# Undersea Adventures: Comments, Concerns, & Concepts



## Aeolius (Jul 2, 2010)

I am cross-posting this here and in a handful other D&D boards, across the web.

I have been running undersea D&D campaigns since 1998; first with “Beneath the Pinnacles of Azor’alq” (play-by-post) followed by “Heirs of Turucambi” (chat-based). The campaigns draw from my interests in marine biology and my hobby of keeping saltwater aquariums, coupled with my fascination with various mythological creatures such as hags, dragons, and demons. I started my current game 3 years ago. While I have a stable following of devoted players (thank you, folks!), I occasionally get the urge to step back, look at my game from a distance, and reinvent my approach as Master Storyteller for my players.

If your current DM approached you with the idea of starting a new campaign set primarily beneath the surface of the sea, what would be your first reaction? Suppose the “core races” were replaced with the likes of sea elves, locathah, and merfolk (or any race that that has a swim speed and the aquatic subtype). Would that be enough to alienate you?

I set my games on Oerth, the world of Greyhawk. Prior knowledge of the campaign setting is not required. I also tend to scale back on the use of dragons, while overpopulating the world with hags. Again, this is simply my personal signature in my games. Is that the killing blow that distances potential players?

My games tend to be role-play heavy and combat light. Rolling lots of dice tends to break my “willing suspension of disbelief”. Spending hours speaking in character as a room full of NPCs is my bread and butter. Again, I know this does not appeal to everyone.

I am aware that life underwater has its limitations; typical potions are all but impossible to imbibe, paper scrolls will quickly disintegrate, and typical metal items are subject to corrosion. Many typical spells may not suitable for underwater casting. Treasure may be similarly altered, as many undersea races value rare corals, pearls, and shells far more than coins and gemstones. This is one of my most enjoyable aspects of the game - creation. 

Some of the best inspiration for an underwater campaign can come from the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, visiting a local aquarium or fish store, and perusing ocean-related materials in a bookstore. Discovery’s “Blue Planet” series and Penguin Book’s “OCEAN” are as invaluable to me as “Stormwrack”. 

With that in mind, what are your preferences, for such an adventure? What would you expect to see, in an undersea game? What would make the campaign memorable, enjoyable, and enduring? What would make you want to spend years exploring the realm of liquid space?


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## Dannyalcatraz (Jul 2, 2010)

You need:
Some truly alien life forms: compare Humans with Sea Anemones; consider the language of whales; marvel at Giant Jellyfish swarms.  'Nuff said.
Good combats run in 3 dimensions.
Unexplored sections like abyssal trenches; the broad stretches of sandy "wastelands"...that nevertheless have life within them; volcanic regions
Megapredators


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## coyote6 (Jul 2, 2010)

Personally, with no more info than what's given here, I'd rather play an underwater campaign in the Blue Planet setting than one in Greyhawk. SF sounds more interesting than fantasy, in that milieu. <shrug>

Edit: Combat underwater seems like it might be kind of repetitive. Aside from biting things, there's essentially only one type of useful weapon -- spears, tridents, other stabby things, and maybe some funky crossbow variants. Swung weapons are bad ideas, thrown weapons are out, and most other missile weapons are useless barring magic (or industrial-strength suspension of disbelief). Unless you get magic swords/axes/maces that let you ignore drag, you're pretty limited in terms of mechanics and visuals.

Go high-tech, though, and you've got all that, plus guns, lasers on funky wavelengths, sonic weapons, explosives, explosives on sticks, drones, etc.


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## DrunkonDuty (Jul 2, 2010)

Invasions from Above the Waves! Surface dwellers attempt to invade/colonise the ocean bed. Pirates looking for sunken treasure or a kingdom looking to exploit the sea in some unusual fashion. Or just out for revenge against all the Sahuagin raids against their shipping. And all aquatics look the same to surface dwellers.

Attack the Surface. Damn those surface dwellers and their mining run-off, over-fishing or what have you. They must be stopped!

Undersea volcanoes, etc. Who says you can't have fire and water?

Nemo. The captain, not the clown fish. Some surface dweller who, through magic, has adapted to living underwater. Maybe with a mobile base, maybe with an undersea tower. Maybe even an undersea colony, a "Promised Land" beneath the waves to which they have led their persecuted followers. (link to Invasion above.)

Sea Hags immediately put me in mind of curses, covens and Wyrd Sisters. Stirring up storms as per the Wyrd Sisters of Macbeth. Cheerfully starting wars and trouble for the hell of it. Also the sea witch from _The Little Mermaid_.

Forbidden Love. What could be more romantic than a little mermaid (or some such) who falls in love with a land dweller? Especially if there's a war a-brewing.

Nymphs. Calypso, Circe etc. Nicer than the sea hags, or at least prettier.

How about a tidal civilisation? Above the water some of the time, beneath it some of the time. Could be Lizardmen or Bullywugs.

I'm actually about to kick of a short term sea-based campaign, so I'll be keeping an eye on this thread to mine for ideas.

cheers.


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## The Shaman (Jul 2, 2010)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> Megapredators



Meet the original Big Gulp.


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## Aeolius (Jul 2, 2010)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> You need: Some truly alien life forms: compare Humans with Sea Anemones; consider the language of whales; marvel at Giant Jellyfish swarms.  'Nuff said.




   Agreed. unusual lifeforms bring out the truly alien nature of the realm of liquid space. I have humanoid anemones, jellyfolk, and the like... and I often mutter to myself in mock-ixitxachitl. 



