But What if I Want to be a Pirate?

End of the second term is just over a month away (the kids pay Autism NS a quarterly nominal fee to participate) and I'm starting to think of the next stage of the game.

Last term I gave them the options of a) exploring the city (city crawl), b) exploring the dungeons below the city (dungeon crawl) c) exploring the countryside (sandbox) and d) pirate ship (sandbox)

I wanted pirate ship, so of course they choose city crawl. Its been a lot more fun that I had expected, but its an exhausting amount of work building a city.

Next term I want to get them off the streets and try something new. The options I hope to introduce over the next few weeks include a) underground exploration (essentially Underdark though I call it The Nether Realm, b) a John Carter/Barsoom exploration of one of planet's 13 moons. c) a version of the original Curse of Strahd. This doesn't immediately hook into any of the current plots, but I've always wanted to run the module. I'm going to bait a hook and see if they bite. and d) Pirate ship!

Yeah, I still want to run a pirate game. If they'll let me, I will be using these links as references.

Concept art from Sea of Thieves

more Sailing Ship concept art

Wonderful Wednesdays

The Book of Loot: The Conch of Unlimited Fish

The conch can be used once per day and must be submerged in water before used. The character then blows on the shell and out pops ... 

Roll d6: 

(the fish is already dead unless noted otherwise) 

1- Minnow  (no real nutritional value)

2- Goldfish (no real nutritional value)

3-Trout  (will provide one meal to one or two people)

4-Electric eel. (Residual charge will do d6 electrical damage if grabbed right away. Charge wears off approximately 1 minute after eel appears. Provides one meal to one person). 

5-Tuna  (Will completely feed a party of 6 for one day. 50% chance it will appear canned).

6-Shark (50% chance that the fish is living or dead. Dead shark will provide one meal for the entire party). 

Live Shark! 

(Dies automatically in d4 rounds. Attacks twice per round as it thrashes madly) 

Hp: 10 

AC: 13 

Bite: Hit +3, Damage 3d8+3, Piercing and Slashing Damage 

Thrash: Tohit +4, Damage 2d8+3, Bludgeoning Damage 

The Book of Loot: That Fancy Hat

A purple silk top-hat with a large peacock feathers tied to a pearl broach. When worn, the hat grants an Advantage roll of the player's choice, once per gaming session.

Autism Nova Scotia, D&D Games Night by AccessibleMedia

Another clip about our group, this time produced by Accessible Media Inc.

Words alone can't express how thankful I am to these kids and to Autism Nova Scotia for giving me this amazing opportunity, and to Jay and his Cape and Cowl for giving us such an amazing space to play in.

Session X: The Penitance Pitts

Our Party
Azok - Silver Dragonborn Barbarian
Harrod -Half Elf Paladin
Grog -Half-Orc (Ogren) Fighter
Scruffy - Blue Dragonborn Paladin
Stephen - Halfing Bard
Peter -Human Thief

The next day was spent resting and healing up until the early evening when the group met back at the Tooth and Claw where they noticed a privy door at the back of the bar was marked with the drawing of a swordfish. Then it was time to attend the local Court where Gorg, Harold and Fluffy each fought in the Penitence Pitts against a local lawbreaker. All three won their bouts, which garnered them a little money and fame, while Patrick won some money on his bets, and Steve busked away on his tuba.

It was finally time to stop the pirates. After knocking out the dock's night watchman, Harold and Patrick stole a dingy and snuck around to the back of the Grey Gull. At this point, Fluffy, Gorg and Steve rushed the gangplank, distracting the pirates on deck while Harold and Patrick climbed aboard on the other side.

With Patrick backstabbing from the rear, the party did well against the pirates. Harold meanwhile, tied closed the door up from the lower deck and pilled crates on the cargo doors to stop reinforcements from coming up. Once the pirates on the main deck were dealt with, they cut open the ropes on the deck door, flung in the bag of coloured crystals and slammed the door shut again. After a bit confused screaming from below decks, the ship got very quiet. That’s when the black-sailed junk glided silently up to the adjacent dock.

The pirates’ customers had arrived.

_____

Note: I'm neglecting the blog again. Real life has been a bit busy of late and I'm barely keeping up on my game prep. Three more sessions left in the term and I want to use the last one to level up the party (as an incentive to have them sign up again). Lets see what I can squeeze into these last two nights. 

Wonderful Wednesdays.

I miss big glasses. 

Session IX: That's a Cool Hat

Our Party
Azok - Silver Dragonborn Barbarian
Harrod -Half Elf Paladin
Grog -Half-Orc (Ogren) Fighter
Scruffy - Blue Dragonborn Paladin
Stephen - Halfing Bard
Peter -Human Thief

The sun was coming up as the party finally stumbled out of the Warlock’s house, having found no trace of the person Gorg had spotted running into the house before the fire.

A smooth session where the party found some loot and, after a few false starts that resulted in Scruffy looking like Walter 'Dickless' Peck in the climax of Ghostbusters, they bypassed a glue trap and where able to find the shattered remains of a Mirrormap and the Psychocannon that Master Laru and Grixby had used to escape to the Observatory located on the red moon of Dejas.

I’m starting to slowly parcel out some low level magical items and in the library, Harrod came across a pile of hats that had been hastily ransacked (Laru wears large hats to cover his swollen skull). I asked Harrod to describe a large hat, and he gave me a rather awesome description of a black silk top-hat with a large blue feather inscribed with red sigils tucked into the silver hatband. When worn, it grants an Advantage roll once per session.

It was a completely combat-less night, as the only fight I’d planned was with an Orange Goo inside a secret room that was clearly marked on the map. But the party never bothered to make a check for secret doors, which is a good lesson for all DMs out there about what sort of things the players will and won’t do.

But it was a good session for moving the plot along, even if the party doesn’t realize it yet. They found the word ‘Swordfish’ escribed in one of Grixby’s notebooks, Laru’s diaries going back 400 years, and the Psychocannon itself, which was being driven by the brain of the murdered blacksmith. They also found a shard of the broken mirror with some coordinates inscribed upon it. I had to gently force the players to take that as it will be important if they want to figure out how the cannon works.

They ended up back at the Tooth and Claw when Grog noticed that the two doors that lead out to the privy where marked with two symbols. One door was marked with a manta-ray, the other with a swordfish … dun dun DUH!

Next week, Gladiators and Pirates! (probably)

Wonderful Wednesdays