36 Unique Ships For Your Swashbuckling Campaign (d36)

Table of Ships

This table, I'm sure, is rife with historical inaccuracy. Some of the entries even make explicit reference to magic or fantasy trappings. As such, I would recommend it be used with a high fantasy or swashbuckling game loosely based in the 17th or 18th century.
Now, without further ado...

Your party angered the town guard one too many times. As they flee for their lives, they turn a corner and realise they've stumbled into a private dock. But what fantastic galleon do they find moored there?
Roll on this table to find out!

d36 Result

1

The Herald of Livelli
This modest brig has seen better days. However~ between the mark of the god Livelli hastily sewn into her mizzen, and the huge verdigris-stained ram she sports~ she still cuts a striking profile. Her latest captain, who no doubt rescued her from being scrapped, is a privateer renowned for getting the job done at grave cost.

2

The Valravn's Call
This absolutely grand ship of the line sports ninety guns, and its warhorns strike dread into the hearts of any who fear death. Aside from its crimson lacquered decks and gold trim on the sails, this ship is pitch black. At its head is the figure of a vast raven, wings outstretched.

3

The Maelstrom's Prize
This strange grey ghost baffles explanation. While some know it for its tattered sails and foul stench, the Prize's enemies see a ship of impossible speed, belching a fire that ignites everything it touches, even the ocean. Legends hold that its first crew- an army of horrors from beneath the waves- carved it out of a still-living kraken.

4

The Tempest's Heart
On a calm day, the blue sails of this imposing frigate perfectly mirror the ocean. Its lacquered midnight hull is covered in carvings of ocean creatures, both fair and foul. Such beauty belies immense weapons however, the firing of which is akin to a flash of lightning and thunder. Those that venture into this ship's hold will find the walls adorned with strange implements and reeking of foul magic.

5

_The Fires of Hell
_Normally, this creaky black-hulled frigate isn't much to look at. She was originally built to go down in flames, taking with her as many enemy ships as possible. After she miraculously survived her maiden voyage, her captain equipped her with ballistae and turned to a life of piracy. Now, sailors dread the night they should have to face this ghastly ship, her sails set ablaze.

6

The Hearnland Beauty
This ridiculously decadent brig is constructed entirely from ebony and ivory, with a cavernous interior to rival any bejeweled palace. Such a ship has no space for broadside weapons, carrying only a gilded set of chasers, each bearing the likeness of a different monster. While woefully inadequate defensively, these guns have proven their worth as curiosities.

7

The Cock and Boar
If it weren't for its garish colours and charming crew, this cargo hauler would be rather unremarkable. This image is intentional, of course, as its breakaway panels and labyrinthine hold make this ship a smuggler's dream. The figurehead, a pig with a woman's body, is a passing curiosity.

8

The Blue Maiden
The swift Maiden adorns herself in blue and white, and those who venture too close will find their bow licked by flames to match. Between her huge triskelion ensign and veiled figurehead, it is plain to the learned that her pirate crew hail from a distant theocracy, whose scorned gods demand retribution.

9

_The Scarlet Rout
_
Woe to the sailor who catches wind of rotting meat. This hideous corsair has a corpse hanging from every deck and every mast, its guns and trebuchet belching entrails. Even its triangular sails are stained with blood. Indeed, the only sign of life on this ship's deck is the figurehead, a prisoner lashed to the bowsprit and left to the mercy of the ocean.

10

Barbegazi
This huge twin-hulled longship has a long and storied past. Its oared hulls are lined with the shields of nobles it has served, and atop its poop deck sits the massive brass head of a crazed dwarf. Despite its age, this ship's shallow draught and rows of ballistae still make it formidable in river combat.

11

The Burning Light
This hulking Man-o'-War was first constructed as a symbol of divine wrath, and has fought in countless wars through the ages. With eighty cannons, mortars, and a monstrous ram, its very sight has been known to cause surrender or rout. Encasing this horror, its rugged hull is adorned with countless ogives and gargoyles, wrought from a brass the colour of the reef.

