Help build a short adventure

[Buddha's_Cookie]

My normal DM might not make it to our groups normal game this weekend, so I thought of running an adventure for the group as a demo to the pirate campaign I will run later this summer. Thing is Google fu has failed to produce an interesting adventure for pirate PCs, and I have no idea what it takes to write an adventure (this summer will be my first DM/GM). So I come to the creative minds of the Playground to assist in writing an adventure, free for all to use as they see fit.

So here is what I know. There will be four or five players. They like the idea of pirates, but not the raiding and pillaging type. Probably more along the the lines of smuggling. We are not optimized or efficient players, but we still seem to be capable of tackling moderate to difficult challenges.

Ideally I would like to build the adventure for PCs level five and under, and show case some sailing or maybe combat at sea.


Thank you so much, I will try to check in frequently to add input.

*Edit* I would like to stick to the core book for the players, some of them are new to Pathfinder.

[Captnq]

Reverse Scooby Doo.

They are pretending to be ghosts haunting a house on a hill to scare off those pesky kids without killing them. (dead bodies will attract the local authorities and lead to them finding the secret smuggling cave)

[SliceandDiceKid]

Reverse Scooby Doo.

They are pretending to be ghosts haunting a house on a hill to scare off those pesky kids without killing them. (dead bodies will attract the local authorities and lead to them finding the secret smuggling cave)

Where is the like button?

[Buddha's_Cookie]

Reverse Scooby Doo.

They are pretending to be ghosts haunting a house on a hill to scare off those pesky kids without killing them. (dead bodies will attract the local authorities and lead to them finding the secret smuggling cave)

That is ... unique. Definitely not what I was expecting.

[Captnq]

That is ... unique. Definitely not what I was expecting.

Oh. Well, put them on a ship and have them out run the cops to smuggle rum to orphans or something. Boring, but I think that's more in line with what you were looking for.

[VoxRationis]

-Have something horrible get aboard the ship by mistake, sealed in one of the crates they're smuggling.

-Develop a sub-ruleset for the wind and sailing capabilities of the ship, so that they can come up with clever tactical maneuvers should they wish to.

-The goods the PCs were going to smuggle were delivered to the wrong place by mistake! Specifically, the contraband was delivered to the manor of the forthright, incorruptible colonial governor, and the PCs have to find a way to get the cargo back, preferably without anyone noticing.

[Buddha's_Cookie]

Oh. Well, put them on a ship and have them out run the cops to smuggle rum to orphans or something. Boring, but I think that's more in line with what you were looking for.

-Have something horrible get aboard the ship by mistake, sealed in one of the crates they're smuggling.

-Develop a sub-ruleset for the wind and sailing capabilities of the ship, so that they can come up with clever tactical maneuvers should they wish to.

-The goods the PCs were going to smuggle were delivered to the wrong place by mistake! Specifically, the contraband was delivered to the manor of the forthright, incorruptible colonial governor, and the PCs have to find a way to get the cargo back, preferably without anyone noticing.

Ok you sparked something in me. PCs are captining (?) the ship, they are paid overly high price to smuggle an unmarked box from A to B. Box contains a nasty critter, vampire or some such, and they are pursued by hunters that want to destroy the item or critter. How does that sound for the plot of a one shot on the high seas? I would likely start it with the actual deal to transport the item in question. maybe the critter gets loose, or the PCs negotiate to trade the package to the hunters and deal with double crossing the owner of the package... who knows advice from here?

[Soarel]

The players steal a ship which is left mysteriously abandoned in the docks. Once on board, they begin hearing mysterious noises as if the ship is inhabited, but there are no creatures on board. In the cargo hold, they find several mimics masquerading as ballast, and their suspicions rise.

Then, the ship starts moving on its own...

[WrathMage]

-Have something horrible get aboard the ship by mistake, sealed in one of the crates they're smuggling.

-Develop a sub-ruleset for the wind and sailing capabilities of the ship, so that they can come up with clever tactical maneuvers should they wish to.

-The goods the PCs were going to smuggle were delivered to the wrong place by mistake! Specifically, the contraband was delivered to the manor of the forthright, incorruptible colonial governor, and the PCs have to find a way to get the cargo back, preferably without anyone noticing.

Those are great ideas, I may have to steal those if I may...

Edit: Typos

[Talos]

In the realm of smuggling ideas, you could go with a fireflyesque motif. Piece mailed ship held together barely enough to be see worthy. A young captain taking jobs as he can to make do legal or otherwise. when a big payday comes it is very welcomed indeed and is a huge crew moral booster. mysterious box delivered to wrong place like mentioned before. then ensuing chaos make life more than interesting.

or a star wars style smugglers made some bad decisions in the past and is deep with the local warlord for some money or item. the crew commits to a big payday. they get the goods and then war lord steals it for payment but the owner is not very forgiving either. could be fun playing them against each other or what ever.

or go old pirate smuggling, 28 gun ship has only 6 guns operational so stealth and speed are most important at the moment. grease the right port authorities hand and escape in the early morning as the tide comes in maybe he slows your pursuers by not having their paperwork ready.

[Buddha's_Cookie]

To borrow from some of the ideas above. PCs (and npc crew?) steal a seemingly abandon ship from the docks for [insert story hook here] and find it contains strange cargo (mcguffin?). Before they realized what is happening the ship has moved out to sea. Then the fun starts, some of the (NPC?) crew start to disappear from the ship. They must find the source of the trouble and put an end to it if they are to return to shore.

Unless there is an overwhelming feeling that we can not agree on adventure ideas, I would like to move on to the areas I have no knowledge of in adventure creation. Which is integrating the encounters and story, stuff that I don't really know what I am talking about

[Kol Korran]

Some time ago we ran a short lived Pirates campaign, and I think either the initial adventure or the second adventure might work quite nicely:
1) Treasure hunt! In my group a famous pirate lord was recruiting crew to man another vessel for his fleet, but he'd be darned if he'd hire someone who couldn't find treasure! So he had a little test- in a small bunch of isles he hid a treasure, and he splits the aspiring pirates to a few crews (The PCs comprising one of them), and give each other a different set of clues to find... more clues to the whereabouts of the treasure. First team there get to pick their spots in the ship's crew, second crew picks of what's ever left, rest are crew.

This was really fun. There were 5 parts to the puzzle (The names of four islands that formed an "X" that marked the treasure island, and the last showed a clue to where the treasure is ON the island), and 5 more islands with other clues. Basically every island has some sort of a challenge, but everything was quite open ended. The party ended up searching some clues, ambushing some crews, trailing another and so on. Lots of fun!

We used fairly small boats, enough for a 4-5 group of PCs (Keel boats) and did a few sea faring challenges- sea combat, working against winds and currents and such.

Note: It took us about 12 hours gaming time to finish the treasure hunt, but you could probably cut it shorter (Plus my players really love to plan. Bastards! :smallwink: )

2) Not easy getting a boat! The former adventure turned out badly, and the forces of The Empire (Tm) arrived to oppose the islands. The idea here is that the PC's are in an oppressive territory, and they need to get out fast, but have no ship of their own. The party had quite a few options, from stealing enough loot to buy the ship of the ruling clan, from dealing with the nasty clan of halfling ship builders, and "persuade" them to "loan" one of their ships or... what they ended up doing- storming one of the Empire's ships and taking it!

You could add some other problems, like some being in jail, or getting a crew, or a sea chase by Empire forces and the like. My players had a blast, and they felt like they EARNED their ship. (And they did! :smallamused:)

Good luck to you! I may have some of my info stashed somewhere, if you want it. I often keep documents of my campaigns.