A Bad Traveling: A Nautical Horror One-shot

Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild

A Desperate Bid for Survival

A Bad Traveling is a nautical horror one-shot that plunges players into the suffocating darkness of the abyss. At its core is the Anchorfriend, a monstrous fiend from the blackest depths, whose hunger and presence twist the voyage into a waking nightmare. This is not an adventure about triumph or treasure. It is about survival, and how far the human (and inhuman) spirit can be pushed before it shatters.

Here, survival comes at a cost. Every choice balances mortality against morality, and every compromise eats away at sanity. Will the crew sacrifice strangers to spare themselves? Will they cut loose their own to appease the beast? Or will they burn with the ship in a final act of defiance?

The supplement provides the DM with 11 fully detailed NPCs, each with their own flaws and motivations, ready to be woven into the crew’s story. Alongside them are 4 horrific diseases, a madness mechanic to chart the slow decline of reason, and rules for injury, infection, and dwindling supplies. The Anchorfriend is no ordinary monster—it is an inevitable tide of death. The players are not heroes, but sailors with little more than rope and steel between them and the abyss. There is no glory here, only choices, and the consequences they drag behind.

You Are Not the Hero

Play not as a noble paladin or a cunning rogue, but as a simple sailor on a whaling ship. You are no adventurer, no chosen one. Just another body on the crew, pressed into survival by chance. There is no magic to save you, no weapon sharp enough to carve a path to glory. You are not the hero of this story. You are a nobody, clinging to life as the sea and the monster beneath it conspire to take everything from you.

 Mature Content Warning

This supplement contains graphic violence, psychological horror, themes of madness, infection, and body horror, and scenarios involving sacrifice, starvation, and moral collapse. It is intended for mature audiences and groups comfortable with dark subject matter. DMs are encouraged to discuss boundaries and safety tools with their players before running A Bad Traveling.

: $6.00