Close
Close
Advanced Search

Skullport: Shadow of WaterdeepClick to magnify
Quick Preview
/gs_flipbook/flip.php?xml=/demo_xml/308753.xml&w=500&h=324
Full‑size Preview
https://watermark.dmsguild.com/pdf_previews/308753-sample.pdf

Skullport: Shadow of Waterdeep

ADD TO WISHLIST >

As you walk the twisted tunnels of Shadow Pass, the light of your lantern illuminating the fog heavy in the air around you, a silhouette ahead catches your eye. A skull. It floats toward you, grinning. A voice, eerie and creaking like a rusted door hinge, issues forth from its empty, clacking mouth.

"This be safe haven to all traders and customers. Keep your weapons and your uncivil tongue sheathed, lest ye find the grinning skull of Death smiling in your face."

You ready your weapons, but it makes no further move toward you, floating away as though it has spoken its piece. As you turn a corner, the fog clears, and you enter into a massive cavern webbed with crisscrossing bridges of rope and rigging, connecting buildings made from the wreckage of old ships, stacked atop one another haphazardly. An emerald-green light hovers high above, outlining a skull which lazily drifts through, seeming to watch over the town. Welcome to Skullport.


For centuries, Waterdhavians have treated Skullport as a taboo subject. Even Volo himself was barred from writing a guide to Skullport, for fear that knowledge of this terrifying town deep beneath the City of Splendors would lead to widespread panic. But now, in this 86-page guide, experience Skullport laid bare: a place of pirates, scoundrels, slavers, and all other manner of unseemly folk. This book can serve as a companion to Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, or as a standalone setting for a campaign in the Port of Shadows. Included within are:

  • Detailed information and maps for over 50 locations in Skullport, as well as a further 50+ in adjacent areas such as the Promenade of the Dark Maiden, Xanathar Guild Lair, Sewers, and Dungeons, and numerous different pathways by which to reach Skullport.
  • Information on over a dozen different factions, from the powerful, tyrannical Xanathar Guild, to the benevolent, kind-hearted Protectors of the Song, to the murderous, sadistic Muses of Misery.
  • Simple, accessible descriptions of the history and idiosyncracies of Skullport.
  • An adventure set in Skullport, The Mage of Rags, which gives characters an opportunity to dethrone the Xanathar Guild by making a bargain with one of Skullport's most notorious and dangerous mythical boogeymen--the Rag Mage.
  • Five new subclasses: the College of Hymns for Bards, the Abomination Domain and Song Domain for Clerics, the Oath of Liberty for Paladins, and the Mantrapper Conclave for Rangers.
  • A new Skulker background, for players who wish to play a character whose origins are in the Port of Shadows.
  • Seven new weapons, including the Barbed Net, Lasso, Catch Pole, and Bolas, for those who would prefer to take their quarry prisoner, and the Smokepowder Pistol for those who don't mind either way.
  • Seven unique new spells to enable your players to learn the weird magic of Undermountain—or have it used against them.
  • Random events and encounters to add flavour and savour, or serve as plot hooks, within Skullport.
  • Two new conditions to add extra horror to your games: Haunted, for when a character has contact with something supernaturally terrifying that scars them more than mere fright, and Addicted, for those characters who enjoy partaking in life vice's to excess. Complete with several example addictive substances, and haunting locales.

This book is also available on Fantasy Grounds

CONTENT WARNING: addiction, alcohol, animal cruelty, disease, drugs, mental compulsion, mental illness, parasites, self-harm, sex work, slavery, suicide, torture.

THIS SUPPLEMENT CONTAINS ADULT CONTENT, AND ELEMENTS INAPPROPRIATE FOR PLAYERS UNDER THE AGE OF 18.

Cover art by Patrick E. Puller. Find more of his work here.

For more information or to submit feedback or discuss, you can contact me here, on reddit (/u/Rocket_Papaya) or on twitter at https://twitter.com/TheIceQueer.

pixel_trans.gif
 
 More from this Title's Contributors
pixel_trans.gif
 
 Customers Who Bought this Title also Purchased
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
Reviews (12)
Discussions (19)
Customer avatar
Andre J December 16, 2023 7:50 pm UTC
sorry delete my comment, It is another skullport product
Customer avatar
Andre J December 16, 2023 7:35 pm UTC
after the last updates there are many text bugs indide like- need an update urgently:

Youre going to tell us about that stone your daddy found.

