Sargasso Sea Encounter Generator:

 Salutations seasick sailors of the salt-rimed sargasso! This week brings the smell of rotting seaweed on the air and a pervasive sense of overwhelming weirdness. That's right, this week I bring to you the Sargasso Sea Encounter Generator! A fun set of tables for generating weird seaborne encounters echoing with the flavor of the Bermuda Triangle! A perfect addition to any sea traveling campaign of marine fun! If you like this article, check out last week's Snowbound Encounter Location Generator, and if that's not to your liking, maybe D66 Graveyard Encounters are more up your alley! 

Sargasso Sea Encounter Generator:

Sargasso is a type of floating seaweed that grows primarily in the Caribbean Sea and the mid-Atlantic. This free floating, fast growing sea plant can generate huge colonies upon the open ocean, floating in thick clumps that can grow to be miles wide. This presents a genuine hazard to boats travelling through it. The propensity for sargasso to clog rudders and foul ship keels is a proposed cause of the Bermuda Triangle’s supposed ship-sinking powers. Suffice it to say that even in the real world, getting your boat caught in the stinky green seaweed is a real danger. For this reason, sargasso shows up in RPGs in more than a few oceanic hex crawls. It lends itself to fanciful tales of marooned sailors and mysterious encounters. Below you will find a series of tables you can use to generate interesting sargasso related encounters for your players to explore, if they dare.

*Woodcut of an early German ship, ca.1530. Author Unknown

What Did You Spot In The Crow’s Nest?

There is much to discover in the floating clumps of sargasso, and it is a vigilant eye that can mean the difference between opportunity and calamity in the stinking mess of the sargasso. The table below will be the base location of your encounter. The sargasso makes it almost impossible for large vessels with rudders to pass through the middle of the thicker clumps. Lifeboats, ca

D20	What did you spot?
1	The broken hulls of a handful of lifeboats lashed together into a makeshift raft.
2	The burned lower half of a merchant schooner.
3	An ancient longboat with colorful shields hanging off of either side.
4	The wooden carriage of a hot air balloon that has crashed into a single-masted pinnace, its deflated balloon tangled in the rigging.
5	A giant, miserable, barnacle-encrusted turtle the size of a small island.
6	A collection of barrels, shipping crates, and half rotten rope that have become tangled together.
7	A war galley in perfect condition.
8	A three-masted merchant vessel with its masts smashed and tangled together.
9	Four lifeboats all lashed together in a row.
10	A verdant island of pumice stone-covered trees that floats freely in the water.
11	A sea mount that juts almost a hundred feet out of the water.
12	A floating rusted metal machine the size of a wagon that was built in the shape of a crab. The thing has become entangled in rope and seaweed.
13	A giant stinking whale carcass that has been lashed to barrels to keep it afloat.
14	Three large, cupped ceramic leaves with their stems all tied together.
15	Three makeshift rafts constructed of driftwood and rotten ropes.
16	The hulls of two galleons that have been lashed side-by-side together. Their decks house multiple small huts.
17	A small rocky outcropping about 20 feet in diameter that sits only five feet above the waterline.
18	A single-masted riverboat that has been stripped of all visible rope, canvas, barrels, and all other portable items
19	A floating leaf the size of a large sailing ship with mast-tall fungal protrusions that look sort of like sails.
20	A battered, rudderless troop transport vessel ringed in barnacles.

noes, and other small, rowed rudderless craft can sail through the thick clumps of sargasso that ring the locations below without getting stuck in it, but their speeds will be reduced by half.

 

What May Dwell Here?

Though the sea is often devoid of intelligent creatures, the trapped inhabitants of the sargasso can be plentiful. Those who are able to survive here are ruthless and canny, only a pitiful few surviving for long on altruism and goodwill. Though many would kill for a chance to leave, those that have made rulers of themselves here are often loath to aid any who offer freedom to their servants. To determine whether a location is inhabited and by what, roll a D6 and consult the Inhabitants table. If a location comes up devoid of sentient life, use the What Dwells Here? table. If there are intelligent creatures here, roll on the Who Dwells Here? table.

D6	Inhabitants
1	There is nothing living here.
2-4	Someone lives here. Check the Who Dwells Here? table.
5-6	Something lives here. Check the What Dwells Here? table.

