Apart from "Savage Tide" what sea based adventures are there?
|
"Huzzah's Goblin War" from Dungeon60 or 61 is about a hill giant and his goblin mooks who sail the seas in search of easy prey.
There's a couple other that are in the periphery of my memory fom earlier Dungeons. I'll check tonight or tomorrow and give you a better list.
How "close to shore" are you looking. There's lots of close to shore adventures, "Tammerat's Fate" probably being the most renown.
-W. E. Ray
I'm looking for:
- close to shore
- sea going
- piracy
- war at sea
Nick Logue's Razor Coast is due out from Sinister Adventures in the not too distant future.
hahahahahahaha
*deep breath*hahahahahahahahahaha!!
Actually when it comes out, RC will be perfect for what you are looking for. Also, the sinister indulgences from the same site have a few of the seaside flavor you want. Have you also considered the Freeport products?
Wow, thanks, lots of good sources there. There is a game store in my city that has a fair amount of out of print materials (2nd ed, 3rd ed, Al-Qadim) and so I'll take a look for the stuff you mentioned. Having the Dragon/Dungeon issue numbers is a huge help.
Anyone actually played these?
|
And, I just got back from the game store with a lovely little expert game treasure:
The War Rafts of Kron by Bruce Nesmith 1984 for character levels 10-12.
I find the Stormwrack book to be of interest. v.3.5.
For sea based adventures (as a game master) I usually kick back with some monster manuals, and some tomes of horror and also mix in some good stuff from the 'ol Arms and Equipment guide. I stir in a heaping doze of borrowed segments from several of the sources mentioned in the posts above...
Krakens, dire sharks, bull sharks, sahuagin, drowned, dragon turtles, jellyfish, sea serpents, pirates, and squids!
Can you tell by my excitement that I am running a sea voyage right now? Have fun!
|
|
Gee, thanks Dave!
Well, part of me is glad Dave wrote the list for me as I'm quite busy today and wouldn't've been able to do an as comprehensive list as his. But a big part of me also wishes I had gotten to it first 'cuz I just love doing this stuff.
Ah well, Dungeon 65's "Flotsam," 63's "Huzzah's Goblin O'War," and 34's "The Lady Rose" seem to fit what you want the most -- without having to find a really old Dragon mag.
Many adventures on Dave's friggin awesome list (I gotta copy this thing) don't seem to fit at all for you: "Voyage of the Crimpshrine," "The Vaka's Curse" and "The Sea Wolf," for example, are all Ravenloft adventures that are more riverboat settings.
"The Razing of Redshore" is an epic level adventure and "The Whale" is a diplomacy side trek, both by superstar authors, Jacobs and Baur, respectively. My favorite to play on the list here, other than the uber-renown "Tammerat's Fate" (which I mentioned earlier) and "Death of Lashimir," is "Strike on the Rabid Dawn." It's the one that I've incorporated into my games the most. "Maze of the Morkoth" is also spectacular and has one of the best covers in Dungeon's history.
"Back to the Beach," like "The Whale," is more a diplomacy adventure, just longer with LOTS of background. "Hollow Threats" is a comedy adventure -- and Richard Pett's first ever adventure.
"Practical Magic" and "When the Light Goes Out" seem to be much more about the NPCs and their uniqueness than the setting.
Anyway, hope this helps you a little more. And further kudos for the list, Dave.
-W. E. Ray
|
|
"The Vaka's Curse": Oh, okay, oops. But it was in the issue with the vampire lord of Valachan, though, yes? -- and it does sound like Ravenloft -- easy mistake.
Oh, and I mislabled "Maze of the Morkoth" earlier: though it is on one of best Dungeon covers, #70 is Baur's "Kingdom of the Ghouls" -- I was confusing Maze with "Deep Trouble in Telthin" -- which is a spectacular Elemental Plane of Water adventure and perhaps one of the top 5 covers in Dungeon history.
-W. E. Ray
And, I just got back from the game store with a lovely little expert game treasure:
The War Rafts of Kron by Bruce Nesmith 1984 for character levels 10-12.
I find the Stormwrack book to be of interest. v.3.5.
For sea based adventures (as a game master) I usually kick back with some monster manuals, and some tomes of horror and also mix in some good stuff from the 'ol Arms and Equipment guide. I stir in a heaping doze of borrowed segments from several of the sources mentioned in the posts above...
Krakens, dire sharks, bull sharks, sahuagin, drowned, dragon turtles, jellyfish, sea serpents, pirates, and squids!
