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Arkvoodle
2017-02-19, 02:06 AM
So, as sometimes happens while engaged in other activities, I had a vision of a game involving a vast underdark ocean, a drow slave ship, escaped slave PCs, a surface port city with an entrance to the underdark ocean, an underdark port city where ghosts and specters live alongside living beings, and pirates.

Obviously I got kind of excited by the ideas running through my head and decided I needed to use these in a game. So I started tooling around with the idea of a game that begins with the PCs as drow slaves on board a ship sailing between these two ports on the underdark ocean (yet to be named). Of course the PCs will escape, potentially taking control of the ship for themselves and setting themselves up for high adventure on the midnight waters!! But...that's as far as I've gotten. When it comes to an actual adventure arc I'm drawing a blank.

There are of course the old tropes of hunting pirates, becoming pirates, searching for treasure, going after the drow that enslaved them, freeing other slaves, or just escaping to the surface. But I really want to do something a little more memorable with this game, and try to keep the PCs in the underdark at least for a while, since it's a setting I personally haven't used very often. I've thought about going for an open, sandbox style of game once the PCs have freed themselves, but in my experience such games tend to deteriorate without some DM provided goal or direction.

So I'm fishing for ideas here. My creative well is a bit dry and I need a brainstorm to fill it back up.

Nimlouth
2017-02-19, 02:44 AM
I'm not ashamed to say that i'll probably be stealing this campaign general idea for my next game xD...

Now, here is some advice on your "plot":

Give the players A REASON to adventure. Yeah, being slaved by drows is enough motivation to free themsevles and take retribution to the slavers, but there has to be a major goal that your players sould want to achieve.
for instance, set a recurring foe (like a lich or drow matriarch) that have major interests on the land that the PCs are in. Someone recruiting an underdark army to invade the surface or trying to reach a sunken temple in the dark sea, that may have a sealed portal or mystic weapon of the ages waiting to be unchained, possibly casuing the destruction of the entire world or something like that...
Then set a couple of factions trying to achieve maybe the same goal or trying to destroy one another, so the PCs get in the middle of the crossfire of these faction's wars.
Make one of the PCs familiar or friend npc get captured by the evil foe so they set their ultimate goal in rescuing him. That move may or may not be a trap to get one of the PCs in the hands of the evil lich at that sunken temple because that PCs may or may not be the key to unlock the evil power of the abyss warsh ghah cha bluh! :d

Don't be afraid of recurring to classic tropes or steal ideas from books or videogames also. Or even re-using your old campaign plots for that case xD.

daniel_ream
2017-02-19, 02:55 AM
So I'm fishing for ideas here. My creative well is a bit dry and I need a brainstorm to fill it back up.

There's certainly a ton of good "adventurers on a ship" resources out there. The eye-bleedingly awful TV show The Adventures of Sinbad (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Sinbad) nonetheless had good writing and 44 episodes worth of adventure ideas, although not too many on a ship exclusively.

A sandbox campaign sounds like the default option, and they can work great as long as the players can self-direct. It sounds like that's not the case in your play groups (it may also be true that there's not enough actively going on for the PCs to interact with in the sandboxes you've played, I don't know).

Try the "One from column A, One from column B" approach. Write down all the Underdark-specific things you like in one column, and all the typical pirate-y adventure things you like in another. Pick one from each and figure out how they go together. Maybe there's an aboleth on a deserted island in the middle of the Underdark ocean ruling a Tortuga-esque pirate haven. Maybe different factions of drow royalty are paying privateers to prey on each other for plausible deniability.

Or work with what makes the underdark ocean unique. There's no stars and no sun, so how do ships navigate? How do they see each other at ranges long enough to make piracy feasible? Maybe they have some kind of magical radar-equivalent. Or navigation is done with a a combination of dead reckoning and a crystal enchanted to tell you exactly how far you are from the Great Temple to Lolth.

Arkvoodle
2017-02-19, 03:26 AM
Or work with what makes the underdark ocean unique. There's no stars and no sun, so how do ships navigate? How do they see each other at ranges long enough to make piracy feasible? Maybe they have some kind of magical radar-equivalent. Or navigation is done with a a combination of dead reckoning and a crystal enchanted to tell you exactly how far you are from the Great Temple to Lolth.

This actually made me think of something. How would ships sail an ocean where there is no wind? Sails would be useless in the deep caverns where no breezes blow. I suppose slave powered oars could propel a ship. But what other methods might the sailors of the deep employ to move across the water?

Yora
2017-02-19, 03:40 AM
This is a perfect setup for a sandbox campaign. Eve if it's on water.

The players start out in a hostile and strange environment and their first concern after gaining their freedom is to survive. Either they try to find a way back to the surface or they become some kind of pirates. In both cases they will have to roam around to find resources and learn more about the world around them. Establish that the party can not just get off at the nearest shore and then take the next tunnel to the surface. Such passages are few and they will need a map and equipment for a long underground journey, or they will have to find a way to get teleported home.