> Unexplored sections like abyssal trenches; the broad stretches of sandy "wastelands"...that nevertheless have life within them; volcanic regions




   When in comes to subaqueous terrains, one can have forests of mangrove roots, massive stalks of kelp, or tangles of gargantuan anemones. Envision a swamp of floating sargassum seaweed, with creatures living above, within, and beneath the massive tangled raft. In addition to black smokers (hydrothermal vents) other chemosynthetic races might dwell within the saline rich undersea lakes known as cold seeps. One might explore massive fields of sea grasslands or the lifeless regions of urchin barrens or dead coral deserts.

   Of course one also needs to take into account ocean currents and depths, when considering terrain. Massive eddies, tidal bores, and whirlpools can prove hazardous, as well as chilling thermoclines and the crushing pressures of the depths. 



coyote6 said:


> Combat underwater seems like it might be kind of repetitive. Aside from biting things, there's essentially only one type of useful weapon -- spears, tridents, other stabby things, and maybe some funky crossbow variants. Swung weapons are bad ideas, thrown weapons are out, and most other missile weapons are useless barring magic...




   Add to that those combatants who know how to drop hooked nets from above, or release buoyant spheres of seaweed laden with urchin poisons from below. 



DrunkonDuty said:


> Invasions from Above the Waves! Surface dwellers attempt to invade/colonise the ocean bed. Pirates looking for sunken treasure or a kingdom looking to exploit the sea in some unusual fashion. Or just out for revenge against all the Sahuagin raids against their shipping.




   The interplay between Drylanders and aquatic races was one reason I had several races deify the surface as Synsaal, the Barrier Between Worlds. 



> Some surface dweller who, through magic, has adapted to living underwater.




   Greyhawk has such a character in Drawmij.



> Sea Hags immediately put me in mind of curses, covens and Wyrd Sisters.. Also the sea witch from _The Little Mermaid_.




   Sea hags, shellycoats, greenhags, shoal hags, reef hags, fish hags, and more... gotcha covered.  And then there is Lusca the Bloodless, an albino tauric sea hag joined to the body of an octopus. Granted, her tentacles end with the faces of eels.


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## DrunkonDuty (Jul 2, 2010)

Aeolius: I like your descriptions of undersea geography. I'll have to do some research and find out exactly what these all things are. I like the anemone forests!

Any suggestions for a campaign that's going to be set on a pair of sea mounts, a bit like the Hawaiin chain but much less active. The highest peaks are islands for land dwellers to live on. Below sea level I've got a contour line marking the 100' depth mark, above which all the main aquatic races have their homes. (although they can and do go deeper.)

I'm going for a mythic Greece feeling and I suspect the players are going to be surface dwellers who will visit underwater occasionally. (I've given them the option of doing aquatic characters, I'll have to see what they pick when we do character gen on the weekend.)

cheers.


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## Aeolius (Jul 2, 2010)

DrunkonDuty said:


> I like the anemone forests!



     They were inspired by aiptasia "glass" anemones, a fairly common nuisance in saltwater aquariums:





   They are kept in check with peppermint shrimp , copperband butterflyfish , and berghia nudibranchs . Though, in my game, the big ones are eaten by tojanida (yes, I found a use for them). 



> Any suggestions for a campaign that's going to be set on a pair of sea mounts... I'm going for a mythic Greece feeling...



     Perhaps a nymphaeum :




     WIth a bit of the Blue Grotto thrown in for good measure


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## DrunkonDuty (Jul 2, 2010)

Nice.  I'll use them for art. And the Blue Grotto is already getting my creative juices flowing. Nymphs, nymphs and more nymphs.


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## Jhaelen (Jul 2, 2010)

Aeolius said:


> If your current DM approached you with the idea of starting a new campaign set primarily beneath the surface of the sea, what would be your first reaction? Suppose the “core races” were replaced with the likes of sea elves, locathah, and merfolk (or any race that that has a swim speed and the aquatic subtype). Would that be enough to alienate you?



On the contrary, I'd be intrigued!


Aeolius said:


> I set my games on Oerth, the world of Greyhawk. Prior knowledge of the campaign setting is not required. I also tend to scale back on the use of dragons, while overpopulating the world with hags. Again, this is simply my personal signature in my games. Is that the killing blow that distances potential players?



I don't mind Oerth. I even used it as the basis for my current campaign. It's not very recognizable as such, though. I'd expect an undersea campaign to be similarly different from your run-of-the-mill Greyhawk campaign.


Aeolius said:


> With that in mind, what are your preferences, for such an adventure? What would you expect to see, in an undersea game? What would make the campaign memorable, enjoyable, and enduring? What would make you want to spend years exploring the realm of liquid space?



Well, I love the undersea, so that helps 
The reason I enjoyed reading Schätzing's 'Der Schwarm' was because it's full of fun and often little known facts about everything related to the (under)sea. I'd expect an adventure or a campaign to incorporate these kind of things and make them a relevant feature. Otherwise, what's the point of using an undersea setting?


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## nedjer (Jul 2, 2010)

Great thread! Any ideas on what spells could be used underwater/ Apart from one's that help you swim and breathe better?


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## Dannyalcatraz (Jul 2, 2010)

Anything that creates Ice could be handy...

"Remember, in an emergency, Wall of Ice may be used as a floatation device."


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## Vyvyan Basterd (Jul 2, 2010)

As long as I don't feel like I'm at some high school Under the Sea dance, I'd probably enjoy the campaign. It can't just feel like the same old stuff just under water.

In general you might get a negative response to undersea campaigns because of how that type of setting is presented in the rules. Each ruleset of D&D speaks mainly to the limitations of options when playing under water. The appearance of limits sounds like a drag to alot of people, especially when the entire campaign takes place there.


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## nedjer (Jul 2, 2010)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> Anything that creates Ice could be handy...
> 
> "Remember, in an emergency, Wall of Ice may be used as a floatation device."