Can you tell by my excitement that I am running a sea voyage right now? Have fun!
Cool, do you want to share with us what's going on in your game? Or pm me about it?
I may pick up Stormwrack. (I like to have actual print for reference, and my game library's not that big) But good suggestions on just taking stuff from the MM and Arms and Equipment Guide, I'll try that out.
Also I appreciate the synopsis of the adventures that might be most suitable. Tammerut's Fate sounds particularly intriguing but can someone give me a plotline (with spoilers just in case) of Razing of Redshore?
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hey Mr. Fish,
I'm glad you like the idea of creating it on your own. I can't get in touch right now...maybe later in week. Have a look at Isle of Dread, either the original module or the marvelous Dungeon magazine issue with return to the Isle adventure in it.
The key to writing your own is 1) establish the story and the vessel upon which PCs will be sailing 2) identify classic sea going lait motifs such as a wily 'ol captain, his beautiful precocious but off-limits daughter, the crew including the curmudgeon in the crow's nest, dinner with the captain, motives, plot twists etc. 3) know the size and structural hp the vessel can take - draw it out or use a paizo map for it 4) identify where sailing to? should be some sort of remote place - a lone city state along the coast in a dangeours land... an isle obsured by mist and lost in legend, a mystical underwater city etc. 5) kick back with the MMs and TOHs and paizo stuff and "stock" your adventure 6) underwater cities are fun if drawn in 3-D ! 7) Be sure to describe nautical elements like anchors, astrolabes, planks, galleys, etc. - the adventure is otherwise just like any other except the richness of the encounters truly paints a nautical theme.
In my current campaign, after completing a major story arc - the PCs are tasked with tying up one lose end: An assasination attempt was foiled by the PCs but they have tracked down the assassin using a Sage's srying power - but the assassin is 400 miles away along the coast of an unknown and hostile land. The PCs have boarded a waiting ship with full crew of an enemy the PCs defeated during the major story arc. The captain is part of a "third-party" sea merchant group hired for this particular voyage. The PCs are dining each night with someone who has been paid for by the enemy.
The goal is to navigate dangerous waters, fighting creatures along the way, dock at a hostile port, breach the guarded evil palace of death, find the assaassin's private chappel to the god of murder and poison, but therein they will learn the twist - - I've written up a short series of ancient poetic stanzas that describe how to open a cooridor to an evil ultraloth and his minions. The PCs, if successful will find their way beneath the palace and fight the minions coming through the corridore, and behind it all the assassin who is a henchman to a bbeg.
The sea-going adventure will, of course require that the PCs get back to their homeland Barony, but more sea-going story will be introduced then...
Good luck, hope some of that is inspiring... you can do the same stuff underwater, in sea caves, or on strange enchanted isles with shamans and dinosaurs! Isles of strange rock with volcanos are good, jungle tribes or strange aztec-style magic makes for lots of fun!
Oh - ... and pirates!
Pirates & Ninjas & Swashbucklers if you want players singing your praises! Just have fun.
That sounds like a pretty cool adventure. I like the fact that it is an adventure that doesn't sound apocalyptic or anything, simply a reasonable quest for an opponent that will turn out to be something more sinister. So what kinds of sea based encounters will happen? I think ultraloths are a cool and seldom used monster, and it makes a lot of sense that one would be linked to a god of murder and poison.
The pc group in my campaign have a ship they captured in a battle, which they want to sell/trade in order to buy a smaller ship. The ship they captured needs to be repaired, inspected and so on. I wanted to also get them to use the city they're at as a base for adventuring and wanted a few adventures to make the place seem interesting. I kind of pictured it as being like a Mediterranean city during the Middle Ages, a Greek one perhaps.
Stormwrack is a must if you are running a sea-based or port town adventure! At least, IMO. It's chock full of great ideas, spells, skills, creatures, and magic. Get it, get it NOW!!!
A great 2nd Edition trilogy begins with Evil Tide, then Night of the Shark, and finally Sea of Blood. Battle deadly sahuagin and more in this awesome adventure that mostly takes place underwater.
Goes well with The Sea Devils and Ships and the Sea supplements.
And like others have stated, Freeport is a wonderful sea port that can be dropped into any campaign world - lots of great materials on it too!
Thanks Rezdave and Pax Veritas in particular for giving me ideas on how to flesh things out. Also Hedgeknight thanks for the recommendation on Stormwrack.
