Stars of the Sea : Complete Campaign Guide

The Stars of the Sea is a complete 5e story campaign, published one Quest Pack at a time in monthly updates, funded by our patrons past and present. A full index of all Quest Packs related to The Stars of the Sea campaign can be found at the bottom of this post.

The purpose of this guide is to help game masters who want to run The Stars of the Sea get a good overview of the story, divided into five chapters. This post also functions as an index of all the Quest Packs related to the campaign, and when they come into play.

~ Story Outline ~

At its heart, the story of The Stars of the Sea is about a new invention called "Spell Cells" that make magic more accessible, and how these Spell Cells end up having a negative impact on Silver Spires and the neighbouring Seasong Islands. The players take on the roles of established adventurers, hired by The Council of Spiria who wants them to investigate these problems around Elvin Bay, and to find solutions to them.

During the campaign, the player characters will travel all around Elvin Bay and the Seasong Islands to meet the people affected by the Stars of the Sea. As they investigate various incidents and calamities, they learn that the remnants of discarded Spell Cells have created an abomination deep beneath the ocean. As the threat grows, the players must work together with the characters they've met along their adventure to devise a way to stop the threat once and for all!

~ Setting up your game ~

Before you begin, provide the players with some basic information about the campaign; They are playing an established group adventurers of some notoriety, who are invited to Silver Spires to investigate a series of unusual monster sightings.

Milestone Leveling. We advise the players begin the adventure at 5th-level, and advance to 6th and 7th levels at set points in the campaign, indicated in the guide below. 

Character Options. There are various unique character options that you can make available to your players, to better immerse their characters into the world of the campaign. They are the following:

• Warlock Subclass: Faerie Patron. A Warlock subclass unique to the Culture of Silver Spires; gain powerful emotional spells through your connection with a Faerie companion.
• Ancestries & Cultures of Hemelin. This PDF contains many choices from the world of Stars of the Sea. Instead of a traditional "Race", players can choose an Ancestry that represents their inborn traits, and a Culture that represents the traits they developed through their community. Through these character options, players can learn a lot about the world they are about to enter!

~

▪ Chapter 1: Initiation

The adventurers are tested by the members of the Council of Spiria, explore the city of Silver Spires, learn about the Seasong Islands, and encounter a star monster for the first time.

Relevant Quest Packs: 01, 02, 03, 04 , 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10 

Start the campaign with the players travelling to Silver Spires, where they will meet their new employers: The members of the Council of Spiria. A guided tour of the city of Silver Spires has been prepared for them, but the player characters should be encouraged to explore as they wish, learning about Spirian culture as they do. This chapter should accomplish four main objectives:

• For the players to explore each of the main areas of the map and meet key characters from the Council of Spiria at each location
• To introduce the concepts of Spell Cells and house faeries, as well as the island phenomenon called Stars of the Sea
• To provide an opportunity for the player characters to bond with local Spirians and Cawmacs
• To hint at small problems occurring that the players don't yet know are caused by Spell Cells being discarded into the ocean.

LEVEL UP: The player characters advance to 6th-Level after aiding islanders with a threat that arises from the ocean on the last night of their vacation.

~

▪ Chapter 2: Escalation

The adventurers are offered a job by the Council of Spiria, and discover that minor problems they have witnessed previously seem to be escalating all over Elvin Bay.

Relevant Quest Packs: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20-22 

The primary purpose of this chapter is for players to witness further consequences from the invention of Spell Cells, both from the unusual events caused by the deep-sea monstrosity, and the waning of vitality in the house faeries. Over the course of this chapter, allow a breadcrumb trail to emerge that leads players to deducing the cause of all of the trouble: Spell Cells.

The main beats of this chapter are as follows:

• Players establish a base of operations, with or without the Council's help
• Players help Spirians and Cawmacs solve issues caused directly or indirectly by Spell Cells
• Players discover the deep-sea monstrosity created by discarded Spell Cells, and realise it is too big to fight alone.

LEVEL UP: The player characters advance to 7th-level after they have discovered the deep-sea monstrosity.

~

▪ Chapter 3: Determination

The adventurers must find a way to stop the Monstrosity and the spread of its mutants. Different factions in Silver Spires, the Middens and the Seasong Islands are developing strategies and new technologies to destroy the monsters; the player characters must negotiate between them, and combine their methods into a plan of their own.

