Update on my ships, and sargasso mats
Dec 13, 2016 3:37:35 GMT
tauster, stroezie, and 2 more like this
Post by caveman on Dec 13, 2016 3:37:35 GMT
Hi everyone,
Here's an update on my last post.
I wound up taking the interweb’s advice and did not permanently attach platforms to the caravel’s spars. Instead, I made small platforms and glued magnets to them. Put another magnet beneath that with the spar between, and voila, climbing in the rigging made easy.
This series of photos also shows the ship in play.
The players found a ship wrecked on a reef, near a gargantuan mat of kelp. They saw an outrigger of lizardmen hauling butt away from the ship, obviously carrying loot they’d taken from it. The players also saw wounded victims laying on mats of kelp, and more lizardmen walking around on the mats cutting off pieces of the victims. Behind the reef were ship killing waves, but all three other sides of the kelp mats were navigable.
What did I, the GM, think my players would do? Anchor the ship on one of the lee sides of the reef and hop across the kelp mats to rescue the victims and fight the lizardmen.
What DID they do?
Rammed the kelp mat. THEN hop off and fight the lizardmen.
Good times!
(FWIW: I built the kelp mats like a maze. I put 1”, 2”, and 3” sections of string between each kelp mat. This was optimized for my players’ acrobatics modifiers and would have rewarded them for figuring the “easy” path through, and dunked them into the water for trying to make crazy jumps. Every round, I’d move the kelp mats one or two inches in a random direction to simulate wave action on the kelp. Also, notice the three blue discs that represented water rushing over the kelp mats. Every round, I’d move that water in a random direction as well, but the players would always know the “water discs” wouldn’t move more than 2 spaces, so they had some predictability, and I had a way to frighten them (if it moves to you next round, you’ll be swimming). Super fun playset.)
I got the idea for the “moral imperative” (i.e. rescue the hostages or get the treasure) from Hankerin Inferno at the Drunkens and Dragons youtube channel.
Here's an update on my last post.
I wound up taking the interweb’s advice and did not permanently attach platforms to the caravel’s spars. Instead, I made small platforms and glued magnets to them. Put another magnet beneath that with the spar between, and voila, climbing in the rigging made easy.
This series of photos also shows the ship in play.
The players found a ship wrecked on a reef, near a gargantuan mat of kelp. They saw an outrigger of lizardmen hauling butt away from the ship, obviously carrying loot they’d taken from it. The players also saw wounded victims laying on mats of kelp, and more lizardmen walking around on the mats cutting off pieces of the victims. Behind the reef were ship killing waves, but all three other sides of the kelp mats were navigable.
What did I, the GM, think my players would do? Anchor the ship on one of the lee sides of the reef and hop across the kelp mats to rescue the victims and fight the lizardmen.
What DID they do?
Rammed the kelp mat. THEN hop off and fight the lizardmen.
Good times!
(FWIW: I built the kelp mats like a maze. I put 1”, 2”, and 3” sections of string between each kelp mat. This was optimized for my players’ acrobatics modifiers and would have rewarded them for figuring the “easy” path through, and dunked them into the water for trying to make crazy jumps. Every round, I’d move the kelp mats one or two inches in a random direction to simulate wave action on the kelp. Also, notice the three blue discs that represented water rushing over the kelp mats. Every round, I’d move that water in a random direction as well, but the players would always know the “water discs” wouldn’t move more than 2 spaces, so they had some predictability, and I had a way to frighten them (if it moves to you next round, you’ll be swimming). Super fun playset.)
I got the idea for the “moral imperative” (i.e. rescue the hostages or get the treasure) from Hankerin Inferno at the Drunkens and Dragons youtube channel.