GAMING BLOG | blackshark

Jul 1, 2016
1 min

The Pirate GM's Essential Nautical Charts and Tables is Now Available!

This GM Accessory is compatible with the 5th edition of the World's Most Popular Fantasy RPG. Are you looking for simple yet detailed rules for ships of all sorts? Congratulations! You've found them. The Pirate GM's Essential Nautical Charts and Tables Includes . . . Rules for both Simple Ships and Sailing Ships 27 Different Tables and Charts 2 Different Ship Critical Hit Tables Rules for Ship Speeds and Travelling Times Rules for Sighting and Encounter Ranges Rules for

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20 Positions on a Ship Besides the Captain

Mark S. Cookman

Jun 23, 2016
3 min

20 Positions on a Ship Besides the Captain

This is another post following our nautical theme and it includes one of my oldest tables. The table is a simple one and is honestly little more than a nautical vocabulary list, but it was the result of a hard won lesson. My hope is to help novice GM's learn this lesson in a less painful manner than I did. Let me tell you a story. It is the late '80's and I am in college. I have a job and am a full time (15 credit hours) student of organic chemistry with a B average. For some

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Mark S. Cookman

Jun 21, 2016
3 min

20 Bits of Flotsam and Jetsam

In keeping with the theme that I started last week, today's post is also nautical in nature. This time around we will be looking at objects found floating in the water. Floating debris (as it is defined in the Random Encounters at Sea table on p. 118 of the 5e DMG) actually comes in two types - flotsam and jetsam. Flotsam is the wreckage of a ship or its cargo found floating on or washed up by the sea. Jetsam is unwanted material or goods that have been thrown overboard from

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32 Marooners, Castaways or Survivors in the Water

Mark S. Cookman

Jun 16, 2016
6 min

32 Marooners, Castaways or Survivors in the Water

It's time to return to the sea. This week, the blog will feature nautical topics and today's post is all about NPC's that your players might find adrift on the waves. When sailing, one of the cries from the lookout above (as well as #19 on the Random Encounters at Sea table 5E DMG p. 118) is "Survivors in the water!" If your players are anything like mine, then when they hear this cry they become IMMEDIATELY SUSPICIOUS about what the DM is trying to DO to them, unless they KN

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Mark S. Cookman

May 4, 2016
4 min

20 Tattoos That Might Adorn Monks

Monks and martial artists are often depicted in artwork with tattoos or brands. There is no real historical precedent for any monastic institution giving or requiring tattoos from their disciples. In fact, throughout history in China, tattoos indicated a turn from normal society rather than a social rank within it. Monks who turned from their religious duties to practice martial arts exclusively sometimes became wandering mercenary warriors. These mercenaries were known to pr

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20 Books to Find in a Ship Captain's Library

Mark S. Cookman

Apr 22, 2016
2 min

20 Books to Find in a Ship Captain's Library

This week we've been looking over some sailing topics. Sailing can honestly be pretty boring if nothing's going wrong, especially if you are only a passenger. In well-protected shipping lanes, a ship might go a week, or more, between significant encounters. What was there to do on a ship before there were Carnival Cruises? - A whole lot of nothing, basically. The ship moves too fast for casual fishing, there are no large open spaces for Zumba classes, and closest thing that m

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20 Things the Lookout Spots from High Above

Mark S. Cookman

Apr 21, 2016
4 min

20 Things the Lookout Spots from High Above

We continue our week focused on sailing with a look at the lookout high in the crows nest. We're going to examine how far the lookout can actually see, what he does besides just looking ahead for the ship, and why he's often a target of the enemy. Oh, and of course there will be a list of 20 things at the end, as promised by the title. Let's get started. First of all, a lookout can only see as far as the visibility of the air will let her/him see. If there is a mist or a ligh

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Mark S. Cookman

Apr 20, 2016
6 min

20 Days of Sailing on the Ocean Blue

This week we will discuss various topics of a nautical nature. We will start off with a collection of really boring encounters at sea. Now you might be thinking, "why would I want a collection of really boring encounters?" There are numerous reasons that you might want to use these encounters; listed below are three good motives to do so. First, it is unlikely that all of the characters in your group already have sailing experience. In fact, it is more likely that you will ha

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20 Items to Find in a Dockside Pawn Shop

Mark S. Cookman

Apr 13, 2016
5 min

20 Items to Find in a Dockside Pawn Shop

This is yet another post in the dockside series. Today we will be examining pawn shops and how they might be used in your fantasy campaign. We will look briefly at the history of pawn shops around the world and demonstrate the working relationship between sailors and pawn shops, before presenting the list itself. First, let's define what a pawn shop really is. A pawn shop is a poor man's bank. A pawnbroker is a businessman who makes money by charging interest on short term lo

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20 Things to Find in the River Pirate's Hideout

Mark S. Cookman

Mar 18, 2016
4 min

20 Things to Find in the River Pirate's Hideout

Well, against all odds we've made it once again to Friday. Before finishing off this week's river theme, I'd like to take a moment to discuss today's pictures. This place is named Cave-In-Rock and it is located on the northern side of the Ohio River at Cave-In-Rock, Illonois. It has a fascinating history and if you ever get the chance to visit there, I highly recommend it. Cave-In-Rock was once the temporary home to a number of river pirates and stories say that the Harpe Bro

