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Recruitment thread

OOC thread

IC thread

The Story So Far[edit]

  • the Teroso Libre (TL) started in Bristo doing jobs for American Crane. Found Earth water on zombie ship.
  • Crane saw their potential and advised them to become Questors, so visit Tressa, taking Carroway fruit as a gift
  • En route to Maroa to buy the fruit the TL intervened to help a ship attacked by pirates
  • They drove off the pirates but had to go into Little China to make repairs [covid happens, players disappear]
  • Blays, Jose and OE continued to Maroa on another ship to buy the fruit, Chabas and Mattias stayed to fix the TL
  • Chabas & Mattias discovered smugglers using a kraken sub, also uncovered an underwater octopon coven
  • They visited a nearby island to get Kraken advice about the sub , entered an ancient holy cave , got enlightened
  • (At Maroa the atani gave Jose the fruit for free, but asked for his help in return.)
  • One Eye took a ship to Little China to bring the fruit, delivered Jose’s message to go on without him
  • TL set sail to Tressa / the Teeth stopping first at Sharks Bay, foiling a human cult worshipping octopon-like deities
  • TL sailed along southern coast of Torath Ka, saw Walking Gods, had love triangle issues, etc.
  • TL peed all over Tressa’s tests, delivered water and fruit, got a prize.

Tressa's Secrets[edit]

Tressa explains what they have learned about the sea hags. Three sisters , daughters of a Ograpogan general, were drowned as a punishment for murdering their father after his return from a campaign against the Ugaks. Tied to stakes in the incoming tide, they called down a curse on Ograpog. They swore that the country’s capital city would drown under 50 fathoms of salt water. The heavens opened. Ograpog drowned as the sea rushed in. Later, the sisters rose as gargantuans who wreaked havoc on the survivors.

Tressa believes the sisters-the hags-somehow learned the black magic of the Ugaks their father conquered. It was the defeated Ugaks’ vengeance that the general’s daughters used Ugak magic to murder their conqueror and destroy most of Ograpog.

The Questors have learned this tale after patient investigation, picking through the tales of survivors, studying records that survived the deluge and learning about Ugak magic. They have learned that the sisters can be summoned by pouring out Earth water over the Devils Cross and stating their true names.

Which Tressa has now learned. She places a heavy tome on the table. It is a ledger stolen from the surviving highland city of Baltimore, Ograpog’s new capital and headquarters for the East India Company. It contains announcements of prosecutions of serious crimes committed in the months before the flood. One of the last recorded items mentions three daughters imprisoned for patricide, as well as the murder of their youngest sister. Their father, the first victim, is listed as War Archon Ajax GreenWater. The girls’ three names are listed.

“It has taken us many years of adventure to locate this record. But we now know who the hags are and how to summon them. The problem is this. The last time they were confronted with main force they destroyed a Kraken squadron of ironclads and a fleet of Ograpogan triremes carrying the country’s most powerful Arch-Elementalists. Such a force no longer exists in our world. We have some ideas as how to continue, but first, do you have questions about what you have heard so far?”



Mitch - Mattias van der Zoort, engineer (Dutch)

Baeraad - Chabas, crabby doc (Scurillian)

Stinkyfool - One-Eye Smythe, general purpose pirate (English)


Max - Blays, dolphinman marine (Doreen)

Leith Maclaine - Jose Cuervo Anglaise, captain (Spanish)

Faubus - Gilliat de Gruchy, navigator (English)


The world of Caribdus is drowned, once-mighty empires and prosperous lands lying beneath endless fathoms of dark water. The curse of the Sea Hags, three undead sorceresses risen from their death by drowning to avenge themselves on the world that saw them executed for their dark deeds, has wreaked incalculable havoc - and even now continues to do so, as ghostly pirate ships and aquatic monstrosities emerge out of the Flotsam Sea to torment the survivors clustered on the few remaining islands of dry land.

