Open Sky Encounters
In Session 12 of my Dungeons and Dragons home-brew campaign Skyfell the player characters acquired an airship. I've already written up quite a few rules regarding airships and the nature of air travel in Skyfell (see my Airships post). That was good enough to explain a bit about ships for earlier sessions. I'm assuming, however, that the characters will be sailing the open skies more frequently now. That's the sort of freedom owning an airship grants. There is, of course, a potential for encountering new locales and new creatures as they travel. So, I put together this set of rules for random encounters in the Open Skies.
Like all the material regarding Skyfell on this blog, I've posted this for my players. These rules will likely change as we use them in the campaign. That said, feel free to use and adapt for your own campaign.
Also, if you’re interested, I have assembled a couple playlists of session music specifically for sailing the open skies. There is one suitable for adventuring and another for combat.
Random Encounter Table
The idea is simple. For each week of air travel in the Open Skies, someone in the party must roll for a random encounter check. This is akin to making checks for random encounters during long rests (if your group does indeed flirt with such shenanigans). The first table determines the kind of random encounter, with Clear Sailing indicating nothing untoward happens.
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| Clear Sailing Source: Pixabay, with digital manipulation |
If an actual encounter is rolled, then a second roll is called for on the appropriate Encounter Type table. Some of the Encounter Type tables require additional rolls depending on their nature. Note that I did not provide exact details regarding the nature of each encounter, such as monsters, maps, treasures, etc. These are simple guidelines with the expectation that I would have to do a little planning or improvisation based on the result.
Encounter Types
Inclement Weather
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| Electrical Storm Source: Pixabay, with digital manipulation |
The party encounters rough skies that makes sailing a challenge. This might result in ship damage and/or travel delays. Once the kind of inclement weather is determined, you must roll to determine its strength, intensity, or nature and then apply the effects. You must repeat this roll every hour, or portion of an hour, that the inclement weather remains.
Airship
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| Airship Source: John Carter, the Movie |
The party encounters one or more airships of a particular type, sailing under a specific purpose, and in a particular state. You might also be interested in reading my homebrew rules for airships. The table includes some rolls for the airships' general reaction to the party. These are very broad guidelines that can be affected by very many criteria, including the party's own actions and any current events. They are also crafted for my Skyfell setting. You do not have to roll for reaction at all if you don't want to. You can also craft your own scales.
Land Mass
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| Land Mass Source: "The Foundation," Rodney Matthews |
The party encounters one or more land masses. Roll on the Creatures and Ruins tables for this encounter. Also make a check for the presence of a beacon. The larger the mass, the more likely there will be a beacon. The presence of a beacon does not mean the party finds a beacon. It just means that there is one somewhere on/in the mass.
Island: Single mass
Cluster: Limited collection, comprised mostly of small islands, with just a few medium and large islands mixed in depending on the size of the cluster
Field: Sprawling collection, comprised mostly of small islands, with just a few medium and large islands mixed in depending on the size of the cluster
For comparison, the Piruna Fields is a Super Gargantuan field. There is nothing else like it in the known skies. None of these masses should amount to continent size UNLESS the roll is made for outside of the Known Skies. If a mass were that large, it would be mapped already.
Creatures
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| Creatures Source: Princes of the Apocalypse, 5e |
The party encounters one or more creatures. Whether the creature(s) are friendly depends on their nature, their circumstance, and their interactions with the characters. The results are by general challenge rating (as described in the Dungeon Master's Guide) so that they scale with the character's level. The results are weighted against medium encounters. The open skies are dangerous after all.
Single: One creature.
Group: 1+3d4 creatures.
Swarm: 14+3d6 creatures.
Ruins
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| Ruins Source: Castle in the Sky, the Movie |
The party encounters the remains of civilization. Roll on the Creatures table and make a check for the presence of a beacon. The larger the ruin, the more likely there will be a beacon. The presence of a beacon does not mean the party finds a beacon. It just means that there is one somewhere in the ruins. I’ve hijacked the monster sizes here, where Tiny would be a hut, cabin, or other single dwelling while Gargantuan would be a sprawling city. The other sizes are somewhere in between.
Portal
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| Portal Source: Pixabay, with digital manipulation |
Near, middle, and far indicate the relative distance from the entry point to the exit point. In other words, how far away the exit to the portal is. The percentile roll for collapse indicates the chance of the portal disappearing after it is used. Upon using the portal, make another encounter roll on the Encounter table.
Near: 1d20+10 miles away
Middle: 5d20+26 miles away
Far: 10d20+117 miles away
Header Graphic
The header graphic for this post is "The Foundation" by Rodney Matthews. While it's not exactly a portrait of the Open Skies themselves, I think it conveys the wonder and uniqueness of traveling in an airship. Anyway, he's one of my favorite artists, so I had to use something of his. After selecting this image, I feel that I want to augment the general ambiance and style of Skyfell to be reflective of his style.
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A collection of unusual magical items. - The WhatNot Shop's Bracing Beverages
A collection of strange potions. - The WhatNot Shop's Common Curiosities and Trivial Trinkets
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A collection of orc-themed common magic items and trinkets.
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