Campaign Concept: Sailing the Sky

What Are We Making?

I've mentioned before that I absolutely love having pirates in my D&D games. I sincerely believe that there's a lot there to explore with them. I created the concept, hoping to add a bit more flare to the idea of "adventurer pirates. I want to create an adventure / exploratory campaign based around the party wanting to be pirates - perhaps the greatest group of pirates that ever lived.

But I wanted to try and do it in a setting with a bit more of a magical flare (or cyberpunk, if you wanna go that direction; I'm sure you could do that.) So, rather than have the players sail the sea... I want them to sail the sky.

The Setting:

So, why the sky? I have a few reasons.

- Personally, I really like the idea of telling your players, "Hey, we're going to play a pirate campaign. Make characters that want to be pirates" and then you introduce the world's setting to them... and there's no oceans. The way I see the setting looking is something like a series of islands that are just suspended in the sky, floating there. However, that can be completely open to interpretation.

- The magical potential is excellent. If you want a "high fantasy" feeling in a pirate campaign, I feel like the best way to do that is to incorporate magic where you can and where it would make the most sense. The ships have to fly somehow, so... how? Are the ships more like how D&D portrays airships? Or are they perfectly historically accurate pirate ships that have been enchanted to fly?

- Despite the fact that the pirates are sailing the skies and not the seas, nothing else really changes about the concept of "being pirates." The nautical combat would be the same (we'll get to my feelings on that in a minute) and that same feeling of freely sailing over the seas would be the same.

- This setting concept is not necessarily unfamiliar either. Many pieces of media depict magical fantasy realms that have "floating islands" and I can think of two examples of media with pirates that sail the sky: the Disney film Treasure Planet and Kingsisle's MMO Pirate101.

If the sky setting isn't something you're into, that's fine. The concept still works perfectly on the sea.

Piracy should be something people aspire to in this world. It's something akin to "being an adventurer" where people mostly look up to them. Sure, some are evil, but for the most part, they're swords and mages for hire, taking up quests and sailing from one place to the next.

Pirates also shouldn't all be swordsmen or swordswomen. This is a high fantasy setting, and I demand Wizard and Sorcerer pirates with epic magical prowess because that is so cool. Imagine a necromancer with a crew of undead pirates - a literal skeleton crew or ghost ship. The players should still be free to flavor their characters however they want, and even though this is a piracy campaign, they shouldn't be forced to be stereotypical "pirates." Can they be? Of course. But if a player wants their pirate to be a Life Cleric, then sure. There can be cleric and paladin pirates that turn their ships into traveling temples and refuges for missionaries and castaways, for example. Monks could also do something similar, or could simply be known for the fact that they fight without any magic or weapons. Bards could have ships that go faster or slower based on the notes that they sing. If they dance or do acrobatics, they could steer the ship with their body or something. Tailor the world to the players' desires.

The Plot:

The reason why I'm really pushing for the players to call the shots here is because I anticipate this concept going in the direction of exploration more so than fighting a great evil, or following a specific storyline. There can be smaller arcs and storylines with grand treasures to find and bad guys to stop depending on where the players want to go.

The one thing I would say is make the first arc about how the players gain their ship or ships. As they go, they can meet the first NPCs that they may want to hire as crew. Having them work for that, I think, will make them feel like they're taking those first couple steps towards what they want. When they get it, they'll be really excited and they'll have the whole world open to them. Ships can be tricky though, and this is where I get into my feelings about nautical combat. In fifth edition D&D, Waterdeep has rules for nautical combat. I don't really like them. I think that the ship having things that the players can do is nice but I would want the players to use their own spells and abilities more so than the ship's. Let the crew have their own turn in initiative, and they can use the ship's actions to deal extra damage. 

You could let the players captain one ship together, or you could consider letting each player have their own ship and crew, and letting the party create their own little fleet. Personally, I'd go with the latter. That way, each player really gets that "pirate captain" experience and there's no arguments over who the captain is (which sounds childish, but you never know with some players.)

I'd also recommend, if you want the ships to be made of wood, mentioning something about a fire charm that doesn't allow the ship to completely burn up straight away. A Fireball will do its full damage but it won't cause the ship to burn perpetually. That idea doesn't make encounters too easy for a party with a mid-level caster, and it also gives you, the DM, an excuse to use Fireball on your players without completely destroying their ships.

In terms of other arcs, after they get their ship or ships, I have several ideas or suggestions:

- If there's a crew member that the party gets particularly close to, give them a quest - something that the party would help them with because they appreciate their work, friendship, and loyalty.

- Obviously, you can have arcs based on character backstories. That's something very easy to do here.

- Have the players search and discover a lost treasure. Classic pirate fun.

- Kill a large creature, terrifying monster, or legendary beast of some kind.

- Discover a new civilization nobody ever has before, or a civilization that was lost to time.

- Get them involved in wars between nations (or let them start wars between nations) to take down a tyrannical regime.

- Let them be revolutionary fighters against a tyrannical regime.

- Fight a crime family. Pirates versus mafia sounds like it could be fun and intriguing. Sea / Sky organized crime versus Land organized crime.

- Send them on an espionage mission. Who said pirates can't be spies?

I like this idea because, overall, it's not a stressful campaign. It's all about going from place to place, taking quests when you can and enjoying the freedom that comes with being pirates. In that sense, piracy is about adventure, and... doesn't that make it a lot like D&D?