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5 months ago ::
Jan 04, 2013 - 2:43AM
#11
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Date Joined:
Dec 31, 2007
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Don’t forget about seasickness! (perhaps a Constitution based Saving throw with a penalty for dwarves because of their preference for solid ground) Feeding the fish may not be very heroic but it is realistic…
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5 months ago ::
Jan 04, 2013 - 3:03AM
#12
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Date Joined:
Aug 31, 2007
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Besides the storm idea, there are other fun things to do when trapped on a small lump of wood surrounded by water.
There's a stowaway! The PCs might notice odd sound or missing supplies, and investigate. Alternatively, the crew find the stowaway and want to punish him, leaving the PCs to stick up for them (or not, as the case may be).
Maybe the damage they thought was done by the storm is later discovered to the intentional - one of the crew is sabotaging the voyage for some reason. Again, the PCs can investigate, and try to discover the traitor, but they also have to deal with the damage done, which could include a lack of rations, damaged rudders or sails, or stolen navigation charts.
Perhaps the captain is a bit of a tyrant, and the PCs have to decide whether to support a mutiny or not. Maybe one of the conspirators offers to take them on a more direct route, but who's to say he keeps to his word, or even survives the uprising?
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5 months ago ::
Jan 04, 2013 - 6:20AM
#13
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Date Joined:
Jan 13, 2012
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Sea monster attacking the ship? Maybe it takes out a few of the crew and the PCs have to fight the monster(s) and take the crew's place?
Where I will probably be wanting to use that idea in the future, I'm trying to make this a non-combat encounter. My reasoning? The players have already had a shipwreck as well as a combat encounter on a ship. I'd like them to get to shore safely, so as to not be so "jaded" when it comes to naval combat/catastrophic problems.
Appreciated still!
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5 months ago ::
Jan 04, 2013 - 6:21AM
#14
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Date Joined:
Jan 13, 2012
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Don’t forget about seasickness! (perhaps a Constitution based Saving throw with a penalty for dwarves because of their preference for solid ground) Feeding the fish may not be very heroic but it is realistic…
I love that idea. I only have two human characters in my campaign, but I'm sure I can make this work. Humans get sick too, right?  Con throw, you think?
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5 months ago ::
Jan 04, 2013 - 7:34AM
#15
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Date Joined:
Oct 15, 2012
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Besides weathering a bad storm, you could have PCs dealing with a strange disease that starts to weaken the crew when they're a few days out. Likewise, food could become spoiled or lost, requiring the PCs to stop at a not-so-friendly port or sneak ashore in small boats to get provisions. The captain of the vessel could be young and inexperienced, have trouble maintaining order with his crew, and the PCs have to find some way to stop a mutiny. After a night of heavy drinking and gambling, one crew member kills or severely beats another with unfounded accusations of cheating. How should this NPC be punished, especially considering that she's the only expert navigator on the trip? For three straight days the island way off the distance doesn't seem to be getting any closer. On the third night the crew member in the crow's nest confides to the players that the star they ship is following has disappeared/or/the stars show that the ship hasn't made any forward progress the last few days? What's going on? What's to be done?
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5 months ago ::
Jan 04, 2013 - 8:29AM
#16
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Date Joined:
Jan 13, 2012
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Besides weathering a bad storm, you could have PCs dealing with a strange disease that starts to weaken the crew when they're a few days out. Likewise, food could become spoiled or lost, requiring the PCs to stop at a not-so-friendly port or sneak ashore in small boats to get provisions. The captain of the vessel could be young and inexperienced, have trouble maintaining order with his crew, and the PCs have to find some way to stop a mutiny. After a night of heavy drinking and gambling, one crew member kills or severely beats another with unfounded accusations of cheating. How should this NPC be punished, especially considering that she's the only expert navigator on the trip? For three straight days the island way off the distance doesn't seem to be getting any closer. On the third night the crew member in the crow's nest confides to the players that the star they ship is following has disappeared/or/the stars show that the ship hasn't made any forward progress the last few days? What's going on? What's to be done?
All fantastic hooks that I will certainly be using. How do you come up with so many hooks at once? Any particular strategy or is this just a gift of your mind?
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5 months ago ::
Jan 04, 2013 - 8:44AM
#17
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Date Joined:
Oct 15, 2012
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Besides weathering a bad storm, you could have PCs dealing with a strange disease that starts to weaken the crew when they're a few days out. Likewise, food could become spoiled or lost, requiring the PCs to stop at a not-so-friendly port or sneak ashore in small boats to get provisions. The captain of the vessel could be young and inexperienced, have trouble maintaining order with his crew, and the PCs have to find some way to stop a mutiny. After a night of heavy drinking and gambling, one crew member kills or severely beats another with unfounded accusations of cheating. How should this NPC be punished, especially considering that she's the only expert navigator on the trip? For three straight days the island way off the distance doesn't seem to be getting any closer. On the third night the crew member in the crow's nest confides to the players that the star they ship is following has disappeared/or/the stars show that the ship hasn't made any forward progress the last few days? What's going on? What's to be done?
All fantastic hooks that I will certainly be using. How do you come up with so many hooks at once? Any particular strategy or is this just a gift of your mind?
I'm glad they were helpful. I'm a big believer in the shotgun method of idea generation. Just don't be afraid to come up with a few bad ideas. The disease one, for instance, might be a little difficult to pull off well because diseases are so rarely fun in a fantasy setting -- to say nothing of real life -- but once you come up with an idea you can think about ways to avoid common pitfalls and make it more fun, interesting, whatever.
I'm a teacher by trade, and one thing I hammer into my students' heads over and over is "You can cut it once you write it, but you can't edit what's not on the page," meaning that no idea is a bad idea until you get to the drafting stage.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 04, 2013 - 2:24PM
#18
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Date Joined:
Jul 21, 2004
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Whatever you do, make sure that both failure and success are interesting.
As usual, I recommend talking to your group for ideas about what they think will occur during the trip, with a focus on things that would directly involve the party and their individual characters.
Travel is boring. Good luck spicing it up.
[N]o difference is less easily overcome than the difference of opinion about semi-abstract questions. - L. Tolstoy
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5 months ago ::
Jan 04, 2013 - 3:13PM
#19
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If you can get it, Stormwrack is a 3.5 supplement loaded with ideas about this sort of thing. You'll have to adapt the mechanics to 4e, but overall the book was fantastic...
FWIW [4e designer] baseline assumption was that roughly 70% of your feats would be put towards combat effectiveness, parties would coordinate, and strikers would do 20/40/60 at-will damage+novas. If your party isn't doing that... well, you are below baseline, so yes, you need to optimize slightly to meet baseline.
-Alcestis
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5 months ago ::
Jan 04, 2013 - 5:50PM
#20
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Didn't Pathfinder people put out something about naval encounters that is (supposedly) 4e convertable?
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Bow down, my subjects, for I am your master! Yesss.....
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For some reason, none of my friends were surprised by this...
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