Really a very good collection of work; sure to spark some ideas for any sea-based adventure or campaign! My one nitpick is that there is a heavy inclusion of gunpowder-related stuff. I'd have loved to see stat blocks and rules that were appropriate for pirates without access to gunpowder.

What an amazing document, I was just in the middle of a pirate campaighn when I found this. It's perfect.

As other reviewers have noted already, this is indeed an excellently detailed book, with uses for ANY watery adventures, including those set on, below, and far below the waves, while the superb set of encounter tables also encompasses a host of larger on-shore coastal settlement types. Plus the encounters usually go well beyond the basic "monster X appears", providing fresh story hooks at every turn. With a large number of new monsters statted-up for 5e, and a ship's company of variant NPC types, this sets the bar for any future water-bound D&D adventure products.

The "Dark Caribbean" setting won't be to everyone's taste - too much gunpowder and cannon for my liking, certainly - although it's been only lightly applied here, so is easily ignored if preferred. An Ancient Mariner NPC, and maybe an omen-haunted albatross from Coleridge's "Rime", would have been pleasing additions, plus as ever, there are other creatures which might have featured but which currently don't - such as dolphins and manatees. Nothing an inventive DM couldn't cope with easily however, and it's difficult really to even identify such minor points as "faults" in such a wonderful tome. Easily 5 stars out of 5 - and happily more if I could give 'em!

Highly recommended, an absolute must have for anyone running a game or even a few adventures set at sea-- especially if those adventures involve pirates. At first, I was thrown off by the reference to the "Dark Carribbean" setting, since that wouldn't normally fit on DM's Guild, but it soon became clear that this more of a sensibility that you apply to oceanic adventures in any setting than a specific place or time-- this book would be great in an FR campaign set in the ocean between Maztica and the Sword Coast, a Ravenloft game among the pirates of the Nocturnal Sea, a Bloodsea Dragonlance game, etc. The charts and tables with random events and encounters and the like are enough that you can pretty much improv a whole session with no planning, and that's before you even get to the monsters. These are balanced, flavorful critters that stick to the example of existing 5E monsters, not risking making things overpowered or unnecessarily complicated. As a game writer who tends to like fiddly mechanics and intricate rules in his own design and games, this is a good reminder that the principle of keeping it simple is a huge part of what makes 5E great, and the flood of evocative content here shows that you can still make idiosyncratic, fun game content while observing that principle scrupulously. This is a great product, and an unbelievable bargain-- frankly, this should 100% NOT be Pay What You Want, but the author's loss is our gain!

Absolutely love the attention to detail and all the charts, rolls, lookups, etc. This might not be the place for a new campaign setting (that would be just on Drive-thru RPG's core site) but the creatures can be used in any setting. Great work!