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 ...

"Oh no! Not goblins," one of my players sarcastically exclaimed (possibly with eye-rolling) when his 12th level Fighter, accompanied by an 8th-ish level Evoker and 8th-ish level Ranger, stumbled across a pack of blue-skinned goblins in the Jungles of Chult. That was before the goblin began combat by stunning the Evoker and Ranger with a mind blast. As the fighter scrambled to protect his unconscious allies from the goblin warriors, the player began to regret the hasty conclusion that the little monsters wouldn't prove to be a challenge at all. (Credit to original artist, whoever they may be). Just goes to show that a Devious Dungeon Master can surprise even the most veteran players.

Located on the Chultean Peninsula, the Elasmosaurus Bay Lumberyard was originally established to provide building materials for the Banshee’s Point Lighthouse . By the end if the first expedition, it was decided that the complex would also serve as an ideal location for a Marine Training Camp and Facility Construction School much in the same manner that the Baldur's Gate Facility was used to train crew and officers for Gregor's growing fleet of ships. The Seafarer's Marine Training Camp, based in Chult, provides instruction in the arts of sea-based warfare on a practical level.  Use of weapons and armor, physical training, techniques used in boarding and repelling boarders, use of artillery and shipboard life are key topics. The Facility Construction School teaches its students how to build a wide variety of land-based structures, from simple homes to bridges to piers and towers.  Students learn to work with a variety of material used in normal construction processes....

In keeping with yesterday's theme regarding combat, I thought I would share another story about an encounter that didn't go the way a player thought it would... There was this one time, while my players’ characters were adventuring through the Jungles of Chult, when the party encountered a tribe of blue-skinned goblins.   The highest level character in the group was around 10th-12th level Fighter who dual-wielded cutlasses.   He was accompanied by a 7 th -ish level Evoker, and a second fighter who also around 7 th level.      The player immediately (and sarcastically) quipped "Oh no! Not goblins! Whatever will we do?"   That's when the goblin leader, a psion of no small level, dropped most of the fighter’s party with a mind blast. The rest of the fight suddenly became much more dangerous than he had originally expected. The fighter did manage to hold off the goblins long enough for his companions to recover from the psychic attack and together, the...