Tag Archives: Tabletop Roleplaying Games

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Pirate Sharks in D&D: Swim with Sharken

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Remember Street Sharks? We did and we thought it would be fun to play (or battle against) as pirate sharks in our Dungeons & Dragons campaign.

via GIPHY

Sea Monster Title Image

The Undersea Sourcebook for Dungeons & Dragons 5e is a collection of player and GM options for running ocean-themed adventures. Subscribe for free weekly sea monsters and monthly encounters, right in your inbox.

Last week we looked at a man-eating sea anemone, and this week I no longer need to remember how to spell anemone, because we have shark people!

Sharken — Pirate Sharks!

Violent, dim-witted mutants, sharken are humanoid sharks that terrorize the oceans.

Sharken have large mouths filled with razor sharp teeth, small dark eyes, and a large dorsal fin. Many of them decorate this fin with hooks, tattoos, and self-inflicted bullet holes. Sharken are powerfully built and violent. They are short-tempered, especially when they smell blood. Not known for their intelligence, they have instead earned a reputation as pirates, raiders, thugs, and bandits.

Sahuagin often ally with sharken, though sahuagin see themselves as superior to the shark-like creatures. They employ sharken as foot soldiers or guards, and most sizable sahuagin communities have sharken enclaves.

Sharken Pirate Shark for D&D

 

If you’re a subscriber, then we’ve got an extra special surprise coming; the sharken playable race! This includes four subraces, the bull sharken, great white, hammerhead, and whale sharken.

Join our newsletter to get the sharken player race and fulfill your dreams of playing pirate sharks.

Waterlocked Firearms

Waterlocked firearms use special cartridges and loading mechanisms to keep water out of the firing chamber. Waterlocked weapons can be loaded and fired underwater, but waterlocked items are never compatible with normal firearms. The cost of waterlocked firearms and ammunition is at least double the listed price. Waterlocked firearms are rare in campaigns that have firearms, and might be unique in campaigns where firearms are not generally available.

Do you have a better name than sharken? We think it’s an okay name, but maybe you’ve got something that’ll really wow us. Drop it in the comments below and it might become the new name for shark people.


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Rainbow Hag’s Hair — Undersea Monster

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Meet the rainbow hag’s hair anemone. This psychedelic hippie of the sea is a man-eating anemone with a tentacle attack and a toothy mouth, ready to swallow heroes in one gulp. Let’s check out this new Dungeons & Dragons 5e monster.

Sea Monster Title Image

The Undersea Sourcebook for Dungeons & Dragons 5e is a collection of player and GM options for running ocean-themed adventures. Subscribe for free weekly sea monsters and monthly encounters, right in your inbox.

Last week we looked at the mincy, and this week we’ve got a giant sea anemone with rainbow-colored tentacles. It’s a tentacular spectacular!

Giant Anemone

Hag’s hair anemones are a giant sub-species of sea anemones known for their long, tangling tentacles that resemble the hair of a hag. These creatures inhabit anywhere from shallow tidal pools to the depths of the ocean and are dangerous predators capable of taking large prey.

Hag’s hair anemones are hardy. They can be found at all depths, in all conditions, including drying tidal pools or the deepest, dark trenches of the ocean’s hadalpelagic zone. Here the intense water pressure would crush most unadapted creatures, but the hag hair thrives still. Although they prefer large prey, they can survive well enough on a diet of small creatures, making them patient predators too.

Rainbow Hag’s Hair

This giant anemone’s tentacles pulse hypnotically with psychedelic colors, enticing you closer. 

Rainbow hag’s hair is a giant sea anemone that, unlike its smaller relatives, travels frequently. It rides currents, attaches itself to ships or large creatures, and bobs along on storm-tossed waves to find new hunting grounds. Rare, and widely dispersed, they are often a tantalizing find for the few who will ever discover one. The rainbow hag’s hair uses this and its color-changing tentacles to lure in a meal.

