We are sailing...

[Mayhem]

My PCs have just embarked on a sea voyage, from Argos, heading past Zingara and then following the coast alongside the Pictish Wilderness.

The sea voyage is only to be a couple of encounters, not a complete campaign, so I am loathe to buy a whole supplement.

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There is bound to be an encounter with pirates, but what else might allow the voyage itself to be as much of an adventure as their destination?

And when two opposed vessels meet, I'd like some form of manouvering to become important, as the two vessels jockey for position before the pirates attempt to board, but how would you go about making such an encounter be something all of the players can get involved with, rather than just the helmsman?

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I have some ideas, but would rather get some other opinions also.

The group consists of a Shemtish Nomad, a Zingaran Pirate, and two very different barbarians - a brutal, beserking Nordhiemer, and a cunning, agile pict. And I would like to give them all an equal chance to feel valuable in any given encounter.

 

[SableWyvern]

Not trying to convince you of anything, just providing my opinion, since you asked ... but,

With that particular group, I don't see any great incentive to provide the non-Pirates with a lot of opportunity to affect the initial manoeuvring stages of the encounter, unless they've bothered to develop some worthwhile seamanship skills.

I say, give the Pirate his spotlight time as the ships approach, and when the boarding occurs, everyone can leap into the fray and show their individual stuff then. If you want to provide equal spotlight, give each other character a chance to do something really important during the actual battle - take out the enemy's heroes/captain, secure the most important cargoes before they are destroyed, disable a ballista that continues to seriously threaten the friendly ship during the boarding action, etc...

All that said, I would be interested to hear what you have already been contemplating.

 

[The King]

The group consists of a Shemtish Nomad, a Zingaran Pirate, and two very different barbarians - a brutal, beserking Nordhiemer, and a cunning, agile pict. And I would like to give them all an equal chance to feel valuable in any given encounter.

Ah! Ah! With this group you think you'll steal the treasure of Tranicos? :wink:
Your group could be in need of supply and be forced to reach the cost. The local Pict clan shares no friendship to the one of your player (but no ennemity either). They would see the group as possible thief of their sacred ground (a cavern home to some ancient treasures hidden many years or centuries ago by some pirates) and your Pict player would have to play the diplomat to avoid immediate execution of the group while trying to get info about the cavern.

 

[Arkobla Conn]

Weather played a big part in my campaign on the sea. Just be careful that those Dex checks for staying aloft/standing won't ultimately result in a PC over the side...

Remember weather can be wind & rain as well as lack of wind and brutal heat.

Another sidebar could include superstitions. Will the ship cross some equivalent of the equater? Did someone trip over the lucky mascot/idol and break it? Did someone take a favored gods name in vain?

Don't also forget about PC to NPC relations. Are they on the Captain's good side? (or are they the Command Crew) Has something stirred the pot, per se? (Jealousy by some by being overlooked by promotion, or the suddenness of the PC's onboard.)

What about some red herrings? A barrel floating by might engender the crew to try to haul it in. What is inside? A note? The rotting remains of a mans arm? Nothing???

I agree, btw, with letting the Pirate shine here. As stated, you aren't going to be aboard long, so why not let him get his day in the sun before the adventure returns to Land? We all want all our players to be happy and have central parts, but I try to make sure that I don't overload each session with specials, but I change who gets the special by session...giving everyone their due.

Hope this helps.

 

[SableWyvern]

My liege,

I believe that Mayhem is specifically looking for ways in which each PC can assist in the pursuit of an enemy vessel.

 

[skalvar]

My liege,

I believe that Mayhem is specifically looking for ways in which each PC can assist in the pursuit of an enemy vessel.

Barbarians: Ranged Attacks or Spot checks to extend the range the prey vessel needs to escape.
Nomad: Ranged Attacks when within two closing units. Target the captain or the boson.
Pirate: If he's fairly competent, allow him to make the contested checks to determine closing/escape. Otherwise, give him nice narrative surrounding his aid another action to help the captain/pilot/navigator making the check.

Shannon
Mongoose

 

[The King]

My liege,

I believe that Mayhem is specifically looking for ways in which each PC can assist in the pursuit of an enemy vessel.

oops! overread the paragraph or just need some glasses. :?
The idea just emerged from my mind as a bullet triggered from a gun.
It's hard to involve all the players together; here's an idea:
The pirates send volleys of arrows (some ignited). Chaos reigned on board. There are wounded, some killed, including the helmsman. Moreover, many fire points are starting, among them the sails and the supply barrels.
It is highly improbable that the players can do everything; so they'll still need to reach the shore afterwards for repair and/or re-supply. If they survive the assault of course. :wink:

 

[Mayhem]

Here is the plan:

The ship upon which the PCs are travelling has been pre-selected for an attack by a band of Barrachan Pirates. They are under-manned, but are using cleverness rather than brute force to take the ship, and they have an agent on board (a multiclassed level 2 pirate level 1 Thief).

This agent has drugged some of the water casks. During the voyage, some of the sailors will become sluggish, but an explanation will not be forthcoming - it is hard to spot what is causing it, as the two young members of the crew who share the duty of supplying water to the sailors take it in turns, and each, by coincidence, uses a different cask, only one of which is drugged.

The plan is to follow the PCs ship at a distance, waiting for a particularly hot day.

