Post by monstermike on Jun 28, 2011 14:03:16 GMT -5
We had to travel to South Dakota this weekend for a wedding, and since my kids and all the nieces and nephews were going to be there, I thought I had better be prepared with a new BEAN adventure for them.
I called this one Pirates of the Carob Bean. The survivors of Princely Ransom and Gone to the Dogs were once again summoned by Jedgar Hoover to undertake a delicate envoy mission.
The kingdoms of Pinto and Garbanza have had a long-running low-level naval war. Garbanzan navy ships periodically attack and raid the Pinto city of Bayport, burning ships and looting. The Pinto navy retailiates with attacks on the Garbanzan city of New Harbor. The kings of both countries insist they are not ordering the attacks. Both kings insist that the other is the aggressor. And they have been working out the details of a peace treaty in secret.
The group's mission was to bring the final copy of the peace treaty, a gift (a magical canary), and return a Garbanzan prisoner (Prince Fava) to the king of Garbanza. If all went according to plan, the king of Garbanza would sign the treaty and the group would return to the king of Pinto and peace would reign.
But things never go according to plan. On the way to Bayport, the canary escapes during a jaguar attack. The group fought the jaguars in a straight-up fight just in time to save the canary from being eaten. One of the group had singing as a skill, and sang a song to lure the frightened canary out of the trees.
Once in Bayport, they rendevous with Captain Jack of the HMS Cockleshell. Once on board, a heavy Garbanzan Navy ship attacks the harbor. We used the ship-to-ship combat rules in BEAN 2.0 with a few house rules for speed and maneuvering thrown in. They set the enemy ship on fire, outmaneuvered it, snatched a prisoner, and sank it.
Interrogating the prisoner revealed (through several successful Spirit contests) that the Garbanzan ship was not a Garbanzan ship at all. It was a pirate ship disguised to look like a well known Garbanzan Navy ship.
The crew set sail for the Isle of Detention where Prince Fava was being held captive. The Cockleshell was attacked by a Kraken on the way there, and the group did some extremely creative fighting. One warrior swung in a great circle from the rigging hacking at the tentacles, while another put a fuse in a powder keg and fed it to the huge sea monster. They had a great calamari feast on board as they sailed to the Isle of Detention.
Arriving at the Isle, they discovered Prince Fava alone, locked at the top of a tower. He was very hungry and claimed that pirates had come a week earlier and killed all the guards and looted the storeroom. The party rogue picked the locks on the doors and they brought Prince Fava on board. Prince Fava ate the rest of the calamari.
While sailing to New Harbor, a typhoon struck the ship. The ship was driven onto the rocks of a strange island, and the group managed to swim to shore, though several had to be rescued from drowning. To get off their small beach and onto the island proper, they had to scale the Cliffs of Insanity(!). Four of the six adventurers lost a point of Mind, but they all made it to the top safely. They explored the mysterious island only to find the secret lair of the Pirate Lord.
They were just being taken prisoner by an overwhelming number of pirates when we had to stop play and go to the wedding.
It may be several months before we can resume the game, but here's what I anticipate:
The group will escape from the pirates and steal one of their ships. Sailing to New Harbor, they will return Fava and get the peace treaty signed. Just as it happens, a Pinto Warship will attack New Harbor (the pirates again, of course). They will have to prove to the King of Garbanza that it is not really a Pinto ship, or be executed as spies. After fighting off the attack, the King of Garbanza will suggest a joint strike against the pirates.
The navies of Pinto and Garbanza will battle the pirate ships, but the adventuring group will have to chase after the Pirate Lord on their own. I'm expecting the climactic battle to be a ship chase, boarding, and lots of heroic hand-to-hand fighting.
Endgame: They will get a percentage of the Pirate Lord's booty and become Knights of the Realm of Pinto for their heroic endeavors.
I did my prep on index cards for this one. It worked quite well. I'm considering writing it up as another PDF adventure, but I'll have to massage a few things - there are some obvious ripoffs that will have to be renamed (e.g. Pirates of the Carob Bean will probably get us all in copyright hell with Disney, and the Cliffs of Insanity is an obvious ripoff from The Princess Bride).
