My friends and I wanted to try DnD, and I chose to be the DM. I have had fun so far home brewing this pirate themed campaign, but I may have backed myself into a corner and I cant think of any fun ideas!
the TLDR of the campaign so far- My PCs are racing against a rival pirate gang to discover 4 ancient dwarven artifacts. In our last session my PCs pulled off a heist and found a safe containing intel and a map with the location of the 4th relic. The map leads to a place in the middle of the ocean 90KM off shore where there is no island, just open ocean.
My crew will be setting sail in a few days and I am having trouble coming up with fun stuff they may encounter during their travel time to the locaiton, or even what they may find when they get there.
If anyone has any fun encounter ideas, please let me know!
It depends on what your players want and what you want.
The journey won't take very long so something light and entertaining that you describe before they get to their destination or a combat/conflict encounter.
The combat encounter would be for those that want some sort of action and if you feel you want the party to expend resources.
As far as the destination goes, what is it? Is it an island that didn't get mapped? A sunken treasure that needs to have the party dive to get it? A fish that is commonly found in the area? An island that is actually a creature?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
For a non random, random encounter. Have the PCs ship be becalmed. Have it drift in the correct direction. Then when the party is getting frantic, the see at the horizon, the rival in full sail. But the the sails collapse and are becalmed. See what the PCs do, then have the wind come back. From this point, see above about what happens when the get to "X".
My opinion would be a sea fearing battle, that causes immense damage to the ship. The ship is now left a drift with the party having to come up with ideas how to get the ship on course or find safe harbour. They will surprise you when left with a dilemma, It is also a way that they will see that their actions may influence the course of the campaign. Then there is always the idea of standing them on a remote island that they have to escape from. Cannibal tribes and violent locals can be made to do all sorts of fun ideas. They may even make peace with a violent tribe, leading to side quests, to the volcano or for the Deity of what ever the tribe may be. As a pirate campaign goes the world is your oyster. Dangle the pearl for the party.
Steal ideas from Moby Dick and treasure island, 1000 leagues under the sea or where ever there is a sea fearing adventure. It should be as much fun for you as it is for your players.
I cant find the source video where I got the idea from, but i just ran this in my nautical campaign. A maelstrom (a la pirates of the carribean: at worlds end) opens up in the ocean, near the players, several ships are capsized and the crew are thrown overboard. the players are far enough away that their ship can remain beyond the effect of the maelstrom. But the NPC's in the water, are getting sucked in.
I started with a wide grid map. maelstrom on one end, players ship on the other. Divide the map into thirds. At the end of every round of combat, anything in the water in the third nearest the maelstrom move 4 squares towards the maelstrom. Anything in the middle third of the map move 3 squares toward the maelstrom. Anything in the farthest third move 2 squares toward the maelstrom.
THrow a bunch of D6's on the map/grid to represent NPC's and maybe some d20's to represent lifeboats. And then see who the plaeyrs can rescue.
players that can fly or teleport or whaetver, can do their thing. Players who can swim well, get to show off.
Likely not everyone will be saved. But those who are saved, might join the player's crew, or reward them for saving hteir life, grant some favor, etc.
Xanathar's guide to everything has some pretty good random encounter tables based on environment
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Second Phase of Capatin_Crunch, returned from the dead as a Lich. Still the Tele-Visionary, Pawless Wizard, King of madness, Infinite Fractal, FBI, Archmage of I CAST... !, and everything else.
Still Lawful Evil
Still Rampaging through life
Still Holds the Evil Storyteller Badge of No Honor
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Hello all,
My friends and I wanted to try DnD, and I chose to be the DM. I have had fun so far home brewing this pirate themed campaign, but I may have backed myself into a corner and I cant think of any fun ideas!
the TLDR of the campaign so far- My PCs are racing against a rival pirate gang to discover 4 ancient dwarven artifacts. In our last session my PCs pulled off a heist and found a safe containing intel and a map with the location of the 4th relic. The map leads to a place in the middle of the ocean 90KM off shore where there is no island, just open ocean.
My crew will be setting sail in a few days and I am having trouble coming up with fun stuff they may encounter during their travel time to the locaiton, or even what they may find when they get there.
If anyone has any fun encounter ideas, please let me know!
It depends on what your players want and what you want.
The journey won't take very long so something light and entertaining that you describe before they get to their destination or a combat/conflict encounter.
The combat encounter would be for those that want some sort of action and if you feel you want the party to expend resources.
As far as the destination goes, what is it? Is it an island that didn't get mapped? A sunken treasure that needs to have the party dive to get it? A fish that is commonly found in the area? An island that is actually a creature?
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
The above is good
For a non random, random encounter. Have the PCs ship be becalmed. Have it drift in the correct direction. Then when the party is getting frantic, the see at the horizon, the rival in full sail. But the the sails collapse and are becalmed. See what the PCs do, then have the wind come back. From this point, see above about what happens when the get to "X".
My opinion would be a sea fearing battle, that causes immense damage to the ship. The ship is now left a drift with the party having to come up with ideas how to get the ship on course or find safe harbour. They will surprise you when left with a dilemma, It is also a way that they will see that their actions may influence the course of the campaign. Then there is always the idea of standing them on a remote island that they have to escape from. Cannibal tribes and violent locals can be made to do all sorts of fun ideas. They may even make peace with a violent tribe, leading to side quests, to the volcano or for the Deity of what ever the tribe may be. As a pirate campaign goes the world is your oyster. Dangle the pearl for the party.
Steal ideas from Moby Dick and treasure island, 1000 leagues under the sea or where ever there is a sea fearing adventure. It should be as much fun for you as it is for your players.
Peace my Friend
Sea Serpents are always a classic. Very fun.
I cant find the source video where I got the idea from, but i just ran this in my nautical campaign. A maelstrom (a la pirates of the carribean: at worlds end) opens up in the ocean, near the players, several ships are capsized and the crew are thrown overboard. the players are far enough away that their ship can remain beyond the effect of the maelstrom. But the NPC's in the water, are getting sucked in.
I started with a wide grid map. maelstrom on one end, players ship on the other. Divide the map into thirds. At the end of every round of combat, anything in the water in the third nearest the maelstrom move 4 squares towards the maelstrom. Anything in the middle third of the map move 3 squares toward the maelstrom. Anything in the farthest third move 2 squares toward the maelstrom.
THrow a bunch of D6's on the map/grid to represent NPC's and maybe some d20's to represent lifeboats. And then see who the plaeyrs can rescue.
players that can fly or teleport or whaetver, can do their thing. Players who can swim well, get to show off.
Likely not everyone will be saved. But those who are saved, might join the player's crew, or reward them for saving hteir life, grant some favor, etc.
Xanathar's guide to everything has some pretty good random encounter tables based on environment
Second Phase of Capatin_Crunch, returned from the dead as a Lich. Still the Tele-Visionary, Pawless Wizard, King of madness, Infinite Fractal, FBI, Archmage of I CAST... !, and everything else.
Still Lawful Evil
Still Rampaging through life
Still Holds the Evil Storyteller Badge of No Honor