Things to do at sea

Back in 2019 I was running a campaign that involved a lot of traveling. It wasn't a full-blown hexcrawl, but tracking time and managing supplies while on the road was an important element of the game. Eventually the party ended up on the coast. And went to sea.

One of the common problems of trying to run a game on the ocean is that there's not much to do aboard a sailing ship. There'll be external events like encounters and occasionally places to go ashore, but on the ship itself? Not as much. It's just you on your little boat, isolated in the vast expanse of water.

You could handwave the days and weeks of sea travel by saying the party boards a ship in port A then land two weeks later in port B and never actually interact with the ocean at all, but if you want there to be some adventuring done at sea then dealing with the shipboard downtime can be tough. I wanted to try it, so I came up with this subsystem to handle the lulls between bouts of extreme aquatic danger and mystery:

Each player can pick 3 things to do each normal, uneventful day.

They can't pick an activity more than once in the same day.

Doing something once gains them a little insight and grants a small, one-time bonus to a related task later.

Doing the same thing 3 times or more counts as light training and gains them a permanent bonus or specialty to the related skill.


Things to do aboard ship

• Mend sails/ropes and repair the ship: Hone crafting skills, learn about ship construction.
• Practice tying knots: Bonuses to using ropes and rigging.
• Whittle or scrimshaw: Hone crafting skills, specialty in jewelry/sculpting/decorative details. Might end up with something you can sell.
• Fish: Get food, learn about ocean creatures and marine survival skills.
• Gamble: Build ties with the crew, no gambling for money at sea.
• Tell stories: Build ties with the crew. Hear rumor, gossip, and legends about the sea.
• Practice sparring: Get better at fighting on moving and uncertain footing.
• Climb around in the rigging: Hone climbing skills, acrobatic or athletic. Get a head for heights.
• Hang out with the Navigator: Learn to read maps, predict the weather, and interpret the stars.
• Help in the galley: Build ties with the crew, hone cooking skills.
• Befriend the ship's cat, teach it tricks: Adorable. Hone skill with animals.
• Wakeboard behind the ship (tied on so you won't be left if you fall): Because.