Encounter Clarifications

I'm still editing the summary, but thought I'd post something in the meantime. I answered some questions in the comments, but I figured I might want to revisit and rephrase some of my answers here.

hansotterson asked me to clarify the game's structure: what's the game about, and how do you play it? It's a horror-adventure game with scenes broken up into:

• horrific atmosphere, like meeting the captain, dealing with thirst and hunger, minor incidents on the ship or in port;
• traditional adventure encounters, like storms, sea monsters, raids, chase and pursuit;
• flashbacks to life before damnation, which set up relationships and thus aide in escaping damnation.

The traditional adventure encounters are generated randomly on the dice map. noahsgamechefpage asked for clarification on using the dice map: the dice map can actually be used any time the GM wants inspiration on what happens next, but the major events are intended to occur after sunset each day, with minor events and flashbacks filling up the rest of the time. Also, some of the major events and all flashbacks will create NPCs as a side effect. Can these be fleshed out? Certainly. When the Dutchman raids a ship, many of the living crew will be killed and eaten, others will try to escape, but a few may be taken captive as newly damned, which means the PCs can interact with them over the next couple days.

mark vallianatos had some questions as well about the guts of resolving tasks and conflicts, but I'll cover that in a separate post.

Major Events, Part II

Continuing from a previous post: the GM rolls 3d6 on a dice map and interprets the results. You've already seen a list of suggestions, but the dice can show much more than those 25 results. If some of the dice match, or if a die lands on a boundary between two regions on the map, two values are interpreted together; the results can become very complex, such as Sea+Damned v. Living, which might be the crew attacking a helpless ship while sharks gnaw through the hull.

The lowest result on the 3 dice, in addition to indicating the threat, indicates the general strength of the threat -- how many hit points it has, relative to other threats. Many threats will only be 1 or 2, easily dealt with; rolling triple 6s will likely produce deadly, exotic threats.

To deal with the threat, the players will describe what actions they attempt. If you need to know the speed or effectiveness (strength) of their action, roll 2d6 and assign one value to each. If the character's action is opposed by another character, NPC or PC, or even by a force, that opponent rolls 2d6 as well. The lowest speed result goes first; if the strength of the action is higher than the defensive strength, the action overcame the resistance. The GM may compare factors in favor or opposed to the action and adjust one side or the other by +1 or +2.

After the threat is dealt with, if the ship is heading for a specific port, one player and the GM each roll 2d6 and compare the highest result; if the player wins, do that much "damage" to the distance needed to be traveled. Some events, such as whirlpools and gales, may actually add to the distance; a gale, if the PCs are clever, might give a bonus to damage.

Major Events

I've mentioned major events. What are they? If a minor event is meant to merely convey mood, forcing the characters to explore the ship, a major event is meant to give them something to do. It's something big and unexpected that happens.

The dice map posted previously shows a box with an overhead silhouette of a ship in the center and four phrases posted at the four edges of the map. When the characters are finished temporarily with exploring the ship or taking care of needs, the GM rolls 3d6 on the dice map. Where the dice land determines what happens: the lowest result shows where the threat comes from, and the highest result shows what the threat endangers or otherwise acts on.

• The Damned: The dead crew, whether long dead or newly impressed.
• Unforgiving Sea: The raging Deep itself, or creatures in it.
• The Living: The land, its inhabitants, and their ships. Generally indicates a merchant ship, warship or pirate vessel.
• Uncaring Sky: The wind, clouds, sky, and flying creatures.
• The Ship (center): Self-explanatory. Might indicate a mast that breaks, or a sudden breach in the hull.

Interpreting the dice combos gives inspiration for what events to hit the characters with. Some suggestions:

• Damned v. Damned: several of the long dead attack the PCs.
• Damned v. Sea: the crew tries to force a PC to walk the plank.
• Damned v. Living: the crew makes a pirate raid or salvages a wrecked ship.
• Damned v. Sky: the crew tries to lash one of the PCs to the mast during the day.
• Damned v. Ship: a mutiny! Half the crew against the other.

• Sea v. Damned: a wave swamps the deck, possibly washing a PC overboard.
• Sea v. Sea: a whirlpool, which potentially slows the ship.
• Sea v. Living: the PCs spot a sinking ship.
• Sea v. Sky: thick fog rises, possibly slowing or threatening the ship.
• Sea v. Ship: crashing waves breach the hull.

• Living v. Damned: pirates attempt to board the Dutchman.
• Living v. Sea: marooned or shipwrecked sailors thinking they are about to be rescued.
• Living v. Living: the Dutchman interrupts a naval battle.
• Living v. Sky: the Dutchman find a ship fighting a gale.
• Living v. Ship: a fort on an island or a man o' war attacks the ship.

