Off course!

One of the most common occurrences in the world of oceanic navigation before reliable and strong methods of self-propulsion became commonplace (eg, the world of sail and oar, which extends back from the early 19th century into the dimness of the farthest antiquity) is the danger of coming upon a storm or wind that forces you away from where you intended to go. Sea travel, as I have noted elsewhere, was a dangerous proposition in the Middle Ages and Classical World; sometimes ships simply would never arrive, having been taken by the deep.

Since I can't seem to find the post I'm thinking of wherein I enumerated the various hazards of the deep and the ways around them, I will replicate the chart I made for deep sea encounters here. Anyway, getting blown off course or being forced towards a different location by a storm or other weather event was fairly common. Sea travel was so much faster than landward travel that the risk was still worth it.

Presented below is the old chart/article I wrote for the Grognard which I was going to flesh out into an "issue" about the sea. Also, don't worry, there are more servile kits coming.

SPICING UP THE SEA

Sea journeys take much less time than land journeys and there are fewer opportunities to throw random encounters at the PCs due to both the geography and the travel-time. However, in Arunë there are two important sea gods that must be respected if you are ever going to get anywhere. The first is Vodei, the vicious old man of the sea; the second is Meri, the Lady of the Waters. One is inimical and one is friendly, but both must be appeased if a ship is to sail.

Here you will find information on the Wrath of the Sea, which is called upon when Vodei is angry and the Bounty of the Lady, which is called upon when Meri blesses a vessel.

Situation	Base Chance (without modifiers)
Captain has no amulet	5% base
Captain has an amulet of Vodei	2% base
Captain owned an amulet but it has become broken or lost	10% base

Modifiers for...	Chance of Incurring Wrath	Negated by
For every sailor onboard	+.25% increase	a single copper offering
Captains	+10% base chance	a 100gp offering
For every Adventurer	+1% increase	a 10gp offering
For every 1000gp worth of cargo	+1% increase	a 10gp offering

d10 Roll	Effect
1-3	Vodei sends one of his Sturms
4	Doldrums, the ship is immobilized for 1d12 days
5	Spoiled Food, all food onboard has mysteriously gone bad
6	Unseen Reef, the ship runs aground on a reef that is not on the charts
7	Merfolk Attack, merfolk worshipping Vodei assault the ship to drag down its crew and passengers as a sacrifice
8	Dry Lightening, the ship is struck by lightening from a clear sky and catches fire
9	Deep Sea Monster, the ship is attacked by a beast of the deeps
10	Vodei, the old Man himself appears to sink the ship