That could all turn a bit faces below the ice/ Damien kills his brother


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## Theo R Cwithin (Jul 2, 2010)

Ultra-long distance low-frequency communication.
Weird sonic effects spells.
The Bloop.

Also, this:


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## Aeolius (Jul 3, 2010)

Jhaelen said:


> The reason I enjoyed reading Schätzing's 'Der Schwarm' was because it's full of fun and often little known facts about everything related to the (under)sea.




I just blazed through the first 100+ pages of the preview of "The Swarm" on my iPad. I have used methane hydrates in my game, before. My water dwarves mine the crystals, known as "frozen thunder", as well as using hydrothermal vents to make calciferous weapons and armor.

edit: Gah! I decided to buy the book... 1700 pages?!?


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## Jhaelen (Jul 5, 2010)

Aeolius said:


> edit: Gah! I decided to buy the book... 1700 pages?!?



Yeah, his current novel (Limit) is even longer  I'm most likely not going to read _that_ since the topic is old-hat (space elevators & mining the moon for Helium 3).

'The Swarm' reads quite well, though. It's definitely not high prose and I thought most of the characters were very stereotypical and flat. It would be really easy to make a(n action) movie out of it - I imagine Roland Emmerich would be the ideal director.

Anyway, as I said, I felt the scientific tidbits are where the book shines.


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## DMH (Jul 5, 2010)

The Swarm (like Fragment by Warren Fahy) has a lot of interesting material but the author knows jack about real science. He has a marine biologist actually care that he discovered a new species of worm and mentioned some prize for doing so. Real biologists would call it Tuesday and slap it on the (huge) pile of species that need to be studied more in depth.

You also might want to try to find Kraken Wakes. Less about what goes on in the ocean and more on its impact (or an aquatic species' impact) on the surface world.


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## knightofround (Jul 5, 2010)

Aeolius said:


> If your current DM approached you with the idea of starting a new campaign set primarily beneath the surface of the sea, what would be your first reaction? Suppose the “core races” were replaced with the likes of sea elves, locathah, and merfolk (or any race that that has a swim speed and the aquatic subtype). Would that be enough to alienate you?



I'd be hesitant to say that it would *alienate* me. But to be honest, unless I knew the DM could do it well, I would pass. The problem with underwater D&D campaigns is that they tend to focus more upon what you can't do, as opposed to what you can do. There's so many classes, spells, powers, equipment, and skills that are pretty much useless underwater. As a PC, the thing I dislike the most is *not* being able to do stuff. Not to mention that three dimensional combat is a pain. Fun to do every once in awhile, sure, but horrible when its the norm.  That's not to say I would be entirely opposed to playing in a underwater setting; its just that I don't think its a good fit for D&D. Something better for modern settings, like GURPS, would be more suitable.



Aeolius said:


> I set my games on Oerth, the world of Greyhawk. Prior knowledge of the campaign setting is not required. I also tend to scale back on the use of dragons, while overpopulating the world with hags. Again, this is simply my personal signature in my games. Is that the killing blow that distances potential players?



Nah, actually I tend to think that Dragons are overdone. I think it's interesting you like to use hags, it would be cool to see what you'd do with them.



Aeolius said:


> My games tend to be role-play heavy and combat light. Rolling lots of dice tends to break my “willing suspension of disbelief”. Spending hours speaking in character as a room full of NPCs is my bread and butter. Again, I know this does not appeal to everyone.



The catch is, you're playing D&D. And for better or for worse, in recent years it has become a combat heavy game, and players have come to expect it. I, too, prefer role-play heavy campaigns, but we are clearly in the minority right now. I think an RP heavy campaign on top of a campaign setting which greatly restricts PCs is going to alienate most people who play D&D. I'm not saying its a no-sell, its just going to much more difficult to attract players. Of course, if you've already got a solid group of players behind you, this is not so much of an issue.



Aeolius said:


> With that in mind, what are your preferences, for such an adventure? What would you expect to see, in an undersea game? What would make the campaign memorable, enjoyable, and enduring? What would make you want to spend years exploring the realm of liquid space?



I would expect large amounts of underwater cities, and creatures/cultures to communicate with. (rather than the large amount of "dead space" in our own oceans) I would expect conflicts with surface-dwellers. I could see underwater ecological catastrophes inspiring a group of individuals to explore the deep (or surface) for cures.


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## Aeolius (Jul 10, 2010)

(Again this is cross-posted at EN World, wizards.com, Giants in the Playground, Pen and Paper Games, RPG.net., PhoenixLore, and Canonfire)

Apathy.

I suppose that’s what it boils down to. In a few weeks, this thread might be 6 or 7 pages back; buried beyond discovery, save for those searching for keywords. So, how do we prevent that? How do we keep a topical and current thread available, for those of us interested in either creating underwater encounters, running undersea games, devising an entire milieu in the realm of liquid space, or all of the above?

Some time ago, I started underwater-themed groups at EN World and wizards.com , both entitled “Under the Sea”. Click on the links, to explore them. Yes, they seem to have fallen victim to apathy. 

So, what would be the best course of action? Should I establish a message-board on a  different site altogether, to prevent playing favorites with more established boards? Do we set up a Facebook group (alas, that requires using “real” names) or a Google Wave? Do we set up a weekly chat via IRC or mibbit? How about a merfolk Sim on Second Life? As an experiment, I set up an iWeb domain for my current game. Should I bite the bullet and work on one with Dreamweaver, for future endeavors? I’m open to a weekly offline chat, of course, though I cannot assume everyone is within driving distance of Greensboro, NC.

I have been running undersea D&D games since 1998. I have a passion for the sea. I keep saltwater aquariums as a hobby. This isn’t simply about my desire to find a new batch of players. I do not wish to see this topic get forgotten, buried, and die.

