PDA

View Full Version : So I just stranded my players in the Elemental Plane of Water for a year. 3.5)



celestialkin
2008-08-06, 03:11 AM
Some background to where my campaign currently is:


A player managed to seriously ****-off a Wizard (Wizards are major and extremely rare things in my campaign setting).
Wizard proceeds to send one of his apprentices with a scroll of Imprisonment to the player.
The apprentice kindly asked for his master's belongings back.
The player proceeds to annoy this individual to the point where he actually uses the scroll.
Other players have no clue what happened to player A.
Party then sets out on sea voyage on the dwarf paladin's galley with all their combined followers (65 gold dwarves soldiers who work for the dwarf paladin, 15 adepts/monks who serve the divine healer, and the 56 crazy undead/deathless worshiping cultist who serve player A and were the ones who stole the Wizard's items) to find the home island of the Wizard (the cultists got there by mistake after stealing a ship and getting lost at sea) to try and get player A back.
Party ends up in a strange mist where there are no fish, no stars, no sun, and no moon (it was a demiplane, which they did not get).
Wizard finally lets them find his island after they defeated his newest student/lackey.
Party convinces wizard to bring Player A back from the center of the earth in exchange for 30 years of life energy to rejuvenate him.
Party leaves on ship, and go back into the fog.



So, after this I rolled for a random plane on p.37 of the Manual of the Planes to see where they would end up after they left the fog. It ended up being the Elemental Plane of Water, which I found extremely fitting :D. So, to make it so they didn't instantly drown (I had to think on my feet here) I decided that they appeared on the border (See Set Borders on p.66 of the Manual of the Planes) between the Elemental Plane of Water and the Elemental Plane of Air. So basically, when they broke free from the fog they were sailing on an endless open ocean. We left off here.

Today I decided to begin planning what might happen next depending on their actions and choices (I am running a more open world where characters can "do as they like").

I am guessing that the first thing they will do after attempting to fish (the dwarf rigged the galley with fishing equipment, and they are currently out of any food) is to try and find land. I decided that there would be a possible plot-hook when they eventually catch an Aquatic Kobold (Unearthed Arcana) in their nets after 3 months (rolled a d12). If they manage to make nice with it (and bribe it) he might tell them that he has heard of a small island chain with some "Air breathers" about 12 months (rolled another d12) in a specific direction he will point to.

Assuming they decide to take this route, what should I do for those 12 months, and how should I handle the passage of time? At first I imagined just saying something on the lines of "A year had gone by, and your crew has managed to survive your long voyage....you had a few battles with aquatic creatures who attempted to board you, and even another sailing ship full of pirates. You made a total of xxxxxgp from these encounters, but you have used most of that to trade for supplies with small aquatic communities....you all managed to find enough driftwood to build a few more sections and attachments to your ship, which turned out useful due to the extra little feet now on-board (what else did you guys have to do?)...you have all grown closer together then you have ever imagined, and everyone knows each other by name...etc, etc, etc...". However, after thinking about all this I started to believe that this would be an incredible idea for an entire adventure/campaign. I instantly began to remember the show Start Trek: Enterprise, and especially the episode where they meet their same ship from their future which was crewed by their descendants (where I got the earlier idea for building attachments for their unexpected ship permanent home). Why not instead take these 12 months and role-play the whole thing?

What do the experienced DMs and players on here think about this idea for taking my campaign into an entirely different direction? I did not plan to take the PCs and my entire game in a completely different course, and especially not for an extended period of time like this, but I like what I am imagining, and I sort-of like the unexpectedness of this and how it reflects my "Open" game and the fact that the players are free to decide whatever course they like.

Does this idea of being stuck on a year long voyage seem like a good one? Does it seem like an idea I can sustain and work with for multiple gaming sessions? Should I be worried about the players turning against me, and hating this sudden **** in plot and gaming style(going from all we were doing and the strongholds and plots they had created to a very long sea voyage sea campaign)?