The heat of the day should be emphasised, with the captain ordering spare sail cloth to be used to rig canopies over the wheel, for example. In addition, the morning gruel ration has been tampered with - extra salt has been added in order to increase the thist of the crew. They will complain bitterly, blaming the cook, who (rightly) professes ignorance as to how extra salt got into the food. This was an improvised act - although it would have been more effective, the agent was not certain he would be able to taint the food at a given time, which is why he used his drugs in the water supply instead.

On this hot day, the pirate vessel will start to close the gap, rapidly. The PC's ship's captain will call men to man the oars. Sweating at the oars, already thirsty because of their salty breakfast, the men will be calling for lots of water. Half the rowers - those on the side of the ship that is watered from the drugged cask - will begin to lose their strength, and as a result, the pirates will catch them easily.

Those that do not fully succumb to the drugs will still be exhausted from their row in the sun, and thus the boarding action should prove a relatively easy fight for the pirates. The crew will be sold into slavery, and the ship itself taken as a prize.

*****

This is assuming the plan goes as the pirates want it to. The presence of the PCs, and the stubborness of the captain, will add to interest...

 

[Mayhem]

What will actually happen:

The 1st mate and captain will disagree - the captain has the idea that instead of rowing hell for leather, they should let the pirates catch them up and then fight them off, with the men at full strength rather than exhausted from rowing.

The agent, of course, dislikes this plan immensely, as it will mean (at the very least) a fair fight for the pirates , and will do away with the captain one night - but he will be disturbed and not be able to dispose of the body (wounding the sailor who uncovers him as he escapes the scene). He also cuts down the canopy over the wheel, a curious action that will no doubt mystify the PCs, but that is designed to make sure that the helmsman suffers the full effects of the sun.

By lucky chance, the PCs, their employer, and the 1st mate are all in the same place. He therefore knows they are innocent, but cannot say the same for any of the crew - he has only recently returned to the ship after a spell in a Zingaran prison, and so many of the crewmen are unknown to him.

This gives the PCs a little murder mystery to investigate.

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Clues:

The Mate can vouch for approximatelya 3rd of the men.

The captain pulled a button from his attackers shirt. The button is plain enough, but there is thread on it that shows the colour of the shirt. This is the PCs first clue - look for a shirt of that colour witha missing button. Unfortunately, this is in no way enough - one half of the un-vouched for members of the crew have that colour shirt, and many are mising buttons.

This leaves a 3rd of the crew.

The wounded sailor is also able to say that the man had long black hair. Again, this would describe at least a quarter of the crew, but the three clues together narrow it down to 10 or so.

Only 3 of these 10 would have had access to the galley when the gruel was being prepared (the others were on duty, and their absence would have been noted). And two of them have an alibi...

Whether the PCs can obtain and collate all of these clues in time to prevent the men being overcome is another matter - they have a deadline...

********

Because, of course, at the same time, as they are investigating this murder, the pirate vessel is bearing down on them. The first mate orders men to the oars. Only if the PCs are very persuasive (with a penalty to diplomacy checks for anyone who is obviously a landlubber) will he agree to the captain's original "non-rowing" plan.

If this doesn't happen, the PCs will only have 1/2 of the crew on their side during the battle, and these will all be exhausted from rowing.

The PCs may also be able to find the agent before the crew are too drugged. In which case they will have more help in fighting off the pirates.

Or they may work out that the water is drugged, and be able to work out which casks to avoid.

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They might also be able to use use Zingaran trumpet code to call for aid - there is a chance that this will result in a Zingaran vessel appearing on the horizon midway through the battle, in which case the Barachans will fall back to their ship, and sail off, with the Zingarans in hot pursuit.

(NB - My PC pirate is a Zingaran. If you want to use any of this, you can of course change the identity of the attacking pirates and/or the code used to summon aid, to suit your PCs ability.)

 

[Mayhem]

Epilogue: The ship will probably need to stop in order to obtain fresh water, and make repairs to the damage caused by the pirate attack.

Since the sailors will be in charge of the repairing, it makes the PCs an ideal choice to go and locate source of fresh water - and they might want to obtain fresh food as well.

Thus is an excellent opportunity for a mini hunting advenure, PCs vs some wild pigs or some such...

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So, can anyone see any gaping holes in this plot that will sink it faster than a holed galley?

 

[The King]

Epilogue: The ship will probably need to stop in order to obtain fresh water, and make repairs to the damage caused by the pirate attack.

Since the sailors will be in charge of the repairing, it makes the PCs an ideal choice to go and locate source of fresh water - and they might want to obtain fresh food as well.

Thus is an excellent opportunity for a mini hunting advenure, PCs vs some wild pigs or some such...

*********

So, can anyone see any gaping holes in this plot that will sink it faster than a holed galley?

Nice, I always liked to include some "criminal investigation" in fantasy or sword and sorcery setting. However why would you only run a mini adventure if your players land on the Pict shore?
By the way, do you use the D20 sourcebook "Book of the Sea" or only Pirate Isles?

 

[Mayhem]

However why would you only run a mini adventure if your players land on the Pict shore?

Beacuse this voyage is only a preview to a bigger trek through the pictish wilderness.

By the way, do you use the D20 sourcebook "Book of the Sea" or only Pirate Isles?

I own neither.

 

[The King]

By the way, do you use the D20 sourcebook "Book of the Sea" or only Pirate Isles?

I own neither.

You miss something if you haven't Pirate Isles that is pleasant as well in form as in content.
I don't know the book of sea (just read the Mongoose teaser which seems interesting), it was just in case, so that I might have asked you some questions about the content of that one. Yes I like sea setting because so much can happen on a boat where the player can only rely on themselves.