Campaign Chronicles

The Midnight Special is a ship that exists in several different versions in my campaign.  Its "default" form is that of a keelboat that operates in the waters around the Velen Peninsula in the Forgotten Realms.  The second version is a seaplane in the 1920s on Earth-218 and the third is an armored fishing trawler used to hunt pirates off of the Somali coast in modern times. Midnight Special Gargantuan Vehicle (30‘l x 10‘w x 5‘h, 5‘draft) Seaworthiness: -2; Shiphandling: +2 Speed: wind x 10’ or oars 10’ (good); Overall AC: 1 (-4 size, -5 Dex) Hull Sections: 3 (sink 1 section); Section Hp: 50 (hardness 5); Section AC: 3 (-5 Dex) Rigging Sections: 1; Rigging Hp: 60 (hardness 0); AC: 1 Ram: 3d6; Mounts: 1 light Complement: 16; Watch: 2 (+8 rowers); Cargo: 20 tons (speed wind x 5’ or oars 5’ if 10 tons or more) Weapons: 1 Ballista (1 fore) Crew: 1 Hardness: 5 Hp: 75 Dmg: 3d8 (19-20/x2) Range: 120’ A Medium creature take...

I was just starting a new chapter of my long-running campaign - a chapter that would mostly focus on maritime adventures. One of the characters owned a ship and the majority of his party would be the officers and some veteran characters from earlier portions of the campaign. Knowing that ship to ship combat and hand-to-hand fighting during boarding actions would play an important role in the game, I spent the afternoon laying on the floor with pencils, Sharpies, scissors, and poster board drawing deckplans for various ships. A Caravel - this was the primary type of vessel in the campaign. Foremost among them was the Blazing Cutlass with the Siren's Reach , Ethereal Blaze , and Wayfarer serving alongside the flagship. (Left to right: fore and aft cabins, main deck, passenger deck, cargo deck) The group eventually established a lumber camp on the Chultean Peninsula to support a shipyard they had built in Tethyr . They constructed massive barges to haul ...

One of my players and I sat down one afternoon, brainstorming ideas for ways to recruit crewmembers for his character's growing fleet of ships and we decided that instead of Shanghai-ing them, we would make them. Thus, this school was born. The mock-up vessel is based on the Marlinspike at the US Navy's recruit training center (boot camp) in Great Lakes, IL and was used again in the lighthouse that he eventually built as well. The Baldur’s Gate Training Facility (BTF) was established as part of the Coberal Trust Company in late 1362 DR. The Seafarer’s Development Group (SDG) is composed of three distinct units. The combined purpose of these units is to meet the training, development, and crew staffing needs of the seafaring community. The Seafarer’s Vocational School specializes in the short-term training of individuals in the arts of seamanship in order to prepare them for a career aboard merchant vessels. The Seafarer’s Officers’ Academy is a formal education env...