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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9597439" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/gmGm9T5.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />A good sandbox is in need of ways for the DM to generate all sorts of treasures, encounters, and adventure hooks, and Tools & Tables is dedicated to this purpose.Seafaring Encounters is the first and most in-depth section of the chapter. It draws from a d100 table, separated by columns of the three different terrain types of sea, coast, and river. An encounter is usually rolled whenever the PC’s ship enters a new hex, but the DM can call for a roll to liven up the story. Many of the encounters have no connection to the larger world, but some of them tie into various patrons, factions, and quests and thus can have consequences in how the PCs deal with them. Or change the aspects of the encounter depending on earlier decisions made in the campaign.We have 44 unique encounters. They include your typical combat scenarios, such as Titan of the Deep where one of the 4 legendary sea monsters threatens the PC’s ship,* a pirate fleet appearing on the horizon, or NPCs with stat blocks from an appropriate Faction representing a Wronged Patron or Hunting Faction. But we also have less conventional (but still risky) encounters such as underwater hazards like coral reefs threatening to shipwreck the PC’s vehicle, deadly weather from monsoons to hail storms that deal different types of damage which can be reduced or avoided with the proper skill/tool checks and saving throws, or a stowaway sequestered in the ship and on the run from a faction’s agents.*The book notes that such encounters are deadly for parties below level 8, and that in such a case the monster should be used to foreshadow its danger rather than directly going into combat.There is one encounter that is unique in being a reference to Red Panda Publishing’s Biblical adventure paths. The Temple of the Tidekeeper is a magical underwater structure that is magically watertight and can be safely entered to those who swim below and pass through a permeable barrier. It is presided over by Sahariel, one of the angels known as the Watchers who defied God’s orders of observant non-interference in mortal history. Sahariel has a scrying pool in the Temple which he uses to spy on various influential mortals, and will recruit the PCs to search the lands for fragments of the Nachazor Tablet. This is a magical item that was created by the Watchers in order for them to magically communicate with each other. The other fragments can be located in locations and missions elsewhere in the module, and when reunited can let one cast the Sending spell at will by uttering the name of one of the Watchers and thus enable communication with them. Returning all the fragments results in being rewarded a DM-determined magic item or the Blessing of the Moon, where they can cast the Moonbeam spell at 2nd level once per long rest. As for what purpose Sahariel has for the tablet, the book cryptically notes that this will be revealed in a future product.Four other encounters involve potentially meeting a Patron or potential Patron. There’s Kaha’i, who will explain his backstory if the PCs are respectful of him, and thus fill them in about the four legendary sea monsters. Or the disguised Princess Yamato, posing as a bounty hunter who the PCs can help in tracking down outlaws. Finally, the floating ship-city of Blackhaven is a place where the PCs can conduct trade and pick up Black Market Contracts, and possibly meet Lydia as a tour guide.The Witch of Endor is the patron-based encounter with the most replay value.  She is first met in a houseboat, disguised as a helpless woman with valuable gold and magical items as a secret test of character. PCs who prove themselves to be honorable earn the Witch’s trust, revealing her true nature and thus be offered her patronage. Whenever the Witch is encountered again this way, she will have a new mission for the party taken from a d8 table, such as recovering the captain’s log from a sunken ship in the Maluku Islands which can detail where to find and harvest magical Sandalwood trees. Or tracking down a shedim demon in Africa who is a threat to the Witch’s plans.The rest of the chapter consists of five different Random d20 tables which are much shorter in description. Random Discoveries, Cargo, and Treasure generates a variety of items, such as a sealed vault containing preserved Terra Cotta Warriors who form a loyal telepathic bond with whoever first unearths them, trade goods that can be sold at higher values in certain ports, or a book of Indian myths and folklore that can teach the reader about the Nishi Daak undead monster. In fact, there’s one legendary magic item, the sword Zhanlu, that can only be obtained as a Random Treasure result. It’s a sentient Lawful Good sword that was forged in the Elemental Plane of Fire and makes creatures of elemental fire more positively inclined towards the wielder.Random Passengers is an NPC generator for quick names and personality traits of someone onboard a ship, and all of them are strictly noncombatants. The Random Fugitives table represents a variety of stowaways, outlaws, and persecuted people who have bounties out for them. We get a table for recommended bounty