First step to my continent [WIP]

[Yael]

So, I really want to DM an adventure of full discovery, where the PCs don't really know where they are. The intro comes as follows:

Spoiler: Introduction.

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It is around noon, the salty winds go through your hair and you smell the seawater on the board; the floor is moving along with the waves as the crewmen sing and work on their stations, tighting ropes, and cleaning the deck, you all are aboard the Saint Arrow, a merchant vessel whose name has gotten some renown, especially for its owrner, Captain Dragobert himself, a brave sailor whose tactic advice helped through the entire Civil War at the Alataria continent.
The ship's destination is to reach the Raiknastrus Archipielago, a fully developed metropolis, famous for their arcane research and discoveries, resulting on the flying city of L'Arc~en~Ciel, above the central district of its own capital city. The exact location for the deliver of goods is the Prax District, the southern largest island, where the religion of Alausha, Bocoob, and Wee Jas have their biggest influence. Also, a small school of magic resides in Prax, and the largest production, and trade of food and clothing is located there (also the isle contains the smallest population of casters from all the islands, ironically because the gods with more dominance are the gods of magic.) You have been four weeks on-board, and surprisingly no storms ever hit the Saint Arrow, especially for the region, which is known as the most aggresive area on the entire southern sea; but at the start of the fifth week, something happened: a big storm had its act of presence on the Arrow's way, giving the crew a hard time due to the strong winds, and furious tides. The ever-vigilant watcher suddendly shout to the crew (PCs inside the ship require a DC20 Listen check to listen what the watcher said.)

Captain! Ae can see somethin' at prew!
...
It's comming!

(A spot check with a DC of 25 allows the PCs to see the source of the hit, and a DC25 Knowledge (Arcana) check reveals it to be a Kraken, failing the knowledge check tells the PC that he is seeing a squid of some sort.)
The captain ran to the prow, and when he saw the "something" the watcher saw before, rappidly he also gave a shout, ordering the crew (same as above, but the Listen check's DC is 15.)

HOLD TIGHT!

Suddendly the ship took a hit, a very hard one. You all fell from wherever you were standing at the moment, whether at the deck or not (a Reflex save, DC15 would keep PCs barely standing, failing the save has a 25% chance of making the PCs fall to the sea, if they were on the deck when the ship took a hit.)

Turn the ship, take ous outta here!

The captain ordered, but there was no response, the man that had control over the tiller was nowhere to be seen, probably he fell off the ship. The captain ran to the bridge, but when he was mid-way, the ship took another hit, and the Saint Arrow was knock over deck-down, the creature broke it and the crewmen that was inside were thrown to the sea, the Saint Arrow got sinked, and the crew was dispersed all around the area.

...

(Randomly select one player).
You wake up when a crab was walking around your back, using its pincers to poke your head, sometimes pulling from your hair. As you wake up, you can see a beach, you don't know where you are, nor how you got there, maybe you were lucky that you weren't feed for the creature (Kraken.)
The beach looks pretty clean, no trash can be seen around, actually, there is no sign of civilization within vision range, there is a cliff that can be seen behind a wall of trees which look like palms, maybe you could be on a small tropical island, maybe some village should be located near the place, to provide their people with coconuts or something, you think. There are another (# of PC) persons on the shore, no one is moving, they could be either dead or sleeping. As you look around the place, you can see that parts of the S.A. lying on the white sand, some clothing and tools like ropes are there, none of them seem useful anymore. After a while, (randomly select another PC) another (type of PC) wakes up. Then another one, and other one (continue as many times it is needed,) you recognize them from the crew, just as you, they just boarded the ship at the city of Kass'As, at the Alataria Continent. After a while, you hear something, not too far away from where you are right now (DC 15 Listen points out where the sound comes from.)
It is the captain, he seems pretty injured, actually, he is missing his right arm, right foot, and left leg. He sees you all, and you can see he is dying very badly.

K-k... K-krak... Krak... en...

(A DC25 heal check stabilizes him and puts him to sleep.)

Spoiler: If died.

Show

He said with such a low tone that could be barely heard, then, he closes his eyes and he does not breathe anymore. Onto your eyes, you see the dead captain lying over a half-buried chest.

