Ships and desert islands and sea shanties and secret treasures: we’re getting nautical on this week’s episode of the Vintage RPG Podcast. First up, N4 — Treasure Hunt (1986), one of the finest introductory scenarios for first edition Dungeons & Dragons. It’s one of the only modules to successfully pull of the “you’ve been captured and lost all your stuff” trope and introduces the underloved idea of zero-level characters (at least until Dungeon Crawl Classics came around). Good stuff all around!

We also chat with Tristan Zimmerman about his unusual nautical RPG, Shanty Hunters, in which you attempt to preserve sea shanties that magically defend themselves by manifesting the subjects of their songs to stop you. It’s pretty wild and on Kickstarter right now!

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Be sure to check out Tristan’s Ennie-nominated RPG blog, Molten Sulphur.