Adrift at sea

While floating upon the waves in my watery world, I refer to a couple of charters to help keep the journey interesting. First there is the random debris chart found in the Pathfinder Game Master handbook that helps keep the adventurers entertained besides having a ton of random encounters.  For example, they found a lifeboat full of hundreds of wigs, an abandoned fishing boat with a pair of wings made from the feathers of Rocs, and a lute inscribed with the words, "Let the Heavens Weep."  These random items really helped the players flesh out their characters and interact with one another, as some were interested in trying the new toys out (such as a full-plated cleric strapping on the wings and trying to "fly" off the boat!). So that table was very useful in keeping the group entertained.

Another major factor that the group had to deal with is weather and sailing, also randomly rolled from a chart.  Since the largest ship in my world is only a 15 man crew, the group had to either have someone who sailed or hire a sailor/captain to keep them on course.  The characters had to make checks to sail whenever the weather changed (two times a day and one at night) and the checks were harder or easier depending on the weather.  If the check was failed the party did not move or moved in the wrong directions depending on the direction of the waves and wind. To go along with the sailing, provisions are also a factor depending on the character classes and the levels of the group. Our druid liked to fish and the bard dragged a net behind the boat (picking up a couple of lobsters in the process) so this was also something different for the group to enjoy.

Finally there were random encounters.  I wrote up a list of encounters and if I rolled within a certain percentile I would then roll on the chart to see what encounters they happened upon.  On the night they played they encountered a sea hag, a scouting group of merfolk, a couple of small water elementals, sea cats, sharks and a giant ship mimic (full of treasure that the group chose to ignore, their loss!).  These encounters might have been a little too easy for the group normally, but the rules for fighting from ship to water can be very tricky at first so it was probably a good thing to have something that eased the characters into the world.  I did have harder encounters on there as well, but sadly those creatures were never called to the surface due because my dice hate me. 

Finally, there is flavor places that on certain fun roles the characters happen across, such as ghost ships, islands and other ships.  My group did not have a chance to encounter such things this time, but when they clear out the college of the drowned mage they will have to break the surface once more and explore surface of the vast Western Wash.