Spoiler: If saved

Show

The captain cried a lot during the treatment, but after a while, he stopped breathing rappidly, and just slept like a branch. Under him, you can see a half-buried chest.

It was a special chest, you all have seen it before. It was where the explorer's equipment was stored, a wet-proof container, used by the Captain's men to explore new islands and to record their findings to the water's dominant continent. It contains exactly (# of PCs) backpacks filled with useful exploring stuff (especifically, Standard Adventurer's Kit, as explained in the PHB2, p216; plus the special need for each class, such as a spellbook), and the same number of Explorer's Outfits.

There it is, very mediocre, I know, but that's what I was thinking today while I was walking like 7kms to a friend's house to play d&d. The idea is to make a full continent where there are civilizations, but not mostly composed by humanoids. Creatures like aberrations, outsiders, and some humanoids (such as kobolds, or goblins) have their untouched home (except by them.) This continent is unknown for the PCs (later resulting also unknown for every other NPC in the world.) Also, this place enforces exploring, so I thought of placing a weird kind Antimagic Field above the whole place, preventing divination from reaching outside the field, but working at a 50% failure chance inside it. Even when I know how I want it, I don't know what it is to make a whole world, I want it to be a world where every skill is used to its best (such as appraise, and most knowledges, except for history, and limiting geography, I think.) Putting in some limitations with the books, but that's something different.

How about helping me to brainstorm the world building, I see the shore where the PCs landed at the north part of the continent, from there on, what could be here? It would sized aprox almost like Europe+Asia+Africa (yes, even this big, undiscovered.)

Halperino?

[jqavins]

(yes, even this big, undiscovered.)

This big and this close to shipping lanes*, and still undiscovered. That really needs explaining. Remember, Asia, Africa, and Europe together make up more than half the land on Earth. Also, why does it need to be that big? There's no way a party will explore all of that in a lifetime of gaming. Why not make it the size of one of the smaller continents; that's still a lot of land for a party to explore.

* The Saint Arrow was on its way from the home country to another that is very well known to them, which means there must be regular commerce. The party drifted from the site of the kraken attack to the beach without drowning, dying of thirst, or becoming shark food, and that means they can't have gone far at all. Even a small continent going undiscovered that close to shipping lanes strains credulity. For one as big as you propose strains it to the breaking point.

	Area (sq km)
Asia	44,579,000
Africa	30,221,532
N. America	24,709,000
S. America	17,840,000
Antarctica	14,000,000
Europe	10,180,000
Australia	8,600,000
Total	150,129,532

Personally, to set up something like this I'd go with "magic did it" such as in Land of the Lost, ST Voyager, or The Wizard of Oz. It seems cheesey at first, but it's actually far more believable.

You are on board the Sait Arrow, outbound from Alataria under Captain Dragobert. You are headed for the legendary flying city of L'Arc~en~Ciel in the Raiknastrus Archipielago, loaded with trade goods and passengers. The ship's compliment is fifteen, and there are another twenty-odd merchants, scholars, diplomats, sight-seers, and their hired men and ladies. [This allows for all the diversity in background the players want for their characters.]

The sailing has been smooth, thanks to Dragobert's mages, and it looks like this is going to be a pleasant and profitable voyage.

It is a hot, sunny day with light, steady winds when you hear the lookout shout something, fear plain in his voice. [A DC 10 hearing check allows the characters to make out "Water spout!" and a DC 10 vision check shows them the spout itself.] A moment later, the lookout reports "It's coming right for us!" The captain orders the ship turned, bow into the oncoming storm, but it is no use. The storm punches holes in the hull, breaks masts, and rocks the ship till the rails take water.

Then, incredibly, the ship is picked up out of the water. You know this should not be possible; any storm strong enough to lift the ship would surely break it in two first, but there you are , rising into the air. Then the ship starts to spin. Or is it the world spinning around you. You become dizy and feint, and realize it is probably both. Some of the others have passed out and Captain Dragobert is still giving orders as your world grows dim and you know nothing more.

You awake, still on the deck of the Saint Arrow, in calm water. The ship is sinking, and Captain Dragobert is is ordering everyone into lifeboats. Some are gathering supplies, some are going directly to the only boat that is not smashed, but many more are not moving. The water and the dead are the only calm to be seen.