What plots, encounters, and challenges could I possibly have here?

If I end up doing this, how should I managed the flow of time? I mean, would I need to roleplay every single day? If not, how do I decide how much time happens between each encounter and possible plot-hook, and how do I make the transition between these events as a DM/verbally? How do I decide when combat encounters suddenly happened?

Also, how should I manage survival? They do have three experts with craft skills on-board, and they do have fishing equipment on the ship, but the dwarf paladin decided to leave his 20 dwarf commoner fishermen with Profession: (Fisherman) behind thinking he would not need them because he had planned the trip be only one month long and bought rations accordingly.

Have any DMs here done something similar to this before, or have any players here experienced a game like this before? If so, how did it turn out, and do you mind please sharing your experience with me?


As always, thanks in advance for any help!

Totally Guy
2008-08-06, 04:16 AM
I've been in a game of serenity where we were travelling in space for just over a year in-game time.

The plot was that we were travelling a secret route that nobody but our sponsor knew, a lady aboard the ship. Her ancestors had been putting fuelling stations at regular intervals for generations and we had to count several months to get to each one. I think there were only 4 or 5 checkpoints in total.

In between we came upon abandoned ships. That was funny as there was an imposter about with a similar space suit to our own and the GM kept saying the 5 of you see this, and the 5 of you do that until we realised that there were only meant to be 4 of us.

Then we had a couple of space birthdays. With the lack of night and day they were space birthdays.

We had to repair the plumbing on the ship.

We had to hack a malicious computer on the refuelling checkpoint.

Then one week we were presented with no plot whatsoever. The captain went "space crazy" and we ended up with a PC death, the captain, and we had a battle to save the scientist's legs from amputation.

The following week we ran election campaigns for the new captain which I had rigged with a little bit of performance roleplaying. Real life sleight of hand! And a new character showed up. A little old man that had been going the same way as we had for 50 years but very slowly, in a spaceship rowing boat.

Then we came upon upon the final checkpoint which was broken and we would not have the option of return. We got to our destination only to find it cold and lifeless. Which was a bit of a downer as the GM, she'd given my character recurring dreams of it being a planet of sixties looking girls. Downer ending.

Hope my tale was handy.

bosssmiley
2008-08-06, 05:08 AM
Go to paizo.com and download "Into the Maelstrom" for OD&D. That had whole sections on ensuring the survival of a lost fleet sailing weird planes between lost cultures. For $4, you can't go wrong!

Quietus
2008-08-06, 05:18 AM
The biggest problem I could see with this is that if the players are into your plot, which I hope they are, they'll be miffed with you taking it on a full year-long side trip. I know that I'd be annoyed, and it'd be distracting from the main plot. By the time they're done exploring the plane of water, they may have forgotten all about the big bad wizard or whatever else they were doing.

From what I read, your players are either A) Already on a side thing due to having pissed off the wizard, or B) Between arcs. If it's A, then scale back that time to days instead of months, and work in plot points that will let them get back to your main point. If it's B, then exploring the possibilities that this gives you could be interesting... but I'd still avoid fast-forwarding through "it's been X months", as that can potentially make players annoyed with you, for taking their character out of their control for a long period of time. It's one thing if the Aquatic Kobold were to say "Hey, go that way for X amount of time", and they decide to do it - that's THEIR decision. Saying "You guys all putz around for three months and finally fish up an aquatic kobold" isn't as good, because three months of time gone from their characters' lives is significant.

KillianHawkeye
2008-08-06, 08:36 AM
My suggestion would be to break things down into weeks whereby one or two interesting things happen per week. Make sure the NPCs are fleshed out and interesting and allow your players to break out into roleplaying whenever they want. Also have the NPCs initiate roleplaying with the PCs at random, maybe cook up some soap opera storylines that you can gradually unfold as time goes by.

Well, that's all that I can think of off the top of my head. I hope that helps.