But calamity brings opportunity, and unprecedented freedom for men and women of courage and guile to make their way in the new world. Burly, grey-skinned Grael ply the new seas alongside the diverse, idiosyncratic Masaquani, seeking riches from trade or whaling or piracy. Gruff, thick-shelled Scurillians apply their sharp minds to understanding the new world and to save what can be saved of the old. Mysterious Kraken elementalists wander the ports and the distant islands, some say in search of a way to avenge their race's suffering at the hands of the Sea Hags. And sailors arriving through mysterious means from a place they call Earth bring their savvy, ambition and strange religions to bear.

Riches and glory awaits for those with the quickest minds... and the sharpest cutlasses. [Thanks to Baeraad for this blurb]


Folks will be able to play without the setting book. Mostly characters can be built using core rules. The world background, new stunts, etc are all summarized pretty nicely here


I'm thinking:

- Savage worlds Adventure edition. I'll take you through chargen backstage using a Conversation

- one post min per two days

- Two-month (?) game; characters can be easily 'parked' if life gets busy

- Start at Seasoned

- nice mix of races and types but at least HALF, please, human sailors from earth. 1 Elementalist.

- we try not to power game - SWADE's fixed up most loopholes but try to build competent swashbuckler all-rounders

- story taking place within the time-line of the main Plot Point campaign, but subverting the plot to keep it interesting for players familiar with the canon tale.

- characters are pretty good guys-the young sister has sucked in plenty of bad eggs like Blackbeard to no avail-more recently she's teleported in gooder folk

- you know my foibles-tendency to rush, railroad. PM me or even warn me publicly since we all know each other.

- There'll be a hilariously-named sloop-as a co-owned vessel.

- Just one setting fiddle. I want to make Masaquani culture a little less generic and bland. I'm thinking they are survivors of Atlantis. Toga-clad Ancient Greeks who sail elegant classical ships and have columned palaces. With names like Aeschylus, Jason, etc. What, that's more bland?



Chabas is a crab on a mission - write the definite book on the natural history of Caribdus! He's read several of the existing ones, but they were all written by inferior soft-headed creatures and of generally shoddy scholarship. To finance his research he's unfortunately having to work as a ship sawbones, tending to the astonishingly wide variety of bumps and bruises that shell-less creatures somehow manage to get. He tries to be patient about it, but would it kill them to stop whining so much about little things like amputated limbs? Honestly, it's like they think they're not going to grow back, or something...

Race (Scurillian)
Outsider (Minor; -1): -1 to Persuasion against non-Scurillians
Pincers (2): Natural weapons do d4+Str damage
Mean (-2): -2 to Persuasion rolls
Shell (1): 3 points of natural armour
Telescopic Eyes (2): +2 to Notice rolls
Agility d6
Smarts d10
Spirit d8
Strength d6
Vigor d4
Pace: 6"
Parry: 5
Toughness: 7 (3)
Athletics (Agility) d4
Boating d4
Common Knowledge (Smarts) d8
Fighting (Agility) d6
Healing (Smarts) d8+2
Notice (Smarts) d6+2
Persuasion (Spirit) d8-2
Research (Smarts) d8
Science (Smarts) d10+2
Shooting (Agility) d6
Stealth (Agility) d4
Taunt (Smarts) d8
Healer (+2 to Healing rolls)
Rabble-Rouser (can make Intimidation and Taunt Tests against a group of enemies covered by a Medium Burst Template)
Scholar (+2 to Science rolls)
Big Mouth (Minor)
Curious (Major)
Driven (Minor)
Phobia: Bats (Minor)
  1. Agility to d6
  2. Shooting to d6, Taunt to d6
  3. Persuasion to d8
  4. Science to d8, Fighting to d6
  5. Smarts to d10
  6. Trial of Wisdom: Boating to d4, Common Knowledge to d8
  7. Science to d10, Taunt to d8
  8. Rabble-Rouser edge
Gear (19 lbs.)
2 flintlock pistols (range 5/10/20, damage 2d6+1, RoF 1, weight 3 each)
13 shots and powder (weight 2)
Lantern (weight 3)
5 pints of oil (weight 5)
Leather satchel (weight 2)
Flint and steel (weight 1)
Flask of Roc Blood