You make it to the boat. There is a beach not 1000 yards off. The captain is there, as are [# of players] of the passengers and crew, including yourself. The captain is missing his right arm and foot and his left leg. Weakly, he tells you "Use... the... chest. The... chest." How he managed to make the boat you'll never know, for he dies before you make land.

[Everyl]

To further expand on what Jqavins said, if it's a storm-wracked area, then ships being blown off course would be commonplace. If it's possible to drift to the undiscovered continent in less time than it takes to die from having multiple limbs ripped off by a kraken, then ships should be getting blown into this continent on a regular basis.

Also, if the characters are still that close to the trade route their ship had been sailing, then building a small ship to sail out and try to find other ships would be pretty feasible. Depending on your players, they might focus on getting home, rather than exploring - if they never look around enough to realize they're on a continent rather than an island, they might think they're in a Robinson Crusoe situation, where the goal is to escape more than to explore. However it is that they wind up wrecked there, it should be by a means difficult enough that exploring an alien land full of unknown creatures speaking unfamiliar languages (if any at all) is preferable to trying to go home.

[Yael]

This big and this close to shipping lanes*, and still undiscovered. That really needs explaining. Remember, Asia, Africa, and Europe together make up more than half the land on Earth. Also, why does it need to be that big? There's no way a party will explore all of that in a lifetime of gaming. Why not make it the size of one of the smaller continents; that's still a lot of land for a party to explore.

* The Saint Arrow was on its way from the home country to another that is very well known to them, which means there must be regular commerce. The party drifted from the site of the kraken attack to the beach without drowning, dying of thirst, or becoming shark food, and that means they can't have gone far at all. Even a small continent going undiscovered that close to shipping lanes strains credulity. For one as big as you propose strains it to the breaking point.

	Area (sq km)
Asia	44,579,000
Africa	30,221,532
N. America	24,709,000
S. America	17,840,000
Antarctica	14,000,000
Europe	10,180,000
Australia	8,600,000
Total	150,129,532

Personally, to set up something like this I'd go with "magic did it" such as in Land of the Lost, ST Voyager, or The Wizard of Oz. It seems cheesey at first, but it's actually far more believable.

You are probably right. It is too big, seeing that chart (and google earth) opened my eyes. I would resize it from Asia+Europe+Africa to Oceania. It was supposed to be an island big enough to have its own story and else, but I guess you are right about not being noticed before. Also, using the smallest of the continents is never a bad idea. About the "arrival" I think I should think better about it.

About the introduction story, I might change it as well.

To further expand on what Jqavins said, if it's a storm-wracked area, then ships being blown off course would be commonplace. If it's possible to drift to the undiscovered continent in less time than it takes to die from having multiple limbs ripped off by a kraken, then ships should be getting blown into this continent on a regular basis.

Also, if the characters are still that close to the trade route their ship had been sailing, then building a small ship to sail out and try to find other ships would be pretty feasible. Depending on your players, they might focus on getting home, rather than exploring - if they never look around enough to realize they're on a continent rather than an island, they might think they're in a Robinson Crusoe situation, where the goal is to escape more than to explore. However it is that they wind up wrecked there, it should be by a means difficult enough that exploring an alien land full of unknown creatures speaking unfamiliar languages (if any at all) is preferable to trying to go home.

You're right, the feeling of going back home might overlap that one of exploring. I shall change it towards a more: exploring mision factor, maybe promising high profit from doing so? Enforcing craft and profesion (cartographer stuff) to map up the place and report things to mainland.

How about that eerie AMF?

[...]

So, about the civilizations...

Can we have some of the long term goals, species, and moral traits of them, please? If you don't have that, all of my resources are at your disposal.

[moossabi]

Is there a general tech level involved for islanders? Are they mostly kingdom, villages, or tribes?

And I was thinking that a good 'no trying to escape' idea would be that the PCs see something in a group of trees that generally sparks interest in each of the group members. For example, a "shiny (rouge) magical (wizard) holy relic (cleric) of potent battle value (fighter). Looking back on this makes me realize what a silly idea this was, but I'll put it out there anyways.