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Mark S. Cookman

Mar 16, 2016
3 min

Encounters While Sailing on a River

Following the theme of river pirates, today's tables are a small collection of tools for creating river encounters. No matter whether your PC's are exploring some vast river in an undiscovered country or just travelling a few days up-river to another town in their own country, this set of tools should be useful to you. The small toolset presented below has options for weather, time, terrain, animals, monsters, and people to dress out the basic events also listed below. The to

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20 Things to Find on a River Pirate's Ship

Mark S. Cookman

Mar 15, 2016
4 min

20 Things to Find on a River Pirate's Ship

Today's subject matter is river pirates. River pirates are usually much different than their seaborne bretheren. The main reason for this is the difference in terrain. Seaborne pirates primarily live on their ship, but river pirate ships are rarely big enough for the crew to live on. Usually these vessels are little more than a barge or a large, flat-bottom canoe. River pirates routinely live more like bandits, hiding away in secret camps or inside concealed caves near the ri

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Mark S. Cookman

Mar 14, 2016
6 min

10 Diabolically Cursed Magic Items

Welcome back to One-Armed Sal's Nautical Trade Emporium and Pawn Shop. Today's magical items do not identify as cursed because they do provide a positive magical effect, yet the cost to access the magic is far higher than most care to pay. Sal openly admits that these are some pretty shady pawned items that are now available for sale because their loans are in default. His prices are low, but he ain't a charity. Sal doesn't do buy-backs or returns so if you don't like what yo

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Mark S. Cookman

Feb 25, 2016
4 min

10 Minor Magic Items That Rock

Honestly, this post should be entitled "10 Minor Magic Items That Are Rocks", but I shortened it for at least 2/3 of a pun on today's content. Not all magical items are flashy and powerful, some are just simple items that help out in minor ways. Today, One-Armed Sal is having a sale on some cold, hard magic items that you or your PC's might like. Take a look and let Sal know if anything strikes your fancy. Soup Rock -- A roundish common looking stone approximately 2" in diame

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Bard College of the Shanty Master for 5e

Mark S. Cookman

Feb 19, 2016
2 min

Bard College of the Shanty Master for 5e

Today, I decided to post a link back to a piece that I did for Tribality a while back. There are two reasons for this. First, I think that you should be aware of ALL of the great gaming resources on Tribality and second, because I am working on something special. So, if you have a 5e Bard character and you are looking for a different college, then you might like the link below. However, I encourage you to check out Tribality, even if you don't give one song about sea-faring B

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One-Armed Sal's Nautical Trade Emporium and Pawn Shop

Mark S. Cookman

Feb 16, 2016
3 min

One-Armed Sal's Nautical Trade Emporium and Pawn Shop

Do your PC's need a (reasonably) trustworthy place to buy spell components, potions, and minor magic items? Do they need a fence to sell arcane items to? Perhaps they just need a person to cast spells (like identify) for them. Maybe they need a contact into the seedy underworld of the docks or maybe they need a low-level quest giver or a place to learn of rumors or arcane lore. Perhaps they could use a 30 day loan on some magic item that they possess. You could also use Sal a

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20 Critical Hits or Fumbles for Characters Fighting in a Ship to Ship Battle

Mark S. Cookman

Feb 5, 2016
6 min

20 Critical Hits or Fumbles for Characters Fighting in a Ship to Ship Battle

Creating realistic shipboard combat can be a challenge for any GM. Every D&D combat has its own unique features, whether it be terrain, monsters, or magical elements, but getting players to feel like they are fighting and moving on a ship when they are rolling dice and crunching chips around the table in your gaming room is a real challenge. I use a combination of elements to some effect, but be warned. There's no magic charm here; these are all cheap tricks. You must have yo

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A Collection of Pirate Treasures for All

Mark S. Cookman

Feb 2, 2016
4 min

A Collection of Pirate Treasures for All

I was recently asked about the books that I had read as inspiration and for information about the nautical and pirate stuff that I write. Here are some of the books and webpages that have led me to the twisted paths that I write upon. This is by no means a complete list and it doesn't even touch upon the wealth of material available in film. That's an entirely different post for a different day. There's a little in the way of fiction in the list below, most of what is below f

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Alternate Sailor Backgrounds for D&D 5e: The Explorer / Deep Water Sailor

Mark S. Cookman

Jan 29, 2016
5 min

Alternate Sailor Backgrounds for D&D 5e: The Explorer / Deep Water Sailor

For my own D&D 5e campaign, which is based mostly upon the high seas of various worlds, one background for a generic sailor just didn't work. On the coast, everyone sails. Because there are many different types of sailors and nautical personalities, I felt that there needed to be more variety than just one generic sailor so I created five additional nautical backgrounds to supplement the original sailor/pirate. They are merchant sailor/smuggler, marine, deep water sailor/expl

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Alternate Sailor Backgrounds for D&D 5e: The Jack Tar

Mark S. Cookman

Jan 28, 2016
7 min

Alternate Sailor Backgrounds for D&D 5e: The Jack Tar

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