Mattias “Deadeye” van der Zoort

Concept: gunslinging engineer

Seasoned: 4

Race (Human)
Gain one free Novice edge: Mr. Fix It
AGI d8
STR d6
SMA d8
SPI d6
VIG d6
Pace 5" (d4 running die)
Parry 4
Toughness 5
Academics d6
Athletics d6
Boating d4
Common Knowledge d4
Fighting d4
Notice d8
Persuasion d4
Repair d8+2 (Mr. Fix It)
Science d6
Shooting d8
Stealth d4
Weird Science d4
REQUIREMENTS: Novice, Smarts d6+, Notice d8+, Repair d6+
A McGyver can improvise a device from common resources when the need arises. Given a few simple items, he can make a Repair roll to craft improvised weapons, explosives, or tools, that last until used or the end of the encounter (GM’s call). This takes one entire turn, and he can’t move or take any other actions while constructing the device.
Failure means the device isn’t ready. A Critical Failure means he doesn’t have the right materials and can’t create the device this encounter.
Success creates a minor explosive (2d4 explosive in a Small Blast Template), a one shot projectile weapon like a “zip gun” (Range 5/10/20, Damage 2d6), rickety raft, electrical source, etc.
A raise creates a larger explosive (2d6 in a Medium Blast Template or 2d4 in a Large), a better ranged weapon (five shots, 2d8 damage, Range 10/20/40), a more stable raft, a more powerful battery, etc.
The quality or power of the creation is completely up to the Game Master, but creativity should be rewarded, particularly in the most dire and dramatic situations
Mr. Fix It
REQUIREMENTS: Novice, Repair d8+
The mechanic adds +2 to Repair rolls. With a raise, he halves the time normally required to fix something. This means if a particular Repair job says a raise repairs it in half the time, a Mr. Fix It can finish the job in one-quarter the time with a raise.
REQUIREMENTS: Novice, Spirit d6+
Those with this Edge have learned to master their fear, or have dealt with so many horrors they’ve become jaded. These valiant explorers add +2 to Fear checks and subtract 2 from Fear Table results (see page 124).
REQUIREMENTS: Seasoned, Agility d8+
The hero can anticipate attacks or move erratically under fire. Unless the victim of a surprise attack and taken completely unaware, Dodge subtracts 2 from all ranged attacks made against the character. Dodge does not stack with actual cover, however.
Arcane Background (Weird Science)

:: ARCANE SKILL: Weird Science (Smarts) 



