Ship of Horrors....Help!

[thekristhomas]

Hmmm. I like the idea of them being unstoppable. I wonder if mechanically I should not so much give them a damage reduction or anything, but let them get destroyed and then simply start putting themselves back together again, regenerating until they are fully formed and rejoining the fight again.

Maybe the only way to really stop them then is like fire or acid of something like that?

For myself I would have it that the separate parts have their own hp, with each part being interchangeable, so that as long as there is a head, it could reconstruct itself from the bits lying about, but that might be a bit tricky record keeping wise.

[Quinntonia]

Yes, from a record keeping point of view, that sounds brutal.

[Satyrwyld]

Not sure how much this will help, but I recently ran Last Dance (from an old Dungeon Magazine) and something I did might work for you. Short bit of context: A serial killer who preserves her victims as segmented marionettes forever acting out a grand ball she pretends to host is killed and her spirit becomes a Greater Animator, which has the ability to turn said corpse-puppets into actual zombies. Still not a huge challenge for a group of level 3-4 heroes, but I wanted them to feel like they were facing something strange and dangerous...

So I played up how the shambling corpses, now moving of their own accord, weren't moving synchronously. Rather, the animating force might cause a forearm to lag behind the upper arm and the hand by an inch or so. The lunge of an attack might cause the torso to lurch forward, with the pelvis and legs joining it a moment later. Damage was represented by knocking pieces out of the "animating field," but the rest of the parts just hovering there. No mechanical effect to any of this, and they went down after a couple of hits, but it definitely shook up my players and sent their characters scrambling for a way out.

[Quinntonia]

Not sure how much this will help, but I recently ran Last Dance (from an old Dungeon Magazine) and something I did might work for you. Short bit of context: A serial killer who preserves her victims as segmented marionettes forever acting out a grand ball she pretends to host is killed and her spirit becomes a Greater Animator, which has the ability to turn said corpse-puppets into actual zombies. Still not a huge challenge for a group of level 3-4 heroes, but I wanted them to feel like they were facing something strange and dangerous...

So I played up how the shambling corpses, now moving of their own accord, weren't moving synchronously. Rather, the animating force might cause a forearm to lag behind the upper arm and the hand by an inch or so. The lunge of an attack might cause the torso to lurch forward, with the pelvis and legs joining it a moment later. Damage was represented by knocking pieces out of the "animating field," but the rest of the parts just hovering there. No mechanical effect to any of this, and they went down after a couple of hits, but it definitely shook up my players and sent their characters scrambling for a way out.

Hmmm, that's what I'm looking for yes....

[The Giamarga]

2. It strikes me that the whole ghost thing is interesting and could be fun to role play, as they have interesting characters. And further, I kind of dig the gathering of the bodies thing, but there is no real means within the campaign to let the players get underwater. This is especially problematic with the very clear frigid North Atlantic analog we have going here; this is the kind of water that kills people. I don't know how to gracefully overcome this.

Is magic off the table? I think that's what's used in the module, IIRC. If your campaign is too low-magic, how about some steampunkish tech? A crude submersible?

Apparatus of Kwalish/the Crab(google image search for kwalish apparatus for pictures

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Apparatus of Kwalish/the Crab(google image search for kwalish apparatus for pictures

Oh yeah! I have always loved that thing....

[Quinntonia]

I have never had a character get the Apparatus of Kwalish, but I've always thought it was so cool.

It certainly would facilitate the undersea portion of the adventure, but might make the fights with various underwater stuff a little less threatening...

[Quinntonia]

OK, so I hoping that with a cache of potions of water breathing and some endure elements we can figure out the underwater piece. They are getting powerful enough that it shouldn't upset the game and if I can just throw a bunch of these potions at them to facilitate this, I would prefer that to bogging down the story unnecessarily to figure all of it out.

Having read the sourcebook and having worked through the adventure, it looks like it should be pretty fun. I am especially looking forward to a sea based eadventure that involved role-playing those creepy as hell ghosts.

Now is just a matter of them finishing up the previous modules.

[Quinntonia]

I am starting this module in two weeks time.

I am looking for any and all help with setting atmosphere and bringing life on a ship to, well, life.

[Quinntonia]

So as far as bringing the ship and the ghosts/crewmates to life, I am thinking thusly:

I need to have a fully formed personality for the crew. That is going to take some time. Further, I think I am going to try and find some sound effects that can be used to set the mood of a ship at sea. Finally, the ghosts....what to do there?

I want to make them incredibly creepy. "haunting" if you will. But I'm unsure how to go for it. Any and all ideas for all above would be helpful.

[thekristhomas]

So as far as bringing the ship and the ghosts/crewmates to life, I am thinking thusly:

I need to have a fully formed personality for the crew. That is going to take some time. Further, I think I am going to try and find some sound effects that can be used to set the mood of a ship at sea. Finally, the ghosts....what to do there?

I want to make them incredibly creepy. "haunting" if you will. But I'm unsure how to go for it. Any and all ideas for all above would be helpful.

I lucked out with the creepiness of this adventure as the illustration of the little girl ghost looked freakily like the daughter of a friend who we all knew, so I just showed them and they got creeped out by that. Though it's unlikely that will work in most cases.

[thekristhomas]

The father (Jacob?) IIRC beats his fists in impotent rage upon the bulkheads, to my mind this might be creepier if it is heard and not seen. You mentioned using sound effects, maybe a rhythmic pounding in the background that rises until it seems like an attack on the ship that MUST be doing damage, until it seems like the hull MUST give way...and then nothing.

[Quinntonia]

The father (Jacob?) IIRC beats his fists in impotent rage upon the bulkheads, to my mind this might be creepier if it is heard and not seen. You mentioned using sound effects, maybe a rhythmic pounding in the background that rises until it seems like an attack on the ship that MUST be doing damage, until it seems like the hull MUST give way...and then nothing.

I quite like that.