FaradayCage
2018-10-28, 08:04 PM
Your players are sailing a small ship. They come across an island. Small. Less than an acre.
On this island there is a man. He may be casually smoking a pipe, or staring at the sea, or watching a tiny crab walking on his arm, or waving his arms wildly asking for help. He may be dressed wonderfully or he may be in rags.
The players might be intrigued (or maybe the island has a tree that will perfectly replace the mast they just lost in a storm), and they will anchor to speak to the man. Of course, because the situation is so weird - it wouldn't be wrong of you to make the ship keep returning to this island even if their course is true.
How is he here? How does he survive? Can we help?
It would be very easy for a DM to play him as a lunatic in his answers (Gollum, Joker, Castor Troy...)
Why not play him more like Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka? A sort of comfortable deadpan weirdness? As if it is the players themselves that are crazy?
"Why am I here? I'm here...well...because I am not there." (He points to a fish roasting on a spit as he says "there")
"How do I survive? Seagull droppings, mostly. Fish, occasionally. Sailors are a rare treat, but that was only one time and it's a long story."
"You can't drink seawater? Yes you can. Squirt the salt out between your teeth before you swallow. It's not wand magic, people."
Who is this person? Is he a hero? Villain? God? Demigod? Mortal? Cursed?
Let me know.
On this island there is a man. He may be casually smoking a pipe, or staring at the sea, or watching a tiny crab walking on his arm, or waving his arms wildly asking for help. He may be dressed wonderfully or he may be in rags.
The players might be intrigued (or maybe the island has a tree that will perfectly replace the mast they just lost in a storm), and they will anchor to speak to the man. Of course, because the situation is so weird - it wouldn't be wrong of you to make the ship keep returning to this island even if their course is true.
How is he here? How does he survive? Can we help?
It would be very easy for a DM to play him as a lunatic in his answers (Gollum, Joker, Castor Troy...)
Why not play him more like Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka? A sort of comfortable deadpan weirdness? As if it is the players themselves that are crazy?
"Why am I here? I'm here...well...because I am not there." (He points to a fish roasting on a spit as he says "there")
"How do I survive? Seagull droppings, mostly. Fish, occasionally. Sailors are a rare treat, but that was only one time and it's a long story."
"You can't drink seawater? Yes you can. Squirt the salt out between your teeth before you swallow. It's not wand magic, people."
Who is this person? Is he a hero? Villain? God? Demigod? Mortal? Cursed?
Let me know.