What could prevent players from leaving an island?
I am currently building a campaign for DnD.
The main plot plays out on an island the heroes are stranded on after their ship goes off track and sinks.
They discover that this island is ruled by monsters that serve a mighty demon. The only humans live in a small town/city that is regularly visited by the demons to take a few of the people living there to perform a ritual and sacrifice those people/feed on them, etc.
The main goal for the group is to defeat the evil force and free those humans.
The island is undiscovered because it is so far from the shore of all the other continents.
The question is: How do I stop my characters from just turning around and leaving the island in a self-built ship/raft?
My first idea was to make it geographical difficult/impossible to leave by surrounding this island by a nearly closed ring of mountains (kinda in a U shape). An explanation for this could be that the island used to be a volcano that exploded (a real thing) and the mountain ring is what is left of the volcano.
My problem with this idea: is it believable? Isn't it a bit too random for them to have been stranded exactly through the passage that is open?
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1 answer
Because of sea monsters/treacherous tides/other impassable conditions, the castaways are unable to safely leave (they might have tried and been turned back).
There is a way out but only the villagers know it. But they have been unable to leave (or save themselves from the demons) because they lacked something the castaways have unknowingly brought with them.
The only way out is if the castaways and the villagers work together.
The villagers, not being fools, insist that everyone goes or no one goes. The castaways, not being selfish jerks, agree.
Now the castaways must, with the help of some villagers, defeat the demons. Once that's done, they can work to build the required number of sea-worthy crafts (for those that wish to leave) and get the hell out of there.
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