values based on the average party level, and the d20 table provides a variety of names and backstories, such as a spy wanted by various factions for blackmail material or a serial killer who’s been hopping between the Southern Islands to avoid staying in one place for too long. In regards to stat blocks, we have a generic non-combatant Fugitive entry that is good at stealthy skills but has no combat capabilities to speak of. The book recommends using other stat blocks if they’d be more appropriate, particularly for those fugitives who would have combat training.Thoughts: I enjoy the mixture of combat and noncombat random encounters, and there’s easily enough to provide variety over the course of a campaign. Barring the four legendary sea monsters, most of the encounters are low-level in terms of threats, with the largest determining factor of difficulty being rolls that determine the total number of enemy NPCs/monsters. Unlike the Open Contracts table whose results are heavily mitigated by level, the Random tables have no such guardrails and it’s entirely possible for PCs to hit paydirt on a particularly lucky haul. And given that gold can be a direct enhancement to the party’s power in the form of better ships and upgrades, a Silk Road campaign has much more of a variable risk/reward factor than the typical 5e adventure with pre-determined encounters and treasure.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/RlGUsKx.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Ports of the World covers 88 distinct locations, and in spite of its title includes everything from dungeon crawls to inland cities. The entries are organized in alphabetical order, and have a common list of bolded topics of campaign-relevant information, such as relevant tables and modifiers to roll on when Looking for Work, Points of Interest that hold notable encounters and locations, and Culture and Society which highlights the most common languages and tavern tables along with general societal details. Each entry also details what factions hold sway over the area if applicable, and thus advises the DM to be aware of the party’s current status when they visit.Quite a few of these locations tie into related quests, but one of the potential longer-running ones involves the Island of the Jewel. Given as one of the six sample starting campaign ideas, it is a classic “treasure hunt” where the PCs visit various locations piecing together clues in search of an island bearing wealth beyond one’s wildest imagination. The Island can be initially doled out either as a quest from Emperor Guwangwu, or by an anonymous party on a high enough result on the Black Markets Contracts table. From there the party can set forth on a variety of mini-adventures leading them to the next clue, from overcoming a set of trials beneath a Buddhist temple to gain access to its Forbidden Archives, helping resolve a political succession crisis in the Korean kingdom of Silla via a competitive tournament testing a variety of abilities, and access to a floating fortress owned by a naga who will finally reveal where the Isle of the Jewel is and how to access it. The Island itself is on its own demiplane that can only be accessed via the PC’s ship being shrouded in magical darkness in a certain stretch of sea. Once there, the party must overcome the island’s guardians, with sample monsters given out based on average party level. The treasure is…3 rolls on the Random Treasure Table, as opposed to something truly unique. That can be a bit of a let-down, particularly if the rolls are low.We’ll only cover the first half of this chapter in this post, and even then I’ll only focus on a fraction given how many entries there are.Alexandria is famed as the epicenter of scholarly learning, but the Roman occupation has seen its status begin to dwindle. Particularly so given that the current caretaker of the Library of Alexandria is the selfish and underqualified Balbillus. But the Library is still a gold-mine of knowledge, where the PCs can buy a Periplus for various regions of the world as well as find one of the Nachazor Tablets on display, whose true nature is unknown to Balbillus.Barbarikon’s location at the Indus River mouth makes it the gateway to the Satavahana Empire, and there’s always more demand for cargo ships. This is where the PCs can run into Princess Shamitra, who is horrified at the level of chaos and mismanagement of the port. But earning her as a patron requires a higher-stakes quest than bureaucratic skills, for she is secretly in love with Ushavad, a commoner. He was falsely accused of stealing her family’s signet ring, and went into hiding for fear of arrest and execution. The signet ring was actually stolen by a satrap who seeks to marry Shamrita himself, and proving Ushavad’s innocence will reward the PCs with Shamritra’s patronage and a promissory note worth 2 talents.Cattigara is a river city located in what would be present-day Vietnam. Trung Trac and Trung Nhi were a pair of famous sisters who led the rebellion against a Chinese invasion less than a decade ago, and despite their capture and execution their deeds caused the Han Dynasty to withdraw. The PCs can visit a monument tomb erected to the Trung sisters, which is guarded by a pair of stone elephant statues that will attack any intruders. The tomb holds a fragment of the Four Corners