12

Lord Brumbo's Feet
Named in the honour of a legendary halfling and sporting well over a hundred guns, this white beauty is one of the most immense warships ever conceived of. Its gleaming body is striped with violet lacquer and golden filigree. Inside its hull lie cabins fit for a visiting king, while at its bow is a great gilded halfling with monstrously large feet.

13

The Consort Plague
Legend has it that, centuries ago, this festering sloop brought a great plague into the known world. Now used as the debaucherous home of a retired gentlewoman, her brown sails and serpentine figurehead still strike fear into the hearts of the superstitious. As if banking on this, the boat almost never fires an actual cannonball; she instead opts for the smoke and bluster of pure gunpowder.

14

The Mule
This ancient carrack was discovered and rebuilt by an ambitious half-elf. It carries a motley array of salvaged cannons and ballistae, and its battered iron prow almost resembles a mule's head. Between its oars and black-and-white sails, this hardy little ship is suitable for running cargo anywhere from violent oceans to meandering rivers.

15

The Prayer
In centuries past, this frigate was gutted and rebuilt around a pair of the most Herculean cannons ever known. What she was meant to destroy is lost to the pages of history, save that it was some unimaginable evil. Now, clad in brass to match her guns, she is preserved as a monument to despair, never to be used in any but the most dire circumstances.

16

The Gilt Morrow
This corsair's bright wooden hull is home to a dashing band of scallywags and rebels. The sleek ship was built for chasing and boarding, and favours chain shot and harpoons over powerful broadsides. On its ensign is a golden sun and the words 'No mercy for the wycked'.

17

The Leprechaun
The Leprechaun was originally constructed from a wreck discovered with hundreds of strange runes burned into its hull. Swift, erratic and deadly, there are many who underestimate her bulbous keel and crimson sails. Her cannons are always on show, for there are whispers that they occasionally fire without load or warning.

18

The Old Brass Farthing
This privateer's flagship carries seventy broadsides and a frightful excess of gold filigree, both inside and out. With a great gold elk at its head, and a green-and-black decked hull, this ship was funded through a life of gambling. To signal other corsairs in battle, the different-coloured ensigns adorning its stern can be swiftly raised or lowered.

19

The Leviathan
According to sightings, this lean vessel is clad in the bones of some vast monster of the deep. An oppressive heat billows from its decks, and its chasers spew a hideous bile that burns all it touches. While rumours abound regarding this scarlet monstrosity's true purpose, legends call it a haven for necromancers and unspeakable demons.

20

The Loyal Benjamin
Named for a pony that died protecting its first captain, this redwood relic still serves her descendants well. A mess of anachronistic patches and fittings, many look on this carrack and wonder if anything remains of the original ship at all. Others pray its golden sails will be catching wind and spreading hope to the end of time.

21

The Bloody Bride
This decrepit white galleon was no doubt very beautiful, once. At its bow is a silver dove, and its rigging and balustrades look to have been spun by some great silver spider. With a stern dominated by a decadent stained glass mural, whispers say the cursed ship was originally meant to be a lavish wedding gift. The blades in its grey sails and glass shards hurled by its ballistae were no doubt later additions.

22

The Dark Siren
Inside this decadent junk, just about every surface is carved, lacquered, and laid with amethysts. Above deck, her violet sails are trimmed with gold, while at her bow sits a beautiful wooden mermaid with a gilded tail. This ship's true prize, however, is the vast music box she carries~ and the dangerously haunting melody that it plays.

23

The Black Sapphire
Clad in iron and soot, this vast monstrosity is like nothing else ever encountered on the sea. While spikes and cannons beyond count line its hull, perpetual fires burn on its deck and belch a tower of smoke a league high. Forming its ram and flaming prow is a ghastly iron dragon. While nobody can say with confidence what lies within this black ocean fortress, most agree it must be a portal to hell~ or worse.

24

The Sad Little Orphan
Among pirates, this charred husk of a frigate is known as 'the wreck that refuses to sink'. Many a would-be rescuer has seen this wreck on the horizon, oblivious to her loaded harpoons and alchemist's fire. By the time she unfurled her sails, emblazoned with death, the poor hero's fate was sealed. Her interior, with its adornments paying tribute to strange ocean gods, is only slightly less squalid than one might expect.