• Sky v. Damned: gulls attack at night!
• Sky v. Sea: a torrent of rain pounds the ship.
• Sky v. Living: a ship blown off course.
• Sky v. Sky: thunder and lightning.
• Sky v. Ship: gale force winds batter and toss the ship.

• Ship v. Damned: a mast falls, perhaps crushing or pinning a PC.
• Ship v. Sea: the ship runs aground.
• Ship v. Living: the ship unexpectedly rams another ship.
• Ship v. Sky: the sails are torn or the ship is becalmed, losing time until the crew does something.
• Ship v. Ship: one part of the ship collapses and breaks another, perhaps breaching the hull.

This should give a good idea of how the random events are played out, but I'll do a follow-up post.

The Ship and the Voyage, Part II

The voyage of the Flying Dutchman is fairly abstract. You do not need to play out every moment, but you must play out at least one shipboard event in between every major event. Prior to successfully convincing the captain to set sail to a specific port, you must play out at least one scene on board the ship. This can be nearly anything: an escape or mutiny attempt, trying to communicate with others who are damned, looking for food or water. Once completed, the rules are:

• You must have at least one flashback to establish a past relationship;
• You must separate flashbacks with other kinds of events;
• You can attempt to converse with the captain before having a flashback, but the captain will not change course unless you have a past relationship established;
• You must separate major events, including being captured, convincing the captain to set a course, and arriving in port, with minor shipboard events.

In other words:

1. Start with being captured;
2. Play one or more events, including minor interactions with the captain;
3. Play a flashback, possibly one or more additional events;
4. Convince the captain to change course;
5. Play one or more minor events or flashbacks;
6. Play a major event;
7. Repeat 5 and 6 until you reach port.

Once in port, events take a different course, and may end with the player characters being forced back to the ship, starting the sequence again.

Setting Course for Redemption

The basic structure for events on the ship is based on convincing the captain to set a course for a port you know, determining how long it will take, discovering what happens along the way, and finally arriving. Convincing the captain to change course obviously will require some kind of reaction roll, but what kind? I'm still debating. The captain is, in a sense, mindless. The conversation with the captain will seem almost one-sided, certainly. All I'm sure of is that the PCs can't pick a course for a port until they have established that port in a flashback scene, which is something else I'm working out the details for.

The distance to the port, though, is probably going to be abstract. I thought at first about just rolling for the voyage's duration in days and letting the players pick events that happen during the voyage: the events do "damage" to the "hit points" (days of travel), with more dangerous events doing more damage. Now, however, I'm leaning more towards setting an abstract number for the duration of the voyage, rolling for random events, and ending each event with a roll to see if the duration number is reduced by one.

EXAMPLE: through negotiation with the captain, the voyage duration is set to 5 (perhaps he says "it will be about 5 days".) The GM rolls for a random event; the players deal with that event, then roll 2d6 and pick the highest. If that number is higher than the duration number, the duration is reduced by one: there are only four days left. However, if the players roll doubles on the 2d6 roll, something unfortunate happens as a side effect; what happens depends on the kind of event.

The Ship and the Voyage

Here are some notes on the nature of the Flying Dutchman, its captain, and its voyage.

• The Dutchman is a cursed ship filled with the animated corpses of the long dead; in addition, the player characters and perhaps a few NPCs in the crew are not truly dead, but damned to Life-in-Death;
  
• The damned who escape the ship always carry the Dutchman with them and will return to it in time; until that happens, their presence in the lands of the living has dire consequences;
• Escaping damnation, on the other hand, frees you from the ship and the consequences, although you can always backslide back into damnation; breaking the curse of the ship is much harder, but permanent;
• Until the curse of the ship is broken, the Dutchman, its captain and crew cannot be truly destroyed, but will always be restored;
• If the damned are physically killed, they join the rest of the crew as truly dead;
• The crew does not speak more than a word or two at a time; the captain (Hendrik van der Decken) occasionally says a full sentence, but is mostly as mindless as the rest of the crew; they are permanently part of the cursed ship as a whole and have no individual personalities;
• The captain and crew will act in the best interest of the ship, attempting to maintain the curse and keep the damned from escaping their damnation;
• The damned can attempt to persuade the captain to choose a course for a port of their choosing; while in port, they can attempt to escape damnation, but there is a risk that the crew will bring death to the port;
• The voyage to the port has the potential to be interrupted by storm, sea monsters, encounters with ships of the living, and interactions with the crew.