I called this one Pirates of the Carob Bean. The survivors of Princely Ransom and Gone to the Dogs were once again summoned by Jedgar Hoover to undertake a delicate envoy mission.
The kingdoms of Pinto and Garbanza have had a long-running low-level naval war. Garbanzan navy ships periodically attack and raid the Pinto city of Bayport, burning ships and looting. The Pinto navy retailiates with attacks on the Garbanzan city of New Harbor. The kings of both countries insist they are not ordering the attacks. Both kings insist that the other is the aggressor. And they have been working out the details of a peace treaty in secret.
The group's mission was to bring the final copy of the peace treaty, a gift (a magical canary), and return a Garbanzan prisoner (Prince Fava) to the king of Garbanza. If all went according to plan, the king of Garbanza would sign the treaty and the group would return to the king of Pinto and peace would reign.
But things never go according to plan. On the way to Bayport, the canary escapes during a jaguar attack. The group fought the jaguars in a straight-up fight just in time to save the canary from being eaten. One of the group had singing as a skill, and sang a song to lure the frightened canary out of the trees.
Once in Bayport, they rendevous with Captain Jack of the HMS Cockleshell. Once on board, a heavy Garbanzan Navy ship attacks the harbor. We used the ship-to-ship combat rules in BEAN 2.0 with a few house rules for speed and maneuvering thrown in. They set the enemy ship on fire, outmaneuvered it, snatched a prisoner, and sank it.
Interrogating the prisoner revealed (through several successful Spirit contests) that the Garbanzan ship was not a Garbanzan ship at all. It was a pirate ship disguised to look like a well known Garbanzan Navy ship.
The crew set sail for the Isle of Detention where Prince Fava was being held captive. The Cockleshell was attacked by a Kraken on the way there, and the group did some extremely creative fighting. One warrior swung in a great circle from the rigging hacking at the tentacles, while another put a fuse in a powder keg and fed it to the huge sea monster. They had a great calamari feast on board as they sailed to the Isle of Detention.
Arriving at the Isle, they discovered Prince Fava alone, locked at the top of a tower. He was very hungry and claimed that pirates had come a week earlier and killed all the guards and looted the storeroom. The party rogue picked the locks on the doors and they brought Prince Fava on board. Prince Fava ate the rest of the calamari.
While sailing to New Harbor, a typhoon struck the ship. The ship was driven onto the rocks of a strange island, and the group managed to swim to shore, though several had to be rescued from drowning. To get off their small beach and onto the island proper, they had to scale the Cliffs of Insanity(!). Four of the six adventurers lost a point of Mind, but they all made it to the top safely. They explored the mysterious island only to find the secret lair of the Pirate Lord.
They were just being taken prisoner by an overwhelming number of pirates when we had to stop play and go to the wedding.
It may be several months before we can resume the game, but here's what I anticipate:
The group will escape from the pirates and steal one of their ships. Sailing to New Harbor, they will return Fava and get the peace treaty signed. Just as it happens, a Pinto Warship will attack New Harbor (the pirates again, of course). They will have to prove to the King of Garbanza that it is not really a Pinto ship, or be executed as spies. After fighting off the attack, the King of Garbanza will suggest a joint strike against the pirates.
The navies of Pinto and Garbanza will battle the pirate ships, but the adventuring group will have to chase after the Pirate Lord on their own. I'm expecting the climactic battle to be a ship chase, boarding, and lots of heroic hand-to-hand fighting.
Endgame: They will get a percentage of the Pirate Lord's booty and become Knights of the Realm of Pinto for their heroic endeavors.
I did my prep on index cards for this one. It worked quite well. I'm considering writing it up as another PDF adventure, but I'll have to massage a few things - there are some obvious ripoffs that will have to be renamed (e.g. Pirates of the Carob Bean will probably get us all in copyright hell with Disney, and the Cliffs of Insanity is an obvious ripoff from The Princess Bride).