Customer avatar
John R September 17, 2023 12:20 am UTC
PURCHASER
Are the maps compatible with Dungeon of the Mad Mage?

In case it matters, I'll photoshop out what players aren't meant to see if they are but there's not a player-friendly version.
Customer avatar
Jesse M November 05, 2022 4:33 am UTC
PURCHASER
Hello! I noticed the smoke pistol in the Weapon's section is 2d10 and 750gp. Curious if that was intentional, or before the pistol was released, or a misprint. Honestly, I like the idea of 750gp as I am introducing gunpowder v. slowly into my game. (I'm using this content in its entirety for my game) though Jarlaxel. After they finally organized the denizens of the dungeon and defeated both Xanathar and thwarted Vlonwelv's attempt to take over Skullport, Jarlaxel gifted them each a pistol. I'm tempted to leave it 2d10 but I realize the pistol in the main book is 1d10. I also know they are v. clever and haha scared to break the "balance" by making a ranged weapon that's more efficient than any others? Esp. with a crossbow expert in the party? Maybe 2d10 is okay if you have to load it and only get one shot? idk.
Reply
Customer avatar
Cassandra M November 07, 2022 5:04 pm UTC
CREATOR
So, the pistol was a bit of a mixup on my part; it was meant to have the reload property of the DMG firearms, wherein it requires an action to reload, making it a somewhat "one-and-done" weapon in a fight. When I had players use an action to load it, and required them to acquire special training to use it, the 2d10 tested just fine. If you just use the crossbow loading property, however, it is definitely too strong. That's my mistake.
Customer avatar
RJ R September 15, 2022 5:10 pm UTC
I would buy this as a POD so fast.
Reply
Customer avatar
Cassandra M September 16, 2022 1:16 am UTC
CREATOR
That's incredibly kind to hear, but unfortunately its layout is very unfriendly for that kind of thing. Downside of doing all the layout myself, instead of getting an artist! I encourage folks to print and bind it if they'd like, but regrettably it's not something I can request due to the rules of PoD. Sorry!
Customer avatar
christopher A August 06, 2021 12:09 pm UTC
PURCHASER
The full size preview link is broken.
Reply
Customer avatar
Cassandra M August 18, 2021 7:22 pm UTC
CREATOR
Contacted OBS, not much I can do about it unfortunately :/
Customer avatar
Greg K April 30, 2021 6:21 pm UTC
PURCHASER
any chance for a Fantasy Grounds version ?
Customer avatar
Quentin M April 28, 2021 1:23 am UTC
PURCHASER
I highly recommend The Dark Maiden Beckons, which can be found here on DM's Guild, for info regarding Eilistraee's followers and the Promenade. The author also compiled all of the info on the subject on the Forgotten Realms wiki from canon lore, including info that's direct from Ed Greenwood (creator of the Realms) himself.

