I'm currently playing in a new-ish round-robin 5th Edition D&D campaign. My previous experience is almost exclusively with 2nd Ed, with some play-time in 3.5. I've not DM'ed a 5th edition to date, but would like to kick in an adventure or three for the group.
My plan is to revive an old (2nd ed) adventure thread with a recurring NPC villain who is gathering pieces of an heirloom artifact designed to make said NPC the king (or queen) of the ocean pirates. The artifact has several abilities which aid that and will build in power as the pieces are put together.
The setting is Eberron and I have the core book (Rising from the last War) but nothing else available to me at the moment. This begs my first question. Are standard ocean-going vessels still in use? With the advent of airships in Eberron, it makes me wonder. Do airships travel from continent to continent across the seas? I may have to modify the original idea behind my original sea-going vessel (I based the original ship on the Queen Ann's Revenge).
My plans are to increase the power of the artifact which will increase the power of the ship and its wielder to a lesser degree. The first will be to make the ship able to travel through any body of water, regardless of depth (or lack thereof) which will make it capable of raiding inland towns and villages as long as they are located near a river of sufficient width (the limiting factor will be the width of the water needs to fit the width of the hull, so it won't be able to sail up a small stream). Other abilities will be added as the artifact is put together.
I'm wandering, sorry. :)
Next question I have is with regards to Sharn. This is where we've been basically based out of. The maps I've seen of Sharn do not seem to include standard docks. Are there some and if so were? The waterfront district doesn't "appear" to have actual docking facilities. Would I be better off sending the team to another port city?
I think that's it for now. Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.
We have airplanes and ocean going ships are still quite common. Pleasure cruises and lots of cargo ships are out there every day, and you can actually still take a ship across the ocean if you like. Cargo especially since a boat can be built bigger and hold more weight than a plane. So I’d say, sure there are boats.
But my bigger question for the ship, and the docks at sharn question is if the other DMs will be sharing the setting. If you are the only one running eberron, just do what you like. The eberron police won’t come to your house if you aren’t an exact replica of the published setting. It can sometimes be better that way, if you throw in a curveball, so the players don’t just read the book and know what to expect.
If other DMs are going to use the same setting, then you need to make sure to coordinate with them, so boats don’t blink in and out of existence from one week to the next.
It is a shared world. We even have an in-game reason for one of our characters to be absent from the party from time to time (i.e. when we are DM'ing) so I want to make sure I'm not stepping any tender toes. :) These guys are as strong or stronger in the ways of 5e as I am in 2e. (to paraphrase star wars).
If it were my campaign alone, I wouldn't worry about it. However, I feel bad enough about bringing in some magic concepts I used back in 2e which may cause some raised eyebrows. I already plan to coordinate with two of the others, one because I'm using, or rather referencing one of his NPC's, and the other for back-story reasons.
Eric the Grey
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I'm currently playing in a new-ish round-robin 5th Edition D&D campaign. My previous experience is almost exclusively with 2nd Ed, with some play-time in 3.5. I've not DM'ed a 5th edition to date, but would like to kick in an adventure or three for the group.
My plan is to revive an old (2nd ed) adventure thread with a recurring NPC villain who is gathering pieces of an heirloom artifact designed to make said NPC the king (or queen) of the ocean pirates. The artifact has several abilities which aid that and will build in power as the pieces are put together.
The setting is Eberron and I have the core book (Rising from the last War) but nothing else available to me at the moment. This begs my first question. Are standard ocean-going vessels still in use? With the advent of airships in Eberron, it makes me wonder. Do airships travel from continent to continent across the seas? I may have to modify the original idea behind my original sea-going vessel (I based the original ship on the Queen Ann's Revenge).
My plans are to increase the power of the artifact which will increase the power of the ship and its wielder to a lesser degree. The first will be to make the ship able to travel through any body of water, regardless of depth (or lack thereof) which will make it capable of raiding inland towns and villages as long as they are located near a river of sufficient width (the limiting factor will be the width of the water needs to fit the width of the hull, so it won't be able to sail up a small stream). Other abilities will be added as the artifact is put together.
I'm wandering, sorry. :)
Next question I have is with regards to Sharn. This is where we've been basically based out of. The maps I've seen of Sharn do not seem to include standard docks. Are there some and if so were? The waterfront district doesn't "appear" to have actual docking facilities. Would I be better off sending the team to another port city?
I think that's it for now. Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.
Eric the Grey
We have airplanes and ocean going ships are still quite common. Pleasure cruises and lots of cargo ships are out there every day, and you can actually still take a ship across the ocean if you like. Cargo especially since a boat can be built bigger and hold more weight than a plane. So I’d say, sure there are boats.
But my bigger question for the ship, and the docks at sharn question is if the other DMs will be sharing the setting. If you are the only one running eberron, just do what you like. The eberron police won’t come to your house if you aren’t an exact replica of the published setting. It can sometimes be better that way, if you throw in a curveball, so the players don’t just read the book and know what to expect.
If other DMs are going to use the same setting, then you need to make sure to coordinate with them, so boats don’t blink in and out of existence from one week to the next.
Thanks for the reply Xalthu.
It is a shared world. We even have an in-game reason for one of our characters to be absent from the party from time to time (i.e. when we are DM'ing) so I want to make sure I'm not stepping any tender toes. :) These guys are as strong or stronger in the ways of 5e as I am in 2e. (to paraphrase star wars).
If it were my campaign alone, I wouldn't worry about it. However, I feel bad enough about bringing in some magic concepts I used back in 2e which may cause some raised eyebrows. I already plan to coordinate with two of the others, one because I'm using, or rather referencing one of his NPC's, and the other for back-story reasons.
Eric the Grey