What I would do is draw a map of the sea with plenty of large coves and bays in huge side caverns and a good number of islands and then create a long list of all the places and people that could be encountered on the sea or shores. And then mark on the map where they are located.
The beauty of this setting is that almost everything down there is either evil or crazy, but they can not afford to always attack each other on sight. And most of the various ports will be trading with each other, so a ship with surfacers coming into the harbor would raise very little attention. Yet at the same time every time the players land somewhere there's dangers and the potential for awesome battles with weird opponents. The players could try to trade for supplie they need or attempt to raid small ports or other ships.

There are two obvious ways the campaign could start. Either the party manages to quietly slip away and needs to find a ship, or they outright take over the ship of the slavers. Then they will need a crew and get some information on where they are,and perhaps some local guides.As sandboxes go, this one should be really easy to get the players into: "You're all alone in a hostile world and all you have is a ship and weapons. Good luck."
The alternative is to have an NPC who always tells them what they have to do next to get back home. That would probably be rather lame.

All the other people and groups on the sea don't really need to have any villainous plans they are working on. It's enough for them to just do their normal business and have valuable resources that they don't want to give away. To add some extra activity you could have the bosses of the slavers wantinf their ship and their slaves back and send other ships after them once their captured ship is spotted in some of the ports. Or you could have some slaves on the ship who are from nearby, like svirfneblin, who would like to get home and the players would have to figure out which of the ports is the best spot to drop them off.
The real story should very quickly evolve from whoever the party keeps pissing off and comes after them.

Again, as sandbox setups go, this one is brilliant.


This actually made me think of something. How would ships sail an ocean where there is no wind? Sails would be useless in the deep caverns where no breezes blow. I suppose slave powered oars could propel a ship. But what other methods might the sailors of the deep employ to move across the water?

You don't need to have to go very deep until the ground below you gets pretty warm. With a cave this massive there could be a considerable temperature difference between the bottom of the sea and the ceiling above it. You could also add underwater steam vents to add extra energy. Water would evaporate and rise with warm air to the ceiling where it condenses and the cooling air then comes down again. This will lead to considerable air circulation and also some water currents, and if the sea is not just a single big sphere but a network of huge caverns there should be some very considerable drafts in many places. It probably should be more calm than any surface ocean and the weather would be very stable, but sailing at modest speeds should be possible in most places. Could be fun to have some smaller side caverns where the players find their sails no longer working.

Arkvoodle
2017-02-19, 03:58 AM
This is a perfect setup for a sandbox campaign. Eve if it's on water.

The players start out in a hostile and strange environment and their first concern after gaining their freedom is to survive. Either they try to find a way back to the surface or they become some kind of pirates. In both cases they will have to roam around to find resources and learn more about the world around them. Establish that the party can not just get off at the nearest shore and then take the next tunnel to the surface. Such passages are few and they will need a map and equipment for a long underground journey, or they will have to find a way to get teleported home.

What I would do is draw a map of the sea with plenty of large coves and bays in huge side caverns and a good number of islands and then create a long list of all the places and people that could be encountered on the sea or shores. And then mark on the map where they are located.
The beauty of this setting is that almost everything down there is either evil or crazy, but they can not afford to always attack each other on sight. And most of the various ports will be trading with each other, so a ship with surfacers coming into the harbor would raise very little attention. Yet at the same time every time the players land somewhere there's dangers and the potential for awesome battles with weird opponents. The players could try to trade for supplie they need or attempt to raid small ports or other ships.

There are two obvious ways the campaign could start. Either the party manages to quietly slip away and needs to find a ship, or they outright take over the ship of the slavers. Then they will need a crew and get some information on where they are,and perhaps some local guides.As sandboxes go, this one should be really easy to get the players into: "You're all alone in a hostile world and all you have is a ship and weapons. Good luck."
The alternative is to have an NPC who always tells them what they have to do next to get back home. That would probably be rather lame.

All the other people and groups on the sea don't really need to have any villainous plans they are working on. It's enough for them to just do their normal business and have valuable resources that they don't want to give away. To add some extra activity you could have the bosses of the slavers wantinf their ship and their slaves back and send other ships after them once their captured ship is spotted in some of the ports. Or you could have some slaves on the ship who are from nearby, like svirfneblin, who would like to get home and the players would have to figure out which of the ports is the best spot to drop them off.
The real story should very quickly evolve from whoever the party keeps pissing off and comes after them.

Again, as sandbox setups go, this one is brilliant.



