Sailors on A Starless Sea Dungeon World Conversion Notes

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/102448/Dungeon-Crawl-Classics-67-Sailors-on-the-Starless-Sea?term=starless+

by Mark Tygart

General Principles

All coin treasure (gold pieces, silver, etc.) becomes simply coins of the same value.

All skill checks or saves in general become defy danger of the appropriate type. Curses (or banes) use Defy Danger +WIS to avoid damage or accomplish the action unless the GM rules otherwise. The magical axe’s hate curse will happen only the first time it is used by a new owner. Remove curse can remove all curses in the adventure. Damage is generally halved if not otherwise stated (and rounded down if as needed). Trap damage is half if the proper Defy Danger roll is made.

Turn based events become hard or soft moves as the GM rules.

All magical weapons unless otherwise ruled simply double the normal damage and allow the user to hit noncorporeal forms. The “band of fire” is now a simple Ring of Water Walking and will not produce challengers.

The Beast folk grunts and Champion will seek to capture the intruders for sacrifice; not slay them.

Use common sense and be a “fan of the players”.

Questions

What reward have you been promised for ending this danger to the village?

Whom do you know who has gone missing?

What evil rumors have you heard about the ruins?

What do you think lurks there?

What treasure do you most hope to find?

Items 

Ring of "Water Walking" (0 weight)
This ring is often made of coral or bluish metal decorated with motifs depicting rolling waves of water. The wearer can tread on any liquid as if it were firm ground. Mud, oil, snow, quicksand, running water, ice, and even lava can be traversed easily, since the subjects’ feet hover an inch or two above the surface; protected by a magical shield. The ring's owner can walk, run, charge, or otherwise move across the surface as if it were normal ground.

“You stand before the ruined keep, which squats atop a low, craggy hill, its walls of toppled stone and massive granite blocks hinting at forgotten battles and the clash of mighty armies. Now the ruins seem host only to creeping vines and the foul miasma that drifts down from the keep.”

---Player’s Handout, page 3

Encounters

Beast folk Acolyte	Group, Magical, Intelligent, Terrifying
Warpfire (d4 damage)	6 HP	0 armor
Close, Near
Special Qualities: Abomination

Some grunts do not suffer under the yoke of the chaos gods. Some embrace their servitude, and are rewarded for it. 

Instinct: Awaken the dark gods

• Cast a warping spell
• Empower the grunts with magic
• Obey the Shaman

Beast folk Champion	Solitary, Terrifying
Chaos claws (d8 subdual damage)	8 HP	1 armor
Close
Special Qualities: Abomination

Even among the dregs of the beast folk, some grow in strength and lead the others to victory in their bloody raids and conquests.

Instinct: Lead the armies of chaos

• Assert dominance over the pack
• Collect sacrifices
• Silently witness sacrifices with your tribe

Beast folk Grunt	Horde, Organized, Intelligent, Terrifying
Clubs (d4 subdual damage)	3 HP	0 armor
Close
Special Qualities: Abomination

Willing or otherwise, these poor men and women have been drafted into the dark army with no hope for escape but at the end of a sword.

 Instinct: To serve chaos

• Capture intruders for sacrifice
• Ambush
• Passively witness sacrifices on the Ziggurat
• Spring deadly traps

Beast folk Shaman	Solitary, Magical, Intelligent, Terrifying
Claws (d6 damage)	8 HP	0 armor
Close
Special Qualities: Abomination

The shaman is the defender of the grunt-pack, who erects the black wards and calls on the chaos star to protect those who serve it. 

Instinct: Protect the clan

• Summon the Chaos Lord
• Direct acolytes from a safe distance
• Sacrifice a victim

 

Chaos Leviathan	Solitary, Huge, Terrifying
Grasping tentacle (d10 damage)	18 HP	1 armor
Reach, Forceful, Near
Special Qualities: Alien evil, Amphibious

The Leviathan in the deeps, sworn by oath to protect the Ziggurat, this creature will drag intruders below the waves to tear them apart. 

Instinct: Protect the ziggurat

• Consume a sacrifice whole
• Regenerate
• Converse with weakling heretics and demand sacrifices in blood, incense or treasure

 

Chaos Lord Effigy	Solitary, Divine, Planar
Hellish flail (d12 damage)	12 HP	1 armor
Close

A hellish creature, this effigy of a Chaos Lord is animated by the many sacrifices that the beast folk have made. 

Instinct: Ruin the civilized world

• Spread destruction
• Summon magma-tentacles
• Absorb energy from sacrifices

 

Rot Grub	Horde, Tiny
Burrow (d6-2 damage)	3 HP	0 Armor
Hand
Special Qualities: Burrow into flesh; killed by magical healing

They live in your skin. They grow there and then, in a bloody and horrific display, burrow their way out.

Instinct: To infect

• Burrow under flesh
• Lay eggs (killed with magical healing)
• Burst forth from an infected creature

 

Tar Ooze	Solitary, Planar
Pseudopod (d10 damage)	16 HP	0 armor
Close, Ignores Armor
Special Qualities: Para-elemental Ooze, Cold does x2 damage, Immune to Fire Damage

An ooze of an intensely self-flammable type; it is seeking heat to consume and tinder to enflame. 

Instinct: Burn and consume

• Ignite in flames
• Ignore a fire attack
• Consume heat

 

Vine Horror	Group, Small, Stealthy, Amorphous
Strangling vines (d6 damage)	8 HP	1 armor
Close, Near

Corpses infected with the seeds of an animating plant. 

Instinct: Feed on passers-by

• Strangle a victim and implant a seed
• Pretend to be a corpse
• Ambush