more long term zombie movie for inspiration(think Walking Dead).

And don't judge me for my worrying interest in a corpse ridden end of the world.

[Anderlith]

The most important thing to remember about airships in Eberron is that they cannot land, they have to dock at a skydock or you have to find a way to lower the passagers down (rappels)

[avr]

Or the players can jump off and use feather fall tokens ... great for HALO insertions, now you just need a reason to need to do so. Spying on a rival houses secret facility might qualify.

Locations you need an airship to get to don't need to be aerial. Islands surrounded by reefs, remote mountain valleys, or somewhere in the demon wastes where the local guardians won't let anyone leave would all qualify. One of the Eberron novels had a bunch of caverns filled with (false) prophecies in the frozen wastes to the north of Khorvaire, which were accessed via airship. OTOH aerial locations do include cloud islands inhabited by cloud giants and their servants, presumably over Xen'drik.

Halfling raiders or thieves riding pterodactyls are definitely in Eberron.

[hoverfrog]

I ran an exploration campaign for a while where the characters were crew on an ordinary ship. As the campaign advanced and the characters got promoted they earned transfers to elemental powered vessels and eventually to Lyrandar airships.

Have them explore the coast of Xen'drik and


land to drop off colonists or supplies,
take an airship for a mission inland,
negotiate with the native dark elves, giants or even thri-kreen,
stop for repairs after a storm,
go in search of part of the fleet that has gotten lost after the same storm,
deal with aerial assaults by drow seeking to rescue elementals from slavery,
recover the crew who were captured by cannibals on an unexplored island before they are eaten,
run guard duty while the House Orien wizard sets up a teleportation circle to bring in guards for a new outpost,
negotiate with a new species curious about the vessels,
find the crew member who is killing elves,
repair the ship while it is hiding in thick cloud cover from a dragon,
deal with the stowaway,
deal with starvation or malnutrition and a disgruntled crew,
stop a mutiny,
start a mutiny against a cruel and petty captain,
fight pirates,
a cargo of griffons being transported has broken loose below desks, get them under control without killing any of them,
you're transportation a new design of camouflage warforged. One has gone missing. Find it.
Etc

[Invader]

I ran an exploration campaign for a while where the characters were crew on an ordinary ship. As the campaign advanced and the characters got promoted they earned transfers to elemental powered vessels and eventually to Lyrandar airships.

Have them explore the coast of Xen'drik and


land to drop off colonists or supplies,
take an airship for a mission inland,
negotiate with the native dark elves, giants or even thri-kreen,
stop for repairs after a storm,
go in search of part of the fleet that has gotten lost after the same storm,
deal with aerial assaults by drow seeking to rescue elementals from slavery,
recover the crew who were captured by cannibals on an unexplored island before they are eaten,
run guard duty while the House Orien wizard sets up a teleportation circle to bring in guards for a new outpost,
negotiate with a new species curious about the vessels,
find the crew member who is killing elves,
repair the ship while it is hiding in thick cloud cover from a dragon,
deal with the stowaway,
deal with starvation or malnutrition and a disgruntled crew,
stop a mutiny,
start a mutiny against a cruel and petty captain,
fight pirates,
a cargo of griffons being transported has broken loose below desks, get them under control without killing any of them,
you're transportation a new design of camouflage warforged. One has gone missing. Find it.
Etc


These are some great ideas, I'll def be using a few in some way or another. Thanks!

[hoverfrog]

These are some great ideas, I'll def be using a few in some way or another. Thanks!You're welcome. Honestly though if you're looking for inspiration for airship adventures then you could do worse than look at spaceship themed science fiction (Firefly, Babylon 5, Star Trek, etc) or classic Sinbad type films maritime and comic books. The fun comes when tie these ideas together to make a campaign. What is the overarching reason why they are on an airship? Typically it is because someone has 90,000gp to spend and thinks that they can make 90,001gp or more from investing the money. They can do this by taking goods from A, selling them at B and buying something to sell back at A again but this might take too long so they might want to improve the return on their investment by making riskier trades. That's where opening up new markets by exploration is the key. If nobody want to buy your expensive Lhazar plate in Khorvaire then take it to new markets in Xen'drik. If the price of Syberris dragonshards is high then go to the place where they're found and pick them up where they're cheap. If the sellers who collect the shards are cheating you then send your own people to collect the shards and make more profit.

It's all about the money.

[Invader]

OTOH aerial locations do include cloud islands inhabited by cloud giants and their servants, presumably over Xen'drik.

Halfling raiders or thieves riding pterodactyls are definitely in Eberron.

Both of these sound good, especially the cloud giants. That's exactly the kind of encounter I'm imagining for the campaign.

[Invader]

The most important thing to remember about airships in Eberron is that they cannot land, they have to dock at a skydock or you have to find a way to lower the passagers down (rappels)

For simplicity sake, I'll be coming up with a change to the airships so this isn't the case. Probably just kind of low altitude hovering effect where people can climb in and via rope ladder. I can't remember the size of the airships in Eberron because it's been a while since I looked but they'll most likely be fairly small, accommodating roughly 20 crew members.

[Invader]

You're welcome. Honestly though if you're looking for inspiration for airship adventures then you could do worse than look at spaceship themed science fiction (Firefly, Babylon 5, Star Trek, etc) or classic Sinbad type films maritime and comic books. The fun comes when tie these ideas together to make a campaign. What is the overarching reason why they are on an airship? Typically it is because someone has 90,000gp to spend and thinks that they can make 90,001gp or more from investing the money. They can do this by taking goods from A, selling them at B and buying something to sell back at A again but this might take too long so they might want to improve the return on their investment by making riskier trades. That's where opening up new markets by exploration is the key. If nobody want to buy your expensive Lhazar plate in Khorvaire then take it to new markets in Xen'drik. If the price of Syberris dragonshards is high then go to the place where they're found and pick them up where they're cheap. If the sellers who collect the shards are cheating you then send your own people to collect the shards and make more profit.

It's all about the money.

I had a few ideas for a main plot hooks and this was one of them but nothing I've come up with has been really original which is why I'm still trying to figure out what I'll use. I've played in so many campaigns where the PC's were just kind of thrown together for the sake of being together that I'm really trying to avoid that.

[Inglenook]

Strange as it might be, I'd consider looking at Futurama for plot ideas. About half the episodes they're using the ship to complete what amounts to quests. And the other half they're "at port" dealing with the strangeness of the city and culture around them.

[Wise Green Bean]

20 people? You're gonna run out of redshirts real fast like.

[Invader]

Well I have what I consider to be a pretty solid main plot hook of which I won't say bc some of my players use this forum. I have a dozen or say "quest" hooks for them as well as 2 ongoing chains and a few easy transitions for meeting new NPC's.

Any other good adventure ideas for an airship and her crew? I've narrowed the crew down to the captain, cook, lookout, navigator, and 4 "sailors", along with the PC's who will be the muscle on the ship so to speak. I felt like that was large enough crew to man the size ship I needed without being to many that they'd get in the way during combat.

[Anderlith]

Sit down, watch Firefly. Be inspired, incorporate into you campaign, shiny?


If that doesn't work could could try stargate, or startrek.