LongVin
2008-08-06, 08:55 AM
I would say you should add in "action" between the months of waiting. I'm sure after a few weeks on an endless sea the crew might start to mutiny over the lack of perceived progress.

Then maybe a month or two later the party gets attacked by a giant sea monster.

etc...etc...

Sebastian
2008-08-06, 08:57 AM
Remember it don't have to be 1 year long, or at least the players don't have to know that it is supposed to last so long, at any moment you can interrupt the "sidequest" and return to the main story if players start to get too bored

celestialkin
2008-08-06, 09:37 AM
I've been in a game of serenity where we were travelling in space for just over a year in-game time.

The plot was that we were travelling a secret route that nobody but our sponsor knew, a lady aboard the ship. Her ancestors had been putting fuelling stations at regular intervals for generations and we had to count several months to get to each one. I think there were only 4 or 5 checkpoints in total.

In between we came upon abandoned ships. That was funny as there was an imposter about with a similar space suit to our own and the GM kept saying the 5 of you see this, and the 5 of you do that until we realised that there were only meant to be 4 of us.

Then we had a couple of space birthdays. With the lack of night and day they were space birthdays.

We had to repair the plumbing on the ship.

We had to hack a malicious computer on the refuelling checkpoint.

Then one week we were presented with no plot whatsoever. The captain went "space crazy" and we ended up with a PC death, the captain, and we had a battle to save the scientist's legs from amputation.

The following week we ran election campaigns for the new captain which I had rigged with a little bit of performance roleplaying. Real life sleight of hand! And a new character showed up. A little old man that had been going the same way as we had for 50 years but very slowly, in a spaceship rowing boat.

Then we came upon upon the final checkpoint which was broken and we would not have the option of return. We got to our destination only to find it cold and lifeless. Which was a bit of a downer as the GM, she'd given my character recurring dreams of it being a planet of sixties looking girls. Downer ending.

Hope my tale was handy.

Yes it will. Thanks!

I already see some possibilities I can transfer here:

An abandoned ship would be interesting. Maybe even make it a ghost ship, literally.

The "5 of us" thing is brilliant.

I like the birthday idea. At the very least it gives them something to do, and it could promote moral. However, with 126 of them on-board it might get redundant, and maybe even annoying.

I could turn pluming into ship repairs.

Although there are no computers here (except maybe on Mechanus), that did give me the idea of them needing to restuck/refuel. Maybe they come across an aquatic race's drifting settlement which the currents have brought near the surface?

What is "space crazy"? And what happened? :smalleek:

However, I don't think I'd be as cruel to say once they finally get there they won't be able to tell them how to get back. I might have a mutiny at that point.



Go to paizo.com and download "Into the Maelstrom" for OD&D. That had whole sections on ensuring the survival of a lost fleet sailing weird planes between lost cultures. For $4, you can't go wrong!

Thank you for telling me about that book. I just bought it RPGnow, and just based on the cover it seems very relevant to my interests. Much appreciated.

If anyone else happens to know any good books for this please let me know. 3rd party books are more than fine.



The biggest problem I could see with this is that if the players are into your plot, which I hope they are, they'll be miffed with you taking it on a full year-long side trip. I know that I'd be annoyed, and it'd be distracting from the main plot. By the time they're done exploring the plane of water, they may have forgotten all about the big bad wizard or whatever else they were doing.

From what I read, your players are either A) Already on a side thing due to having pissed off the wizard, or B) Between arcs. If it's A, then scale back that time to days instead of months, and work in plot points that will let them get back to your main point. If it's B, then exploring the possibilities that this gives you could be interesting...

Well, it is kinda both A & B. You see, the game was at a point where I had a number of possible directs and arcs they could have chosen to go take up. Again, I wish to successfully run a more "open" world, think an MMO like FFXI. However, the players were not proceeding very much, which I believe is because they are still very accustomed to the A to B to C to D to F style of D&D games where the DM dictates even the speed at which the entire game progresses in-game.