Although showy in full display, the rainbow hag’s hair is adept at camouflaging itself in any terrain. Its habit is to wait for a single creature to pass nearby, then reveal itself and entice the meal closer. Then it attacks, consuming the prey whole and leaving no trace before it moves on again.

Rainbow Hag's Hair Monster for Dungeons & Dragons

There are other forms of giant anemones in the perilous depths. What other kinds of giant anemones can you imagine? Let us know in the comments.


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The Mincy — Undersea Sourcebook Monster

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All mouth and stomach, the mincy masher is a tiny aberration that’s terrorizing the ocean’s currents. Let’s take a look at this bite-sized D&D monster.

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The Undersea Sourcebook for Dungeons & Dragons 5e is a collection of player and GM options for running ocean-themed adventures. Subscribe for free weekly sea monsters and monthly encounters, right in your inbox.

Last week subscribers visited the Crystal Caves for adventure #1. Now that we’re in February, we have three new monsters (including the mincies) and adventure #2 in the works. Don’t miss out, subscribe.

Mincy

This tiny disk-shaped creature is nothing but a ring of sharp teeth spinning around a miniature black hole. With an insatiable appetite and the ability to consume anything, mincies are a minute menace that plague the deeps.

Mincy mashers, or mincies, have a rudimentary physiology adapted to consuming anything that fits within their small mouths. Sharp teeth, a hard shell, and a sensory organ that allows it to see rotate around a miniature black hole — the mincy’s digestive system. Scholars have proposed that anything that enters a mincy must end up somewhere, but the total oblivion of the matter is more likely. How this sustains the mincy is unknown, though it has been recorded that the black hole winks out of existence when a mincy dies.

Mincies are usually solitary hunters, but can gather in great numbers when food is plentiful in an area. They often congregate in powerful currents, where they pull water and anything else through themselves to remain stationary. They care little about anything other than eating, and even reproduce by consuming each other.

Most intelligent undersea creatures hate mincy mashers, which they refer to as floating stomachs, and will drive them off or kill them if they can. Sahuagin play a cruel game with mincies, in which players attach these creatures to their skin in turns, to see who can withstand the pain the longest.

Mincy — Undersea Monster 4

 

Are you interested in knowing what inspired the mincy? This photo of an arctic lamprey and talking about portable holes and bags of holding.


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Merfolk — Undersea Sourcebook Monster

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Lithe, human-like hunters glide through the water, their athletic bodies propelled by strong, piscine tails. These are merfolk, the princes and princesses of the sun-touched sea.

Merpeople are a common addition in any Bestiary or Monster Manual, but we thought the 5e version could use an update, so here we have a new merfolk build for your game of D&D 5e.

Sea Monster Title Image

The Undersea Sourcebook for Dungeons & Dragons 5e is a collection of player and GM options for running ocean-themed adventures. Subscribe for free weekly sea monsters and monthly encounters, right in your inbox.

More Monsters! Check out the Concussive Clam and Grindylow.

Merfolk, Saltwater

Fey touched, merfolk possess an unnatural beauty and grace, which complements their beautiful singing. Despite the legends surrounding them, merfolk seldom entice sailors to their doom. Unfortunately, their beguiling traits have earned merfolk the distrust of land-going peoples. In reality, merfolk prefer to use their enchanting singing to lure sailors away from their territories.

Merfolk dwell throughout the oceans of the world, though they seldom live far from the reach of the sun. They do not like settling close to land-dwellers and prefer uncharted waters off major trade routes. Merpeople often live in great coral cities which may comprise a chain of small islands on the surface.

Mermaids and mermen cultivate crops of shellfish, seaweed, and kelp, domesticate many varieties of fish, including dolphins and orcas, and trade with other peoples when they are on peaceful terms with them. They have a long and bitter history of war with sahuagin, who are known to raid merfolk settlements and enslave merfolk.

