##Malcolmβs Bastards, an adventure hook and initial adventure for new campaigns.
#The pitch
The players all share a common, absent father who was a captain of a ship (land, air, sea, space, whatever). They meet at their fatherβs funeral and inherit his ship, his debt, and the mystery of how he died and who he was. Their father was some kind of creature that allowed him to have offspring with any species and so the players are all half the species they choose in character creation and half of whatever their father was.
This is a good campaign for:
- Naval focused campaign
- Open world campaigns
- Creating party unity and similar PCβs that have a shared bond.
- Replacing dead PCβs, thereβs always more of Malcolmβs bastards littered around the world.
- Fitting into any setting, since the ship can be land, air, sea, or space and the details are so malleable
- Campaigns where the PCβs manage a crew of NPCs
I have run this campaign intro three times now, with great success. My players have always been intrigued by the mystery around the charactersβ father, enjoyed having a ship and crew to manage, and loved exploring their heretofore unknown bloodline and seeing what powers they got from that.
My favorite version was the father being a brass dragon who was killed by a Kraken while raiding the Krakenβs treasure-horde island. The players never made it to the end (thanks COVID) but it was great while it lasted.
You will need rules for ship combat. Official source is the Ghosts of Saltmarsh adventure or you can use the Unearthed Arcana that came out before that adventure.
#Intro text for players:
>You never knew your father, although your mother occasionally spoke of him he was never around and all you ever heard was that he was some kind of captain and his name was [Malcolm]. While it was hard growing up with just one parent, you made it and became something on your own. You were surprised two weeks ago when you received word that your father had passed away, you were invited to the funeral, and you were named in his will that would be read shortly after he was buried.
>*You made your way to the port city of [Seaside] and were surprised on the day of the funeral to find a huge crowd of mourners paying their respects to your fatherβs cloth covered casket as it was walked through the town and placed in a small boat heaped with wood and doused in oil. The boat was s
... keep reading on reddit β‘Just out of curiosity.
I think I would play a Fanthomless Warlock because I really like the set of abilities.
Edit: holy shit! I was expecting to get like 20 responses, thank you all for sharing! I will be reading all of your character!
This is a proposal for a mod, or even an update, where players can build their very own custom sea ships and air ships. Now you might be thinking that there's already at least one or two mods out there that do this very thing, such as the Archimedes Mods, but this would operate on a different methodology of construction and control. Now while I am calling this a mod and posting it here, this could also be a candidate for a solid update. Shipwrecks were first introduced in 1.13, yet we can't build an actual functioning ship in Minecraft, not without a mod. But how could there be shipwrecks if ships could never even sail in the first place?
Regardless, here's an in-depth explanation of how the mod works, as well as all the new features it adds:
Semi-Solid Entities: This would be the property of the mod that allows you to not only build custom boats and blimps, but also to walk and even build more additions even while they move. This would take some visual inspiration from the Create Mod. Aero-Nautical would also change a feature of Minecraft surrounding pistons; if you stand on a block pushed by a piston, you will stick to the block. Not like honey though; you could still walk off a moving block.
Wind: This is a new property that allows sailing ships to work. It also has an effect on certain other blocks, and even dropped items; for instance, dropped paper can be blown by wind gusts. Wind gets stronger during thunderstorms.
Ship Construction:
Building a ship is a process all on its own. First, there are limits to what you can build with; you can only build with wood. Exceptions to this rule include crafting blocks, such as crafting tables, anvils, etc., as well as certain new elements exclusive to Aero-Nautical.
Here's a step-by-step process:
- Find open water. Any ocean biome will do. And bring plenty of wood and other building materials.
- Find an area of water at least ten blocks deep to begin building.
- Build at least four one-block wide pillars in a square arrangement, perfectly aligned with each other. But you can have more depending on how big you want your ship to be. This will be the beginnings of your shipyard.
- Next, you'll need pulleys, new redstone devices introduced in this mod which will be essential in launching your boat. Put two on the sides of your pillars; one on the top, and one on the bottom underwater, and put ropes in each pulley.
