Michael Prescott

The Terrible Salt (WIP)

Added 2023-03-17 23:12:29 +0000 UTC

I'm pecking away at an adventure, this one inspired by the incredibly deep beach at Holkham Bay. There, the tide flows in more than a kilometer over a wide, sandy expanse. As a result it comes in very rapidly, forming little ad hoc streams that join up, swell, and continue moving across the sand.

If you're there as the tide is returning, it's surprisingly easy to get cut off and find yourself having to wade back to a dry patch. When I was there in 1997, a warning horn had been installed, apparently so people can collect their toddlers in time.

More recently, I visited Orcas Island where a small ocean bay contains a miniature intertidal zone in the form of a rocky islet. At low tide, you can walk up and gingerly poke your among the tumble of incredibly abrasive rocks (covered as they are with miniature mussels and other shellfish).

The Terrible Salt will is my attempt to capture all this, upscaled into a much larger tidal flat many miles wide, wide enough that exploring parties will likely need to take temporary shelter on one of the sometime-islands left at the high tide mark.

I'm poking at the same little style of GM-side game that I had in At the Hour of Death, but this time a roving pack of crabs, and the returning water. Gotta figure out to make it both accessible/engaging to players, but also easy enough for the GM to manage while doing all of their other jobs!