I ran this adventure as a one-shot while my group was missing a person, and we absolutely loved it! The atmosphere was amazingly built up and every bit was very well designed. The only disappointment is that there isn't a sequel!

Back to the Sea by Ginger (@inkyginge)

Anniversary Updates include: • Gorgeous cover art from the phenomenal Cita A F (@dancingberry) • Added introduction with Adventure Background, Adventure Hooks, Dramatis Personae, more information on using adventure, Content Warning, and Safety Tools • Updated descriptions • A formatting face-lift that is more aesthetic and accessible • Combat Level adjustments enabling this to be a level 1-4 adventure! Back to the Sea is a creepy cool mystery that begins with an inquisitive scholar with gold, perturbing rumours and a burning passion for discovering the mysteries of the area, and hopefully ends with the freeing of a tormented soul, betrayed and abandoned by their lover.

Shipwrecked and alone, save for the briny embrace of octopi and the elements, the party discover the Lonely House and must discover its secrets to unlock freedom for themselves and the poor soul trapped in the cavern below in a twisted state of undeath.

Putting the pieces in place unlocks memories and visions, which lead them deeper into bowels of the house and reveals the perfidious paramour, the oubliette in which he abandoned her and a ritual to save her soul.

Back to the sea is a beautifully written mystery and exploration that is incredibly fun to read on its own, as the secrets unfold and the tale is told. I genuinely shuddered while reading this because of the spoops!

Haunting flavour text set the scenes and bullet points lay out the elements and information. This makes preparation and referencing so much easier, as well as the nature of the information as presented allowing for DMs to interpret and play in their own way. This open layout is infinitely more accessible than dense columns of description and reams boxtext.

For those that need to hit something, there are a couple of new unnerving creatures with ghastly ghostly abilities, as well as trinkets and treasures sprinkled in as a smart way to keep the more mercenary members searching for clues.

This is an adventure as deep, cold and bleak as the sea, reflecting its enigmatic beauty. Truly different, thoughtful and awesome! The update only makes this all the more impressive!

Credits

Written by Ginger (@inkyginge) Map Illustrations by Ginger (@inkyginge) Cover art by Cita A F (@dancingberry) Artwork selected from pixabay by StarGlade and OpenClipart-Vectors Playtesters Ailsa, Alex, Cat, Eris, Rui, Xenia and Yubi Editing and Correction: Alex Calgaro and Faye Armstrong Special Mention: Ashley Warren & The RPG Writer Workshop, Dael Kingsmill and #gamowrimo

My Affiliate Link: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/297621/Back-To-The-Sea?affiliate_id=1507682

I'm running my party through this now. It's good, spooky fun. I had to make some tweaks to adjust to our setting and flesh some things out on the fly to acoomodate my players, but it's a pretty complete package otherwise.

It's not as polished as some adventures, you'll definitely want to read through it a couple of times before running it, but it is solid. I bought is as part of a bundle but I would definitely say it's worth the $6. I'd say you could squeeze it into one 4-6 hour session if you have a focused, experienced group. And if you're stuck with the same chuckleheads as the rest of us than it's at least two or three sessions of material.

Back To The Sea is a one-shot adventure for 3rd-4th level adventurers with a very atmospheric horror theme so in a lot of ways it falls right into my wheelhouse. In many ways the quickest summary I can probably give of the adventure is that it is probably the exact adventure a group that is playing Sinister Secret Of Saltmarsh for the first time thinks they're actually playing. The group is hired to investigate an area just off the coast that superstitious locals believe to be haunted. Once the group 'arrives' at the main encounter location they find themselves investigating and plagued by supernatural occurrences.

Back To The Sea is an extremely short adventure that most groups will probably be able to complete in a single session of play. Although the adventure itself is short I have to say that the author did not compromise on full rich descriptions of encounters, NPC actions, and descriptions of key features. I found the adventure to feel extremely thematic and immersive. In addition to how well written the adventure is it comes with 3 amazing looking maps as separate files that can be used as DMs reference but can also be blown up into encounter maps to be used for tabletop gaming. Even after running the adventure these maps will be super useful for dropping in as a small house or cottage in other games and settings.

This is the kind of adventure that is difficult to describe in real detail without ruining the surprises inside but if you and your group want an incredibly well written ghost story with terrific cartography I highly recommend Back To The Sea.

Are you on the fence about purchasing this product? I can tell you with confidence that it's worthy of its asking price. Need more details? Check out my video spotlight here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-UkFeSulWg

Ok, I was hesitant to get this product. After Laura A took the time to reply to me and address all of my concerns, I bit the bullet and bought the adventure. I read over it and was intrigued by the story concept. My party wasn't at the appropriate level for this and it didn't fit into my story line. However, I printed it off and stuck it in my book as an insert if the campaign would allow it to fit. We got through about half of the quest and as on of my party members stated, "This is the BEST puzzle I have ever had to solve!" At that, I felt it was only right to Laura A to comment her for an amazing job. The last part of the story will be finished up on Valentine's Day, which seems fitting.

Unfortunately, I don't have only praises for this product though. First, I was a little upset that I couldn't open the map as it is a .rar file and I am unsure what is needed to view those. Secondly, I feel that there should be a little bit of a better flow to the product. I had a few times where I was getting confused as to what the some of the triggers were. Lastly, the introduction to the area was a bit foggy and the quest giver was lacking in information as to why the party should care to be involved. I would agree that it is left vague to allow DMs to flex their creative muscles. However, the level of vagueness left me a little confused.

Ultimately, I feel that the product is good and thoroughly enthralled my players. Though, I think that $5.95 is a bit steep for a one-shot that the DM needs to fill in about 35% of the initiation and the lack of a functional map. I have seen campaign arcs on the DMs Guild for the same cost and have more plug and play capability. I would recommend, but only if you are good with less bang for your buck.

Four out of five stars. I look forward to seeing what Laura A brings to the table.

This adventure is the perfect thriller. It takes place in a setting that is intricate and haunting but not overwhelming in complexity, with spaces that are designed to fit the tone of events that unfold. From puzzles to combat, I was always surprised with how the environment (an old cottage in a lonely island) was not just part of the plot, but in many ways felt like a character itself.

The presentation is very polished, and I was super impressed with the fully colored maps. It exudes love and care - fully recommend!

This is a fantastically spooky and atmospheric adventure, full of great ideas and nice little touches.

The hooks are intriguing, the setting is evocative and the set-up and pay-off of the plot really pulls you through.

On top of that, the design is really professional: well laid out and you can tell the encounter design has been done with care.

The icing on the cake is the set of three high quality original maps which are detailed and beautifully coloured while still being perfectly clear and readable.

Well worth the money, don't miss it!

This adventure is really incredible. Beautifully laid out with stunning art and incredible unique maps, it looks amazing from the beginning. The story is deep and interesting, the perfect amount of mystery and closure for a one shot, and it comes with an amazing screen-reader accessible copy, too. Clearly a lot of hard work, time, effort, and love has gone into this amazingly fun and spooky adventure! Could not recommend more!