Dungeons · Water · Rooms/ Halls
The Pirate Ship Deathwail
Once a mighty pirate ship, Deathwail was captained by the dreaded pirate known as simply as Redeye. A man prone to unspeakable acts of Violence, Redeye and his ship Deathwail were finally destroyed in a horrible battle. However, Redeye was not to be counted out. Prior to the battle, he had plundered an ancient tomb, and had found a relic which he had kept. This item was cursed, and when he and his crew died, it brought them back in a horrible mockery of life. Enslaved by this relic, the pirates scour the waters, looking for souls that can be fed to the evil relic
Quest entry
Quest entry
Quest - Five Room Dungeon
In association with Johnn Four, and all the fine folks subscribed to his Roleplaying Tips Weekly mailing list at, we bring you our first collaborative Quest. Room One: Entrance and Guardian - There needs to be a reason w… Open the quest
Full quest brief
In association with Johnn Four, and all the fine folks subscribed to his Roleplaying Tips Weekly mailing list at, we bring you our first collaborative Quest.
Room One: Entrance and Guardian - There needs to be a reason why your dungeon hasn’t been plundered or why your adventurers are the ones for the job.
Room Two: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge - A trial that cannot be solved by steel alone.
Room Three: Trick or Setback - Build tension through tricks and setbacks and give them a double-dose of gameplay such as more combat or another roleplaying challenge.
Room Four: Climax, Big Battle or Conflict - The final combat or conflict of the dungeon.
Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist - The dungeon is complete but what is it about this dungeon that made it different or memorable. What kind of mystery have they discovered, what kind of reward have they won, and what kind of information have they recovered?
Read Johnn's Full Article: 5 Room Dungeons for more tips and thoughts on how to write one, an example is the Library of the Ancients.
Submissions to the quest will each earn an extra 15XP can be inputted on the site as normal or can be emailed to Johnn at roleplayingtips.com.
Prizes for this quest include a D&D Icons Gargantuan Black dragon from Legend Games, MyInfo Personal Reference Software licenses from Milenix Software, DCC #46 Book of Treasure Maps – DCC #$7 Tears of the Genie - #50 Vault of the Iron Overlord from Goodman Games, and 1 on 1 Adventures #5 Vale of the Sepulcher - #6 Shroud of Olindor - #7 Eyes of the Dragon - #8 Blood Brothers - Advanced Adventures #3 Curse of the Witch Head from Expeditious Retreat Press. Winners for these prizes will be chose randomly so every submission has an equal chance of winning. Also, all the quest submissions will be combined and edited with what the folks at Roleplaying Tips come up with and they all will be offered back to the community.
------------ Strolen's Citadel Quest, Five Room Dungeon was an awesome collaborative success. The total amount of quest submissions between Johnn's Roleplaying Tips and the Citadel was a whopping 87 Five Room Dungeons! The winners of this set were chosen randomly so congratulations to all. But here are those that won a gift from the sponsors: Gillian Wiseman Tyler Turner Nik Palmer Daniel Burrage Uri Lifshitz Clayton Blanchard Jean-Christophe Pelletier Jason Kemp Pirate Queen Wulfhere Valadaar Thewizard63. Congratulations to Everybody!!!
Room One: Entrance and Guardian - There needs to be a reason why your dungeon hasnt been plundered or why your adventurers are the ones for the job.
Finding Deathwail
The first step, and possibly the biggest, in dealing with this ship is finding it. Deathwail is sailed around the oceans of the world, never really staying in one place too long. Its crew does not need to sleep, and thus it can simply keep moving at all times. Once found, however, the players would need to discover how to board the ship and keep their ship afloat.
Once they have done this, they will have to deal with the crew who resides on the main deck. Generally there are several undead creatures who are on the main deck, swabbing it, keeping the rigging and sails in the right place, ect. Maintaining the ship. Once these creatures are dealt with, the party can focus on entering the ships interior. There is one visable door on the main deck.
Room Two: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge - A trial that cannot be solved by steel alone.
