Campaign Idea - Sailing the Irish Seas

Among other things (whiskey, warp-spasms and fierce women), the ancient Irish had a knack for telling stories about great sea voyages. Seven of these tales, called Immrama, have survived, with the most famous perhaps being the voyage of Saint Brendan.

Most of these voyages were taken by men in currachs, wooden-framed boats covered by tanned hides. Imagine if you will an entire campaign built around a party of adventurers setting off from the coast of Ireland into the Atlantic Ocean in one of these small boats, their sights set upon glory, treasure and reaching the Blessed Land beyond the sea. When Uí Chorra embarked on his voyage, he took with him a bishop, a priest, a deacon, a musician and the craftsman who built the boat, as well as his two brothers. Uí Chorra and his brothers were bandits who turned over a new leaf. In D&D terms, this would be three clerics (one 6th level, one 3rd level, the other, well, who knows), a bard, a 0-level human (I guess we know who was stuck carrying the torches) and three bandits (probably fighters).

So, where did these fellows go? Well, as in all sea voyage tales, they went from island to island – apparently the Atlantic Ocean was lousy with them. In essence, each island could be something like a dungeon in its own right. A list of island visited by Saint Brendan and Máel Dúin follows:

1. The island of ants, from which the men flee because the ants' intention is to eat their boat
2. The island of tame birds
3. The island of the horse-like beast that pelts the crew with the beach
4. The island of horses and demons (demonic cowboys?)
5. The island of salmon, where they find an empty house filled with a feast and they all ate, drank, and gave thanks to God
6. The island with the branch of an apple tree, where they are fed with apples for 40 nights
7. The island of the "Revolving Beast", a creature that would shift its form by manipulating its bones, muscles and loose skin; it cast stones at the escaping crew and one pierces the keel of the boat (cool!)
8. The island where animals bite each other and blood is everywhere (vampiric animals?)
9. The island of apples, pigs, and birds
10. The island with the great fort/pillars/cats where one of the foster brothers steals a necklet and is burned to ashes by the cat (awesome!)
11. The island of black and white sheep, where sheep change colors as they cross the fence; the crewmen do not go aboard this island in fear of changing color
12. The island of the pigherd, which contained an acidic river and hornless oxen
13. The island of the ugly mill and miller who were "wrinkled, rude, and bareheaded"
14. The island of lamenting men and wailing sorrows, where they had to retrieve a crewmen who entered the island and became one of the lamenting men; they saved him by grabbing him while holding their breath
15. The island with maidens and intoxicating drink
16. The island with forts and the crystal bridge, where there is a maiden who is propositioned to sleep with Máel Dúin
17. The island of colorful birds singing like psalms
18. The island with the psalm singing old man with noble monastic words
19. The island with the golden wall around it
20. The island of angry Smiths (azer?)
21. A sea of like green crystal, in which they found only rocks, no monsters
22. A sea of clouds with underwater fortresses and monsters
23. The island with a woman pelting them with nuts (halflings?)
24. The island with a river sky that was raining salmon
25. The island on a pedestal
26. The island with eternal youth/women (17 maidens)
27. The island with red fruits that were made as a sleeping elixir
28. The island with monks of Brendan Birr, where they were blessed (cleric’s stronghold)
29. The island with eternal laughter, where they lost a crewman
30. The island of the fire people
31. The island of cattle, oxen and sheep
32. An island with a boy who brings bread and water
33. An island of sheep
34. The island of Jasconius
35. An island that is the Paradise of Birds, and the birds sing psalms and praise the Lord (Lawful birdmen?)
36. The island of the monks of Ailbe, with magic loaves, no ageing, and complete silence
37. An island with a well; drinking the water puts them to sleep for 1, 2, or 3 days based on the number of cups each man drank
38. A "coagulated" sea (Sargasso?)
39. An island of 3 choirs of anchorites (monks) who give them fruit
40. An island of grapes
41. A gryphon and a bird in battle
42. An island that is actually a whale
43. A "silver pillar wrapped in a net" in the sea
44. An island of blacksmiths, who throw slag at them (see above)
45. A volcano inhabited by demons that drag people down to Hell
46. Judas sitting unhappily on a cold, wet rock in the middle of the sea
47. An island where Paul the Hermit has lived a perfect monastic life for 60 years wearing nothing but hair and being fed by an otter

The great thing about this formula, of course, is that it can be used in genres other than medieval fantasy. Voyages of this sort were reported in later centuries, and the same formula could be used in a pulp adventure of exploration and sci-fi planet-hopping adventures as those in Star Trek.

To run a campaign like this, you’ll want a hex map covered with islands (when I get around to mapping the South Seas of Nod, you can use it), good rules for sea voyages (ship to ship combat tables maybe, especially if you’re using a larger boat than a currach, a random table of seaborne disasters, etc.) and a pretty good number of pre-drawn dungeon maps that can be pressed into service when a landing is made and the adventurers get drawn into trouble. In fact, you might also want to review a few Star Trek episodes to get some ideas about how to draw the adventurers into the island’s dangers.

Well, back to plant monsters tomorrow - and a couple other fearsome foes that popped into my head today.