Sunken Stars

Maritime exploration in a broken world of fallen constellations, hungry seas, and crews bowing to otherworldly patrons in the pursuit of great power.

Downloads

I’m working toward a full set of books and a print run, but you can explore the dark sea right now. These PDFs are free to download and use at your table:

  • [The Player’s Guide]   Everything you need to understand the world & the rules.
  • [Character Sheet]   Print, fill, and start building your desperate sailor.
  • [Ship Sheet]   The ship is home, weapon, and liability. It deserves its own page.
  • [The Chart]   A map of the Sea of Sunken Stars: ports, hazards, and whispers on the current.

Weird voyages

Sunken Stars is a roleplaying game about exploration, trepidation, cosmic dread, and the hard choices made by a desperate crew in a world broken by the heavens.

You are the crew of a small ship, picking your way across a sprawling sea littered with the bones of fallen constellations. Distant and dangerous Patrons, exiled fragments of the stars, trade favors for pieces of your life.

You play sailors, witches, deserters, and conscripts—anyone desperate enough to sign on. You owe money, blood, or promises. The ship is your home and your trap.

Every journey is a continuous string of painful decisions:

  • Which rumor to chase across the empty sea.
  • Which Patron to humor when the storm hits.
  • Which island to risk for water, work, or answers.
  • Which wound you pretend doesn’t hurt when you pay the crew’s wages.

What is Sunken Stars?

Genre
Maritime exploration with elements of cosmic horror and folk magic.
Tone
Bleak but intensely human. People trying to live between storms and cosmic debts, driven by the promise of something better.
Rules
A bespoke system that runs on 3d6, with DNA from several generations of D&D and OSR design.
Focus
Exploration, a huge weird ocean, politically rich factions, and a crew you care about.

Digital tools

[SunkenGen]

Character generator and crew manager for Sunken Stars. Get a full sheet in one click.

[SunkenEvents]

Voyage and encounter generator: storms, ports, trouble, and strange signals on the horizon.

Keep following the wake

  • Read development posts and play reports under the Sunken Stars category .
  • Open the tools from the menu or links above when you’re ready to throw a crew into the sea.