Also, the game was at a point where all the players had helped establish a new kingdom (run by two now retired PCs who are now the king and his lord after pulling the Throne card from a Deck of Many Things) where they were all now nobles, and two had military responsibility as commanders. Although I would personally prefer running a political game, the players have been asking for "More action". Therefore, I think this could allow them to adventure again without them having purposefully abandoned their responsibilities back home. Then again they might have actually wanted to stay back home, so it gets confusing for me as a DM here...


... but I'd still avoid fast-forwarding through "it's been X months", as that can potentially make players annoyed with you, for taking their character out of their control for a long period of time. It's one thing if the Aquatic Kobold were to say "Hey, go that way for X amount of time", and they decide to do it - that's THEIR decision. Saying "You guys all putz around for three months and finally fish up an aquatic kobold" isn't as good, because three months of time gone from their characters' lives is significant.

I see. Thank you for the heads up! As a noob DM things like this are very important for me to know.

I was originally planning to roleplay the first three months anyway, since I wanted at least a little seafaring.



My suggestion would be to break things down into weeks whereby one or two interesting things happen per week.

That is an amazing idea! I love it.

It seems so simple and basic in hindsight.

However, would that mean that we would be nearing a year of gaming in out-of-game time for this?


Make sure the NPCs are fleshed out and interesting and allow your players to break out into roleplaying whenever they want. Also have the NPCs initiate roleplaying with the PCs at random, maybe cook up some soap opera storylines that you can gradually unfold as time goes by.

Well, that's all that I can think of off the top of my head. I hope that helps.

I see. Another good idea. However, with 122 NPCs on-board that would eb a lot of writing. Then again, would that mean that most of my role-playing NPC needs are already on the ship? Would the condensed space also be a factor which would be in my favor, or would it be a drawback to the "all the needed NPCs are already on the ship" idea (I believe the Arms & Equipment Guide said a galley was only about 140ft x 50ft x 20ft)?



Remember it don't have to be 1 year long, or at least the players don't have to know that it is supposed to last so long, at any moment you can interrupt the "sidequest" and return to the main story if players start to get too bored

Thanks for making me realize that I do not need to tell them how long the journey is. Since everything in the Plane of Water is constantly drifting, I could say that the kobold ballparks "Months, or more".

However, I do want to stay true to the 12 months. I like to stick by the dice I roll for such things. That doesn't mean that they can't decide to head another route instead (such as straight down into the waters).

Jade_Tarem
2008-08-06, 10:03 AM
Don't forget that there's nothing players like better than pimping out their rides. In this case, that means that deep in their heart of hearts, they won't be sated until they're driving the bloody Nautilus. Several quests can be made that will either reward the players with, or require them to aquire, some upgrades to thier ship. Some examples include:

1. Better on-board weaponry.
2. Ship Armor.
3. The ability to travel underwater.
4. A propulsion system that doesn't rely on wind, current, or rowing, but may require some other, non-renewable resource to use, which is itself a plot hook. Red boat needs phlebotinum (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AppliedPhlebotinum) badly!
5. Much later, the ablity to glide/fly, perhaps.
6. A bigger, possibly cooler looking superstructure.

Note that the aquisition of these allows for more adventure options. Numbers 1 and 2 allow for more dire naval engagements. 3 and 4 provide underwater adventures, allowing them to travel into the elemental plane of water (where, of course, the *real* treasure is) instead of just on it. 2, 3, and 4 together allow them to into areas previously unaccessable due to high pressure. Multiple quests to find the thing that makes 4 go can be had. 4 also allows for a fight or chase to occur at higher speeds, which could get interesting if you want to throw in a ticked-off aquatic dragon. 5 allows exploration of the plane of air, as well as for airship combat, and of course, the gloriously cinematic launch from underwater clear up into thin air. The possiblities are endless, really.

