Ideas For The Sea

[shaka gl]

Im looking for ideas for the next session of the game im running. The pcs have to travel by sea to a distant land (since their country is now under new management ) I want something to happen during their journey, but id prefer something that doesnt seem stolen from Pirates of the caribbean. Thanks.

[Bouldering Jove]

Are they traveling as passengers, or with their own ship? Either way, there's at least going to have to be some other people on board for nautical knowhow. Have one of them be a problem. Examples:

*Stowaway fugitive. Clearly a little over the edge, guilty of murder, convinced he's innocent, and to make things worse, a sorceror. Stopping him shouldn't be a tough fight, but he'll use fire spells, and then saving the ship from burning is going to get very desperate very fast.
*Slaver saboteur. Tries to disable the ship somehow at a particular location; if he can't be stopped, the ship's dead in the water, and the players will have to deal with a "pirate" ship full of real nasty people with a business in control spells. Also a lot of prisoners in shackles who can't wait to turn the tables on their captors, though.
*Shapechanging supernatural monster. Crewmen start missing, and then bloodstains are found in the hold, so it's time to play detective and find the monster. If the eventual battle with it takes place belowdecks, it's going to be a very cramped fight.

Or you could just throw some dire albatrosses at them.

[I_Got_This_Name]

Or you could just throw some dire albatrosses at them.

Yes, yes. That would be quite nasty. Shooting an albatross is bad luck, but if it's attacking you. . .

Make them use Flyby Attack, too, so the PCs can't try to lawyer the superstition by stabbing it. Then, of course, something simple and natural can go wrong on the ship (storm; hold springs a leak and all of their food falls out before it has to be plugged to stop sinking; sail tears and ropes break), and the PCs get blamed for their bad luck (Rime of the Ancient Mariner style)

[Bouldering Jove]

Yes, yes. That would be quite nasty. Shooting an albatross is bad luck, but if it's attacking you. . .

Make them use Flyby Attack, too, so the PCs can't try to lawyer the superstition by stabbing it. Then, of course, something simple and natural can go wrong on the ship (storm; hold springs a leak and all of their food falls out before it has to be plugged to stop sinking; sail tears and ropes break), and the PCs get blamed for their bad luck (Rime of the Ancient Mariner style)

I wasn't even thinking about the luck element; that would be hilarious.

"You've doomed us all! You just HAD to shoot the albatross, didn't you?"
"It was a dire albatross. It was attacking us!"
"Oh, and we're better off now that we're taking on water?"
"For Pelor's sake, it ate the First Mate!"
"Listen to the landlubbers and their excuses."

[General_Ghoul]

Several years ago, my party needed to travel across the seas, and by luck , we met a traveling magic salesman. He had a partner in the seafaring business, one of those giant turtle/islands. It actually had a small village on its back with a weaponsmith, armourer, alchemist, librarian ( alittle more later on this one) and a small garrison of militia. The Caravan, as it was called, travelled port to port ( really ofshore with small boats to and from land) staying a few days at a time, trading with the locals, then moving on. Not until later in the campaign did we realize the turtle (I wish I could remember her name) was a full fledged member of the Caravan. A high level wizard, she lived to learn.

So the reason for her travels were to collect books, which the libarian read to her while traveling. The price of passage was to defend against foes ( we met the obligatory pirates, sea monsters, and eventually a kraken), trading wizard spells, and telling her our characters life stories ( those backgrounds WERE important, hmmm) which took very little actual time, but did inhance the gameplay. She became good friends with my dwarven cleric, she seemed fascinated with life underground. She was our "basecamp" from 5th to 11th level, and we brought her back for our final "epic" battle @ 17th level vs a godlike being.

The DM didnt plan on using her again, but it made sense to him that we would use all available resources to defeat someone trying to destroy the world.

We met several other groups who used her for onetime passages, this copuld work for your group too.

[Jack_of_Spades]

A dragon turtle with a bunch of Sahaugin riding on its back.

[shaka gl]

Or you could just throw some dire albatrosses at them.

I actually liked that one . Now, ¿how do i make a Dire Albatross?

[shaka gl]

Several years ago, my party needed to travel across the seas, and by luck , we met a traveling magic salesman. He had a partner in the seafaring business, one of those giant turtle/islands. It actually had a small village on its back with a weaponsmith, armourer, alchemist, librarian ( alittle more later on this one) and a small garrison of militia. The Caravan, as it was called, travelled port to port ( really ofshore with small boats to and from land) staying a few days at a time, trading with the locals, then moving on. Not until later in the campaign did we realize the turtle (I wish I could remember her name) was a full fledged member of the Caravan. A high level wizard, she lived to learn.

So the reason for her travels were to collect books, which the libarian read to her while traveling. The price of passage was to defend against foes ( we met the obligatory pirates, sea monsters, and eventually a kraken), trading wizard spells, and telling her our characters life stories ( those backgrounds WERE important, hmmm) which took very little actual time, but did inhance the gameplay. She became good friends with my dwarven cleric, she seemed fascinated with life underground. She was our "basecamp" from 5th to 11th level, and we brought her back for our final "epic" battle @ 17th level vs a godlike being.

The DM didnt plan on using her again, but it made sense to him that we would use all available resources to defeat someone trying to destroy the world.

We met several other groups who used her for onetime passages, this copuld work for your group too.

I liked this one too. But i cannot seem to find it in any manual. ¿Where is this turtle?

[Fax Celestis]

A crew of Darfellans.

Conversely, check out the Pirate contest entries in the Design Contests forum. October, I think. Should be some good ideas there.

[General_Ghoul]

Zaratan, its in Arms&Equipment. Pg 88. Ours was obviously more intelligent, with class levels.