Taking suggestions, new campaign

>>51962852
>I'm not sure why they are on the ship in the first place though
Because they're on a quest to get rid of pirates that have been taking people to islands to participate in arena battles. Duh.

>>51962852
More diarrhea of the mouth
I want to give the players a choice if/when they beat their last opponent. One is obviously freedom. But what can I tempt them with instead? Maybe sold to a rich spectater as a guard.

This will be a fairly long bout. I'm not sure how long between rounds, but I want the players to level from 1 to 5 before they actually leave the island.

The coast line is guarded by a red-dragon who's bonded with the demi-god. It sinks any ships who leave not from a designated dock. But they'll only encounter it if they decide to escape.

If you've done something similar to this I could use some tips/tricks.

Non-combat oriented classes will probably fight from the sidelines against opponent-allied support. (I.e. Bards)
This will be my first time running 5e. Anything you can think of to keep the game running smoothly is appreciated.

>>51962873
The players are mostly likely to be a Bard, Monk, and Wizard Fighter.I'll have to tailor the reasoning to them. The bards not going to be running towards trouble, she'll probably be hired by the captain himself. I just need a hook for a monk and a wizard-fighter. I don't want to just force them into the mercenary pigeon-hole.

>>51962952
Bard: needs some nautical music for her repertoire.
Monk: spirit quest.

>>51962995
I like, good thinking. They are level 1, and that's a good level for exploring their talents.

>>51962852
More info
The first 3 fights happen within the first 6 months to root out the weaklings. The remainder of the year will be spent in events, and/or training for the real fights.

Skeleton Closet participants fight 3 times in a year. They may be given small quests to eat up time.

Fights do not only happen between participants. And each fight may contain more than 2 participants.

The fighting arena is called "The Blood Bowl." The blood collecting in the arena is never drained. At the end of each year the blood is sucked up by the god it feeds.

The blood in the bowl is an offering plate. Participants and Onlookers may through Blood Diamonds and/or gold to influence the match.(Summoning elementals, bloody skeletons, enviromental hazards. Basically offering to the god in exchange for answering a prayer of some sort.)

There's going to be at least one character who's a veteran of the Blood Bowl. Probably a monk, with 3 lines under each eye, who refuses to take a life. I want him/her to be an agent of a different deity, though their motivations, I don't even know yet.

>playing 5e

Sounds like the players will be stuck in one place and railroaded to compete in arena.

What happens (and this is pretty damn likely) when someone attempts to escape? There's probably not much of a reason for them to actually want to participate in these bloodsports in-character, especially if they were captured and forced to do it.

Unless players are stuck in holding cells made out of adamantium with an overlaid anti-magic field, I can guarantee you someone will find a way to escape that should work under all the game rules. And what then? You don't want to be a DM who flat out tells players "No. You can't go there. There's an invisible wall. Now do your part like I want you to do".

If a player wants to compete in this tournament voluntarily because the winner will get a one-on-one audience with the mysterious Pirate King who can make him a made man, that's one thing, I suppose. You might even get others to join you on your pirate version of search for the Wizard of Oz.

>>51962852

Just so you know, combat - especially early game stuff - is the weakest part of 5e. It's nothing like 3.5

5E shines in making roleplay and the non-combat elements of DND fantastic. I've found that an 80/20 balance favouring non-combat challenges works best. Avoid boring and trivial encounters with waves of goblins and skeletons, give them a handful of powerful and unique enemies.

A series of railroaded combat encounters will bore everyone to death - stick to 3.5e if you want to go all in on that.

Give players lots of choices in between combat that enrich the world, enables roleplaying and rewards creativity and unconventional play.

What if there's an old friend or enemy that has also been enslaved for the fighting ring? What if an extremely young and/or weak noble seeks the aid of the player, promising great rewards? What if there's corruption and match fixing involved? What if they get the opportunity to start a rebellion?