celestialkin
2008-08-06, 10:12 AM
Don't forget that there's nothing players like better than pimping out their rides. In this case, that means that deep in their heart of hearts, they won't be sated until they're driving the bloody Nautilus. Several quests can be made that will either reward the players with, or require them to aquire, some upgrades to thier ship. Some examples include:

1. Better on-board weaponry.
2. Ship Armor.
3. The ability to travel underwater.
4. A propulsion system that doesn't rely on wind, current, or rowing, but may require some other, non-renewable resource to use, which is itself a plot hook. Red boat needs phlebotinum (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AppliedPhlebotinum) badly!
5. Much later, the ablity to glide/fly, perhaps.
6. A bigger, possibly cooler looking superstructure.

Note that the aquisition of these allows for more adventure options. Numbers 1 and 2 allow for more dire naval engagements. 3 and 4 provide underwater adventures, allowing them to travel into the elemental plane of water (where, of course, the *real* treasure is) instead of just on it. 2, 3, and 4 together allow them to into areas previously unaccessable due to high pressure. Multiple quests to find the thing that makes 4 go can be had. 4 also allows for a fight or chase to occur at higher speeds, which could get interesting if you want to throw in a ticked-off aquatic dragon. 5 allows exploration of the plane of air, as well as for airship combat, and of course, the gloriously cinematic launch from underwater clear up into thin air. The possiblities are endless, really.


Dude, every bit of that is pure awesome.

Thank you for the ideas. I had just daydreamed a tribe of gnomes who travel underwater in gnome submersibles (the Gnome Submersible in the Arms & Equipment Guide) and have an underwater settlement in the style of Sea Quest or 10,000 Leagues (I believe they had one. It has been a long while since I saw that movie.), but I had no idea what to do with them. :smallbiggrin:

only1doug
2008-08-06, 10:21 AM
this seems the perfect opportunity for a star trek type scenario (OK it's ST:Voyager, sorry) travelling on their small vessel they attempt to find their way home, need re-supplies, need parts, meet random strangers, get involved in small wars, foil huge invasions, meet bored god-like entities that torment the PC's for their own amusement...

Endless plots and when it starts to get boring you mix it up by adding flight or submerged travel.
Eventually you offer an exit (make the exit too small for the ship to fit so they don't get a flying submarine when they return) then offer a return ticket so they can go back and wrap up the loose ends (and try to find a way to get their ship off that plane).

Doug

KillianHawkeye
2008-08-06, 10:55 AM
That is an amazing idea! I love it.

It seems so simple and basic in hindsight.

However, would that mean that we would be nearing a year of gaming in out-of-game time for this?

Basically, I mean converting days to weeks. Normally, you roll for random encounters at least every day, and basically have a chance to roleplay each day's activities. Just change that to weeks. Roll for encounters for each week such that you'd only have an encounter once or twice a week (or not at all). Likewise, generalize and paraphrase the roleplaying over the course of the week (except for the really important parts). Ask your players what they are doing this week, instead of what they are doing every day.

I don't know how that will affect your IRL time. It will depend on how much you do each session and how often you meet. But for 12 to 15 months of game time you are looking at 48 to 60 weeks, plenty of time for a decent adventure path.


I see. Another good idea. However, with 122 NPCs on-board that would eb a lot of writing. Then again, would that mean that most of my role-playing NPC needs are already on the ship? Would the condensed space also be a factor which would be in my favor, or would it be a drawback to the "all the needed NPCs are already on the ship" idea (I believe the Arms & Equipment Guide said a galley was only about 140ft x 50ft x 20ft)?

I didn't mean to write a personality for EVERY NPC on the ship, just enough of them to trick your players into thinking that each one is potentially important.

