The Ghostship Gambit

"The Ghostship Gambit" by Randy Maxwell is a D&D mini-adventure for character levels 3-6, published in Dungeon #9 (January/February, 1988).

Illustration by Wanda Lybarger

I ran this for my son and a friend of his, years ago.  I posted a summary of our game in the Campaign Journals section on Dragonsfoot, here.

About the Author:

Randy Maxwell lives in Odessa, Texas (which he describes as "Mayberry with angst".  He says the idea for this adventure came from an old war movie whose plot revolved around a WWII German warship that used various disguises to approach Allied merchant ships.  Once the ship was in close, the disguise was discarded, the victim attacked and sunk.  "This just goes to show that good adventure ideas can be found anywhere," Randy says.  His module "White Death" appeared in Dungeon issue #8.

Dungeon (January/February, 1988)

The war movie Maxwell was likely referring to is the Italian-American production "Under Ten Flags" (1960) directed by Duilio Coletti.

Maxwell contributed four additional classic D&D adventures to Dungeon magazine: "Of Nests and Nations" (#13, September/October, 1988); "Pride of the Sky" (#20, November/December, 1989); "The Vineyard Vales" (#23, May/June, 1990); and "Isle of the Abbey" (#34, March/April, 1992).

The undersea boat is borrowed from module X7 "The Wat Rafts of Kron" (1984).

Location:

Maxwell states "DMs using the Known World of the D&D game may wish to place this adventure in either the city of Mule Beach or the port of Sea Camel (see module X6 "Quagmire!") or any town under 5,000 population."

Portion of map of the Known World from the D&D Master Set (1985), indicating possible location of Koll (2, Arm of God; 13, The Coast; 26, The Serpent Peninsula; 27, Southold)

While Mule Beach and Sea Camel on the Serpent Peninsula are good alternatives, Mystara fan LoZompatore identified a suitable location for Koll at the southernmost extremity of the "Arm of God"/"Arm of the Immortals":

Koll from Dungeon Magazine #9 and the Arm of the Immortals

One might envision the Ghostship prowling the coast from Koll up the Arm of God, along the Savage Coast, where it can be encountered by adventurers in X9 "The Savage Coast" all the way to the Serpent Peninsula, where it can be encountered by adventurers in X6 "Quagmire!"

Reader Feedback:

The poor pirates have no place to hide their loot!

Hal Looby, Philadelphia PA

Dungeon #15 (January/February, 1989)