Things to kill time on the ocean

GM here. I'm looking for ideas to fill up time on a several in game day long sea voyage. Not combat encounters, just things to happen on the boat both for pacing reasons and so the players don't feel like the game is just a series of combat encounters and skill check. Any ideas Veeky Forums? Oh and by the way, the game takes place in an Elder Scrolls setting, that doesn't really change much but I thought I'd say it.

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>Storm
>Gambling
>Intrigue on the boat
>Mutiny
>A leak
>Random island
>Fishing
>Diving

shit like dis.

Let the players talk with the captain/first officer. That's literally it if you don't want combat and doing tedious, menial labour. Unless they are going to sail themselves, then just describe the weather and the breeze and the sun. You know, the entire situation.

And protip - if you never sailed in your life, DO NOT try to do this shit and just skip the entire voyage. Even if your players are equally inexperienced, shit just not gonna work.

Come across a ship wreck, being becalmed, random pirates, discovering an island. Discovering a new species of animal, sailing through reefs...

some good ideas in this thread.

I just had an idea -- if it's appropriate for the setting, have the adventurers sit and have dinner with the captain every evening of the voyage (maybe they'll be invited after they save the ship from some small encounter, or maybe the captain is bored and always wanted to be an adventurer) -- He invites the players to tell their own stories.

Inform the players beforehand that they'll be asked about something from their past, and be asked to elaborate, storyteller fashion. (beginning, middle, end). Let everyone "roll to impress" and give the players the idea that the captain is prestigious, and bowing-out of storytelling isn't an option if they want to stay on cap's good side. A high enough total roll will earn them a complete voyage, in comfort, all the way to their destination, with equipment to handle themselves afterwards. Coming up short might earn them a "dropping off at (an unfriendly port) a nearby port while we take on some goods. Sorry we can't go the whole way. Good luck!" But it should be a fun ritual where everyone can get into character with a little prior preparation.

Masturbation
Storms
Masturbating during storms
Masturbating to summon storms
Masturbating to end storms
Masturbating to summon sea monsters
Masturbating to defeat sea monsters
Masturbating contests
Masturbation causing mutiny
Masturbation to end a mutiny
Playing masturbator's dice (a modern twist on a classic sailors game)

>elder scrolls

better have some insane hidden metaphysical treatise in there

> Fishing
Gotta catch food!
> Random encounters
SEA MONSTERS. Defeat the dread kraken!
> Ocean-crossing trips were an Age of Sail innovation, so coastal towns for supply stops.

One of the crew is caught looking through the PC's supplies. Thief, or merely too much curiosity?

One of the cabin boys is revealed to be a cabin girl. Maritime superstition holds women are bad luck on ships, and the crew starts preparing a raft.

Sirens try to lure men onto the rocks. How's your will save?

Either back or foil a planned mutiny, but the twist is there are three groups.
>Captain, bosun, Surgeon and tradean favor the status qup
>First Mate, midshipmen, experienced sailors favor the First Mate
>Quartermaster and the deckhands and service crew favor the Quartermaster

One of the deck hands gets accused of stealing food during rationing. There is no hard evidence but the Bosun is going to hang the man in the morning as a example. The rest of the deck hands thinks the Bosun himself stole the food and are planning mutiny.

Will the PCs let the Bosun hang a perhaps innocent man, side with the deck hands against the Bosun, Captain and First Mate or find evidence of who's the real thief in the few hours until the man swings?

I think you might be reading too much Oglaf

WHALING

Good idea.

>Small island that isn't on the map is seen on the horizon. Turns out to be the back of a gigantic turtle that's been colonised by a group of Dunmer
>A leisure-yacht owned by a bored noblewoman passes by and offers treasures or accolades to any member of the crew that can entertain her
>A lifeboat packed with Breton corpses drifts aimlessly in the waters, the bodies devoid of any sign of injury or distress and each decomposed hand holding a torn piece of manuscript
>One of the crewmen wants to pass the time with a fishing competition. When bets begin to surface, another crewman begins cheating
>A galley of Migrants from Elsweyr pulls up alongside the PC's vessel. Khajiit tourists clamber aboard, eager to gawk and ask questions to the strange outlanders

>Something foul got into fresh water supply and makes your crew go crazy.

>Sailor got killed in his sleep investigate to find the culprit and reason behind it.

>You're running out of supplies faster than expected. There is a family of stowaways hidding somewhere on the ship.

Shockingly, the players witness the creation of an island. An underwater volcano finally managed to breach the surface of the water, and a little mound of cooled lava pokes above the surface.

...Wait, where did that chest come from?

>Masturbation to end a mutiny
Everyone gets bored and too tired to continue?

>Rum
>Sodomy
>The Lash

I'm a traditionalist.

If the players are sailors, maintenance. If they're supercargo or other passengers, see other ideas.

>"Someone on this boat... IS A MURDERER!"
>Nautical murder mystery!

Sea shanty sing-off; No rolling allowed.

Weirder things have happened.

>The Quartermaster makes a tidy sum on the side smuggling illicit cargo without the Captain's knowledge and consent.

>The party are 'encouraged' to sign the Articles, they are then caught by the authorities.

>They get in to a battle and must storm the enemy ship in order to safeguard themselves.

youtube.com/watch?v=EB37CvARO24

I'm okay with this.

>Nautical murder mystery! - dinner

You sound more british than traditionalist.