25

The Bloody Lamb
This white wreck was once a beautifully gilded cargo hauler. That was before its enslaved crew revolted, slashed its hull and burnt any sign of decadence to ash. Now, every noble or aristocrat lucky enough to leave this corsair alive bears the word 'parasite' as a hideous brand.

26

The Hubris
One might be forgiven for thinking this great crimson beauty couldn't possibly be a pirate ship, if the mistake weren't so fatal. Between the beautiful golden carvings, its lacquered hull is home to countless cannons and boarding ramps, all expertly hidden. As the story goes, the unwashed ruffians aboard stole this once peaceful ship off a hapless noble.

27

The Minstrel Boy
On seeing the dawn shine through this frigate's magnificent red sails, the wise know that war is on the horizon. Once its studding sails are spread to form a vast seal of the king, its great horns and drums will echo across the oceans to herald an armada. Down to the golden serpents that form its sides, this warship is dedicated to one thing~ the glory of victory.

28

The Ravenous Harpy
Sporting ruby lateens and armour of green copper, this rugged longship resembles a great bird in flight. When its beak cleaves into another ship, the crew throw down their oars and hungrily finish the job with harpoons and longswords. Those who venture below the Ravenous's deck can expect to be greeted with stagnant bilge and a warrior's stench.

29

The Graveyard Ship
Most agree this impossibly vast ship is a fanciful myth. The cursed few who know better live at the fringes of society, whispering of a towering monstrosity, its skeletal hull a hideous patchwork of the husks of its victims, its tattered sails blotting out the night sky. A faint glow, deep in the ship's bowels, is all that remains of the souls of its enslaved. Some day, the whole world will join that flickering light... Or so the whispers say.

30

Her Aetherial Grace
With its flowing silken sails and a hull of iridescent mother-of-pearl, this mythic ship pays tribute to a goddess who watches over some distant elvish civilisation. While its silver guns devastate without smoke or recoil, its gleaming white interior is said to amplify the senses. Those few who have walked its decks claim that while aboard, even a simple meal was able to bring them to tears.

31

The Vatrachan
With its dark hull and deep green sails, this man-o’-war almost resembles a tree from a distance. At its bow is a great wooden toad, and while most of the ship’s interior is fairly spartan, that can hardly be said of its vaulted dining hall filled with ancient weapons and tributes to its noble lineage.

32

The Locust
This tiny boat is one of a vast armada of identical brown schooners. Where one appears, dozens more are sure to follow, and woe to any ship that the swarm chooses as a victim. When the job is done, harpooned spoils in tow, they can disappear almost as fast as they appeared, leaving naught behind but vexed opponents and the telltale smoke of their filthy cannons.

33

Ann Sraidwhal
Rotting and ancient, legend has it that this patchwork hulk hasn't seen the shore in centuries. While the trees growing on deck provide wood, the vines that cover the hull provide fruit and can be woven into nets for fish. When they crave something more exotic, this bobbing microcosm's denizens raid cargo vessels wielding axes, tridents, and all manner of stolen weapons.

34

Dokkaebi
This brown-sailed junk may seem almost preternaturally nondescript, but scratch away the barnacles and you'll find hundreds of tiny runes scrawled across its hull. Along with its modest ballistae and ghastly demonic figurehead, they protect a precious cargo~ thousands upon thousands of books. According to tales, the captain had it secretly constructed around a great arcane library she coveted. When it was done, she simply set sail.

35

The Thousand Seas
With its iridescent brown hull, this bulbous trading carrack is clearly constructed from a material worthy of its exotic wares. Its bow bears a centipede, and the flutter of its triangular sails evokes a great insect in flight. Between voyages, its galley serves as a house of debauchery, and its normally-peaceful crew are experts with the cat-o’-nine-tails should the patronage get too rowdy.

36

The Moonlit Sickle
Wherever this arcane vessel sets sail, plumes of strange glowing insects always seem to follow. Most of the trees forming its gnarled hull are still alive, trunks rising from the deck as masts; and while it has no visible weaponry, strange things seem to happen to any corsair foolish enough to choose it as a target. Such whispers abound, yet not a single tale exists of encountering the Sickle or its shadowy crew by day.