Map, a treasure part of a side quest to find the treasure hoard of a now-dead Roman officer.The other three map fragments can be found in a floating bottle in the middle of the ocean as part of a random encounter, in a trapped buried treasure chest on the island of Chagos, and in a cave in the Levantine city of Petra. For this last place, the PCs will need to overcome a poisonous cloud trap and treacherous cliffs in order to obtain the map fragment. The map, once assembled, leads to the island of Ti-Wu in the Southern Sea, whose sandalwood trees emit a powerful anti-divination ward. The hoard is 100 tons of treasure in the form of coins, gems, and art worth tens of thousands of gold pieces and a promissory note that can be redeemed for 2d10 talents. A pretty good haul for the end of a side quest, which makes me wonder why the Island of the Jewel doesn’t have a result of this magnitude.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/umd9ee9.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Deva is a Celtic city that would be yet another unremarkable pastoral village were it not for two things: the first is a red dragon by the name of Dewi who acts as the village’s guardian since the locals worship him as a god and regularly leave him offerings in the form of choice livestock. And the second is a group of Christian refugees led by Aristobulus. A Roman general by the name of Nepos is willing to kill anyone who he suspects of harboring the refugees. While Aristobulus’ people have been allowed to stay in Deva, Dewi is worried that their monotheistic teachings will cause the Celts to stop worshiping him. The PCs can resolve this a number of ways: by evacuating the Christians by sea to the town of Höfn, or fighting the Roman fleet as they make landfall. Dewi can be convinced to safeguard the Christians and fight the Romans via Persuasion, with lower DC and/or advantage if a meat pie is baked either by the PCs or the Christians.Gaza is one of the busiest cities when it comes to the Silk Road. Hundreds of ships arrive and depart here on a daily basis, and there’s always work to be found. In fact, one particular mission here comes from both the Society and Christian community: smuggling the body of James, one of the 12 Apostles, to his family and friends for a decent burial. James was assassinated recently in an attempt to demoralize the Christians, but Emperor Nero won’t be satisfied until his body is recovered so he can put the corpse on display in Ostia. Thus, the PCs can aid either the Christians or Rome and thus gained Allied status with that faction if they weren’t already.Leptis Magna is a Roman city that is a key trading route to various sub-Saharan African kingdoms, including Sheba. Thaddeus, one of the 12 Apostles, is here in hiding, and will pay the PCs if they safely transport him to Colchis. He won’t readily share his identity with the PCs, but he’ll promise to pay them double if they avoid any Roman patrols. The other figure of consequence here is Liza, a demon known as a Shedim* disguised as a beloved elderly woman who is collecting all manner of information passing through town under the orders of an archdevil in order to locate the Witch of Endor. It is possible that the PCs may be tasked with killing Liza as one of the Witch’s missions, which will earn them 2 Infamy if they can’t prove to the community that this sweet old lady is actually a dangerous monster.*The monster’s stats are in Adventurer’s Guide to the Bible, and not present in this book.Londinium is a Celtic city under Roman occupation, and the Centurion in charge of it is a vile man by the name of Catus Decianus. Decianus’ seizure of wealth given to the Celtic people by the prior Emperor as a peace offering, and killing Boudica’s entire family, set in motion a series of violent rebellions. Now Decianus fears for his life, and seeks to escape back to Rome. But in order to do that without looking like he’s coming back with this tail between his legs, he will hire the PCs to assassinate Boudica in exchange for half of the gold if they’re Allied with Rome. Should the PCs instead return his stolen gold to Boudica, she will redistribute it back to the Celtic people, earning the party a promissory note for 5 talents.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/p1bomCb.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Luoyang is the capital city of the Han Dynasty. It is a walled metropolis and few others can compare with its impressive architecture. While in town, the PCs might undergo questions to determine their intentions, such as when first docking or being interviewed during a meeting with the Emperor. Such processes are conducted by celestial beings known as Xiezhi, lionlike creatures of unknown origin but whose ability to knowingly see through lies and cast Zone of Truth makes them valued enforcers of the law in major Chinese cities.There are two locations that can provide quests to PCs. The first is the Spiritual Terrace, the personal residence of the magi Wu Mei who is actually an NPC from Adventurer’s Guide to the Bible. She was last seen in Teredon, and locals are worried about her as she was supposed to return to Luoyang several months ago. Wu Mei is currently in the border village of Turpan, which has been taken over by a gang of bandits and thus the magi is being held prisoner. If rescued, she