Let's say (speaking of Stormwrack) that you have characters like paladins or rangers and they want to adapt their characters to the sea (the players having expressed an interest in more sea adventures.) Is there stuff in Stormwrack that would appeal to players of such characters?
Thanks, that's very helpful Rezdave. And yeah, new items and new magic is one of the things that would make a book like that worth getting. I try to limit my book purchases to stuff I know I'd use more than once--it seems like that would be the case here. My gf very much is inspired by stuff like Master and Commander, Pirates of the Caribbean, books like Voyage of the Dawn Treader and so on so I think this is one we'll pick up.
I actually have the old U series but never even thought of it! That's a great idea. I might have to upscale it for use with this particular party but I could always save it for a new campaign. (A question--if I DID upscale it would Sahuagin still make interesting foes for a higher level party?)
<other stuff>
I actually have the old U series but never even thought of it! That's a great idea. I might have to upscale it for use with this particular party but I could always save it for a new campaign. (A question--if I DID upscale it would Sahuagin still make interesting foes for a higher level party?)
A few thoughts/comments here:
As a location Saltmarsh was updated to 3.5 in the DMG2 (pp. 119-152).
Sahuagin can be advanced either by HD or by character class, so there's plenty of room to "upgrade" them to be worthy threats against a higher-level party. And one doesn't need to stick to core base/prestige classes ...
Yes, get Stormwrack! Also, check out some of the Savage Tide adventure path threads. Others have discussed good maritime/aquatic supplements there. (Sorry, I can't think of any specific thread titles right now.)
Wow, a lot of really good ideas here. Thanks for the advice on Sahuagin, they're one of my favourite monsters but (this may seem surprising) I've never actually used them in a game! Wasn't there a book written on them?
These were some of the monsters/creatures I really wanted to use:
The demon lord Dagon
Sahuagin
Aboleths
Selkies
Krakens
Drowned Ones
|
|
Pax Veritas, the campaign you're running does sound cool -- question:
Have you come up with any mechanic or gaming method for the PCs to "Navigate the hostile seas"?
I'd be really interested in hearing what you're doing (plan to do). My first thought (I've used similar mechanics elsewhere) would be to create 3 to 4 step-by-step rolls, each for a different "ship moving decision" or whatever. Like, if you were climbing a long rise and had to make 3 climb checks to succeed -- except it is 3 different checks.
Maybe one to read what the weather will be (success indicates you know how to specially" prepare the ship for movement) followed by another to determine the "best wind" for your sails (I wonder if they're using the same wind we're using. Success indicates the ship goes faster.) That kind of thing.
-W. E. Ray
|
|
Regarding U1: "The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh," I don't think it fits so much with what you're trying to do. Fun adventure, oh yeah, but not really a "sea" adventure, really a haunted house story that's actually not a haunted house just a pirates' den. I guess the second, U2: "Danger at Dunwater" may be better because the PCs get the ship the pirates were using, but I've never seen or played it so I dunno.
"The Razing of Redshore" is accurately described above -- the greater artifact has much more importance in the story background than the actual game-play. Actually, that has been the quirk about many of Jacobs' adventures -- the really famous ones are much goodness for background that often doesn't come to the surface in the actual game -- DMs have to (get to) further develop the adventure into a campaign to reveal the background to the PCs.
-W. E. Ray
|
|
For monsters:
Kopru!
From X1: "The Isle of Dread," this was the new monster that scared the PCs the most.
The big wall on the island was very cool.
Dinosaurs were absolutely awe inspiring for D&D.
But the Kopru, from a PCs perspective playing the adventure, made X1 Great.
Kopru deserve, in no uncertain terms, to be developed as legendary icons for their appearance in X1 the way Drow and Githyanki are; ie., Kopru should be on the same short-list with drow, githyanki, mind flayers and beholders as the top 5 D&D monsters.
-W. E. Ray
For monsters:
Kopru!
From X1: "The Isle of Dread," this was the new monster that scared the PCs the most.
The big wall on the island was very cool.
Dinosaurs were absolutely awe inspiring for D&D.
But the Kopru, from a PCs perspective playing the adventure, made X1 Great.Kopru deserve, in no uncertain terms, to be developed as legendary icons for their appearance in X1 the way Drow and Githyanki are; ie., Kopru should be on the same short-list with drow, githyanki, mind flayers and beholders as the top 5 D&D monsters.
-W. E. Ray
This thread has some suggestions on improving the MM2 version of the Kopru, so that they are closer to their original conception (literally living in hot water). James Jacobs has a few tips, and another poster further down posts a stat block.
