BLACK SHARK ENTERPRISES

This week's list continues the nautical theme of shipwrecks that began last week. A shipwreck of your own vessel can be compared to the death of a close friend or family member. The captain and crew experience, albeit in a hurried manner, the five stages of grief. For those of you who are not familiar with these, they are: 1) Denial, 2) Anger, 3) Bargaining, 4) Depression, and finally 5) Acceptance. In the case of a shipwreck or a sinking vessel, the first three stages repres

Sailing can be a great deal of fun, but even in our modern world, it can also be quite dangerous. Ships are lost in storms, attacked by pirates, and run aground every day. Insuring a vessel that is capable of cruising the world, when you intend to take her into blue water (i.e. across an ocean), is quite expensive for just this reason. All that any good captain and crew can do is make every preparation for what might be encountered before leaving port. Even then, it might not

It's been a long time since I posted here and I am sorry for that. Rest assured that I have been quite busy. My wife, our son and I have purchased and moved aboard a sailboat. We are working to repair, refit, and provision her for cruising around the world. This has kept me much busier than I expected, plus there was about 6 weeks when we were completely without internet access. If you are interested in the ongoing trials and tribulations of new boat owners, then you may want

GM's Day is once again upon us. It's a time to show your GM's how much you love them by buying them something. Now I completely concede that this is much more of a "made up" holiday than even Valentine's Day, so I understand completely if you DON'T celebrate it. However speaking as a GM, (we loves to receive presents, oh yes, my precious.), I thought that I might put forth some suggestions for those who DO want to buy their GM's something nice this GM's Day, NOT that it will

We may not like to admit it, but we GM's all need help sometimes with our game. I know, personally, I am strong creatively, but often have problems with the "nitty-gritty" details of running the game. Regardless of your personal strengths and weaknesses, today's column will reveal a few online tools to help you run your RPG session, no matter the system. Know in advance though that some of the tools will be specific to D&D 5E. First off we will examine the different categorie

First things first, happy 2017 to everyone. I'm sorry that it has been so long between posts, but a couple of bouts of bad health, plus the stress of the holidays, pretty much put me out of action for the last quarter of 2016. I'm hoping 2017 will be a better year and to that end, here's a new list. Today's list is a collection of sneaky ways that DM's can use to introduce a nautical section to their game, even when the game is set far from any coastline. A couple of the item

This is the second of my October posts for 2016. Today, we are going to explore another spooky location; this time we'll be discussing the lairs of witches. The first question that you must answer when designing a witch's lair is, of course, which witch? In other words, what kind of witch is this lair for. Numerous elements must be considered about the NPC before the lair can be planned. This is NOT a one-size fits all kind of situation. Here are some of the questions the GM

Today's post is the first of my October-themed posts for this year. In this article we will delve into a barrow or kurgan, in other words a burial place or tomb, to see what one might find there. Before jumping straight to the list of things, let's first take some time to analyze the structure of the barrow, as well as the types of creatures one might find inside. Barrows, (also called tumuli, burial mounds, and kurgans), are mounds of earth and stone raised over one or more

Today's post is a transition from the orc series into some more Halloween-themed posts. Given the orc clans and other terrible monsters that live there, why does anyone ever venture into the Daerkwood? This same question can be applied to any dark and spooky place. There are numerous secrets hidden within the Daerkwood to attract adventurers, but the most-common reason people go there is for the components used in powerful magics. The Daerkwood is an ancient forest steeped in

This is the 14th post in the orc series and probably the last for a while. I promise you that we have not seen the last of the orcs, however the release of Orcs of the Moon Skull Clan is being delayed for a re-work involving more material and some custom art. Look for the orcs to finally come out around the holiday season. The art today comes from Publisher's Choice Quality Stock Art (c) Rick Hershey / Fat Goblin Games. Rick is one of the artists that I hope to get some piece

This is the 13th article in the orc series. Today's topic is an odd one; we are going to examine law among the orcs. Many may argue that orcs are chaotic evil in alignment and therefore do NOT have laws. I hold the opinion that chaotic evil societies may not have laws (other than the strong dominate the weak), but they do have codes of conduct. In my campaign, these codes of conduct are simple, no more than a few rules that all orcs in a clan are supposed to follow and what w

This is the 12th article in our orc series. Today, we will examine and detail the different types of orc groups that you might encounter in the Daerkwood. As I have said on other occasions, these groups might not fit into your world. If they don't, I hope that you can find some use for this information. If nothing else, it might serve as a model for the different types of encounters you can have with a single monster type. Players can be a troublesome lot. Sometimes it seems

This is the 11th post in the orc series. I fear that little time remains before the orcs are upon us. I hear their drums in the distance and I know they are coming for blood. Who will be brave enough and hearty enough to withstand the charge of the Moon Skull clan when they descend among us? This remains to be seen, but in the short time that we have left I wanted to share some information about a few well-known orc heroes. The information provided below will give you the bas

"Orc Shaman" by Mark Molchan. Check out more of Mark's amazing work here. Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I have managed to escape from the orc town of Kharzaag. The bad news is that I'm pretty sure that the orcs are following me and will be here in a week or less. Also, I'm pretty sure that they are furious at me for stealing the secrets of their culture and revealing them, so I think they are coming with at least a war-band and maybe even a horde.

This is the ninth post in our orc series. Today, we will discuss magic weapons created by or for orcs. Clearly, this is a topic that every DM will have their own opinion on. I've run campaigns in which the idea of orcs having magic items at all would be patently ridiculous and I have also run campaigns in which the orcs were the most technically and magically superior race among humans and demihumans. If orcs having magic upsets your worldview, then perhaps you can find some

This is the eighth post in our orc series. In this post we will talking about treasure of an interesting sort, stuff that your PC's might actually WANT to loot from a dead orc. Orcs have a reputation of being dirty and nasty, so their fashion does NOT really appeal to everyone. Also, besides coins, gems, and the odd magic item, orc bands usually don't often have cool treasures unless they stole them from someone else. At least this is the most commonly held perception. If you

Here is the seventh post in our orc series. For those of you who didn't get enough Orcish adventure seeds last time, here are some more. Just like before, some of these seeds might not be what you'd expect from orcs, so be aware. Most of them, however, follow the more traditional view of orcs, that of vile and bloodthirsty raiders and killers. Whatever your style of play, hopefully today's list will have something you can use. Here is Another 10 Kinds of Trouble with Orcs. H

This is the sixth post in our orc series. Today we will learn a little orcish. Perhaps you are familiar with the foreign travel advice that says a person travelling in a country in which the people speak a language different from their own should learn a few important phrases so that they can get by in case no speaks their language. This post has the same basic idea, but the phrases aren't things like "where is a bathroom?" and "how do I get to the museum?". Rather, they are

This is the fifth post in our orc series. Today I am going to share with you some fun stuff that I have found on the web that can help DM's who are using orcs in their adventures. There is a wide variety of stuff in the links below and it is my hope that there's something for everyone. Without further ado, here are the 5 Fantastic Resources for Orcs in D&D. Happy Gaming! #1 If you are looking for a map of a simple orc raider camp, then click here. There are more maps below th

Here is the fourth post in the orc series. Today's list was originally created as the notes that an NPC Outpost Commander had made concerning orc tactics and the allies that all orc clans use over the span of 15 years serving on the frontier near the Orcwood. The information was revealed over time to the PC's as warnings and advice from the old veteran, who was a ranger named Sir Gregor the Steady. You are free to make what use you can of these items. Perhaps they will give y