50 Fathoms

Thirteen years ago, on the world of Caribdus, a trio of witches convicted of practicing dark magic were sentenced to death by drowning. With their last breath, the sisters worked a dark curse upon the world. For months it rained nonstop across all of Caribdus, until the seas had risen 50 fathoms, leaving scattered islands where whole continents had once lain. The witches themselves arose as undead monsters with hordes of evil beasts and undead at their command.

Not long after the disaster, ships from Earth's age of piracy began to appear on Caribdus. Drawn from their own world by a mysterious force, the humans are now trapped among the strange races of Caribdus. For the most part, these visitors are now just another of the many races of the world. But there are those who believe that these humans were brought to Caribdus for a reason - that they are destined to defeat the Sea Hags and save the world.

50 Fathoms is one of the earliest campaign settings for Savage Worlds. The setting blends swashbuckling adventure (with all the usual tropes associated with high seas and pirate stories) with even more fantastic elements than usual (an alien world, elemental magic, etc.) Like most Savage Worlds settings, it makes use of the plot point system, allowing players to explore the world of Caribdus more or less freely, while guiding them towards their ultimate confrontation with the Sea Hags.


 * Acceptable Breaks From Reality - The native language is oddly easy to learn, taking an adult whose native tongue is literally from another planet a mere six months to become fluent. To do otherwise would greatly limit what players could play, since not only could humans not understand natives without a translator, but could even prevent those from the same country from talking to each other (the English of 1401 vs. the English of 1814).
 * Alliteration - ALL Masaquani names have this.
 * Anachronism Stew - Justified, as the human characters can come from any time in nearly two centuries of earth history.
 * Apocalypse How: Raising the sea level by fifty fathoms (300 ft), destroying the two largest states in existence and wiping out a large proportion of the world's population fits pretty squarely into class 1.
 * Black and Gray Morality - Not only can players choose to be honest sailors or pirates and still be heroes, but some of the plot points require the crew to make decisions where there is no clear cut "right answer".
 * Complete Monster - The Sea Hags just want to see the world destroyed and are clearly villains with no sympathetic traits.
 * Dying Race: The Doreen, Kraken and Scurrilans. The Kraken were pretty much wiped out by the Sea Hags. The Doreen got the short end of the stick in the aftermath. As for the Scurrilans, no more than 200 were created, and they don't get along...
 * Elemental Powers
 * Fantasy Gun Control - While native races were capable of building very advanced types of ships, none knew about firearms until humans brought the technology to the world.
 * Fish People - Also crab people, squid people, seal people, dolphin people and (villainous) octopus people.
 * Green-Skinned Space Babe - Actually Masaquani can have skin of any color... and they're not from space... It still counts though.
 * Humans Are Special / No Man of Woman Born - The reason humans are being brought to Caribdus is that no Caribdian can stop the Sea Hags.
 * Kevlard - The Grael have it as a racial trait.
 * Killed Off for Real -
 * Our Mermaids Are Different - Mermaids didn't originally exist in the setting, but upon learning of the human myths about the evil kind that lure sailors to their doom, the Sea Hags decided that seemed like great idea for a new type of monster.
 * Pirates - Quite a few: good, bad, and indifferent.
 * The Remnant - Kraken civilisation has been pounded to rubble, but Grand Admiral Caspian has never stopped trying to find a way to fight the Sea Hags.
 * Shrouded in Myth - No one knows the full story of how the Sea Hags arose; which is a major obstacle for players trying to figure out how to kill them.
 * To Be Lawful or Good - In particular, the plot point "Debauchery" forces the characters to obey the law and let a rapist go free or do the right thing by killing him and accept the consequences (a hefty price on their heads).
 * Wooden Ships and Iron Men - Definitely the aesthetic the designers were aiming for.
 * Wretched Hive - Brigandy Bay