Yes, I always have my list of music, websites, books, and DVDs that I recommend, for inspirational purposes. How do we take it a step further? Mind you, some of my players seem to have technological barriers to the likes of MapTools, Second Life, and other CPU and Bandwidth-intensive activities. I would like the means to keep an open dialog, 24/7, for whatever subaqueous thoughts tickle our fancies. How shall we accomplish this?


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## Kaodi (Jul 10, 2010)

Aeolius said:


> If your current DM approached you with the idea of starting a new campaign set primarily beneath the surface of the sea, what would be your first reaction? Suppose the “core races” were replaced with the likes of sea elves, locathah, and merfolk (or any race that that has a swim speed and the aquatic subtype). Would that be enough to alienate you?




I would be like, " Man, that is awesome! I have a friend, Aeolius, from the TSR days who has been running underwater campaigns forever, and I was always rather intringued. I wish Ben was here for this. " (A fellow in our group who was working on and now has a PhD in marine biology.)



> I set my games on Oerth, the world of Greyhawk. Prior knowledge of the campaign setting is not required. I also tend to scale back on the use of dragons, while overpopulating the world with hags. Again, this is simply my personal signature in my games. Is that the killing blow that distances potential players?




Personally, I would not be turned off by Greyhawk, but then that is because Greyhawk is at least natural to me, if not too familiar. I was thinking of ideas for running an aquatic campaign though recently. I was thinking of a custom setting, where the world (at least as far as the players would know initially) was one big ocean with no land whatsoever. The air above the waves would be known as something like the Ocean Above, the Thin Ocean, or something to that effect. The surface would not be a place you visit willingly though, because dragons would be its absolute rules and only inhabitants, preying on anything dumb enough to poke its head out. In fact, the dragons would nest in the clouds/a giant maelstrom, or on floating islands hidden by the clouds/said maelstrom. I am not so much of a hag person though. As a DM, I would probably include one or two. As a player, I could probably handle them if there were not too too many.




> My games tend to be role-play heavy and combat light. Rolling lots of dice tends to break my “willing suspension of disbelief”. Spending hours speaking in character as a room full of NPCs is my bread and butter. Again, I know this does not appeal to everyone.




I would like to try a more roleplaying focused game. That could be ambitious on my part though too. I like action, because it tends to be exciting. If the roleplaying *is* exciting, that should work out okay.



> I am aware that life underwater has its limitations; typical potions are all but impossible to imbibe, paper scrolls will quickly disintegrate, and typical metal items are subject to corrosion. Many typical spells may not suitable for underwater casting. Treasure may be similarly altered, as many undersea races value rare corals, pearls, and shells far more than coins and gemstones. This is one of my most enjoyable aspects of the game - creation.




Flavour is good. The fact that many weapons do not work as well as they do in air might mean though that magical versions of those weapons would be truly unique. A sword or scimitar named _Tursiops_ with the ability to eliminate friction between itself and the water comes to mind.



> Some of the best inspiration for an underwater campaign can come from the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, visiting a local aquarium or fish store, and perusing ocean-related materials in a bookstore. Discovery’s “Blue Planet” series and Penguin Book’s “OCEAN” are as invaluable to me as “Stormwrack”.
> 
> With that in mind, what are your preferences, for such an adventure? What would you expect to see, in an undersea game? What would make the campaign memorable, enjoyable, and enduring? What would make you want to spend years exploring the realm of liquid space?




I think that if it were a tropical setting, I would expect a sense of the vivid colour of the ocean floor in coastal waters to be well portayed. In deeper waters, most videos I have ever seen are of old wrecks, where the water is dark, filled with flaky debris, dreary, washed out, green and red, and rather unsettling.

I think, as a player, I would really enjoy a campaign that highlighted parts on undersea life that I never real knew about. Some education in my entertainment if you will.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Jul 11, 2010)

Especially attacks from lightning fast ambush predators- can you say Engulf?


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## knightofround (Jul 11, 2010)

Aeolius said:


> (Again this is cross-posted at EN World, wizards.com, Giants in the Playground, Pen and Paper Games, RPG.net., PhoenixLore, and Canonfire)
> 
> Apathy.
> 
> ...




If a thread is buried, it's buried for a reason. Lack of public interest. Honestly your best bet would be a blog where you can post ideas and get feedback. Personally I check out blogs linked in signatures by posters, if I think they posted something good and am looking for more of the same. 

And if you don't get response...then well, ya gotta be honest with yourself here. D&D is already a *very* niche hobby, and making it work in undersea environments is even more niche.


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## Raven Crowking (Jul 13, 2010)

Removed


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## Noumenon (Jul 14, 2010)

I agree with knightofround, mostly -- I might like running Castle Whiterock for people, but I don't need there to always be a thread about Castle Whiterock on the front page.  I can still play it without there being one.  

Now, let's say I want to generate stuff about Castle Whiterock in a never-ending stream of custom tokens, illustrations of each room, dialogue suggestions for each room, but nobody is interested or asking for it, and everybody I know has already played through it.  And even on the Goodman Games forums no one wants to talk about it.  Well... I could run Castle Whiterock at conventions, hoping 5 of the 200 people who look through the event list want to try it.  I could look for people who are making new things that are similar to Castle Whiterock, and apply my efforts to those instead.  But I guess ultimately it would become like having a huge affinity for _Buffy: the Vampire Slayer_.  You can keep producing fanfic and doing a watch-n-post thread on the old forum every year, but eventually everyone is going to move on to a new fandom and you're producing for nobody.  

I guess you just gotta move on too; maybe instead of D&D underwater adventures, you try making an underwater mod for Civilization 5 or Elemental, or see if anyone wants to play an RPG version of Bioshock with its underwater city.