- Then connect your pulleys to a lever with redstone, and make sure they spin
I am looking for a Seafaring Fantasy or a fantasy that mostly set on a ship. I am looking for books like The Liveship Traders by Robin Hobb or The Bone Ship by R.J. Barker. I have read and didn't like The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V.S. Redick. Bonus point if it a cold Seafaring book like Half a King by Joe Abercrombie.
I am interested to know which towns still buzz with commercial nautical activity. We all know LI's nautical history is as formidable as anywhere else on the planet, but from what I've seen, heard and understand, much of it is merely history for one reason or another. Besides the towns that are ferry / water transit hubs (Bay Shore, Sayville, Port Jeff, Greenport, the like), are there any towns with a big nautical scene? I'm thinking of things like commercial fishing ports, shipping ports, or other manner of seafaring.
Any perspective is welcome, thanks.
Why do so many Bladee songs give me the feeling of being at sea/ by the sea?
Songs like Iβm Goofy highlight it the best, as does the whole of Red Light mostly. As well as songs like Violet Gold.
Iβve tried explaining it to friends but they donβt get what I mean. Is this a unanimous feeling for drainers and am I just silly for not realising?
I have periodically listened to the "book club" lives (not a book club- he is reading the $18 book aloud to his audience for, ahem, free) and it has all the same stories in the exact same wording as his first book! I had to hear the hot tub story (where words "fell out of his mouth") for the 29th time this morning. I just keep trying to understand how this is a thing -- but, it is beyond explanation, right?
I canβt find it in the settings, and since NM is pretty much the standard unit for measurement both on the sea and in the air, It should definitely be easier.
Is there a way I can change it with a mod or something?
The only section/quest that my party hasn't actually run through is The Styes, but it is the next place they are going after they finish their current (non-GoS related) quest. Feel free to ask about what I have planned for The Styes because it's been complete in my mind for over a year!
All of the chapters/quests in the book have been used, as well as some of the supplemental quests/ideas in the Appendix, particularly the Cove Reef.
The game began as a nautical themed campaign, then a month or so after we started I found out the GoS book was coming out. Once I had it I incorporated it into the story I'd already planned with the GoS material forming the base of the main conflict/quest!
The party consists of:
Human (now Dragonborn for an in-game week as of last session) Barbarian/Vengeance Paladin/Celestial Warlock
Triton Storm Sorcerer
Tiefling (switches between tiefling and Bullywug for Gulpa-Gor/story reasons) Phantom Rogue
An orc NPC-party member played by me using the priest (Tempus) stat block and giving her Warrior advancement from Tasha's. She's a recent addition though, so 80+% of the game has been played by the three player characters.
The game is set in a homebrew world of my creation. I've switched some names around from GoS, mostly place names, to fit them in the world (such as Keoland being Barodin's Reach, a colony/name of a large island named Borike).
Hello there, I am getting a nautical Sextant today and want to use it to find the position of stars (declination and right acsension) and identify stars using the Sextant angle? How does one go about doing this? What else is needed? Any advice for Sextant beginners? What's an easy explanation for reading the Sextant and what the hours are in the degrees?
I'm running a 5e nautical campaign where the players will be spending a lot of time on the water. I was wondering if anyone has any sailing downtime activities they use on occasion? I'm thinking I want to come up with some kind of fishing minigame/mechanic, repairs and maintenance on the ship... but outside of that I'm at a loss. I just want there to be more than random combat encounters or time skips as they sail from place to place. Help?
Proof - https://imgur.com/a/CNKOdvw
JM 1 oz silver sheet, 20 ozt total - $680
15 ozt .999 silver shot (10oz pack from APMEX + 5ozt bag from Monarch) - $390
Monarch 10ozt bars x2 (yes I painted the lettering) - $270/per
5 coin set Rwanda Nautical series '17-'21 -not proof - $220
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SOLD ASE 1987 (very slight toning) - $35
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Please use direct message only, I don't always get to look at chat. Thanks for looking!
https://preview.redd.it/cqx4947oox361.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=17d3d0c694a13211c2d166a278c94ffc690646e1
I'm starting my own swashbuckling adventure in just a few days and cannot wait to get started. To get in the mood and for further inspiration I was wondering what your ideas, played or not, for your own campaigns are!
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