D12	Who Dwells Here?
1	A ragged band (2d4+1) of suntanned humans and demi-humans who are slavishly devoted to Nar’kalu, the shark god of fate. They believe they were chosen by Nar’kalu and that by eating infidels they can gain his favor and be transformed into immortal sharks.
2	A zealous band (1d20) of soldiers from a war that ended over two decades ago. They are driven to survive and finish their mission, no matter what.
3	An old mage and his three assistants who are in search of a lost magical item that is supposed to be located on a lost vessel in the sargasso. He is willing to compensate a party that helps him with an Ebony Fly Figurine of Wonderous Power. He is quite crazy though, and his assistants are all mute.
4	A cult of shipwrecked humans (2d10+1) who have come under the power of a sea demon who encourages them to mutilate themselves so they appear more fishlike. They like to hide in the water if they spot approaching vessels and ambush curious parties.
5	A group (3d6+1) of halflings with verdigris-encrusted bronze scale mail and swords. They speak an archaic form of Common. They are part of an ancient band of mythic warriors that are spoken of in legend. It was said that they disappeared over 2,000 years ago en route to conquer a sorcerer-king.
6	A friendly crew (2d10+5) of stranded merchants and sailors. They have been stuck in the sargasso for over six months and many are injured. The captain and other officers have died, though no one will say how.
7	Three animated wooden statues in the shape of sailors. They ran away from their wizard master many years ago and have been stranded here for almost as long. They know many bawdy songs and limericks. When they are all within 10 feet of each other, they can cast a single random arcane spell a day.
8	Six elves each suspended in a translucent crystal the color of the setting sun. They are the victims of a divine curse that trapped them here millennia ago. They are only free from their crystal prisons at night when they continue their search for a long-lost leyline whose discovery they believe will break their curse.
9	A humble band (2d6+1) of monks who live in the sargasso to be closer to their sea god. These monks have extensive knowledge of the sargasso and the creatures that dwell there. The monks are being harassed by evil spirits sent to disrupt their spiritual studies.
10	A crew (2d10+1) of beady-eyed, sunken-cheeked cannibals. These desperate souls have been driven to cannibalism in the seaweed choked hellhole of the sargasso. Though once driven by desperate hunger, they have now become addicted to the taste of the flesh of sentients. This craving is what drives them now.
11	A group of children (3d6+2) between six and twelve who are all that remain of a marooned ship. The children are half feral and all speak a language that they invented. Some wish to leave and to see their families again, but others know no other life and see no reason to leave this home.
12	A small crew (2d8) of sailors dressed in archaic clothing who appear to phase in and out of existence every few seconds. The crew speak in an odd and old-timey manner, and many don’t recognize the name of modern nations. The crew can’t stop themselves from phasing and need help.

 

*Shipwreck of the Batavia, Plate 3, from original woodcut print, F. Pelsaert, F., & Vliet, J. (1647)

D12	What Dwells Here?
1	A ragged parliament of harpies (2d4) who flew too far out to sea and now are stuck in the sargasso. They seek a way to return to their nests, and for powerful magic users to make their betrothed.
2	A horde of zombie sailors (2d10) who were cursed by an angry sea hag. The sailors hunger now for living flesh, their human souls long since destroyed by the curse. The mindless horde seems to be attracted to magic and will attack magic users first if given a chance.
3	An infestation of giant crabs (2d8) who have made the location their home. The shells of the crabs have been infused with the latent magic in the area. As a result, the crabs are now immune to mundane weapons and can only be harmed by magic.
4	A colony of intelligent giant octopuses (2d6+1) inhabit the location. They are natives to the sargasso and are building a democratic republic based on universal octopus rights. The octopuses are very interested in philosophy, religion, and the nature of the universe, as well as those who can tell them more about these topics.
5	An angry band of sahuagin (3d6) dwells here. The half-rotten body parts of their enemies that are scattered about are kept as trophies. The sahuagin are on a holy quest for a sacred relic of their evil gods they believe is being held on one of the sargasso’s many floating wrecks.
6	The flickering ghosts of three sailors inhabit this place. The story of their stranding and their inevitable turning on each other plays out in repetition beginning every four hours. It seems that they were childhood friends who eventually killed and ate each other until the thinnest of the sailors killed himself in shame.
7	Fifteen mold-encrusted skeletons going about their duties as though they were all living sailors. The moldy skeletons speak an oddly accented form of Common. They claim to be sailors from a small city state who got snared by the sargasso on their way to sell iron ingots. They refuse to acknowledge that they are skeletons and talk as though they are all still living men.
8	A small collection (1d4+1) of shiny, colored spheres that float in the air. The spheres talk in sweet lilting voices as they discuss matters of art and music. These beings are called Xe’Blatt. They are extradimensional creatures who are visiting this universe on a day trip.
9	The location is ringed by great white sharks (1d8) and giant eels (3d4) who will attempt to overturn any boat that comes near them in order to eat those unlucky enough to fall out.
10	A sea hag and her aquatic elf servants (1d6) live here. The hag is a dangerous and unpredictable character. If PCs are polite to her, she may choose to aid them, but not necessarily in the way the want her to. If PCs are rude, the hag and her servants will try to capture the PCs and use them in their magical experiments.
11	A small family of merrow calls this their home. The aquatic ogres have an elven woman chained up that they keep as bait to entice others to come to her aid so that they may capture and eat them. The poor woman is traumatized and refuses to talk. The merrows love the flesh of humans more than any other meat and will target humans if a fight breaks out.
12	This is the abode of a sea hydra. The foul beast will wait for curious parties to draw close before it tries to capsize their boat and eat them! If PCs survive, they find a clutch of three sea hydra eggs hidden in the location.

