This is an interface to play the D&D [3.5E] "
Wreck Ashore" adventure, by setting adventure-information to emulate traditional conduct of a D&D adventure.
Instructions:
You'll open numbered,
red-titled spoilers (buttons) sequentially, after you've gone through what's therein. This adventure-format sacrifices such things as enemies controlled by other people, hidden opposed checks, and a lack of railroads.
1. "
ADVENTURE HOOKS" (page 2)
Pick a hook (bulleted).
"• [you] live in Seawell and have been expecting a
shipment [ship] of merchandise that has not arrived."
To avoid spoiling anything for yourself, only open/show this subscript spoiler-block if you choose this hook.[spoiler]"Two problems plague Seawell at present: the
increased hostility from the local lizardfolk and the
continued absence of all ships expected from the direc-
tion of the reef."
To avoid spoiling anything for yourself, only open/show this subscript spoiler-block if you investigate not about the missing ships...[spoiler]"... the mayor
approaches [you] upon finding out that [you] are [an] adven-
turer
s. He offers [you] 50 gp
each, plus all the treasure
[you] find, to find out what happened to the ships and
resolve the problem."[/spoiler]
[/spoiler]
To avoid spoiling anything for yourself, only open/show this subscript spoiler-block if you want a different hook.[spoiler]
"• [you] come upon Seawell in [your] travels
and hear about the problems plaguing the town in a
tavern."
To avoid spoiling anything for yourself, only open/show this subscript spoiler-block if you choose this hook.[spoiler]"Two problems plague Seawell at present: the
increased hostility from the local lizardfolk and the
continued absence of all ships expected from the direc-
tion of the reef."
[/spoiler]
To avoid spoiling anything for yourself, only open/show this subscript spoiler-block if you investigate not about the missing ships...[spoiler]"... the mayor
approaches [you] upon finding out that [you] are adven-
turers. He offers [you] 50 gp
each, plus all the treasure
[you] find, to find out what happened to the ships and
resolve the problem."
[/spoiler]
To avoid spoiling anything for yourself, only open/show this subscript spoiler-block if you want a different hook.[spoiler]
"• [you] are on a ship bound for Seawell from the reef
side. The ship runs aground
If you take this (the third) hook...[spoiler], and its crew is attacked
by pirates.[/spoiler]"
If you take this (the third) hook...[spoiler]
If there's a crew, they die.
[/spoiler]
[/spoiler]
[/spoiler]
2.
Travel[spoiler]
There are three options. You "can take either of two routes to get to
the lighthouse. The sea passage (encounter B) is both
faster and less dangerous than the overland route
across the peninsula (encounter A)." Hook 3 skips this step. My fiat as the GM: XP-farming forbidden.
The overland route is
marsh, during the dry season.
If you chose encounter B and "get off the ship for any
reason (even while it stands at anchor during the
night)"...[spoiler]"[You] have one of the numbered encounters
(DM’s choice) detailed in encounter A."[/spoiler]
"Encounter A"-encounters:
A1.
Lizardfolk's (MMI, page 169) Spot and Listen check modifier: 0 (Wis 10). Aid another unaccounted. Quantity?
A2?
A3.
Constrictor Snake's (MMI, page 279) Spot and Listen check modifier: +7.
A4. Four small
Vipers' (MMI, p.280) Spot and Listen check modifiers: +7.
A5&6. One or two
panthers (MMI, p.274): Due to their "9 or fewer hit points, then flee" tactic and "hp 4 each", they naturally flee everything, bwahaha.
if you were sneaking along the trail and you fail on your stealth checks against +1 perception checks...[spoiler]Roll 2 +1 perception checks per round the amount of times you would if you were told you heard a strange noise. Aid another unaccounted. If any succeed, see spoiler marked with a superscript 3 (below).[/spoiler]
If you succeed on a perception check where penalize yourself 6+1d4 against +2 stealth checks...[spoiler]C1. Pirates' Spot and Listen check modifiers: +1 (Wis 12). Aid another unaccounted. Distance: 70 to 100 ([1d4+6] × 10) feet, according to the last roll. [/spoiler]
When you've completed the campaign...[spoiler]
(Female) Lizardfolk scout(s) and guide-hiring omitted.
[/spoiler]
Going with encounter A, I plan avoid encounters, preferring to check out the light-house directly. Flight during night (low-light + darkvision) avoids hunting panthers. High altitude for penalties to opposed Spot checks. Stealth 24/7 (+23 Hide) (taking 10). I either have rations (deducting the cost from my base gp later) or I hunt for my food (more fun). Time is no big deal and I'm moving at half my flight-speed (30 ft.) as a result of my constant stealth.
[/spoiler]
3.
Arrival[spoiler]
"The terrain around the lighthouse and the pirate camp
consists of sand dunes dotted with patches of tall grass
and trees. The dunes form a raised area between the
beach and the swamp, which shields the beach from
the view of anyone approaching from the peninsula.