Weird scientists use strange and powerful inventions beyond the normal technological level of the setting.
Weird scientists must usually activate their powers through their assigned device, but they can improvise other ways if needed at a −2 penalty. This requires a decent rationale relative to the setting and the GM’s permission.
Artificers can create Arcane Devices and give them to their allies. See page 153.
Stun, Deflect
Curious (Major)
It killed the cat, and it might kill your warrior as well. Curious characters have to check out everything and always want to know what’s behind a potential mystery or secret.
Slow (Minor): Peg Leg
A disability or past injury has hindered this hero’s mobility. As a Minor Hindrance, reduce his Pace by 1 and his running die one step (if already d4, reduce to d4 − 1). Slow characters may not take the Fleet-Footed Edge.
Prosthesis: A character with the Minor version of this Hindrance may have a prosthesis. If the prosthesis is lost, he suffers the effects of the Major version of Slow.
Bad Luck (Major)
Your hero is a little less lucky than most. He gets one less Benny per game session than normal. A character cannot have both Bad Luck and the Luck Edge.
  1. Fighting d4, Notice d8
  2. Spirit d6
  3. Strength d6
  4. Edge: Dodge
$1000, 40 Enc
Shot (w/powder). 1/10 shots. 0.5 lbs/10
Flintlock pistol x2. Range 5/10/20. 2d6+1. 6 Enc. $300. Reload 3 (full round)
Rapier. Str+d4. 2 Enc. $150. Parry +1
Dagger. Range 3/6/12. Str+d4. 1 Enc. $25.
Jacket (torso, arms) +1 Armor, 8 Enc, $30
Rifle scope (Spyglass). 2 Enc. $100. Cancels 2 additional points of penalties when Aiming
Tool kit. 5 Enc. $200
First aid kit. 1 Enc. $10
Backpack. 2 Enc. $50
Lantern (4 hours, 4′′ radius). 3 Enc. $25
Oil x2. 2 Enc. $4
Canteen. 1 Enc. $5
Crowbar. 2 Enc. $10
Flint & steel. 1 Enc. $3
Hammer. 1 Enc. $10
Goggles. 1 Enc. $20 / 38.5 Enc. $943
When Mattias was a boy, he watched a naval battle from the shore. A stray cannonball took off his right leg at the knee. From that day onward, he wanted to be an engineer.
When he was old enough, he attended the Holland Nautical Academy. He saw a big future in technology, and its maritime applications. Unfortunately, he had an accident while working on a steam engine, and lost his left eye.
When he suddenly found himself in Caribdus last year, he discovered a whole new realm to explore. Whatever his destiny here may be, he hopes to find it soon; he’s running out of parts.
Mattias has shoulder-length blond hair. His right eye is blue. Instead of a left eye, he has a black leather patch, with inlaid white crosshairs in a circle. He wears the wide-brimmed hat and neckerchief of a Dutch sailor, along with a leather jacket he picked up since his Arrival. His right leg ends in a sturdy wooden peg.

One-Eye Smythe[edit]

Agility d12
Smarts d6
Spirit d6
Strength d6
Vigor d6
Pace 6"
Parry 6
Toughness 5
Academics (Smarts)
Athletics (Agility): d6
Boating (Agility): d12 (Boon)
Common Knowledge (Smarts): d4
Fighting (Agility): d10 (Advance)
Focus (Spirit): The arcane skill for Arcane Background (Gifted).
Gambling (Smarts)
Healing (Smarts)
Intimidation (Spirit)
Language (Smarts): Knowledge and fluency in a particular language.
Notice (Smarts): d6
Performance (Spirit): Singing, dancing, acting, or other forms of public expression.
Persuasion (Spirit): d6 (Advance)
Repair (Smarts): The ability to fix mechanical and electrical gadgets.
Riding (Agility)
Science (Smarts): Knowledge of scientific fields such as biology, chemistry, geology, engineering, etc.
Shooting (Agility): d12 (Boon)
Stealth: d8
Survival: d4
Taunt (Smarts)
Thievery (Agility): d6
Steady Hands
Hindrances (+Ag, +Ag, +Boating, +Athletics)
Driven: Plunder/Get rich (Minor)
Loyal (Minor)
Vengeful (Major)
Enemy - Major, Blackbeard
  1. Dodge
  2. Marksman
  3. +Shooting, +Stealth
  4. +Thievery, +Fighting

Tesoro Libre[edit]

Yacht 10.jpg

This little Spanish yacht from the turn of the 18th Century draws a fairly minuscule 1.6m of water with a mast height of about 26m. The deck is about 20m long and 6m wide (so more or less 10" by 3" in SW).

The tiller rod is located comfortably under the eaves of the covered poopdeck so the good captain doesn't have to stand in the sun, wind and rain all day.

