Hello everyone! Last week, we shared some of the design team's inspirations for the look, feel and content of Terror From The UnderDeep. There was a really positive response to that post so we thought we should share a few more inspirations. This time, let's talk about... the Kraken!

Check out this update we posted previously showing the kraken art - then read on...

The 5E design team looks for inspiration in many places. Sure, movies, TV shows, books, soundtracks, and comics all come to mind. Heck, I’ve even gotten inspiration from Sesame Street of all places. But inspiration is all around us in the real world too. It’s in the places we visit, the people we meet and the very experiences we have. Terror from the UnderDeep is no different, as we drew inspirations from many sources. Let’s take a look at the myriad of inspirations we gleaned to create the big bad in the Terror from the UnderDeep.

First, we looked to movies. Obviously Clash of the Titans was a huge inspiration. I’ll note that both the 1981 (what an amazing ensemble cast, by the way) and the 2010 moves inspired us. I admit the 2010 movie is not as good, but it does have a banging soundtrack by Ramin Djawadi (of Game of Thrones fame). That soundtrack was often listened to during the design process. (As a matter of fact, I’m listening to it now as a pen this essay). I highly recommend both soundtracks for a gaming library.

We did want our Kraken to be a bit more cephalopod-like. Thus, we looked to the real world again. This time, some of the bizarre creatures of the deep. The first picture is a barreleye fish. Talk about freaky! Look at the transparent cranium dome and visible organs! We knew our kraken needed that type of head!

Next is deep-sea angler fish. Look at those teeth! We wanted our kraken to have a large head (that fish is all head!) and to have wicked teeth. Check and check!

And how about branching tentacles? Those seem cool, right? These were a rare mutation found on an octopus, and I knew we needed our kraken to sport these branching grasping arms.

It’s a common trope to have your cult have a hidden tattoo that signifies its membership. Well, we wanted that clue to the Cult of the Beast, but we wanted to do one step better. So instead of a tattoo, our higher-ranking cult members (each named after a part of a cephalopod, by the way) have a scar at the base of their neck created with a giant cephalopod sucker. Here is the inspiration, as seen on a real-world fossil of whale skin.

We hope you enjoyed learning about where we find inspirations when designing amazing tabletop RPG products. Leave us a comment about a unique thing that inspired you and your game.

And in related news: Chris joined Wally DM last night to talk about Terror From The UnderDeep. Watch the video here!