Whether you’re gearing up for Ghosts of Saltmarsh or sailing different seas, I finally have a decent set of ocean textures for you!

Whew, we can finally retire the Churning Sea map.

Ocean sea water tile texture map assets, banner

Three days. He sat there on the deck, thirsty and starving, for three days. He could feel the sun bleaching his hair and drying his skin. The salt in the air had stolen all moisture from his body and his bones ached and cracked with every tiny movement. He wanted to sleep. He wanted to drift off more than anything else. But if he fell over, if he left the circle, it would take him. For all the pain in his body, all the thoughts of gulls pecking him apart, they were nothing compared to the nightmare swimming beneath the ship.

It had happened without warning or announcement. The majority of the Widow’s Bounty crew had retired for the night, leaving only a handful on duty. Angus Leeds, first mate to Captain Renner, was manning the wheel. Four men worked the deck; enough to keep them on course until morning. The night was serene, beautiful even. Whichever ocean god watched over them, it had granted calm waves and clear skies. Each crew member’s lantern shone an orange warmth, shifting and rotating as they tended to their varied duties.

As the moon reached its apex, Leeds heard the cabin door open with a strained creak. From below him, a crew member walked into the night air. Crew quarters can be a difficult place to sleep, Angus rationalized. Another walked out. And another. Then groups. It seemed as if the entire crew had woken to join them, looking at the number that now stood on deck. But they did nothing. They just stood there in the lantern glow.

“Come. Join.”

The heat drained from Leeds’ blood. Those words. They were his voice, in his mind. But he had not thought them. His joints locked as sweat beaded on his brow. Wresting his mind back, he caught sight of shifting in the light below. Only it was not something in the light, but the light itself. One of his men, lantern in hand, stepped from the crowd on the starboard side of the ship. He pulled himself to the rigging without so a lapse in stride and took a final step overboard. And then another followed him. Then one more. One by one, the crew stepped from the ship and into the waves. The lanterns extinguished as they broke the surface, leaving more and more of the ship in creeping shadows. But the dying lights lit the water in their final moments, revealing shifting, living darkness. A flowing silhouette filled the ocean beneath, as far as the light could be cast.

“Come. JOIN.”

Leeds found his eyes drifting, swimming in the stars and winds and waves. They had been his life, as they are every sailor’s. He knew them as they knew him, and now they called to him. It would be easy, poetic, to join them. It would be right. But… No. NO. These thoughts sounded like his, but he knew they were not. They pressed at the corners of his mind, edging closer and closer to control. He didn’t have long.

With the last of his sanity, Angus Leeds drew his knife and fell to the floor. He drove the blade into the sodden wood, scrawling what few words he could remember. In circles around himself, he carved the ancient texts; prayers to every ocean god he knew. They were childhood memories, ingrained so deep that his hand carried itself as his mind fought. And as he closed the final ring, the final prayer, he felt it. The invader was gone, and his mind was silent. He was alone.

And so he sat. The gods had answered, and their words protected him. He stayed there for days, waiting and withering, hoping beyond hope that someone might find him and that they too would not be taken.

– by Troy McConnell
More content by Troy

Inside this map pack, you will find five seamless textures depicting the different moods and faces of the ocean surface. They range from emerald reefs to icy grey waves and should cover all of your seafaring needs. The color palette is also chosen to play well with our ship maps, so don’t forget to grab some of those.

Besides the seamless textures, I’ve also put together PDFs that will print on A2 or US Letter sheets, depending on your needs. You’ll find the different textures separated by pages.

As for the hammerhead shark, consider him a little tease! I have a bunch of Ocean Assets coming together soon. 😉

Downloads

You can download Ocean Water Textures below:

For exclusive map variants and even the PSD files, consider joining the amazing community that makes these maps possible:

The Ocean Water Textures are free to download thanks to Patrons such as:

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, thanks to our generous supporters. If you would like to use this map commercially, please contact me 🙂

About the author

Ross McConnell

DM, aspiring artist, and founder of 2-Minute Tabletop! I love drawing, writing, and worldbuilding, and this is the website where all of it comes together.

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Published: April 27, 2019

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