Odd Phenomena

The sea-sized floating masses of sargasso are home to more than just stranded sailors and hungry sharks. Within the confines of the ocean of seaweed, many odd phenomena have been observed. The scholars of many worlds in the multiverse have suggested that the sargasso is sensitive to the latent geomantic energy that flows through the earth. These same scholars posit that the sargasso only grows in areas of the ocean where powerful leylines converge, and that these nexus points can be home to many fantastical magical phenomena. Use the table below to populate your encounter location with strange magical energies and weird occurrences.

D20	Odd Phenomena
1	At night, odd masses of glowing colored balls can be observed floating out of the ocean and dancing around each other for upwards of an hour before rising into the sky, never to come back down.
2	All metal in the location gives off a static charge. Although the shock is painful, it is completely harmless.
3	Characters exploring the location are constantly in a state of déjà vu.
4	The sea here glows a soft greenish light at night.
5	The sound of a bird familiar to a PC can be heard periodically over the wind as though it was close by.
6	The nights around here are half as long as normal, and the days are twice as long.
7	The sea within 100 yards of the location are rimed with frost and cold.
8	PCs keep losing time. They can’t remember what they were just doing or had just done, though no more than half an hour is forgotten at any one time. Everyone is losing different amounts at different times.
9	Random small trade goods (ribbon, cutlery, balls of wax or twine, etc.) periodically rain down from the clouds.
10	The sounds of a crowd applauding a performance waft upon the wind.
11	A cloud of infinitesimally small spiders floating on the breeze starts to rain down on the location. They are harmless but abundant and will cover every surface with webbing after about an hour.
12	Time is dilated at the location. Every hour spent there equals three hours to those in other places.
13	A small river boat of some kind falls from the sky near the location, breaking apart when it hits the water. There didn’t seem to be anyone aboard, thankfully.
14	When PCs are apart from each other at this location they keep hearing their compatriots calling their names.
15	Anyone who dreams at this location dreams of a vast chamber with a glowing heart beating florescent purple blood onto the floor.
16	After PCs leave this location, they will find any ferrous metals they have on their person have become highly magnetized.
17	When dawn comes at this location, two suns on opposite ends of the sky actually rise. They continue across they sky from opposite directions until they fall behind the horizon opposite from where they began.
18	All sounds here are muted and those who wish to converse must shout to be heard.
19	Any arcane spells cast here have a 2-in-6 chance of failing. If a spell does fail, the caster can be seen lurching out of existence for a brief second.
20	Any spell cast here is cast at its full effect. (Maximum targets, damage, duration, etc.)

*Woodcut of early German ships, ca.1530. Author Unknown

Special Treasure

The wrecks of the sargasso tend to collect odd and curious items. Some power within the massive patches of seaweed seems to hold onto valuable and magical items. Many antique oddities can be scavenged from the sun-warped hulls of floating wreckage that dot the seascape. The table below has interesting treasures to reward savvy players with on your next sea voyage through the sargasso.

D12	Unique Treasure
1	A two-handed sword forged of exceptional quality steel. The sword’s quillions are shaped like swan wings and two thumb-sized sky-blue sapphires are embedded on each side of the blade where it meets the silver hilt. Another sky-blue sapphire, this one the size of a chicken’s egg, is fixed to the pommel. (The sword never needs sharpening.)
2	Three large folios containing the lost opera of the legendary composer Suangalli.
3	A large jewel-encrusted golden astrolabe, fixed with dozens of tiny garnets, pearls, and onyxes.
4	A resplendent floor-length iridescent pink cloak made of hummingbird skins. This is the fabled cloak of Emperor Pallak Kul, the Feathered Serpent Rider. (The wearer gains a +2 bonus to all Charisma -based die rolls.)
5	A large metal shield in the shape of an oak leaf. The shield bears a green field with a charge of a black bear, rampant. This is the heraldry of the legendary hero Bjorn Bearrider. (The shield allows the bearer to cast Animal Friendship once a day against bears.)
6	A full set of enameled playing cards. This appears to be a custom set, as the nobles on the face cards are of the four major houses of the largest known kingdom. The case is made of lacquered wood with small emeralds embedded on its top.
7	A six-foot-long spear, the shaft made of polished ironwood. The spear’s head is over a foot long, made of bronze, and molded into a diamond-shaped spike. Bronze bands studded with emeralds and topazes bend around the shaft from its head.
8	A large silver bullseye lantern crafted to look like the head of a medusa. The lever for the shutter opens and closes her mouth and eyes.
9	The masterwork nyckelharpa of the famous bard Klaus Bluecloak, made of magically treated ebony and rosewood with enchanted silver strings. The case is made of oak and covered in shark’s skin with handles wound with silver wire. (This never needs tuning.)
10	A holy icon made of gold depicts the labors of Saint Tuffnel whose prayers held back a demon army. The icon is about two feet long and eight inches wide and encrusted with pearls and onyxes.
11	A set of fans made out of panels of mother of pearl and intricately carved with scenes of children frolicking with animals.
12	A false hand and forearm made of gold with garnets inlayed in floral patterns. The detail of the hand is exquisite, with each vein and artery displayed in perfect detail. The hand bears six fingers instead of the usual five.