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Scubasteve0209
2021-08-19, 01:37 AM
I have passable ideas for campaigns, but I'm terrible at putting all the pieces together into a coherent story. I was hoping to share my ideas here & see what works, what doesn't, and see if anyone has advice on how to tighten the story & make it better.

Score of the Heartsong
The premise:

All PCs are crewmates on a merchant ship, "The Heartsong"
Pulls from various nautical/coastal adventures, such as Saltmarsh, or a few other adventures I've come across, but most adventures tie into an overarching story.


The Background:

"The Heartsong" is captained by a retired adventurer, Harkon "Hark" the Herald (Aasamir Bard)
At the climax of his own adventuring days, Harkon's party freed a malicious Marid lord, Deroh the Great. The Marid has been gathering allies and power ever since.
Other members of Harkon's former party:
+King Helmore- The adventure that freed the Marid was part of what secured his throne/kingdom
+Noel Heartsong- deceased. Died at the climax of the adventure. Probably tragically.
+Xaver Mohr- a mute knight
+[I]+1-2 others, haven't named them since they don't seem relevant.


Part of the reason Harkon captains his ship is to keep an eye out for signs of the Marid's activities. This is how the PC's become entangled in the adventure.
I'm not sure what the Marid's plan is, but one of my ideas is that he's working to release an evil sea goddess in order to gain the power to overthrow the ocean's kingdoms.


Deroh the Great is power-hungry, and has a number of schemes to stumble upon such as:

Deroh has enslaved a tribe of Sahuagin and is using them to take over regions, and raid inland communities to secure weapons and components (GoS: The "Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh" & "The Final Enemy")
Summoning creatures from the Plane of Water to do it's bidding (DM Guild: Tides of Fate)
A tribe of Lizardfolk expelled by the expanding Sahuagin forces (GoS: "Danger at Dunwater")
He is the patron of a shady town leader tricking adventurers into clearing a temple in order to find a powerful magic item (DM Guild: "Shore of Dreams")
Any other suggested Coastal/Aquatic/Shipborne adventures I could tie in.

but the arc that will likely bring Deroh to the forefront for the adventurers will be the kidnapping of King Helmore's newborn child, at its naming ceremony (the PC's will be in attendance, since Harkon will be performing). My idea is that the child's blood is needed as part of a ritual which must be performed at "x date, x location" ("The simultaneous eclipses of the Twin moons on the isle of Giants," etc) to release the chains of the Sea God's prison.

It feel like a fairly bare-bones concept at the moment. What would you recommend?

NRSASD
2021-08-19, 06:17 AM
So… you’ve got a decent enough premise. The party’s beloved mentor is in a grudge match with an immortal being. That’s a solid overall arc. Here’s my general advice on how I would run such a game:

1. Don’t start with the baby plot. A high profile kidnapping like that is going to provoke a major response from the king, a response any rational being would like to avoid. Therefore, the marid will want to minimize the amount of time it has to hold the kid hostage, so the event should be coming up really soon. If the genie snatches the kid way too early and holds him hostage for a month, it undermines his “master planner” vibe.

2. Instead, don’t mention the overarching plot initially. Have the party solve a fairly involved quest (Danger at Dunwater perhaps?) on their own as an independent incident. Have mentor guy show them the ropes and be very helpful without outshining the players. And then, just as the adventure is wrapping up, have the party discover a clue that the Marid is behind this. A clue that makes the mentor go “now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time…”
3. I figure your already doing this, but make sure mentor guy and his past adventuring buddies don’t upstage the PCs. The traditional way to do this is have the mentor die at the 40% mark of the campaign and bequeath his ship and quest to the players.
4. Besides that, looks like a solid start!

Scubasteve0209
2021-08-19, 10:50 AM
1. Don’t start with the baby plot. A high profile kidnapping like that is going to provoke a major response from the king, a response any rational being would like to avoid. Therefore, the marid will want to minimize the amount of time it has to hold the kid hostage, so the event should be coming up really soon. If the genie snatches the kid way too early and holds him hostage for a month, it undermines his “master planner” vibe.

2. Instead, don’t mention the overarching plot initially. Have the party solve a fairly involved quest (Danger at Dunwater perhaps?) on their own as an independent incident. Have mentor guy show them the ropes and be very helpful without outshining the players. And then, just as the adventure is wrapping up, have the party discover a clue that the Marid is behind this. A clue that makes the mentor go “now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time…”


Thanks!

Yes, I was planning on doing a few episodic adventures to start, and sprinkling hints about unrest in the underwater kingdoms, the Sahuagin army, and Deroh as things progress (discovered missives, overheard conversations, merfolk bodies washing ashore, etc.).

Harkon, Helmore, and the others might show the PC's ropes and guide them, but I see them more as quest-givers & delegators, rather than taking active roles. Xaver might join them in an early adventure just to set him up as an ally for later.

The ritual/kidnapping wouldn't be until numerous adventures in, when things have been sufficiently set up. There would be more story after the ritual adventure too, whether or not is succeeds, I just haven't fleshed that out yet. Deroh likely has other ways of weakening the goddess' prison, or if she's released it might shift to recapturing her. Hopefully different storylines reveal themselves as the game goes on.