Sea of Thieves Tall Tales guide: How to play them in order (2024)

Find out how to start each Tall Tale in Sea of Thieves, and what order to play them in.

Want to know how to play Sea of Thieves Tall Tales in order? Alongside the usual Voyages, Sea of Thieves players can embark on a number of fully voiced, highly cinematic story campaigns known as Tall Tales. Expect fearsome baddies, deadly traps, forgotten islands, even some very familiar faces from outside the Sea of Thieves, with Tall Tales often introduces unique new mechanics or twists on existing ones.

There are plenty of Tall Tales to get stuck in with in Sea of Thieves, though, so read on for our walkthrough on how to start each Tall Tale and what order to play them in.

On this page:

• How to start a Tall Tale
• How to play Tall Tales in order
• Tall Tales rewards and Commendations

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How to start a Tall Tale

Tall Tales are started by interacting with special books placed in specific locations throughout the Sea of Thieves. Helpfully, your ship's map table includes icons denoting where you'll find them, provided the option is enabled in your Settings menu. Once you find a book, beginning a Tall Tale simply requires the majority of crew members to vote on it.

Tall Tales can also be selected via your ship's Quest Table, but, slightly confusingly, doing so doesn't immediately begin the adventure. Instead, it merely points crews toward the Tall Tales' starting location and provides the opportunity to fast-travel there by diving beneath the waves. Either way, once you reach your destination, you'll need to find the starting book and vote on it as usual to begin the Tall Tale.

How to play Tall Tales in order

At the time of writing, Sea of Thieves features four Tall Tales story arcs spanning a total of 19 individual Tall Tales, each split into multiple checkpointed chapters.

Characters and locations introduced in earlier Tall Tales story arcs reappear in later ones, so there are advantages to playing in release order. To get the full benefit of this, you should play the story arcs in the following order:

1. Shores of Gold
2. Ashen Age
3. A Pirate's Life
4. The Legend of Monkey Island

Within those story arcs, however, there are lots of individual Tall Tales that you'll also need to play in order to follow along with the story. Here's how to play them in the right sequence, along with their individual starting locations:

Shores of Gold

Set sail on an epic, swashbuckling adventure across the Sea of Thieves and beyond the deadly Devil's Shroud in search of the legendary lost island known as the Shores of Gold.

Ashen Age

Witness (and participate) in the events heralding the return of a great evil to the Sea of Thieves.

A Pirate's Life

Join Captain Jack Sparrow on a rip-roaring adventure to save the Sea of Thieves from the nefarious machinations of Davey Jones - and a long-dormant threat stirring far beneath the waves.

The Legend Of Monkey Island

Return to Mêlée Island and other familiar locations to save Guybrush Threepwood, the mightiest of pirates, from a fate worse than death on the Sea of the Damned.

Once a Tall Tale is underway, a special Tale Book is automatically placed in each crew member's radial Quest menu, alongside any unique item that may be required to complete the adventure (as sometimes you may need to progress a little before these appear).

Tale Books contain clues – usually in the form of diary entries and images – hinting at where you should go next and what you should do once you get there, so a thorough read is often essential. However, certain Tall Tales in the Monkey Island and A Pirate's Life story arcs are more explicit, marking your first destination with a glowing beacon visible in sky.

There's one exception to this, though. In A Pirate Life's The Sunken Pearl adventure, your crew is guided out into the middle of the ocean. Otherwise, beacons usually point to active portal arches close to Outposts. Sail through and a short cutscene will play while the game prepares a private instanced server, meaning you can complete the Tall Tale away from the shared world and any PvP interruptions.

Do Tall Tales save my progress?

Unlike Voyages, Tall Tale progress is saved each time a crew reaches a chapter checkpoint, and the save point persists between sessions. However, resuming from a saved checkpoint is a little long-winded.

First, go to the Quest Table on your ship and use the Quest menu to select the Tall Tale you wish to resume. You'll then be presented with the option to either restart the adventure or carry on from an earlier checkpoint. Pick the checkpoint option then either manually travel back to the point you left off or fast-travel to its approximate position.

When working through more complex Tall Tales with bespoke locations, you may be instructed to interact with a Wraith Statue at your destination – this will teleport you straight to the checkpoint location, allowing you to bypass areas you've already seen.

Can I cancel a Tall Tale?

Once a Tall Tale is underway (crews can have one Voyage and one Tall Tale active at any time), it can be cancelled using the same method as a standard Voyage; simply get a majority of your crew to vote to cancel the Tall Tale using the scroll that appears on your ship's Quest Table.

Tall Tales rewards and Commendations

While Tall Tales are primarily about immersing yourself in big cinematic stories, each one also features a number of optional challenges known as Commendations. These are listed under the Pirate Log > Reputation > Tall Tales section of the in-game menu, and can either be completed along the way or during repeat visits. Doing so rewards unique titles and fancy cosmetics relating to each Tall Tale, so they're definitely worth the extra bit of effort.

Here's the full list of Commendations and their associated rewards – including the mandatory Maiden Voyage tutorial which, while not part of a story arc, technically counts as a Tall Tale. You can also jump straight to each Tall Tale using our handy index below:

• Maiden Voyage Commendations
• Shores of Gold Commendations
• Ashen Age Commendations
• A Pirate's Life Commendations
• The Legend Of Monkey Island Commendations

Maiden Voyage Commendations

Shores Of Gold Commendations

Ashen Age Commendations

A Pirate's Life Commendations

The Legend Of Monkey Island Commendations

That's everything you need to know about Sea of Thieves Tall Tales. If you want to tackle these adventures with your mates, here's how to add friends and play Sea of Thieves crossplay across multiple different platforms, and we've also got an extensive beginner's guide on what to do first and how to get started.