Sky World is a basic fantasy world; so adventures common in fantasy novels are appropriate. Sky World is an ancient world. The floating islands have been settled, abandoned and re-settled numerous times. Only a few islands have been inhabited continuously. The requirement of specialized transport (wooden air ships) between islands limits the options for low-level parties. On a continental sized world, characters can hike from civilization to the frontier. There would be frontier towns on the continent that could serve as bases for adventurers. On Sky World, or even an ocean island based campaign, there really is no frontier.
Beginning characters on Sky World have a number of basic starting options. First, they can start in a city, or at least in a small village on a large island with a city. Adventures within a city are generally of the thieving, assassination or political genre. Adventures along these lines tend to be deadly, tough to write, or all to often the local constables will intervene very quickly. Exceptions could be made in Ankh-Morpork or Lankhmar. Smaller, less corrupt cities will not tolerate a Thieves Guild or large amounts of violence. Second, they can be hired by a government, business consortium, or some other person or group to carry out a job. The sponsor will either provide a vessel or more likely provide transportation. The GM has a lot more control over what jobs are offered to the party, so it is easier for the GM in some ways. The sponsors may advance the party equipment, but if so, usually at high cost. Jobs along this line include scouting for new colonization sites, courier delivery of goods or information, spying or reconnaissance, Thirdly, one of the characters can be rich or have a rich family. This would provide either a vessel or at least access to a vessel.
Characters have a limited number of background options. While characters might have knowledge of far away places and other countries, they have few choices as to what countries or part of the world they come from.
Beginning adventures generally should be scouting events. The party does not have sufficient strength to do battle with many creatures. Other basic options are exploring ruins or dungeons that have pretty well been picked over with the goal of finding over looked items.
This is a simple hack and slash adventure for any size party. A business consortium that wants some simple exploration and trail blazing done will bring the party together. The consortium will post an advertisement looking for a group or individuals to join a group. The consortium has knowledge from its trading records that a village used to exist on the island of Delos. The village was known for its olive production. The Consortium hopes to find old art work, artifacts, and eventually to re-settle the village and resume it's trade. The adventurers will be advanced some equipment, but at a very high price. After paying for the equipment, the adventurers may keep half of any coin or precious metals they find. Magical artifacts, records, or objects of art or value is right of first refusal for the consortium, and they set the prices. The party will be bound by a non-disclosure agreement. Delos has been shown on maps for many years. Casual observation by passing ships definitely shows the island was inhabited at one point. This is common though; there are very few, if any islands of any size that were not inhabited at least once. Delos is at least 1,000 kilometers from any other currently known inhabited island. This comes from no particular book.
This is a simple wilderness scouting adventure. A business consortium that is starting a new colony will bring the party together. The site has been scouted already, so the party will start with maps and such. The party will be dropped off in a small boat about three weeks before the rest of the colonists are due to arriving. The party's job is to ensure site security so the colonists arrive in a safe area. Sort of like Jamestown. They will also have to clear-cut areas for the town hearth, temples, forum, etc. They'll have to survey the area, or at least review the original survey lines. The party will get a surprise and find a dungeon that the original scouting party missed.
The party is provided covert transport to one of the large islands. Their job is to scout out the strength of the local garrisons. The party must travel from the drop site to a variety of towns. Their eventual goal is to meet with an agent in the island's major city. They must insure they are not followed or that the agent's cover is not blown. After delivering their information, they are supposed to return to the landing site and prepare for a larger landing force. They will have a single shot means of communicating with their sponsor if they are in imminent danger of capture. The sponsor is either their home government, or a government they have hired onto. If caught, they are likely to be enslaved. The island is approximately 15 kilometers north to south, by 3 kilometers east to west. There is one city on the south end of the island. There are villages on the east and west coasts about 5 kilometers from the city and one village about 10 kilometers directly north from the city. The northern 3 kilometers is forestland. The areas around the villages are intensely farmed. The farmers all live inside the villages and walk to the fields.
At 2nd through 4th level, or equivalent, the party generally has sufficient money to buy all of their non-magical equipment except for large assets such as ships or land. They will usually have enough money to buy passage to new areas of adventuring.