Relevant Quest Packs: 18, 19, 23, 24, 25 

The climax of the campaign will unfold differently depending on the choices the players have made leading up to this point. Which factions they have become friendly with may determine who they decide to listen to when it comes to finding a way to stop the monstrosity. Whilst each faction will have a solution they believe will work, if the players come up with a creative solution of their own, lean into this to give the players a satisfying ending.

~

Quest Packs:

Quest Pack 01: Invitation to Silver Spires
Campaign Map, Guide to getting started, Marlon Wallace Mini & Backstory, Half Elf Variant Player Option.

Quest Pack 02: The Magic of SpellCo
Spell Cells magic battery system, SpellCo Spell Cell Item Cards, SpellCo Factory Tour, Per Featherlane Character.

Quest Pack 03: Marlon's Holiday, Part 1: The Mindspire District
Mindspire District Tour, Mindspire District Events, The Hollow Guard, Mindspire District Shops, Stars of the Sea Shopmaker.

Quest Pack 04: Marlon's Holiday, Part 2: Soulspire Island
Soulspire Island Tour, Shops, Street Food & Mini-games, The Dockmaster's Opera, Buildable Street Set, Soulspire Vendors Paper Minis.

Quest Pack 05: The Faeries & Fey of Elvin Bay
A collection of fey creatures, with paper minis, game statistics & printable Traveller's Guide booklet.

Quest Pack 06: Marlon's Holiday, Part 3: The Spiritspire Gardens
Spiritspire Gardens Tour, The Ancestor Tree, Faerie Garden & M'gwyr's B&B

Quest Pack 07: The Resplendent City of Silver Spires
Silver Spires color maps, Hemelinian Calendar.

Quest Pack 08: Spirian's Retreat
Guide to the island of Spirian's Retreat, including its history, beach maps and Cawmac NPCs

Quest Pack 09: The Monstrosity
Monstrosity stats and mechanics, tentacle buildables, monster cards, night time campaign map, nighttime beach maps.

Quest Pack 10: The Council of Spiria
NPC character card set of councillors, Faction profiles for Nightlights, Inventor's Guild, Middeners, Fisher's Fleet and Faerie Circle, Intro Quests

Quest Pack 11: Adventurer's Base Builder Pack
Base building guide, noticeboard kits, base examples local to Silver Spires, base map handouts.

Quest Pack 12: The Middens
The Middens Guide, Massive Middens Buildable

Quest Pack 13: The Hole to Nowhere
Missing Middener Quest, Hole to Nowhere map

Quest Pack 14: The Lashjaw
Hunt for the Lashjaw Quest, Lashjaw Monster, Spirian Surfers

Quest Pack 15: Slugs at the Emporium
Slugs at the Emporium Quest, Market Maker Buildables, Inventor's Guild Emporium Map

Quest Pack 16: Ships
Spirian Galleon papercraft, 4 ship types, ship-maker form

Quest Pack 17: The Stars take Over!
Star Mutant Maker, Humanoid Star Monsters, "Crabby Cliffs" Quest

Quest Pack 18: Spell Cell Factory
Secrets of Marlon's Factory, Spell Cell Robots, Factory Quest Hooks.

Quest Pack 19: A Night to Remember
Dockmaster's Opera Battlemap, Star-Infested Spirians, O'Leyah, "Night at the Opera" Quest.

Quest Packs 20-22: Traveller's Guide to the Seasong Islands
Environments, NPCs, creatures, monsters, plants & fungi of the Seasong Islands. Includes potion recipes.

Quest Pack 23: Monstrosity's End
How to defeat the Monstrosity, with the aid of Spirians, Middeners and Seasong Islanders. Diving Equipment.

Quest Pack 24: Invasion of the Seasong Islands
Seasong Islands quest hooks for the Stars of the Sea campaign, Star-Infested Cawmac monster.

Quest Pack 25: Final Battles
Guide to help the Game Master set up a climactic final confrontation with the Monstrosity's mutant army

Other Useful Content:

Ancestries & Cultures of Hemelin
New character options to replace "Race", that help immerse players in the game world. Includes Spirian, Middens and Seasong Cultures!

Forgotten Familiars: Goth Parrot
A unique Seasong Islands familiar

Star Mutant Minis
Additional Star Mutant designs