You don't need to have to go very deep until the ground below you gets pretty warm. With a cave this massive there could be a considerable temperature difference between the bottom of the sea and the ceiling above it. You could also add underwater steam vents to add extra energy. Water would evaporate and rise with warm air to the ceiling where it condenses and the cooling air then comes down again. This will lead to considerable air circulation and also some water currents, and if the sea is not just a single big sphere but a network of huge caverns there should be some very considerable drafts in many places. It probably should be more calm than any surface ocean and the weather would be very stable, but sailing at modest speeds should be possible in most places. Could be fun to have some smaller side caverns where the players find their sails no longer working.

Huh, you make a good point. Maybe I'll test this game out here on the forums before taking it to the table. Give myself a chance to play test some of the encounter and story ideas and see what potential paths players might choose to follow.

Yora
2017-02-19, 04:26 AM
Now that I think of it, returning a group of other slaves on the ship to their home might do for a great introductory adventure. The leader of the group could be their guide and tell them what they need to do to get their bearings. While the players are doing that they are going to meet other people along the way, making new enemies and also being introduced to potential allies by the other slaves.
Then once those slaves have disembarked and went home, the players should be left with a ship, some crew, a general idea of the environment and who the various factions are, knowledge of some interesting places, and potentially some people they have unfinished business with. Those could be either enemies they made or friends who have asked them to come visit them later for a reward. This puts the players in a much better position to really take control of what they are doing next than just telling them "Here is a sandbox, now go."

Arkvoodle
2017-02-19, 04:51 AM
Now that I think of it, returning a group of other slaves on the ship to their home might do for a great introductory adventure. The leader of the group could be their guide and tell them what they need to do to get their bearings. While the players are doing that they are going to meet other people along the way, making new enemies and also being introduced to potential allies by the other slaves.
Then once those slaves have disembarked and went home, the players should be left with a ship, some crew, a general idea of the environment and who the various factions are, knowledge of some interesting places, and potentially some people they have unfinished business with. Those could be either enemies they made or friends who have asked them to come visit them later for a reward. This puts the players in a much better position to really take control of what they are doing next than just telling them "Here is a sandbox, now go."

I see what you are saying. But I'm unsure of how to execute it. In my mind, I see the PCs taking control of the ship, and the prisoners asking to be taken home. They set sail, and then the PCs start asking questions and what follows is a massive exposition dump while they interrogate the other slaves for every little detail they can. I can easily see the first session of this game being nothing but essentially explaining everything about the setting to them, rather than them discovering it on their own. After all, the escaped slaves would know a lot about the area, and have no reason not to tell the PCs what they know.

I can see a potential hook with having some of the other escaped slaves wanting to take the ship for themselves, causing conflict with the PCs over who should be in charge and where they should go. But otherwise not a lot of conflict between them escaping and them reaching their destination.

Maybe my brain is too tired to be creative right now....?

Yora
2017-02-19, 05:19 AM
The other rescued slaves don't have to know everything. Perhaps only one of them had been to the sea once or twice before and another one knows some traders from one of the ports who have ocasionally come to his city somewhere else in the Underdark. They could tell the players that they would like to be taken to Port Redstone because they know that there are regular trade caravans from there going to their home city. But they have no real clue where they currently are and how to get to Port Redstone. So the first part of the adventure could be to find a map that has the lables in a language they can read.

Herobizkit
2017-02-19, 05:47 AM
It's probably easier to brainstorm by jotting down every random idea you have and trying to draw logical connections between them. What you're trying to do is equivalent to creating an entire season of TV at once. You'll go crazy doing that.

Instead, just think of possible tropes, settings, people/races, and situations. Borrow heavily from Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek: Voyager and Stargate: Universe; each of these series focuses on a ship in unknown waters (well, space) with limited supplies.

You COULD make your game more social and Walking Dead-y, wherein the focus is on the players and their relationship with the NPC slaves. Maybe the slaves don't know much of anything. Why would they? They're slaves. They're also expendable and it's up to you how replaceable they are.

Pugwampy
2017-02-19, 11:31 AM
I'm not ashamed to say that i'll probably be stealing this campaign general idea for my next game xD...

Me too . :smallbiggrin: I had similar idea in my head but it was a normal pirate slave ship on the surface. An Underdark slaveship is much cooler .


As for extra ideas why not let the game just flow and see what happens . Take note of what happens in your sessions perhaps in a diary and use that for inspiration . That is usually what i do . I never have a major plan , I just have start off point .

If players dont want to stay in the Underdark dont force them .

Stealth Marmot
2017-02-22, 08:57 AM
Just an idea, the haunted port could work into the PCs being taken as slaves as they get captured and when taken to port, the drow holding them captive disappear.

Long story short, the drow got possessed and it's the PC's job to exorcise whatever is causing the ghosts to come back. They have the choice of flat killing the possessed drow (not like they would shed a tear for their jailers most likely) or saving them in order to get them to help them sail out of the place.