At this point the party is quite strong. They can afford ship's and other major capital items. They might own a building in a city, but will not have their own fief. They could easily have commercial interests that need protection.
Characters at this point are very powerful. It is at this point that politics and major quests become common. Also, settling down and carving out a fief is a good way to separate the party from money. Politics will provide adventures where brute force will not work. Subtlety and the use of underlings will be needed to accomplish goals. Adventure list
Author: Phil Scadden Email: mdlcpgs@lhn.gns.cri.nz
This plot is meant as a strategy exercise to give a change of pace for high-status characters (i.e. the characters are recognized and respected). The idea may be of use at a lower level. Characters with scrying and/or night vision capacities will be especially useful.
Plot.
A coastal region about a port town has become the target for foraging pirates, based somewhere in a nearby archipelago. The lord in the town has asked the characters to assist in setting up a defense against this menace. Mostly the raids have been strictly foraging but a recent one overpowered a sleeping manor, killing its owner and with all the young women carried off. For groups so inclined this plot can easily include a simple board game based on the map, with the turn being a week, and then dicing for if and where an attack will come. The GM then looks at what the characters have put in place and adjudicates a result. The GM can control events on a more abstract level if this doesn't appeal - the fun is in devising the strategy and counter-strategies. They should be thinking up plans for watches, message passing, deployment of forces etc. A good place for the characters to get directly involved is in attacking the boats themselves while the bulk of the crew are raiding inland. Here is a more detailed scenario as an example.
The Pirates:
These are actually the losing navy from fratricidal wars on the far continent preying mostly on their own countrymen's merchant trade in vengeance. They have 12 Viking-style boats with crews of 20-40 each. The leader is a cunning captain and will order appropriate measures against defenses (i.e., they will understand a lit beacon and its implications as well as the intended receivers). The coastal strip concerned is very convenient and it would be difficult to go further afield. It is only due to a botched campaign against them that they are forced to forage off the coast to this extent and the word is forage as opposed to rape and pillage. The leader did not order the attack on the manor and was not amused when he found out about it, guessing correctly that it would result in stronger defenses. The usual attack mode is to travel well offshore (though they have been slack so far) at day, then run ashore pre- dawn. The raiding party goes inland while 5-9 remain to guard the ship, usually lying slightly offshore rather than beached. The raiding party will be competent fighters though they will back off from significant resistance, particularly if it endangers the ship. Animals are driven back to the ship on the hoof, while anything else has to be carried on the raiders' backs. If a ship does not return or has encountered major opposition, then further raids will remain well out of sight of land by day. If a second ship is lost, then the raids will be carried out by two ships at a time to make a large combined force with extra guards on the ship. The loss of four ships will force the captain to move foraging elsewhere and raids will cease.
Resources:
The town lord has a sizeable following of men-at-arms based in the castle as well as three fighting ships, properly part of the navy. These ships will outpace the pirates on short hauls, (less than 1 hour apart), due to superior no. of oarsmen but are no match for the longboat under sail as the oarsmen tire. There are 20 villages/hamlets scattered about the coast that can raise ill-trained militia at a push (i.e. with a backbone of real men-at-arms in command) but mostly the villagers will be too concerned with protecting family as they hightail out of it, probably driving herds if they have time. There will be one or two manors of nobles near each village though and these usually retain 2-6 men-at-arms who can be commanded. The population will be generally enthusiastic for measures to counter the pirates, particularly if they don't have to actually do the fighting. They will man lookouts and beacons reliably. Any time a pirate is captured, there is a 50% probability of finding a chart (providing the ship isn't fired). This covers the coast and archipelago quite well and while it wont locate the pirate base, it will be noticeable that part of the archipelago is drawn in far more detail than the rest.
Donkegen is a monster that eats rocks. Only the strong of spirit can survive looking at it. Donkegen lives in a lake in what the locals call "Dreamtime Country". The Donkegen is actually a donkey engine steam shovel that is in an old stone quarry. It is buried under water, but it rises due to trapped gasses. The players will have some or all of the following info. The Donkegen is referenced in a diary or news stories or oral traditions. At least 3 people are mentioned, two women and a man. Actually they are two girls and a boy; the boy is Cody Walpole, age 12 or so, his girl friend Wendy Canon also age 12 and her sister Jane age 10.