Disclaimer: Eventide (and the rest of my players, for that matter) need not peek!
SO! I've recently begun my 4th campaign. Disclaimer that all my campaigns have been homebrew from start to finish, but that I do have access to most of the modules/campaign guides/official content through one of my players and content sharing. I'm already going to look a bit further into ideas from Saltmarsh, for example. So with that stated...
What do you all think would be some interesting seafaring adventures for a pirateering campaign?
I'm looking for ideas that are a little more in-depth than simply "the ship scuttles," "they find a treasure map," "a sea beast attacks," "they're hired to transport something," etc. Those are all ideas I've already had (although if your idea is aligned with those but still interesting or involves a unique twist, I certainly wouldn't ignore it!). I'm looking for fascinating ideas for NPCs and islands, explored or unexplored, or other seafarers they could come across, or unique takes on seafaring story arcs, or ideas surrounding specific types of enemies - that sort of stuff! The game I'm running, for example, starts with the party exploring an "unexplored, uninhabited" island, funded by a cartographer, that they quickly find out is not so uninhabited. It's a bit of a hex crawl in its first arc, a la Hotsprings Island.
Random encounter ideas while on the high seas are also quite welcome!
There are a few intelligent races that can breathe water. They can have underwater boats that aren’t airtight that sail with the ocean currents instead of the wind. That gives you three dimensional combat with concealment for the monsters who are attacking while your PCs are limited to two dimensional combat without being able to see where the next attack is coming from.
Ship to ship combat can be a lot of fun!
The ocean is huge! So are a lot of beasts that live in it. Why not have monsters that grow to massive sizes in the water?
Storms can add interesting skill check. Strength to tie down supplies dexterity to keep the sails and rigging intact wisdom to help predict the storm and intelligence for effective repairs
I hadn't considered the magical equivalent of submarines, thank you for that idea!
And one thing about my homebrew setting is that a lot of mythical features are extinct due to multiple cataclysmic events throughout history - though not completely. That said, creatures that just so happen to grow huge is a great idea!
I hadn't considered the magical equivalent of submarines, thank you for that idea!
And one thing about my homebrew setting is that a lot of mythical features are extinct due to multiple cataclysmic events throughout history - though not completely. That said, creatures that just so happen to grow huge is a great idea!
The first submarine was used during the American Revolution in the 1770's.
Don't need magic if you've got someone crazy enough to seal themselves in a sphere and go into the water.....
I play in a seafaring campaign (although we do spend about 1/2 our time on land... it's become a joke we're land pirates) But I digress.
A few of the unique sea encounters have been 1. Mysterious lady who shows up in the fog (actually a dragon) 2. Descriptions of strange happenings in night sky 3. A pirate ship attack, who we were equally matched with. The bard eventually convinces the fighting to stop because it was a stale-mate. We are now friends with those pirates! 4. To commission a specific magic item we found a mysterious wizard (a friendly but secretive beholder) who lives in a remote island. A temple underneath the island was a part of the quest. 5. Pirates with Lycanthrope. They infected 4/5 party members and we have to get creative to save the 1 non-infected before we reached landed and cured ourselves ( we were 2 months away from land and no means to cure a curse).
We've done more but those plot points took place on land, which were standard DND hooks. If I think of more I'll add!
Thanks so much for your input, I love all those ideas!
I've definitely considered crews of different races - one idea I have is for a flotilla of goblinkind that live out on the seas, who actually trade with other merchant ships (when they're not plundering them, of course). A lycanthrope crew sounds awesome!
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Disclaimer: Eventide (and the rest of my players, for that matter) need not peek!
SO! I've recently begun my 4th campaign. Disclaimer that all my campaigns have been homebrew from start to finish, but that I do have access to most of the modules/campaign guides/official content through one of my players and content sharing. I'm already going to look a bit further into ideas from Saltmarsh, for example. So with that stated...
What do you all think would be some interesting seafaring adventures for a pirateering campaign?
I'm looking for ideas that are a little more in-depth than simply "the ship scuttles," "they find a treasure map," "a sea beast attacks," "they're hired to transport something," etc. Those are all ideas I've already had (although if your idea is aligned with those but still interesting or involves a unique twist, I certainly wouldn't ignore it!). I'm looking for fascinating ideas for NPCs and islands, explored or unexplored, or other seafarers they could come across, or unique takes on seafaring story arcs, or ideas surrounding specific types of enemies - that sort of stuff! The game I'm running, for example, starts with the party exploring an "unexplored, uninhabited" island, funded by a cartographer, that they quickly find out is not so uninhabited. It's a bit of a hex crawl in its first arc, a la Hotsprings Island.
Random encounter ideas while on the high seas are also quite welcome!
Thank you!
I ran this as a one shot, it was a lot of fun and might give you some ideas
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/282025/The-Lamenting-Lighthouse?filters=0_0_0_45531_0_45462_0_0
There are a few intelligent races that can breathe water. They can have underwater boats that aren’t airtight that sail with the ocean currents instead of the wind. That gives you three dimensional combat with concealment for the monsters who are attacking while your PCs are limited to two dimensional combat without being able to see where the next attack is coming from.
Ship to ship combat can be a lot of fun!
The ocean is huge! So are a lot of beasts that live in it. Why not have monsters that grow to massive sizes in the water?
Professional computer geek
Storms can add interesting skill check. Strength to tie down supplies dexterity to keep the sails and rigging intact wisdom to help predict the storm and intelligence for effective repairs
Mostly nocturnal
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I hadn't considered the magical equivalent of submarines, thank you for that idea!
And one thing about my homebrew setting is that a lot of mythical features are extinct due to multiple cataclysmic events throughout history - though not completely. That said, creatures that just so happen to grow huge is a great idea!
Considering my hex crawl island has a abandoned lighthouse on our, I'll definitely look into this, thank you!
The first submarine was used during the American Revolution in the 1770's.
Don't need magic if you've got someone crazy enough to seal themselves in a sphere and go into the water.....
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I play in a seafaring campaign (although we do spend about 1/2 our time on land... it's become a joke we're land pirates) But I digress.
A few of the unique sea encounters have been 1. Mysterious lady who shows up in the fog (actually a dragon) 2. Descriptions of strange happenings in night sky 3. A pirate ship attack, who we were equally matched with. The bard eventually convinces the fighting to stop because it was a stale-mate. We are now friends with those pirates! 4. To commission a specific magic item we found a mysterious wizard (a friendly but secretive beholder) who lives in a remote island. A temple underneath the island was a part of the quest. 5. Pirates with Lycanthrope. They infected 4/5 party members and we have to get creative to save the 1 non-infected before we reached landed and cured ourselves ( we were 2 months away from land and no means to cure a curse).
We've done more but those plot points took place on land, which were standard DND hooks. If I think of more I'll add!
You’re welcome. The submarines don’t have to be magical if they’re built by races that can breathe water. It’s the races that make them.
Professional computer geek
Thanks so much for your input, I love all those ideas!
I've definitely considered crews of different races - one idea I have is for a flotilla of goblinkind that live out on the seas, who actually trade with other merchant ships (when they're not plundering them, of course). A lycanthrope crew sounds awesome!