Saltwater merfolk are the most common variety of merpeople, while brine , arctic , deep , and freshwater varieties have also been sighted by explorers.

 

Merfolk D&D Stats

 

What special abilities would you like to see freshwater varieties of this monster sporting? How about arctic mermaids?  Let us know, in the comments below.


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Grindylow — Undersea Sourcebook

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“Sucker marks on the tavern windows, salt water in the ale, and squid ink on the floor. Yip, a sure sign that you’ve got a grindylow infestation.” Let’s take a look at this classic D&D monster.

Sea Monster Title Image

The Undersea Sourcebook for Dungeons & Dragons 5e is a collection of player and GM options for running ocean-themed adventures. Subscribe for free weekly sea monsters and monthly encounters, right in your inbox.

Grindylow

Grindylow are an aquatic subspecies of goblin. They have bulbous heads, sharp teeth, and dextrous tentacles that are constantly poking around and grabbing things. Legend says that the first grindylow was a goblin cutthroat who attempted to drown a merciless wizard in a bog. The mage cursed the goblin and his spawn to dwell in the swamps and marshes of the world as half-octopus mutants.

Grindylow are cunning hunters with a fondness for kidnapping, thieving, and drowning. Most grindylow live in small tribes in stagnant water, usually close to travel routes and hunting trails.

Ocean-dwelling grindylow are a subspecies that live in tribes along cavernous reefs, in shipwrecks, and kelp forests, never too far from land.

Of all goblinoids, grindylow have the strongest ties to the lands of Faerie, and their bogs often conceal dank routes into the land of the Fay. Although they will protect these portals if they must, their true role is often as scouts and lackeys of the more powerful Fay on the edge of whose domain they dwell.

Undersea Sourcebook Monster 2: Grindylow

 

Find a new monster, next week. We’re bringing you three new monsters a month, one a week for the first three weeks, and then a complete D&D encounter.

Is there a sea monster from lore you’d like us to build, or an idea for a creature you’d like us to play with? Maybe you’ve got an idea for using the grindylow in your own campaign. Let us know, in the comments below.


This monster uses the OGL.
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Concussive Clam — Undersea Sourcebook

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With an ear-piercing clap, the concussive clam snaps shut and rockets backward, out of reach. Check out this new D&D monster.

Sea Monster Title Image

The Undersea Sourcebook for Dungeons & Dragons 5e is a collection of player and GM options for running ocean-themed adventures. Subscribe for free weekly sea monsters and monthly encounters, right in your inbox.

Concussive Clam

These shell-armoured molluscs burrow in river and ocean beds and can also be found clinging to tidal rocks or the hulls of large ocean-going ships. When attacked, they use their powerful shell to create a deafening blast that shoots them backwards, away from danger.

Concussive clams are also known as clap clams, slam shells, or crack jacks. They are found in cold and warm oceans, at great depths as well as in shallow freshwater rivers.

Concussive clams live in colonies, but can occasionally be found alone. They are particularly tasty and those divers who make a living harvesting them are often hard of hearing.

Concussive Clam D&D Stats

In the next two weeks we’ve got two more monsters coming your way, including one iconic sea creature and the tentacled goblins of the sea, then a 1st-level encounter in the Crystal Caves featuring the new editions and the concussive clams. Here’s an initial design for the caves that didn’t make the cut:

Coral Caves 39x35 Map
Pretty, but we prefer hand-drawn maps, so this got scrapped early.

Have you got any ideas for using concussive clams in your game? Do you have a sea monster you’d like us to design or redesign? Let us know, in the comments below.

So, You’d Like to Read More, Would You?

Be sure to check out our roundup post for last month’s “No Dice” RPG Blog Carnival. We also recommend our State of the Phoenix post from the end of 2022.

Till the next monster arrives, have a good one. See you on the high seas!