will reward the PCs with a free casting of the Divination spell once per week whenever they visit her at the Terrace, and recommend them to Melchior if they’re not already acquainted with the man.The other location is the Twin Palaces, home to Emperor Guangwu. After undergoing an interview process and finding their answers satisfactory, PCs can gain him as a patron. Every 2nd level of experience, the Emperor will deliver them a new quest from a d8 table via messenger falcon. If the PCs reach 10th level and are still in China’s good graces, they will receive a Sword of Imperial Command as a reward, a +1 weapon with the finesse property that can let the attuned wielder telepathically command Terra Cotta Warriors.Maelstrom is a particularly stormy and cold region of the Northern Sea, modern-day North Sea and Norwegian Sea. The people who live here are isolated from the outside world and are fluent only in Norse, but will be welcoming (if a little gruff and confused) to see the PCs visit. Beyond the dangers of icebergs, ship graveyards which might contain random cargo and items, and the cold weather, there’s also a vicious monster known as the Bäckahäst which is known to destroy passing ships. It is a giant kelpie, being a stronger version of the monster of the same name in this book, complete with Legendary Actions. Killing the Bäckahäst will earn the PCs the locals’ gratitude in the form of an ancestral sword that uses the stats of a Frost Brand magic item.The Maluku Islands are located in the far southeast of the Islands of the Southern Sea. Its people live in isolated tribal villages, with most being semi-nomadic family units who move between islands every few years. One tribe, the Maro, is hated and feared by the others for their practice of head-hunting. The Maro believe that they can gain magical powers from beheading people, and are willing to kill entire villages to gain more heads. PCs risk running into a Maro war party as a random encounter, whose ships use modified Quinquereme stats that are equipped with ballistae and harpoons instead of catapults. Defeating the raiders lets the PCs remove one level of Infamy due to engendering goodwill from the local islanders.Thoughts: There’s a good amount of material here to make every region feel sufficiently lived-in and full of adventure hooks. The brief outlines for missions both randomly-generated and pre-existing help reinforce the sandbox style of play, where the DM has an existing blueprint to work off of rather than being told to make everything up on the spot. I also like how several otherwise independent quests tie into each other, like the Apostles and other Christians in hiding, the Four Corners Map and clues to the Isle of the Jewel, and the various patron missions outlined here and in the prior chapter. Additionally, the implementation of areas with local troubles that can be either a short encounter or a fuller adventure, like the villages of Deva or the Maelstrom region, are favorites of mine in that they can make for good “monster/villain of the week” style sessions.My main criticism of Ports of the World is that in casting such a wide net, the individual entries are very bare-bones. In comparison to Adventurer’s Guide to the Bible, that product maps for local cities, dungeon crawls, and small regions, as well as detailed write-ups on specific areas and NPCs in a single place such as Jerusalem or Teredon. It was thus easier for a DM to have several sessions/adventures in a single area. Silk Road, by comparison, has entries small enough that two-and-a-half can fit on the average page, so you’re getting a lot more of a bare-bones blueprint. It thus favors a much more mobile mode of play, where the PCs might stop briefly in an area for the night, get a mission and/or do a quest, buy and sell some goods, and then head off elsewhere. So in a way, a DM can actually have more work to do if the PCs decide to visit/stay at a particular place for more than a long rest.A smaller criticism is that while not frequent, there are a few cases where the product makes reference to the other Red Panda Publishing products for a game mechanic or stat block, but doesn’t supply the needed information in the book itself. I mentioned the shedim monster as an earlier example, and while it wouldn’t be hard for the DM to swap in a more appropriate creature, this is a tad inconvenient in not supplying an appropriate guideline or level of power for a character the party meets.Thoughts So Far: This section of the book truly embraces the freeform play of an open world sandbox in a way few other 5th Edition modules do. In fact, it can be too wide open, as running it by the book can put the plot at the whims of the dice as less decisive players might be faced with options paralysis. I feel that the implicit linked quests, such as the Isle of the Jewel and the persecuted Christians, are an attempt to help fashion a framework for a “main quest.” But even those bear vague enough links that the DM would still need to make more explicit links between them, unless it’s made clear during Session Zero that the PCs will be expected to be needing to go out and find adventure for themselves at times rather than waiting for a hook.Join us next time as we finish up the rest of the Ports of the World!</blockquote>

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