Images - Deckplan drawing - Profile drawing

Handling: +1
Acceleration: 3
Top Speed: 10
Travel Speed: 2
Toughness: 13 (2)
Guns: 4
Cargo Space: 4
Crew: 1 + 11
Notes: Heavy Armour


Current Crew[edit]

Name Nationality Special skills Role/Personality Arms Bond
Jacob van Bloem Dutch Rolls 1d8 Notice when lookout QUARTERMASTER. Brave knife, cutlass, pistol, musket Mattias
Grace McSweeney Irish d8 Stealth roll with wild die, share bennies with Chabas FIRST MATE. Easily offended knife, cutlass, pistol, musket Chabas’ matey
Xenophon of WIND/ PINK assembly Ograpogan Athletic (d8) runner and swimmer. SAILING MASTER. Competitive knife, cutlass, pistol, musket One Eye
Almirante Gato Cat Gives ship 1 benny refresh Feline claws, disdain Ship
Luc Guillotin French Has Acrobatics Edge, and Agility d8. SAILOR. Jolly knife, cutlass, pistol, musket Earth French acrobat/contortionist pressed onto the Death Grip.
All except El Almirante have d6 in Boating and Athletics; d4 in Repair, Notice, Fighting and Shooting.

Crew Before Maroa[edit]

Name Nationality Special skills Personality Arms Bond
Jacob van Bloem Dutch Rolls 1d8 Notice when lookout Brave knife, cutlass, pistol, musket Mattias
Sarah Canterbury English Always seems to survive Raucous knife, cutlass, pistol, musket Blays
Grace McSweeny Irish d8 Stealth Easily offended knife, cutlass, pistol, musket Chabas
Pedros Garcia Spanish d6 Healing Drinks knife, cutlass, pistol, musket Capitán Jose
Luc "Merlin" Caradoc Breton 1d3-1 ship bennies Morbid knife, cutlass, pistol, rifle Giliat De Gruchy
Xenophon of WIND/ PINK assembly Ograpogan Athletic (d8) runner and swimmer. Competitive knife, cutlass, pistol, musket One Eye

Rogues' Gallery[edit]

  • Jacob van Bloem - Dutch - rolls 1d8 notice when lookout. Brave.
  • Luc "Merlin" Caradec - Breton - fortune teller, 1d3-1 ship bennies on tarot per adventure. Morbid.
Tor Dahl - Norwegian - has d8 strength and Brawny edge. Slow.
Akilles of FIRE/GREEN assembly - Ograpogan - aristocratic , gets +1 to persuade etc with locals. Haunted
  • Xenophon of WIND/PINK assembly - Ograpogan - athletic (d8) runner and swimmer. Competitive
Begone Satan Poldark - Cornish - d8 in repair and has Resourceful edge. Dishonest.
Jonah Coffin - Nantucketan - rolls as Wild Card for non-com rolls. Unlucky (-1 to ship bennies)
Ricardo Da Silva - Portugese - rolls as Wild Card for non-com rolls. Fickle, can jump ship.
Michel Blanc - French - performs fiddle at d8. Shy.
  • Sarah Canterbury - English - always seems to survive. Raucous.
Davy Dawkins - English - underlooked cabin boy. Clever.
He Wong - Cantonese - has sixth sense about impending trouble. Poor gambler
"Jaws" - Kehana - has standard kehana stats. Cruel by human standards.
  • Grace McSweeny - Irish - d8 stealth. Easily offended.
Manu Efi - Samoan - handsome, (+1 mod) spectacle for locals. Humble.
  • Pedros Garcia - Spanish - d6 healing. Drinks.
Rafael Martin - Spanish - d8 repair for sail-making and tailoring. Dandy.
Captain Rainbow - Parrot - semi-intelligent. Naughty and helpful in equal measure
Mister Crowsnest - Monkey - semi-intelligent. Even naughtier and more helpful
  • Admiral Gato - Cat - gives ship 1 benny.



  • 400 poe in ship's chest
  • 1000poe of Crane's money reserved as an emergency fund

Wondrous items[edit]

  • Krakentech minisub, the A'tuin.
  • Lens of Daedalus. A very good telescope that increases the outcome of notice rolls by one whole shift. If more than two shifts are achieved, it can reveal details - auras, illusions , sounds of conversations, even (3+ shifts) hidden items . If there are details to be discovered of course. Targets have to be at longer (scope) range, rerolls not permitted even by another user.