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## Noumenon (Jul 14, 2010)

Oh, with regard to replacing the races: I don't love it.  I mean, when I play a campaign in the underdark I don't have to play a drow or a duergar.  And even if I win I'll never be able to go above water and lead a normal life.  Basically when you say "fight krakens and jellyfish, see merfolk cities" I'm right there with you, when you say "accept that the entire world is underneath the ocean" it starts to sound limited.


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## Vyvyan Basterd (Jul 14, 2010)

Noumenon said:


> Oh, with regard to replacing the races: I don't love it.  I mean, when I play a campaign in the underdark I don't have to play a drow or a duergar.  And even if I win I'll never be able to go above water and lead a normal life.  Basically when you say "fight krakens and jellyfish, see merfolk cities" I'm right there with you, when you say "accept that the entire world is underneath the ocean" it starts to sound limited.




Fine, you can play the squirrel in the scuba suit...


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## Aus_Snow (Jul 14, 2010)

Just gotta say, that anyone who hasn't played in (or run) an underwater RPG campaign, ought to at least consider the possibility. Why? Because, no matter how fantastic it sounds in theory, it's just that much more awesome in practice.


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## Aeolius (Aug 14, 2010)

Jhaelen said:


> The reason I enjoyed reading Schätzing's 'Der Schwarm' was because it's full of fun and often little known facts about everything related to the (under)sea.




100 People Injured By Stingrays In 4 days
Jellyfish Attack More than 700 Tourists

Hrmmmm.....


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## Dannyalcatraz (Aug 15, 2010)

Vyvyan Basterd said:


> Fine, you can play the squirrel in the scuba suit...




"_Scuba Squirrel
Scuba Squirrel
wettest rodent
in the world

Is he cool?
Listen dude,
He goes swimming
in the nude

Hey maaaaan
there goes the Scuba Squirrel_"

I'm soooooooo there!


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## Kaodi (Aug 15, 2010)

I was led from one of those articles to reading up on the Portugese Man-o-War, and from there, the blanket octopus. I mean, come on! Crazy tool wielding octopi? The bloody things rip off man-o-war tentacles to use as defensive weapons! Not to mention the man-o-wars are four creatures in one? Holy Mother of God.


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## Aeolius (Aug 15, 2010)

Kaodi said:


> Not to mention the man-o-wars are four creatures in one? Holy Mother of God.




That little tidbit still makes me all happy inside. The sort of happy that makes a DM giggle from behind the safety of a screen.


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## Aeolius (Aug 15, 2010)

Kaodi said:


> I was led from one of those articles to reading up on the Portugese Man-o-War, and from there, the blanket octopus. I mean, come on! Crazy tool wielding octopi?



Which of course leads to this:


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## Sunseeker (Aug 15, 2010)

Aeolius said:


> I have been running undersea D&D campaigns since 1998; first with “Beneath the Pinnacles of Azor’alq” (play-by-post) followed by “Heirs of Turucambi” (chat-based). The campaigns draw from my interests in marine biology and my hobby of keeping saltwater aquariums, coupled with my fascination with various mythological creatures such as hags, dragons, and demons. I started my current game 3 years ago. While I have a stable following of devoted players (thank you, folks!), I occasionally get the urge to step back, look at my game from a distance, and reinvent my approach as Master Storyteller for my players.



Good on you, sadly I do this too often and never get anything done!



> If your current DM approached you with the idea of starting a new campaign set primarily beneath the surface of the sea, what would be your first reaction? Suppose the “core races” were replaced with the likes of sea elves, locathah, and merfolk (or any race that that has a swim speed and the aquatic subtype). Would that be enough to alienate you?



As long as I could play a squid/octopus man/woman I would be happy.  Honestly I love fantastical races even if they're portrayed as "normal", to me, it adds whole new dimensions to the RP experience.  What does my character worry about below the belt if not pants and shoes, how does the geometry of swimming(essentially flying) differ from running or walking, ect...



> I set my games on Oerth, the world of Greyhawk. Prior knowledge of the campaign setting is not required. I also tend to scale back on the use of dragons, while overpopulating the world with hags. Again, this is simply my personal signature in my games. Is that the killing blow that distances potential players?



To me, a little bit, partially because as above, I do not view hags as such fantastical creatures.  They're mythology is based in the mundane of reality, that is, old women who lived in the woods whose husbands were dead.  It doesn't excite me very much.  



> My games tend to be role-play heavy and combat light. Rolling lots of dice tends to break my “willing suspension of disbelief”. Spending hours speaking in character as a room full of NPCs is my bread and butter. Again, I know this does not appeal to everyone.



I agree that too many d20 rolls break suspension of disbelief, but for me, this is mainly for checks.  I enjoy combat and I think the fun of 3D undersea combat(since your enemy could attack from above as well as below) would be just too much for me not to want to do it all the time.



> I am aware that life underwater has its limitations; typical potions are all but impossible to imbibe, paper scrolls will quickly disintegrate, and typical metal items are subject to corrosion. Many typical spells may not suitable for underwater casting. Treasure may be similarly altered, as many undersea races value rare corals, pearls, and shells far more than coins and gemstones. This is one of my most enjoyable aspects of the game - creation.



If you can reasonably make me believe that my shell-mail is of similar function to scale-mail, then I really don't care.  Again, I enjoy the fantastic and despise the literal. 



> With that in mind, what are your preferences, for such an adventure? What would you expect to see, in an undersea game? What would make the campaign memorable, enjoyable, and enduring? What would make you want to spend years exploring the realm of liquid space?



