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Madeiner
2013-06-30, 10:11 PM
Hi there.
In a session or two im going to design a dungeon that is inside an airship, in the ethereal plane.
The characters are sent to the ethereal plane, aboard their own airship, because the (sentient) ship has been possessed by a ghost pirate with a complicated backstory.
On the ethereal plane, the ship looks and feels different, its interiors are changed and warped, and is inhabited by ghosts and pirates, none to happy of the PCs presence.

I am planning to make a small dungeon out of this.

The ship we are using is the Golden dragon from Voyage of the Golden dragon.
This is the map:
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/6721/goldendragon2.png

Of course, that map is unsuitable for a dungeon: it has too many rooms all accessible at the same moment, with no clear path to follow and is just uninteresting, with rooms that are too small.
The original ship also has an hidden deck, and i would like to insert an hidden deck on the ghost ship, (by inserting another map) so that the PCs can connect things and find the hidden deck on their ship, too.
This deck houses the ship entity itself (it is a warforged) even if i don't have any ideas yet on what to put there (ideas are welcome)

This is more interesting, and more suitable as a dungeon due to room location (blocking a few ladders can lead to a somewhat linear dungeon:
http://s3images.coroflot.com/user_files/individual_files/original_328353_niT0lP2bfEIAKXM7i7eod6YDW.jpg

However, it is much, much smaller that the original ship.

I am looking for a map that is suitable for a dungeon run, but also about as big as the original ship. Doesn't matter if it is not realistic, but it needs to have some big and small rooms, as well as a path to follow.
I think a "starship" map would be better suited to this than a "galleon" type map.

Anybody can help me find a suitable map for the ship and maybe the hidden deck? I've been looking for an hour straight, with no luck.
All the maps are either too small, or just not suitable as dungeon due to room locations.
Also, any ideas about what to put in the dungeon are welcome :)

Thanks all!

Bulhakov
2013-07-01, 03:28 AM
Why force a linear map if you can limit the players movement in other creative ways, especially that this will take place in the ghost/ethereal dimension?

My quick idea - introduce "holy lanterns" (or you can think up another catchy name)

When such a magical lantern is lit, it creates a bubble in the ethereal dimension that reaches from floor to ceiling and is roughly 20ft in radius (or scale appropriately to the ship) that the players need to stay inside of. Why?
- Ghosts outside the bubble seem to be impervious to nearly all damage and easily pass through all defenses, but inside the bubble can easily be damaged by weapons/spells and physically interacted with
- Players can't clearly see out of the bubble (sometimes they might make out the glimmer of ghosts moving around), but luckily ghosts outside a bubble seem to be oblivious to whatever happens inside it and just shamble around (though they can accidentally step into it)
- The players can interact with many ethereal objects (such as doors) only while inside a bubble
- A lit lantern cannot be moved
- You cannot light a lantern inside the bubble formed by another lantern

The lanterns will limit where and how they players can travel.
Two options: give the players just two lanterns, making them create new "rooms" each time they step outside their first bubble to light the second lantern. The ship map you provided seems great for this purpose.

Alternatively, fix the lanterns on the ship and have players light them with some form of "holy fire", giving you even more control of their progress.

As for a final boss fight I'm thinking "the ship's pilot merged with a tentacle throne" http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/025/4/f/the_kraken__the_world__s_1st_tentacle_bondage_chai r_by_cinnamonhotdogs-d4nl0xx.jpg

Madeiner
2013-07-01, 06:54 AM
Wow, so many great ideas there!
Im definately going to use, it will make the dungeon very special :)
Thanks a lot!

Eldan
2013-07-01, 07:05 AM
I ran a ghost-possessed ship once. What's always fun is if you have the ghosts possess unexpected objects, poltergeist style. Of course, your players will watch out around knives, anything pointy or heavy. But an animated puddle of water on the floor is just fun.