Passageway
The door that is on the main deck connects to the galley, hold, and captains quarters. The door is barred, and the key is in possession of the Captain himself. If the party does not have the key, they would need the pick the lock. The door is also trapped. Once they have made it past the door they will find the ghost of the First Mate, Carlos. He has been trapped here by the Captain and the Relic as, unlike the Captain, hates his new existance. However, he does not speak to strangers easily. If he can be persuaded, he will tell the PC's of the relic and how it is the true problem. Otherwise, he simply says nothing. There are three doors here, two of which are locked and bolted.
Room Three: Trick or Setback - Build tension through tricks and setbacks and give them a double-dose of gameplay such as more combat or another roleplaying challenge.
Galley
The unlocked door leads here, to the Galley. Within this room the crew would eat drink and make merry. Now however, the crew dines on things that no normal person would. This room has several undead creatures in it in the midst of feeding, and they feed on living beings. Most likely, this is the crew of the last boat that was attacked by the Deathwail. Some of the crew should still be alive, but incapacitated in some way. The PC's will be in for a fight the moment they enter the galley, as the remander of the crew that was not piloting the ship will be found here. Once they are done, the remaining survivors will beg the PC's to save them, and take them off the ship and back to land. If the PC's do so, they will have to deal with finding the Deathwail again, and possibly have more people to rescue if the ship attacks again.
Room Four: Climax, Big Battle or Conflict - The final combat or conflict of the dungeon.
Captain's Quarters
The door to this room is locked from the inside, and the lock would have to be dealt with. The door is stout oak, and coult theoretically be broken down. The Captain however is ready for the party, as he is connected directly with the ship itself. He is a powerful undead creature that is totally in control of himself, and retains much of his former prowess and power. Inside his room there are things too horrible to describe, such as chairs made of human bone and maps painted on skin. The Captain is a master swordsman, and his undeath had given him access to other powers as well. He cannot truly be killed until the relic is destroyed as well, as it keeps his soul alive.
Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist - The dungeon is complete but what is it about this dungeon that made it different or memorable. What kind of mystery have they discovered, what kind of reward have they won, and what kind of information have they recovered?
Ships Hold.
The only access to the hold is a door with a special magic lock. This lock can only be opened with the Captains ring. Once inside, the PC's find the amassed treasure of a hundread voyages. Gold, Jewels, and other such trinkets. There is a vertible mountain of treasure here. Also, hidden within a chest somewhere in this massive hold sits the Relic itself. If the PC's do not find the relic, in a week the undead of the ship will return, and the ship will continue to plague the seas.
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Unfortunately Disney's Pirate's movies were popular. Otherwise this would be fairly original. Regardless, it still sounds like a lot of fun to play. And sea Quests are rare.
5-Plot Twist Idea: The treasure is there, but what if when the relic is removed from the box/ships hold/ship, Deathwail starts to disintegrate. (keeps the PCs from gorging on treasure)the disintegration could be described as pulling the souls from the walls of the ship into the item. opening up holes in the hull, where they once were.
I try to leave stuff like that up to the GM / DM in question for this sort of thing.
And I personally like ghost ships, so I would rather not be compared to things like PotC :P It was an alright movie but meh.
In Honor of Yon fine Day. I be thankin' ya for such a celebratory tale. And Aye, the teller of the tale should detail the end, by rights. 'tis the pirates code.
Aye matey, that it should.
That it should.
A good quick romp on a ghost ship. Just enough to have some fun that can be as quick or extended as the session requires.
I'm afraid no matter what kind of ghost ship is written nowadays, it will always be compared with the one (well two) of the Pirates. Luckily, this is more thant a simple mix of the two, and it has a few extra thoughts.
I'd throw in a ghost. Maybe a zombie squid. Maybe make the treasure cursed, and the pirates are begging you to take it. Maybe the captain can control the ship with his brain and makes it do all these crazy barrel rolls during the boss fight. Why should he care if he sinks it? He doesn't breathe anymore, and he can bring it back to the surface just as easily.
This is super cool but I feel as though the captain would never get killed if the relic would be in the treasure room. It would be very dramatic if the relic was near the captain or a part of the ship itself. For example, the relic could be the wheel of the ship or a golden hook found at the chair of the captain. That way, it would always be close to the captain and the players could theoretically destroy it in that way.