I would want to explore everything that "normal" races cannot do, such as 3-dimensional combat, the effects of swimming vs walking to locations, "sleep" underwater, the variety of races the sea can produce without going into the alien(ie: outer-planar races often used to expand traditional land races).  I admit I'm more combat oriented, and less of RP-oriented, but that's generally because I find most fantasy worlds so _normal_


Your ideas sound impressive and very cool, and while I wouldn't play online(simply because I don't enjoy it), I would love to try it in person.


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## Kaodi (Aug 15, 2010)

shidaku said:


> Your ideas sound impressive and very cool, and while I wouldn't play online(simply because I don't enjoy it), I would love to try it in person.




If only Aeo would move to London Ontario...


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## Noumenon (Aug 15, 2010)

The idea of what it's like to sleep underwater is cool.  I think I'll put some "water beds" in my next tavern with potions of waterbreathing.


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## Aeolius (Aug 15, 2010)

Noumenon said:


> The idea of what it's like to sleep underwater is cool.  I think I'll put some "water beds" in my next tavern with potions of waterbreathing.




You might take notes from the parrot fish, which I mentioned over here


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## Dannyalcatraz (Aug 16, 2010)

Re: Equipment

Upthread, someone bemoaned that potions and scrolls and the like would be impossible or difficult to do in an underwater campaign...but there are ways around that.

SM Stirling has a series of books in which the Martians have developed biotech to the same kinds of levels as our "traditional" tech.  I could easily see- especially in a world with magic- undersea races doing likewise.  Potions would be created in the form of specially bred Sea Cucumbers- squeeze, consume & discard for a dose.

Scrolls and Tomes could be written in the chromatophores of specially bred critters.  A scroll would be on something small like a specially bred flounder fry, which, after the casting, would swim off (unable to be reused).  A Tome could be written on the skin of a cephalopod...possibly one that is symbiotic with its owner.

All you have to do is think outside the Box (jelly).


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## Kaodi (Aug 16, 2010)

I think it may be possible that the need to create " equivalents " that work underwater is a tad gamist. Not that that is bad, but it might be informative to think of it from an evolutionary perspective. You are a primitive merfolk spellcaster; what are your apparent needs? How you craft your magic items is going to be an extension of how you already live, not an adaptation of surface world techniques. Also, along this line of thought, I think would be interesting to try and brainstorm what aquatic spellcasters could easily do that surface spellcasters could not.

On the other hand, even if magic items are like surface world ones, they may be different in important ways which change the dynamics of underwater adventureres (and adventurers). For instance, wizards have " spellbooks " but in reality the text is carved into stone tablets, which makes them, on a day to day basis, immobile. Or, you could take a page out of Dune, and say that aquatic spellcasters, like the human computers, just have to develop the ability to keep all of their spell knowledge in their minds. Scrolls could be imprinted on your own skin. Since ink would be difficult to use underwater, perhaps they use puncture scars and a written language similar in principle to Braille. And potions, similarly, might be a sharp object which you pucture your skin with in order for the magic to mix with your blood.


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## Aeolius (Aug 16, 2010)

One could look at examples such as the alternate potions, scrolls, and spellbooks in Complete Arcane, as well as the infusions from Masters of the Wild.

     Envision a subaqueous wizard who infuses living mushroom corals with arcane and alchemical properties, in lieu of potions. The stonier branching corals are saved for use as living wands. The shells of snails and cowries are etched with mysterious symbols of power to serve as spell tokens, while the more delicate sand dollars, sea biscuits , and urchins have proven adequate for use as spell scrolls.


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## DMH (Aug 19, 2010)

Aeolius, have you seen National Geographic's Drain the Ocean? Very interesting in terms of topography and possible habitats.


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## LurkMonkey (Aug 19, 2010)

I have always been fascinated by the thought of an undersea adventure. I went so far as to flesh out a few habitations in my homebrew world. Being a big fan of the whole pirate/carribean thing, I made an area dotted with hundreds of differently-scaled islands in a relatively shallow sea. Aquatic races interact with their above-water cousins on a fairly frequent basis. There is even a breed of aquatic 'pirates' that attack vessels from underneath. To combat this, there are mercenary companies that are paid by merchants to escort their ships (the area has no strong government, so security must be arranged by the merchants).

One fun thing I thought up was a half sea-elven captain of on of these mercenary teams named Nyla Greenwater. She and her mercenary team ride dolphins into battle, and her dolphin Bluerazor has a ring of Levitation attached to his fluke, so he is able to swim above water as well as below. I had always envisioned my players going into a tavern and come face to face with a dolphin splashing in the horse trough in front. It would be a classic WTF? moment


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## Aeolius (Aug 19, 2010)

DMH said:


> Aeolius, have you seen National Geographic's Drain the Ocean? Very interesting in terms of topography and possible habitats.




Yep, I saw that one.  NatGeo is running a new one, now; Dawn of the Ocean


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## Dannyalcatraz (Aug 19, 2010)

Don't recall whether I mentioned this one in the aquatic database, but today I remembered another way to handle spellbooks in aquatic campaigns: wampum (duh)!

What would be more natural for Aqua-Mage than weaving together polished bits of bone, tusks, stone, shell and coral with byssal & baleen to permanently capture magical writings?

Scrimshaw also springs to mind.


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## Benthicus (Dec 8, 2010)

Aeolius, I'm not sure if you're still looking at any of these threads, but I wanted to reassure you that I think there's plenty of interest out there for undersea gaming! 

I'm pretty new to D&D (and I'm also very new to posting on forums, you might notice) but I've always had an interest in taking my games underwater, right from day one. And as far as the typical player is concerned, I think people are always looking for something new in roleplaying games. As long as they're presented with something believable that gives them the freedom to make interesting characters, I think they would go for it.

There are a few obstacles, I suppose. Like other people have said, there isn't much support for the rules, and the environment tends to limit player's options. If there was an actual setting to work with, I think these problems could be taken care of.

