SINK! Releases New Nautical Scenery for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition That Includes Magical Elements … (+)
When most people think of Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, they think of castles to besiege, mountains to explore, and small towns to rest and resupply in. The majority of these adventures take place on land, with perhaps the occasional river cruise or other sea-based encounter thrown in. The sailor may be a background that a player takes for a character, but most Dungeon Masters will assume that the old sea dog has long since been retired from the sea.
The fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons adopted a nautical theme for two books during its run. The secrets of the salt marshes brought together several adventures from the game's history to assemble a sea-based scenario. Spelljammer: Adventures in Space It's technically a space opera, but it's clear that so much of it was directly inspired by naval fantasy that I think it matters.
Sink! Adventures in the Caldereach Sea offers a framework that combines two unique inspirations. One is pirate mythology and things like mermaids, sea monsters, and treasure maps. The other is American tattoo art, much of which evolved from sailors bringing designs back on their skin from exotic ports of call.
“The inspiration came from San Diego Comic-Con last year,” SINK! co-creator Johnny Stanton IV said in an interview at Gen Con. “I finally got to meet Sam Rusk, his amazing group of friends, and his wife. We scheduled a tattoo session at her AirBnB at Comic-Con. She ended up giving me this walking beast on my leg that I love. We got to spend the rest of the weekend together. She worked on my leg for two and a half hours, and then we spent the rest of the day hanging out. She’s the greatest D&D “I'm a nerd I know. We got to the point where we discussed the possibility of working on actual books. I was surprised that they had never worked on a TTRPG book before.”
Stanton teamed up with Ricardo Esquivias and Sam Rusk to create the world of SINK! Rusk brings their tattoo styles to give the book a look that stands out in the D&D market. Esquivias worked with Stanton for years as a storyteller while also rounding out the team on the production side.
“I messaged Sam and asked, ‘If you could work on a TTRPG book and create the theme using your art style, what would it be?’ and he said pirates fit really well with that art style,” Stanton said. “He’s also a huge Dungeon Crawler fan, so why not both? She took it as a ‘what’s your favorite color?’ kind of getting to know each other question. So I went to Rick and said we have this idea. We’re going to start developing it. Let’s see if it’s something real.”
This initial conversation became Treasures of the deep cave, a free RPG Day product that curious players can download to experience the world on offer during the Kickstarter. The core book expands on player options such as wizards tattooing their spellbooks on their skin. Other players can get tattoos of magical items. The rules for the Dungeon Master include a Soul Bind that allows them to target valuable Hit Dice in encounters.
Sink! Adventures in the Caldereach Sea is on Kickstarter until Thursday, October 17, 2024. The book is currently scheduled for release in June 2026.