Thanks for link to the kopru thread. I agree that they are intriguing opponents. Here's a question though--why are there so many evil underwater civilizations? I tend to edit out some of the monsters from my campaigns and make it a little more humanocentric; there are a limited number of intelligent races, player or nonplayer. What are the pros and cons of using either sahuagin or kopru then? I already have aboleths in the game...
Thanks for link to the kopru thread. I agree that they are intriguing opponents. Here's a question though--why are there so many evil underwater civilizations? I tend to edit out some of the monsters from my campaigns and make it a little more humanocentric; there are a limited number of intelligent races, player or nonplayer. What are the pros and cons of using either sahuagin or kopru then? I already have aboleths in the game...
The sahuagin fill the "evil humanoid" niche, unlike the aboleth and kopru (I consider the latter to be aberrations, not humanoids/monstrous humanoids). And yes, there was indeed a 2e Monstrous Arcana supplement which focused on the sahuagin, plus a trilogy of adventures.
For the "good/neutral humanoids" you can use the aventi from Stormwrack (who are - for all intents and purposes - humans adapted to living in the sea, sort of like "survivors of sunken Atlantis"), not to mention aquatic elves, merfolk, shalarin, tritons, morkoth (if their alignment is not evil), etc.
For one possible take on how various aquatic races interact with each other (and their long history together), take a look at Sea of Fallen Stars (a 2e Forgotten Realms supplement). It is unfortunate that WotC pulled the .pdf documents from sale (here at Paizo and other places too), because that was a cheap, painless way of getting that supplement.
The kopru can also function as minions of the aboleth. You might also want to take a look at Lords of Madness (the 3.5 supplement detailing aberrations). That book suggests some Far Realm/Lovecraftian connection between the aboleths and certain unspeakable "outer gods". This works particularly well if you decide that Dagon - as a obyrith demon lord - actually was spawned by the Far Realm.
By the way, the Thrall of Dagon Pr.Cl. is available in Dragon 349 (November 2006). It is a Vile class (as per Book of Vile Darkness), and has a somewhat bardic focus. The article also offers a lot of information on Dagon himself and his cult.
If you want to start off a Lovecraftian mythos arc in your coastal/aquatic campaign, there is the "Last Breath of Ashenport" adventure. It exists in both 3.5 (Dungeon 152) and 4e (Dungeon 156), and both versions are available from the WotC site (and should still be free access, despite so much other stuff now being under DDI or whatever it's called). This adventure is clearly an homage to Lovecraft's own short story about Innsmouth.
One tip about Ashenport: unless the party is doing poorly, beef up the final encounters in both mini-dungeons. (If running it again, I would take some of the 4e changes and apply them to the 3.5 version.) I also created my own "Deep One", using a hybrid of the pseudonatural kuo-toa in the adventure and the Deep Ones from d20 Call of Cthulhu.
|
Thanks for link to the kopru thread. I agree that they are intriguing opponents. Here's a question though--why are there so many evil underwater civilizations? I tend to edit out some of the monsters from my campaigns and make it a little more humanocentric; there are a limited number of intelligent races, player or nonplayer. What are the pros and cons of using either sahuagin or kopru then? I already have aboleths in the game...
I guess that "good only" type creatures don't leave as many options for combat open.
I was going to suggest Ashenport, as I'm running it for 4E at the moment. The 4E encounters are very tough, and looking at the 3.5 version, there's no comparison - the 3.5 baddies seem much weaker.
I am joining in late on this thread so if this is off topic, sorry.
The best sea/seaport info that I have found is the setting of Freeport.
I dont know what world your playing in but in the forgotten realms I run/play in we set the city in the south between halruaa and the half/drow nation to the east( can't remember the name)
Since you have the jungles of chult just south the serpent men used in the setting were very believable.
I dont know about all the other setting stuff thats come out for freeport latley but the first 3 adventures were amazing.
I also recommend the second ed resource "of ships and the sea" the game facts may be out dated but the art and the ideas are great. Plus the spells are things your players have never seen before, "Oars to snakes anyone?"
Hope this helps.
|
|
For me, the distinction between Sahaughin(sp) and kopru lies in the abilities and purpose during adventure design. When I want just a humanoid, bellicose society I'll use the former; when I want cold calculation, magic/ psionic using nemeses, I use the latter.
The distinction, for me, between kopru and aboleth is that aboleth are in underdark waters or seas-so-deep may's well be underdark. This rankled me for "The Styes."