Also, you seem to have double bookmarks.
Reply
Customer avatar
Cassandra M April 28, 2021 5:24 pm UTC
CREATOR
Oh this is a very cool resource. Will be looking through it! Put out a hotfix for the bookmarks problem, whoops!
Customer avatar
James A April 01, 2021 2:33 am UTC
Was this written with pre or post spellplague perspective?
Customer avatar
Aaron M March 12, 2021 2:00 am UTC
Any movement on this potential project? I have emailed you since. Cheers.
Customer avatar
Aaron M March 01, 2021 2:22 pm UTC
Has anyone else wanted to convert this title?
Reply
Customer avatar
Cassandra M March 04, 2021 2:12 am UTC
CREATOR
I'd be interested, yes! If you could send me an email at cassandra.j.mac@gmail.com, or a message at my Twitter (@TheIceQueer) we could discuss further details.
Customer avatar
Aaron M March 01, 2021 2:21 pm UTC
@cassandra, if you would like this converted to Fantasy Grounds format, please let me know.
Customer avatar
stephen T July 02, 2020 9:19 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I really like this and want to use it instead of the skullport levels that comes with Dungeon of the Mad Mage, but having trouble finding maps that match up. Any news on making a vtt version (roll20 especially) or is my best bet to just copy the maps from the pdf and turn them into images for the game.
Reply
Customer avatar
Cassandra M July 10, 2020 8:38 pm UTC
CREATOR
Apologies, I know this has fallen by the wayside somewhat. The .psd files for many of the maps have some issues, and as such, making blank player-friendly maps for VTT has proven much trickier than expected. Nonetheless, I'm going to see if I can't find a solution in the near future!
Reply
Customer avatar
Anna K July 21, 2020 4:00 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I don't think my players would really mind having a blank map vs one with location markers on it. Would it be possible to have the non-player friendly maps released? I really love what you've done here, way better than the watered down Skullport in Dungeon of the Mad Mage.
Reply
Customer avatar
Cassandra M July 21, 2020 7:31 pm UTC
CREATOR
I've added a zip file to the download that includes maps in .png format, both with and without labels. Sorry for the delay!
Reply
Customer avatar
Daniel V January 24, 2021 9:07 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I made a player-friendly VTT map for the South area of the Promenade of the Dark Maiden in Dungeondraft several months ago. In the end, my players weren't able to bypass the entrance, so I ended up never using it. I also didn't make maps for the rest of the Promenade. Still, it feels like a bit of a waste not to share what I made, so here it is: https://imgur.com/a/ZohZHXn I hope it'll be useful for someone else.
Reply
Customer avatar
Cassandra M January 25, 2021 7:57 pm UTC
CREATOR
Ohhhh, this is gorgeous! Thank you! I'm certain others will. And hey, sometimes the Protectors of the Song reach out to characters more directly—so who's to say you'll never get use out of it. Good luck with the rest of DotMM!
Reply
Customer avatar
Aaron M March 01, 2021 2:21 pm UTC
I second this question.
Customer avatar
Corey B May 22, 2020 1:53 am UTC
PURCHASER
It's mentioned this can go with Dungeon of the Mad Mage. What player level range is recommended?
Reply
Customer avatar
Cassandra M May 22, 2020 6:06 pm UTC
CREATOR
I would say around 8th-level is the sweet spot, as that's the level players are expected to reach Skullport in DotMM.
Customer avatar
Scott T May 06, 2020 1:25 am UTC
Hullo! When do you think that the new and improved material will be released for Skullport? I have been excited about this sinister area since AD&D.
Reply
Customer avatar
Cassandra M May 06, 2020 1:37 am UTC
CREATOR
Well, I'm just waiting on a cartographer now for some high-quality maps, and I'm planning on commissioning proper cover art as well. The major thing that will be changing is the Promenade of the Dark Maiden, in the interest of being more canon-compliant with it. I also recently launched an update that fixed some errors, rebalanced some of the class features, and added a bit more content and clarification to a few more area.

If I had to guess, most likely end of the month for the new maps and updated Promenade!
Customer avatar
Robert Y April 15, 2020 8:42 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Howdy! Really enjoying it so far! I think I found one error on the first map. I believe SI-1 and SI-3 should be swapped based on their description. I see on the map that SI-3 seems to be a bridge and SI-1 seems to be a pool or lagoon. Just thought I'd ask if this is the case.
Reply
Customer avatar
Cassandra M April 16, 2020 9:03 pm UTC
CREATOR
Whoops! Must have happened when I redid the labels. Thanks for the catch. A revision is coming soon, potentially with improved maps more generally, so I'll be sure to fix it in time for that!
See 16 more
Narrow Results
$ to $
 Follow Your Favorites!
NotificationsSign in to get custom notifications of new products!















Product Information
Platinum seller
Community Content
Rules Edition(s)
Pages
86
Format
Original electronic Click for more information
Scanned image
These products were created by scanning an original printed edition. Most older books are in scanned image format because original digital layout files never existed or were no longer available from the publisher.

For PDF download editions, each page has been run through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to attempt to decipher the printed text. The result of this OCR process is placed invisibly behind the picture of each scanned page, to allow for text searching. However, any text in a given book set on a graphical background or in handwritten fonts would most likely not be picked up by the OCR software, and is therefore not searchable. Also, a few larger books may be resampled to fit into the system, and may not have this searchable text background.

For printed books, we have performed high-resolution scans of an original hardcopy of the book. We essentially digitally re-master the book. Unfortunately, the resulting quality of these books is not as high. It's the problem of making a copy of a copy. The text is fine for reading, but illustration work starts to run dark, pixellating and/or losing shades of grey. Moiré patterns may develop in photos. We mark clearly which print titles come from scanned image books so that you can make an informed purchase decision about the quality of what you will receive.
pixel_trans.gif
Original electronic format
These ebooks were created from the original electronic layout files, and therefore are fully text searchable. Also, their file size tends to be smaller than scanned image books. Most newer books are in the original electronic format. Both download and print editions of such books should be high quality.
File Last Updated:
April 28, 2021
This title was added to our catalog on April 03, 2020.