I'm currently designing a homebrew setting. I have a couple of different ideas, all for underwater games, and I'd love to bounce some of them around. This is addressed to the whole community of course, not just Aeolius, but it was his incredible devotion to undersea gaming that inspired me to start posting. I guess I should have started a new thread, and I probably will do that, but I think this one is appropriate too.


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## Sorrowdusk (Dec 8, 2010)

Did anyone like 3.x Stormwrack?


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## El Mahdi (Dec 8, 2010)

Aeolius said:


> ...With that in mind, what are your preferences, for such an adventure? What would you expect to see, in an undersea game? What would make the campaign memorable, enjoyable, and enduring? What would make you want to spend years exploring the realm of liquid space?




I know this thread died out back in August, but I hadn't read it before and it happened to intrigue me. So, here goes:

What interests me isn't the standard D&D underwater campaigns. They tend to basically just be D&D type races and monsters in an underwater environment, rather than something unique.

I've always wanted to use the underwater race(s) from _The Abyss_ for a D&D game. Not a D20 Modern/Future game, but an honest to god D&D game.

In the movie they are obviously a very technologically advanced race. One far beyond surface dwellers. But what would their race and civilization look like during their medieval period? That's a campaign setting I'd like to introduce. I could see them having some rudimentary control of water, similar to what's seen in the movie, but definitely not on as large a scale as the movie (no ability to destroy the surface world). Even their rudimentary "medieval" technology would probably appear as magic, magic on a par with regular D&D magic, yet very different in appearance and effect.


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## DumbPaladin (Dec 8, 2010)

*Equipment & clothing*

It hasn't been discussed a whole lot, but if you're playing a mostly above-water campaign and you suddenly go into the ocean ... what exactly do your PCs wear and utilize?  Obviously water breathing or some similar magic is likely in effect ... and freedom of movement lets you use whatever weapon you like ... but none of that covers exactly what the proper "dress code" is for a benthic adventure.


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## gamerprinter (Dec 8, 2010)

While my intro mini arc for my Kaidan setting is coming soon. I've always wanted to develop a 1-20 full campaign set in my Japan inspired horror setting, and at higher levels, I wanted to include an undersea adventure.

I even created a map for a proposed city under the sea called Ryukyo (Sea Dragon City). The torus like gate on the bottom left corner of the map is the entrance to the Sea Dragon Palace. The Sea Dragon (Ryu) is a deity. Assorted Ningyo (Japanese mermaids), Samebito (sharkmen) and other sea denizens dwell there. Note the lower depths include structures as well.

I will get to the larger campaign, and I will get to this city, somehow...

GP

Link to larger version of this map - Sea Dragon City.


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## Aeolius (Dec 9, 2010)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> What would be more natural for Aqua-Mage than weaving together polished bits of bone, tusks, stone, shell and coral with byssal & baleen to permanently capture magical writings? Scrimshaw also springs to mind.



     I devised a spellbook in a similar vein, a dreamcatcher filled with spell tokens (Complete Arcane). As for scrimshaw, I had a pirate bone creature of the same name. 



Benthicus said:


> Like other people have said, there isn't much support for the rules, and the environment tends to limit player's options. If there was an actual setting to work with, I think these problems could be taken care of.



     I agree that, for those looking for official rules, options can be somewhat limited; Stormwrack, Into the Blue, and The Deep seem to be the most thorough treatments, thus far, and of course all are out of print.
   As for the environment being limiting, I tend to think quite the opposite. There are undersea analogs of most Drylander environments; forests of kelp or mangrove roots, a jungle of floating sargassum seaweed, “deserts” of bleached corals or urchin barrens, fields of seagrass, and brambles of living sea stars come to mind, as well as the more extreme settings of black smokers (hydrothermal vents), cold seeps (undersea lakes), and the blackness of the abyssal depths themselves. Add to this the dangers of a three dimensional world; Drylanders sailing upon the surface of the sea, shallow-dwelling and amphibious creatures lurking just below them, beasts which roam the open seas, and the mysterious bioluminescent world of the deep.  



Sorrowdusk said:


> Did anyone like 3.x Stormwrack?



     Absolutely! Stormwrack was very inspirational, to my current game. Blackwater, riverine, and pearlsteel found instant uses, as did many of the monsters mentioned within. 



El Mahdi said:


> I've always wanted to use the underwater race(s) from _The Abyss_ for a D&D game... what would their race and civilization look like during their medieval period?



     In my last game, I had “abyssal elves”, inspired by the same movie. They were taken from drow stock and became a race gifted with “hydrokinesis”. I also have my ephyra, a psionic “mer-jellyfish” race.  



DumbPaladin said:


> ...if you're playing a mostly above-water campaign and you suddenly go into the ocean ... what exactly do your PCs wear and utilize?



     That’s one reason that I set the following stipulations for PCs in my game; they must have a natural swim speed and the ability to breathe underwater without the use of magic. Savage Species also has a “Ritual of Gills” that grants the aquatic subtype, if you are looking for something unconventional. 



gamerprinter said:


> I've always wanted to develop a 1-20 full campaign set in my Japan inspired horror setting, and at higher levels, I wanted to include an undersea adventure.



     Very nice.  In my current game one PC is a sea elf ninja, while another is a merfolk shugenja.


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## Benthicus (Dec 9, 2010)

I meant that underwater environments seem limiting to those who haven't played in them. I think when you consider that your characters can (in effect) fly and travel at high speeds through currents, there are plenty of options.

I've always liked the idea of a deep-sea D&D game as well (although, sadly, I've never seen the Abyss). There are some great campaign ideas you could run with. A long hunt across the Abyssal plain, or a mass migration. Many of the deep-sea ecosystems are fragile, especially hydrothermal vents, so imagine what happens when an entire community based around black smokers suddenly collapses when the vents stop spewing. The players would have to lead their people (their blind, albino crab-people) across the plains from whale-carcass to whale-carcass, searching for the new promised land.


