Have ye ever heard the legend of Blackjammer's Cutlass?
The famed artifact was thought lost in the Flow, but has resurfaced- passin' twixt pirate captains' hands 'cross the astral sea.
What's more is Captain Blackjammer himself, long thought vanquished, has returned- sailing the fiendish Banshee Queen's Revenge from the Depths of the Abyss to reclaim his cutlass and terrorize the living of Realmspace once again...
*Featuring grisly zombie art inspired by Ralph Steadman's style*
This module is lovingly crafted with attention to classic Spelljammer lore! Blackjammer's Cutlass is an artifact from Dragon Magazine Issue #159 (July 1990) and the Book of Artifacts (1997). Inside the first New Spelljammer Classics adventure module, there are 79 pages of wildspace terror exploring the legend of dread pirate-lich Blackjammer and his plans for the mortal realm! Escape his plague ship! Capture his Cutlass! Explore his Lair! Battle the Revenge on the astral seas and put an end to the lich once and for all!
Adventure Tier: This adventure module is a dedicated horror for players of any level in the tradition of Curse of Strahd, but assumes that players are between 3rd and 6th level to begin the first mission. Save DCs early in the book are set for Tier I and II adventuring parties, with tougher challenges awaiting players at the lich-pirate's island lair. Many challenges in this adventure cannot be easily overcome by direct combat, and even veteran characters will struggle to defeat Blackjammer aboard his ship.
What's inside:
Stats and Lore introducing Captain Blackjammer aboard the Banshee Queen's Revenge (with its two special weapons, the Flameskull Cannon and Bile Cannon), sailing at the head of an undead fleet, including a revenant Clive the Fearsome (from Spelljammer: Pirates of Realmspace for MS-DOS, 1992). Includes stats for a classic undead Spelljamming vessel- Skeleton Ships- with rules for sentient variants including the Terror in the Void, the Xenoleviathan, a malevolent vessel shaped like a gharial skull that has been ambush hunting merchant jammers and patrol boats across Realmspace. It also quietly reintroduces the True Ghouls, with three new distinct cultures for players to encounter (the evil Purifiers, neutral Children of Atam, and good-aligned Naturalists)!
Over a series of 4 linked adventures to end Blackjammer's Curse, players will join forces with the mysterious Veronica Hardy, P.I.- a hardboiled friend of Large Luigi and co-founder of Hardy and amp; Beholder Investigations Inc.- as they aid her with five Sanity Check! inducing paranormal investigations:
1. Demons and amp; Derelicts: What Happened on the Empress of the Astral Sea? Cosmic horror awaits at a derelict with liquid pouring from its hull into space.
2. Ghosts of The Bonny Family Mausoleum - A one-session dungeon delve on the Rock of Bral's cemetary, favoring Social Interaction over Combat.
3. Pirate Hunting: Retrieving Blackjammer's Cutlass - Race to beat Blackjammer to the gnomish captain currently in possession of the Cutlass and claim the artifact for yourself!
4. Shared Nightmare: the Parlay Horror! - Utilizing Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft's Survivors rules, players will witness the horror of Blackjammer and his armada first hand. This fun Cut-Scene styled mission has a variant Arcade Mode allowing each player to take control of an entire ship and its crew and engage in mass ship combat for huge cinematic effect.
5. A Lich's Lonely Lighthouse - Race against time to find Blackjammer's Phylactery while battling Orcus-worshipping cannibals, Giant Pirate Skeletons and other rotting guardians on a strange island on the 5th planet from Realmspace's sun, the waterworld of Chandros. The island's caretakers- a nun called Sister Bella and a birch treant called Witherbark- might help or hinder player efforts.
These adventures lead into an open conflict with Blackjammer to decide the fate of the Rock of Bral. At the end of the volume are a number of classic spelljammer items like the Accelerator, Cloaking helm, Everfull Cask, Lantern of spying, Mage Shot, The Mighty Gauntlet of Colonel Tamus Ewdun, Field Commander and Sub-Admiral of the Fleet, Orbus rings and the Star Pirate’s Plank.