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RPG Blog Carnival Roundup — No Dice

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That’s it, folks. 2022 is done, and 2023 is here. Who knows what the year will bring, but we wish you the wisdom and courage to ride the storms and opportunities that come your way. With the end of the year comes the final RPG Blog Carnival roundup of 2022, as we wrap up the topic “No Dice“. Here’s what some of the best RPG bloggers around the world had to say on the topic:

To Roll or Not to Roll, part 1

Mike Bourke of Campaign Mastery expertly breaks down the various kinds of die rolls common to most RPGs. You might expect — from that short intro — a boring treatise on stuff you already know, but what Mike has created here is a master class that unpacks many of the core aspects of telling a story with dice that I have not seen any other resource cover. That includes books on game design.

For example, I found his explanation of attention and awareness mind-opening and equipping — there’s far more to a Perception roll than I ever thought possible. If a die roll is a GM’s tool, then Mike’s post offers a better understanding of how those tools work, when they work, and why they work.

There’s more to his post than I’ve covered here, so have a read of To Roll or Not to Roll, part 1.

To Roll or Not to Roll, part 2

Mike’s second article explores when to avoid rolling, and how this allows GMs to keep the story going. As with part 1, this article is another master class for GMs, but then his site is called Campaign Mastery. Read To Roll or Not to Roll, part 2.

Nod Ice

RPG Wandering visited the land of Nod and brought some icy scenes to inspire your next campaign. I like how they played with the theme for the month and painted intriguing winter scenes that built a world. Read Nod Ice on the RPG Wandering blog.

No Dice

James of Hereticwerks looked at diceless RPGs, providing lists of these games on various TTRPG web stores, then offered up some examples of his past campaigns where they did away with some rolling. Read No Dice on the Hereticwerks blog.

Thank you to all who contributed to the RPG Blog Carnival this month, it was a great month!

Flaming Holiday Sale

It’s our birthday, and we have two sales underway:

The Flaming Birthday Bundle: 15 publications for only $25, on Drive Thru RPG.

The Flaming Sale on Itch.IO: 10 publications for only $20.

Flaming Birthday Bundle Cover

Remember, you can find all of our RPG products on our product page. This includes supplements for Dungeons & Dragons, the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, and many stand-alone tabletop RPGs.

Have a wonderful 2023!


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No Dice — RPG Blog Carnival, Dec 2022

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It’s time for us to host the RPG Blog Carnival again, and this month the topic is “No Dice”. Read on to stimulate your brain with new ideas and fresh takes from the TTRPG blogosphere.

rpg blog carnival logo

If you’re a reader, here’s how it work:

RPG bloggers from around the globe will drop links into the comments below. You can check them out there or come back to Rising Phoenix Games at the end of the month, when I’ll post a summary of all the posts (that’s New Years Eve, the same day as our birthday!)

If you’re a blogger, here’s how to join in:

Check out the ideas below or come up with your own take on “No Dice”, publish an RPG-flavored blog post, then drop it in the comments of this post, below. Because I’ll need to get the summary up on New Year’s Eve, please get your post in by the 28th of December.

We’ve tried to keep the topic as open as possible, so hopefully you’ll find something to inspire your articles this month. Here are a few thoughts on the topic:

  1. Mechanics. Every game has mechanics that aren’t linked to the dice. Maybe you’ve invented diceless mechanics, or you want to discuss some rules from your favourite RPG that don’t require rolls. Tell us about them.
  2. Beyond the Game. Roleplaying games are what they are because of the players, and story is a vital part of the game that goes beyond dice and numbers. Pick some aspect of the game that doesn’t involve mechanics and discuss it.
  3. Weal and Woe. Luck is an important part of most roleplaying games, so tell us about the time your party’s luck ran out, or they were exceptionally fortunate. You could create items based around luck, a monster that eats or creates luck, or a trap that looks like a giant D20.
  4. All About the Story. Sometimes the best sessions have very little rolling involved. If you’ve had such an experience we’d love to hear about it.
  5. ‘Tis the Season. Give us a list of Christmas gift ideas for roleplayers, but avoid dice.
  6. No Limits. The dice often set the limits, but we’re not setting any for you. If you’ve got an idea that falls outside the theme and want to take part, please join in the fun still.

