Heliosail

Heliosail is Funded!

Thank you everyone who has believed in this project along the way! I am thrilled to announce that as of this morning, we are completely funded.

There is just over 24 hours left in the campaign, so you still have a chance to back and claim some of the exclusive offers that come with our campaign, such as this beautiful poster designed by @lunarskeletonart.

Anything you pledge now will help us reach for our stretch goals. We have some great ones, including new content for the game, desktop wallpapers, and best of all, a hard-cover quality upgrade for the book!

If this is your first time hearing about Heliosail is a solarpunk sci-fi ttrpg about space pirates. It is heavily inspired by Mass Effect and Treasure Planet, among other things.

“As you pass a nearby asteroid, something about it seems off. It is almost perfectly round. You don’t realize what it is until a red light appears on it, blinking. Spikes large enough to spear a galleon erupt from the turret’s sides in all directions, missing your hull by a gnat’s wing.”

Click here to get all 3 Astermine stat blocks!

An Astermine is a mechanical turret, meant to deter ships from entering an area. They have roots in pirate tradition, and in the Skerran navy. They are an iconic technology from the Saturian Wars: a set of conflicts between the Skerries and the colonies of Jupiter and Mars, which happened about two centuries ago. Even at the time, however, they were considered relatively "low tech."

Several types of Astermines exist, but they are all proximity mines, which react to tiny changes in gravitational mass as ships pass near them. They may release spikes, EMP charges, or even projectiles. Spike Asters are the ones that tend to last the longest, because they are made from simple mechanics, and can be re-used over and over again. 

Video Credits

Narration: Shylee Phoenix

Music: 'Goliath' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Star Whale

“As your ship drifts past its head, you realize the alien’s eye is open: a pool of dark blue so large that you could sail across it like the surface of a lake. A sudden force whips through your body, knocking you and your crew mates off your feet. The whale has begun to sing.”

Star Whales are shy, elusive netheri, rarely seen by anyone. They inhabit the dark spaces between planets and space ports, far outside the solar system’s core. Like many netheri, they communicate across space through a mix of radio signals and quantum resonance. This interferes with starship systems, preventing communication, disrupting electronics, and messing up navigation. They are the size of continents on Earth, making them truly massive to the human scale, but plenty small enough to disappear in the dark places between the planets. 

They feature prominently in old ship tales, especially those from the Age of Exploration, when the Skerries and the Mithraic System were still being settled. In these tales, they nearly always take up the role of omens, sometimes leading the protagonists to their deaths, and other times bringing them good fortune.

Baleen Worm

The sea of sand parts before you, revealing the colorful, iridescent head of a gigantic worm. You can see sheets of baleen hanging in its open mouth as it turns in your direction. It may not have eyes, but you feel the distinct fear that comes from staring down a predator, all the same.

Baleen worms are enormous filter-feeders. Like a baleen whale, they have special organs to filter out tiny (even microscopic) plants and animals from the loose sands in which they burrow. Like smaller worms, they are decomposers, who aerate the ground and break down dead plants and animals.

Due to their large size, baleen worms are small in number. A single adult worm commands a minimum of 75 square kilometres of territory, often up to 100 square kilometres or more. Although some worm territories can overlap, if the two worms encounter one another, they will attempt to fight.

You fall nearly three metres when the ground gives way beneath you. Sharp spines prick at your skin on your way down, until you land flat on your back. As you catch your breath, you look around at the brownish, fleshy looking capsule around you, illuminated only by the light from the hole you fell in through.

This pitcher plant is adapted to dry environments. Like other nepenthes, a single plant can grow multiple pitchers. It uses grass-like leaves above ground to photosynthesize and also disguise the location of its traps.

Oubliette pitchers grow just under the surface of the soil. A thin membrane over the opening can support the distributed weight of the earth, but can't support the concentrated weight of an animal stepping on it. In this way, it becomes a natural trap door.

The necks of the Oubliette are filled with sharp, downward facing spines that cut up prey if it tries to escape. In addition, the Oubliette has some limited muscle-like control over the trap, and can contract to crush and slice any troublesome animal. Once trapped, the water and nutrients from the animal's body supplements the plant's survival.

The pitcher's member can regrow within a couple weeks, and the natural forces of erosion will fill the soil back in above it, so that a single pitcher can be reused multiple times. After 3 or 4 times, however, the membrane no longer regrows, and the trap will wither and eventually be cut off from the main body of the plant. It can take centuries for one of these pits to be filled in, as the walls of the trap slowly decay. During this time, animals may continue to fall in occasionally, attracting scavengers.

Building in an area where Oubliettes grow can be challenging, as the ground could be filled with air pockets and holes which might undermine a foundation.

The three specs circling above you are slowly getting larger, like an omen of your demise. You turn you head to the side to try to look away from the sky, which is painfully bright. If only you had a little water...

Giant Vultures are birds who have adapted to terraformed environments. Routine genetic engineering to help species adapt is common, and can change a species in various ways. Some adaptations lead to drastic changes, while others are more subtle.

In the case of the Giant Vulture, they are similar in nearly every respect to their earthling cousins. Terraformed environments often have lower gravity than Earth, allowing for gigantism as a side effect of their adaptive breeding, even if it isn't the goal.

The leaves of the giant agave are covered in hairy spines. You know that they have thorns, but you don't remember them having this many. You reach out to gently touch the leaf, being careful to not stick yourself. The surface feels smooth and chitinous, not rubbery. The moment you touch it, the ground below you begins to shift as a burrowing scorpion emerges.