Link to whiskey-making scene from "Mr Roberts"[edit]

A Short History of Ships Cats[edit]

Characters not in play[edit]

Gilliat De Gruchy[edit]

Human, Jersey Channel Islands, circa 1815

Agility d8
Smarts d10
Spirit d6
Strength d6
Vigor d6
Pace 6"
Parry 4
Toughness 5
Code of Honor (major)
Loyal (minor)
Quirk (minor) "I will bring the science of celestial navigation to Caribdus."
Treasure Hound
Athletics d4
Boating d8
Common Knowledge d8
Fighting d4
Notice d4
Persuasion d8
Shooting d8
Stealth d4


A doreen rover captured by Kieran slavers while whaling up near Kaja, Blays escaped from the Coaker Mountains prison mines shortly before joining the crew of the Tesoro Libre, some years ago. While more sociable than most doreen, he is still naturally reticent and laconic by most people's standards, and the bounty now on his head only makes him that much more wary of trusting anyone outside his shipmates.
Race (Doreen)
Racial Enemy (-1): -2 Persuasion rolls when dealing with kehana.
Reserved (-1): Persuasion is not a core skill.
Sea Hunter (2): +2 Stealth and Survival rolls while in water.
Semi-Aquatic (2): Hold breath for 15 minutes, Pace equal to Athletics while in water.
Agility d8
Smarts d6
Spirit d6
Strength d8
Vigor d8
Pace 6" (8" in water)
Parry 6 (+1 with trademark dagger)
Toughness 6
Athletics d8 (+1 with trademark dagger)
Boating d4
Common Knowledge d4
Fighting d8 (+1 with trademark dagger)
Intimidation d4
Notice d6+2
Persuasion d4
Stealth d6 (+2 in water)
Survival d6 (+2 in water)
Trademark Weapon (heavy dagger made from the iron shackles he dragged with him from the mines)
Wanted (major; Coaker Mountains escapee)
Loyal (minor)
Suspicious (minor)
Knife blays.png
Gear (21 lbs.)
Simple tan breeches with a scarlet sash for a belt
Trademark dagger in an underarm sheath (3/6/12, Str+d4, +1 Fighting/Athletics/Parry, 1 lb.)
Two harpoons in a back quiver (3/6/12, Str+d6, 6 lbs.)
Weighted net (3/6/12, entangle, 8 lbs.)
Canteen (1 lb.)
Flint and steel (1 lb.)
Spyglass (2 lbs.)
Set of utility knives (1 lb.)
Whetstone (1 lb.)
Experience 23 (Seasoned)
  1. gained Alertness
  2. raised Vigor
  3. gained Trademark Weapon
  4. gained Frenzy

Jose Cuervo Anglaise[edit]

Agility d8
Smarts d8
Spirit d8 - 1 advance
Strength d4
Vigor d4
Pace 6"
Parry 2+ half fighting
Toughness 6 (1)
athletics - d4 free
Boating d8 - 3 creation
Fighting d6 - 2 creation
Gambling d6 -2 creation
Intimidation d4 - 1 creation
Notice d6 free - raised by 1 creation point
Persuasion d8 - free - raised by 2 (1 advance)
Shooting d4 - 1 creation
Stealth d4 - free
Streetwise d4 - 1 creation
Swimming d4 - 1 creation
Common Knowledge - d6 - free + 1 hindrance
Throwing d4 - 1 creation
Survival d4 - 1 creation
Climbing d4 - 1 creation
Masaquani d6
Major - Habit Addiction, Alcohol
Major - Overconfident
storm chaser - Free
wind sense - 2 hindrance points
Command - advance
Natural Leader - advance
Equipment - 1 hindrance point for extra equipment
Bedroll 25
Flask 5
flint and steel 3
lantern 25
5 pints oil 5
shovel - 5
rope 5
map of caribdus 100
spyglass 100
normal clothing 20
formal clothing 200
leather armor 50
Long sword 200
turnout pistol 250
7 - left