Feel free to drop more ideas in the comments below.

Till the end of the year, have a good one, stay safe, and keep rolling!

 


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The State of the Phoenix – 2022

Every year we learn and adapt. In 2022 we returned to our grassroots and applied those lessons to great effect. Here’s what Rising Phoenix Games got up to in 2022.

Early in the year, I finished developing TTRPGs for d20pfsrd.com Publishing with the release of the Pathfinder Second Edition version of the Eldryn character supplement and Artful Dodgers (which, alongside Masters of the Occult: Play Manga d20 is my best works for the company). Leaving them allowed me to commit more time to freelancing and to Rising Phoenix Games.

Freelancing remains the best way for me to learn the art, science, and business of TTRPG production, so it’s one pillar of the business.

The GrimDark Pamphlet Banner

For Rising Phoenix specifically, our goal was to focus on the Grimdark Pamphlet and Undersea Sourcebook series, complete Three Stone Stories, and begin work on a larger solo RPG product that will eventually form the core of our business. All have progressed nicely:

  1. Three Stone Stories is out and on its way to earning its Copper Seller medal. It has two 4-star ratings so far.
  2. With the release of Undersea Sourcebook: Water Magic we are halfway through the development of the series. We’ll probably focus on the monster book next, which I’ve done a substantial amount of development work on already.
  3. The Grimdark Pamphlet is progressing well, and we’ll return to it in 2023 after some freelance work in early 2023.
  4. Our larger solo project is top-secret for now, so I can’t say much.

In refocusing we’ve let a few games go, including several miniature skirmish games that we’re selling off to larger publishers. There are also a few paused projects, which we’ll sit on until the time is right.

Mayas & Dungeons and Camp Karate

Some opportunities are worth grabbing with both sets of talons, and we had two great opportunities this year.

In March I was asked to develop a small game to promote JAST USA on April 1st, and this became Mayas & Dragons, a small (and free) print-and-play solo dungeon crawl.

In July we participated in Drive-Thru RPG’s ZineQuest, creating Camp Karate. It was a great opportunity to get eyes on our products, and we remained within the top 8 entries for all of August.

Camp Karate RPG

The Fat Long Tail

One pleasant surprise was our 5e Madness Cards making more sales this year than in all of 2020 and 2021. I added a PDF version for home printing after a customer’s request on Drive-Thru (thank you, Lee). We’ll be adding a version of the Pathfinder Second Edition Madness Cards for home printing in 2023.

Goals for 2023

Next year will be more of the same:

  1. Develop the Grimdark Pamphlet, according to the roadmap.
  2. Develop the Undersea Sourcebook monster book.
  3. Take part in ZineQuest if possible.
  4. Develop our Solo RPG master plan (mwahaha).

We’ll be moving away from social media in the same way we pulled back from the blog, but there’s still time to snag a book from our latest contest:

Have an amazing holiday season and a happy 2023!

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#ShowYourRPGShelf and Win an RPG!

Show us your RPG shelf and win a print copy of Nightscape: Red Terrors for your collection by entering the #ShowYourRPGShelf RPG contest.

How to Enter

1) Follow us on Twitter and Facebook (and grow the party!)
2) Reply to one of the posts below with a picture of you, holding your favorite character sheet, in front of your shelf of roleplaying books.
3) Share the post you replied to.

Be sure to check out other collections in the comments or by searching for the hashtag #ShowYourRPGShelf.

The T’s and C’s

Entries close November 30th. One entry per person. The winner will be announced in December 2022. The judge goblin’s decision is final. Winners will be determined by dice combat (we’ll roll ’em). Keep those pics family-friendly, please.

You can find out more about Nightscape, here. Get Nightscape: Red Terrors on the Rising Phoenix Games Store.

Good luck!