-W. E. Ray
I was going to suggest Ashenport, as I'm running it for 4E at the moment. The 4E encounters are very tough, and looking at the 3.5 version, there's no comparison - the 3.5 baddies seem much weaker.
:)
Yes, I know - I've been a faithful reader of your group's PbP game! Partly to see how others do in Ashenport in general, and partly to see how 4e works. (I never managed to get to any 4e demo games, and will only run D+D in 3.5, but I wanted to keep my mind open as a player.)
And I was very surprised to see you run so many "Deep Ones" in the first room in the basement under the church. That was my first clue that the adventure had been beefed up for 4e. While the 3.5 altar encounter was borderline in difficulty, the very final encounter was somewhat of an anti-climax after the party did the "3 Rs" (retreat, rest, and return).
I downloaded Ashenport, thanks for the tips guys.
Molech: why were you displeased with aboleths being used for "The Styes"? Is it any stranger than a kraken being in it?
Are there any pros and cons to particular ships being used btw from a dm point of view? Like obvious the bigger ones have problems with bookeeping and they're very noticeable. My pc group are thinking of getting a galley but not a huge one, as they have a number of former slaves who are at the moment eager to follow them for loot and glory. I've noticed that overwhelmingly adventures urge the use of caravels and other smaller sailing ships. Is there a reason for that?
Glad you're enjoying Ashenport! The staying power of the 4E monsters has, I think, made the players genuinely quite wary of the town in general, which is great. :D
Also (although it's more river, and less sea) the adventure 'Rana Mor' is very good. It's in Dungeon 86.
~wistles~ Damn! There are some great ideas here! Thanks!
|
|
Mr. Fish,
There is nothing wrong with an aboleth in "The Styes"! It's just that for my personal concept of the monster, I see an underdark only creature. Pett takes the aboleth to the surface in his adventure and it just goes against my grain a trifle.
But my personal taste has nothing to do with the choice of monster used in the adventure. It's just like, for example, if I felt githyanki had nothing to do with the Astral Plane and there was an adventure in the Astral with Githyanki -- well, duh, the adventure is fine; I'm just one DM with an unorthodox concept for the monster.
-W. E. Ray
I don't think anyone answered before, but what would some of you say are the advantages for both player and dm in choosing a particular kind of ship? Vis a vis adventures and that kind of thing, I mean.
I don't think anyone answered before, but what would some of you say are the advantages for both player and dm in choosing a particular kind of ship? Vis a vis adventures and that kind of thing, I mean.
Bearing in mind that I haven't actually un any "ship-intensive" adventures, so I'm a bit short on details here ...
I would think that a relatively small, manoeuvrable vessel would be the best, preferably with a small crew. A big crew means many NPCs to keep track of, both in battles and just general accounting ("Let's see, did we pay the crew and mercs last session or not?").
In some ways, I think that I would prefer to run a coastal campaign as opposed to an outright maritime/aquatic one. In most cases one can just travel along the coastline, saving the actual ship-stuff for quick hops across narrow straits and the like.
As the saying goes, YMMV.
A great 2nd Edition trilogy begins with Evil Tide, then Night of the Shark, and finally Sea of Blood. Battle deadly sahuagin and more in this awesome adventure that mostly takes place underwater.
Goes well with The Sea Devils and Ships and the Sea supplements.
The 2E supplement for Sahuagin is The Sea Devils and the trilogy of adventures are:
1/ Evil Tide2/ Night of the Shark
3/ Sea of Blood
Also, there is a very good intro adventure in either Dungeon or Dragon Magazine that features not only Freeport, but also Sahuagin...I ran it years ago as a start to a port city campaign but for the life of me I can seem to remember where I got it.
The adventure entailed the PCs investigating a sunken ship and the ghost of the ship's captain helped them through the adventure - it was pretty cool and my players loved it.
Any help fellers?
A great 2nd Edition trilogy begins with Evil Tide, then Night of the Shark, and finally Sea of Blood. Battle deadly sahuagin and more in this awesome adventure that mostly takes place underwater.
Goes well with The Sea Devils and Ships and the Sea supplements.
The 2E supplement for Sahuagin is The Sea Devils and the trilogy of adventures are:
1/ Evil Tide
2/ Night of the Shark
3/ Sea of Blood<other stuff>
That will teach me to be more careful when checking up-thread before coming with my own suggestions! :)
Thank you for listing the actual titles of the three 2e sahuagin adventures, plus the Monstrous Arcana supplement which went with them. (I don't possess them myself.)