Agave Arachnids are large, scorpion-like animals that live in deserts and high plains. Their backs are covered with large spikes which closely resemble the leaves of a fully mature agave. They use this to hide among other scrubby desert plants and succulents, in order to ambush unsuspecting prey.

Get the full stat block on Patreon!

Like other scorpions, they are nocturnal, active at night and slumbering during the day beneath the cracked soil. Their stinging tail is hidden among their camouflaged "leaves," and is only identifiable on close inspection, by those who have experience.

Public Poll: April "Monster Monday" Theme

Looks like the winner will either be space dwellers, or desert critters! If you want to break the tie, now is your chance!

Whichever theme wins, I will be producing a stat block each monday for Heliosail that is on theme. These creature posts are available for Solar Sailor level patrons and above. They include art, creature lore, and stat blocks. As time allows, I try to make a lore/introduction video for each creature, as well as original artwork, but sometimes the art is public domain.

All posts also include a version of the stat block for D&D 5/5.5e.

“You see a hulking shape rise out of the dark waters of the swamp. Before you can call out, you watch in horror as the shadows of the swamp move, and your friends are trapped within a massive, gaping mouth, boat and all. An enormous amphibious eye stares blankly at you as you raise your gun to aim. You can still hear your friends' voices inside its mouth… maybe it isn’t too late.”

Grab the stat blocks for both Heliosail and D&D 5e!

Mudrakers are enormous netheri. These amphibians thrive in swamps and other still, muddy waters. They can grow large enough to swallow a boat whole, and their jaws have a hinge like a snake. They hunt through ambush, by opening their mouths very wide, and hiding just below the water level, waiting for prey to come close enough to catch. 

In spite of their large size, they tend to do well in new ecosystems, because the pellets that they expel make excellent fertilizer. As long as there aren't too many of them, they can become naturalized to an area.

Video Credits

The stat blocks for Vyndra are available on patreon, for both Heliosail and D&D 5/.5e.

Vyndra are genetically engineered plants, designed to be able to rapidly "heal." This makes them ideal for photosynthetic armour, rope, and other industrial purposes. Once they have been cut, the two halves can be misted with water and left near each other overnight, during which time they will grow back together, and form a woody scab over the joint. If the damage is particularly extensive, they can be submerged in water to help them grow together faster.

Water helps them to thrive particularly well, so they have a habit of forming natural dams across flowing waterways, so that they can gain nutrients from the slowly-trickling water as it flows through them. If a small vyndra is spotted, someone is sent to dismantle it right away, so that it won't become a danger to the public. A particularly large Vyndra can be a daunting problem, as it can block a water source in minutes, causing massive flooding. Even worse, it will regrow every place where it has been severed, and defend itself ferociously.

Video Credits

Something closes around your ankle, and all of a sudden you find yourself hanging by one leg, upside down. You’ve been caught in a snare trap! The more you struggle, the tighter the knot gets. Looking up, you realize it’s not a rope at all, but a thick vine.

Viper Vines are found in swamps, jungles, and other watery places. They are named for the bulbs that form at the vine tips, which look similar to the heads of snakes, and the fact that it produced urushiol oil; the same chemical that makes poison ivy dangerous to touch. 

Touching them produces the same rash as the familiar poison ivy, and can be deadly if it spreads over too much of your body. Luckily, the oil is thick, and tends to only get on the places of skin that direct touch it.

Get the stat blocks for D&D 5e and Heliosail here. This week's stat blocks are free!

Video Credits

Monster Monday: Crab Grass

March 2026's theme is Swamp Things! We're starting off slow, but I promise there are some great entries coming this month.

Unfortunately I don't have art or a video for you for this one, as I am quite behind on my weekly creature posts. All of my attention has been on finishing the game and ordering prints to ship, but once that's done, these weekly critters will be in better shape.

Crab Grass is a hybrid species, a mix between tall wild Earth grasses, and some kind of netheran plant. It looks innocuous, but its leaves are razor-sharp, and it will cut anything that touches it to ribbons.

Monster Monday: Volcanopod

Volcanopods are gigantic land snails, which grow to be the size of large dogs. Like all decomposers, they live on the dirt and bits in the soil around the volcanoes they call home. As they graze, they consume many rocks, and other things that they cannot actually eat. 

A Volcanopod’s shell grows continuously throughout its life, and as it is constantly oozing molten minerals, these snails are traveling with a tiny functional volcano of their own along their back.

You plunge your sword into the gap in the tortoise’s shell. Its blood flies out with so much more force than you were expecting. It glows like the thin spots of the animal’s flesh. Some of it lands on your crewmate, who screams in pain as the lava-like fluid burns through his environmental suit. You pull your blade free and rush to help him, but the tortoise snaps its forceful jaw around your ankle, sending you toppling to the ground. 

Grab the stat blocks for 5e & Heliosail here!

This week's critter is Scoria- a volcanic-inspired tortoise. The Heliosail version is a netheri, and the D&D 5e version is an elemental.

I did the artwork for this one, and I'm pretty happy with how it came out. Hopefully you all like it too.

Video Credits

Monster Monday: Riftia (Heliosail & 5e)

These little environmental hazards are inspired by deep sea tubeworms. In keeping with the volcanic theme, they expel poisonous volcanic gasses when you startle them.

If you're in need of something to spice up your next session, try them out! The stat blocks are free! I've also included both versions below the cut for your convenience.

Video Credits

Narration: Shylee Phoenix Music: Troubling Unknown by FoePound (bensound.com; License code: Z4NOTXGCNUQPS7IK) Sound effects courtesy of pixabay free sound library. All images in the public domain, or commissioned for Heliosail.