If PCs came overland, they can see the tops of the
lighthouse and the pirates’ wooden tower above the
trees only after ascending the dunes. If they came by
ship, they can see the entire setup from afar. But they
must disembark some miles distant from the light-
house and pirate camp because the reef allows no safe
landing any closer than that. They can get to shore by
swimming or via a small lifeboat, then hike toward the
buildings."
[/spoiler]
4.
If you search the light-house...[spoiler]
Discover[/spoiler]
[spoiler]The light-house got dead bodies in it.
"If [you] came overland..."[spoiler]
"...[You] can see the tops of the
lighthouse and [a] wooden tower above the
trees only after ascending the [sand] dunes."
[/spoiler]
When you <verb> the <noun>...[spoiler]
Spotting the camp from up high, I ignore it and check out the light-house directly, at night.
[/spoiler]
[/spoiler]
5.
See 4.[spoiler]Deduce.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]
i) Knowledge check to figure out what the skeletal frame light tower is and its purpose.
ii) the GM deems that you immediately deduce the scheme.
iii) Capture/seize and interrogate:
"
Development: A captured pirate pretends to be
tough, but a successful Intimidate check (opposed by
the pirate’s Wisdom check +1) makes the prisoner
reveal all he knows about the pirates’ activities in the
area—which is pretty much everything (see encounter
E for details).
If one or both of the pirates escape, they make their
way back to the pirate camp as quickly as they can.
They move cross-country, so they might not beat the
[you] back there (see encounter B for details)."
[/spoiler]
6.
PlanSee 5.[spoiler]I either camp on the other side of the light-house, inside the light-house (near or at the top), atop the pirate camp's wooden pavilion or even right in the middle of them, letting them get accustomed to any move silently failures I make. I observe the actions of the pirates.
I could capture/seize and interrogate one.
[/spoiler]
7.
ExecuteSee 6.[spoiler]
i) Arson.
ii) Conduct guerrilla warfare (to drive them off).
iii) Tank.
iiii) Bomb.
[/spoiler]
Terrain
[spoiler]
The scenario takes place
on and around a swampy peninsula that juts out from a
longer stretch of coastline. Along one side of this
peninsula stretches a dangerous reef. Just offshore on
the reef side stands a lighthouse built to warn ships of
the danger. At the base of the peninsula on the side
away from the reef is a small port town called Seawell.
To get a good feel for this area, look at a map of
Florida pics[spoiler]
1: topographical(?)
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]
2: satellite
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]
3: satellite (smaller, brighter)
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]
4: satellite (oblique)
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]
[/spoiler] and imagine that the state is only about 50
miles long and 50 miles wide. The lighthouse is just off
the coast near St. Augustine, and Seawell lies on the
coast just south of Tallahassee. This peninsula juts out
from a longer coastline.
The scenario can be placed on any coastal peninsula
that features a reef. As always, feel free to adapt the
material presented here as you see fit to make it work
with your campaign.
PREPARATION
[The DM] need
the D&D core rulebooks, including
the Player’s Handbook, the Dungeon Master’s Guide,
and the Monster Manual to run this adventure. Fea-
tured monsters include Encounter A[spoiler]alligators, snakes, and panthers
(leopards)[/spoiler]. To make the scenario more realistic, you
might also want to read up on the terrain of
encounter A[spoiler]Everglades
National Park[/spoiler]. This scenario utilizes the D&D v.3.5
rules, but it can easily be used with the 3.0 rules as well.
[/spoiler]
8. Win.
When you've completed the synopsis...
[spoiler]
Runners:
i) bearsarebrown LINK
ii)
[/spoiler]
ADVENTURE SYNOPSIS
[spoiler]
[You] must head for the lighthouse by either
land or sea
When you have completed the campaign.[spoiler], fighting off various swamp denizens along
the way. Once [you] arrive at the lighthouse, [you] dis-
cover that the operators have been murdered and the
light extinguished. From there, [you] must locate the
pirate camp and the false lighthouse and put a stop to
the renegades’ plan[/spoiler]."
[/spoiler]
CREDITS
[spoiler]
Design: Robert Wiese
Editing: Penny Williams
Typesetting: Nancy Walker
Cartography: Todd Gamble
Web Production Julia Martin
Web Development: Mark A. Jindra
Graphic Design: Sean Glenn, Cynthia Fliege
Based on the original DUNGEONS & DRAGONS®
game by E.
Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and on the new edition of the
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game designed by Jonathan Tweet,
Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, and Peter Adkison.
D&D, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, and DUNGEON MASTER are registered trademarks owned
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Coast, Inc. All Wizards characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses
thereof are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United
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material or artwork contained herein is prohibited
without the express written permission of
Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
©2004 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Made in the U.S.A.
This product is a work of fiction.
Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places,
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visit www.wizards.com/dnd
[/spoiler]
Introduction from the download-page
[spoiler]
"The number of ships docking at the coastal town of Seawell has suddenly dropped, and raids by the local lizardfolk are increasing. The missing ships were all approaching from the reef side of the peninsula, so something must have happened to the lighthouse that normally guides ships safely past the danger. But what?"
[/spoiler]