Grab your enchanted cutlass, summon your cannons, and ready your bardic sea shanties in this new edition of Tempest

Grab your enchanted cutlass, summon your cannons, and ready your bardic sea shanties in this remastered edition of Tempest: A Seafarer’s Sourcebook, now available from The Dragon's Vault on Backerkit.

The original Tempest: A Seafarer’s Sourcebook provided D&D 5E players with a setting that mixed pirates and pistols with monsters and magic. This remastered edition features everything found in the first version of the book, plus a collection of new elements: including 100+ pages of never-before-seen concepts, rules, and illustrations. This content includes new species; new subclasses; new spells; new items; and an entirely overhauled ship system inspired by the most recent project from The Dragon’s Vault, Lodestar: A Spacefarer’s Manual. 

Tempest takes recognisable iconography from the real-world historical period known as the Age of Sail - the oceanic exploration, the naval battles, the pirates, ornate ships and tricorn hats, all that stuff - and merges it with dark nautical fantasy and mythology, to craft a setting that’s a roleplaying paradise for fans of all things Pirates of the Caribbean, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, Sea of Thieves, and The Secret of Monkey Island. 

This vast ocean plays host to cannon warfare and cutless duels, sea monsters dragging hapless sailors to their watery deaths, West Tihini Trade Company ships searching merchant vessels for contraband, foolish treasure hunters digging up cursed gold, spectral ghostships silently drifting through haunted waters, and many other such maritime thrills and frights. 

Create characters by choosing from a roster of fantastical playable species, such as the monkey-esque Bali; feathered and beaked Kara Kara; semi-aquatic Mermeer; cephalopod-like Cuttlefolk; and the newly introduced Foglin, who are spirits of the sea made flesh. Alternatively, there are several subspecies made for existing DnD 5E species, like the electric Stormkin Elves and volcanic Black Sand Dwarves. 

You can also pick from 13 different subclasses, including the College of Shanties for Bards - which allows you to rally your allies and curse your foes via sea shanties - the Bilge Rat for Rogues, who wounds foes with sharp-tongued sailor insults, and the Captain of the Damned subclass, which lets Warlocks draw power from the souls of undead sailors. Once you’ve created your character, you can even craft your own custom ship and assign roles to your fellow shipmates, as well as hire additional NPC crewmembers to man the deck.

You can then steer this ship towards any of Tempest’s many locales: like the icy shores of Hugreheim or the bustling trade city of Farcast. There’s also the Archaic Islands - renowned for their pleasant mediterranean climate and ancient ruins - or the scattering of islands in the Auk’olan region, whose numerous volcanoes provide the warmth needed for its diverse and colourful ecosystem. You could even venture into the Seas of the Dead, where all the spirits of damned sailors dwell, to challenge the Ferryman himself to save the soul of a beloved shipmate. 

The world of Tempest is brimming with possibilities; embark on a voyage to the Spice Claw Islands to establish lucrative trade routes; seek and unearth one of the priceless Pieces of Eight, each of which grant their owner incredible arcane powers; swear fealty to one of the six notorious pirate lords of Tempest and do their bidding; or join the Leviathan Hunters to learn their monster hunting secrets. In Tempest, players have the potential to experience the stuff of legends, and tell stories that will be spoken about with reverence by generations of sailors thereafter. 

Tempest: A Seafarer’s Sourcebook and its Remastered Edition were both written by Conor Adams - who is also the artist behind the book’s illustrations and the founder of its publisher, The Dragon’s Vault.

A crowdfunding campaign for Tempest: A Seafarer’s Sourcebook - Remastered Edition is now live until November 21st. The hardback version of the book will be available for a pledge of £40, whilst a digital PDF version can be obtained through a pledge of £20. Tempest: A Seafarer’s Sourcebook - Remastered Edition is estimated to release around Spring 2027.