Basically, lets say that 85% of the crew are completely generic deck hands or soldiers or whatever. They're completely in the background. That leaves you with about 18 NPCs on the ship that should at least have a name and a basic personality. The trick here is to spread them out; they shouldn't all be in the same group. They shouldn't even necessarily be the highest level NPCs you have (well, not all of them anyway). I mean, certainly the NPCs closest to the PCs should be given personalities, but it could also be:

-the ship's cook
-one of the soldiers who had to learn how to fish
-a dwarf who's starting to freak out because there's no land in sight for months
-a soldier who misses home and is always found looking out towards the horizon
-a monk who sits on the deck writing down everything that happens (chronicling the journey)
-some cultist who is just plain crazier than the rest who wants to turn everyone undead so they don't need food anymore
-a mage and a soldier who're always stepping on each other's toes
-two NPCs who didn't really know each other before now but gradually fall in love
-anything else remotely interesting or relatable

If there's different groups on board the ship, put a couple fleshed out NPCs in each group as a sort of representatives for your PCs to relate to the group as a whole. Be sure to make some character development plans for these important NPCs, so that they are not just static caricatures. The more these few people seem to be living their lives on your ship, the more your players will feel like their characters are really spending time at sea. Once again, it's all about tricking the players. Note that this still leaves plenty of room for roleplaying encounters involving peaceful creatures or native NPCs.

Totally Guy
2008-08-07, 07:35 AM
"Space crazy", it's like cabin fever but on a spaceship instead of a boat. In your game you'd probably want modify this to... Sea Crazy. Or cabin fever.

PnP Fan
2008-08-07, 09:44 AM
Hmm. . . lost at sea? I'd go straight for the classics. Go get some cliffs notes or wiki The Odessey, pick out the main travel parts of the story (heck, go read it, it's good for you! ;-). Then re-cast them as D&D scenarios with more detail, or possibly take your own twist on the situation. Tie it in with your original story, as something other than a random encounter.

It's a classic that's entertained people since it's inception, so your players ought to enjoy it. As a plus, your more literary players will get a kick out of your take on this classic.

fangthane
2008-08-07, 10:23 AM
If it were me, I suspect I'd study up on my Coleridge.

Or, failing that, I'd listen to some Iron Maiden. :) If you play tunes while playing D&D (our group does), you might consider queueing up Rime of the Ancient Mariner in the background ;)

I agree with others that speeding the timeframe to a matter of weeks would be better, as it reduces the sense that you're 'robbing' the party of their youth and time through this side-quest and thus reduces the tendency to dissatisfaction. Ultimately though it's got to be down to your feel for your gaming group. Me, I'd roleplay through the whole thing, speeding things up when decisions are made to follow a days- or weeks-long course of action. Your group might not be willing to put up with that, but if they are it's a strong opportunity to exercise your imaginations. :)

Some thoughts:
Have an albatross show up when they're about halfway to their target. An albatross can fly incredible distances on virtually no energy expenditure, and can rest on the water's surface - but they return to land to nest. If the party follows it (or backtracks its path), perhaps they gain sight of shorter-ranged seabirds and can zero in on the land mass, or perhaps you let them see a smudge on the horizon, or whatever else.
The main thing, as with all things D&D, is to engage the party in the process. We as DMs create a world, a backdrop, and have it react to their actions, but it's the party that writes their own story. If they want to say "later that voyage" and ffwd that's one thing, but certainly don't force it on them.
PnP Fan has some good notions too. I tend to beeline for the Coleridge when it comes to sailors and Khans, but there's good material in Homer too.

PnP Fan
2008-08-07, 03:23 PM
Thanks Thane!
Oooohhh! And heaven help them if they kill the albatross for food or something! All kinds of bad news there! Wish I'd thought of that first.

Or, borrowing from something else, you could have them run accross I gigantic fish that gets caught in their nets/trawling lines/fishing lines, and have it run them all over the place until it gets tired, and the players are tired of introspective dialogue. hmmmm. . .never mind, that doesn't sound like that much fun, and the book was kinda boring when I was a kid.