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## Aeolius (Dec 9, 2010)

Benthicus said:


> I've always liked the idea of a deep-sea D&D game as well...




You might enjoy:
Blue Planet - The Deep (iTunes)
Ghosts of the Abyss (iTunes)

In addition to anguillians, I placed deep sea water dwarves, a chemosynthetic red-skinned race that lives near black smokers and uses the vents as forges to make calciferous weapons and armor. They have recently begun to mine explosive crystals known as "frozen thunder" (methane hydrate).


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## Benthicus (Dec 9, 2010)

I loved Blue Planet! Great inspiration for my underwater coral cities. And those hive-shrimp are definitely making it into my game in a giant form.

I bought The Deep over the summer, and it has probably been the most useful book I own for designing a believable underwater campaign setting. A lot of the stuff that people have brought up on this thread is covered in The Deep, including magic, equipment, armor, etc.

The book is also, unfortunately, missing a lot of material. I remember there was some talk on another forum about some errata for The Deep possibly existing. Has anyone found this? Has anyone ever had contact with the people from Mystic Eye Games? I just really want to know what a Giant Popping Shrimp is!!!


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## Dannyalcatraz (Dec 9, 2010)

I confess I kept looking at- and passing over- Blue Planet.  I may have to look at it again...


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## Aeolius (Dec 9, 2010)

Benthicus said:


> The book is also, unfortunately, missing a lot of material. I remember there was some talk on another forum about some errata for The Deep possibly existing. Has anyone found this? Has anyone ever had contact with the people from Mystic Eye Games? I just really want to know what a Giant Popping Shrimp is!!!



     I was an uncredited consultant on MEG's The Deep (yeah, I know... go figure). Basically I looked at the material and made a few suggestions here and there. The book did ship with editing issues and unfortunately Mystic Eye closed their doors shortly thereafter. If you can track down Susannah Redelfs, she would know far more that I. 

     As for popping shrimp, that would most likely be either a pistol or mantis shrimp:








Dannyalcatraz said:


> I confess I kept looking at- and passing over- Blue Planet.  I may have to look at it again...



Discovery has the DVDs for $45 (Blue-ray on sale for $30)
iTunes has the series available for $15


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## Benthicus (Dec 10, 2010)

I'm not sure how I'd ever track her down. Whenever I google her name I either get stuff that's tangentially related to The Deep, or some kind of New Age religion site. It doesn't really matter, I think the book is still pretty awesome as it is, just a bit messy. 

Has anyone checked out Sunken Empires for Pathfinder? There's some great new aquatic monsters, and if you like the Aboleth (which I most certainly do) there's some cool stuff on glyph magic, and some variations on their basic design.


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## kitsune9 (Dec 10, 2010)

Aeolius said:


> If your current DM approached you with the idea of starting a new campaign set primarily beneath the surface of the sea, what would be your first reaction? Suppose the “core races” were replaced with the likes of sea elves, locathah, and merfolk (or any race that that has a swim speed and the aquatic subtype). Would that be enough to alienate you?




I would have some reservations, but I'd say, "Go on...."



> I set my games on Oerth, the world of Greyhawk. Prior knowledge of the campaign setting is not required. I also tend to scale back on the use of dragons, while overpopulating the world with hags. Again, this is simply my personal signature in my games. Is that the killing blow that distances potential players?




No problem with me there.



> My games tend to be role-play heavy and combat light. Rolling lots of dice tends to break my “willing suspension of disbelief”. Spending hours speaking in character as a room full of NPCs is my bread and butter. Again, I know this does not appeal to everyone.




You lost me there. I'm a real 50/50 mix guy. I can't sit around for four hours and do nothing but talk or maybe only do one combat encounter out of eight hours of gaming. However, this is just me, so it's not a criticism on the play style because I know that there are many players who really love the roleplay aspect, hate combat or vice versa. 


I do think it's cool that you have an entire campaign that's undersea. I think it would be interesting on the various themes and adventure ideas you came up with.


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## El Mahdi (Dec 11, 2010)

DumbPaladin said:


> ... but none of that covers exactly what the proper "dress code" is for a benthic adventure.




I would think anything goes...except Speedo's.


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## Aeolius (Dec 11, 2010)

El Mahdi said:


> I would think anything goes...except Speedo's.




a certain NWN ad that ran years ago in Maxim magazine comes to mind...


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## lamia (Dec 12, 2010)

This thread is lovely. One of my players is a ranger with aquatic humanoid as her favored enemy (her backstory involves some mermaid mishaps). So even though I've never done any aquatic d and d, I felt it was my responsibility as a nice DM to give her an evil mermaid cult to fight. I've never played aquatic d and d, so I've been perusing Stormwrack for ideas. Just thought I would pop in and voice my appreciation for the inspiration! (And since more than half my players are female, perhaps Speedo is completely acceptable!)


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## Benthicus (Dec 15, 2010)

I thought it would be better to post a new thread for this.

Underwater Campaign Setting

Any sort of feedback you can give would be helpful. Even if you just want to talk about some of your own experiences with designing or playing an underwater setting, it's all good. 

Also, who has actually read The Deep (I know Aeolius has)? What did people think of the rules and the setting? It's had a huge impact on the creation of my world. Coral magic and the Coryphenes were such good ideas that I had to steal them completely. In the book, wizards imprint their spells telepathically on a living reef, and they all share it for storing spells and information. The Coryphenes are a different kind of wizard that power their spells with ocean currents, and they can instantly teleport people to different places that are connected by currents (think hyperspace lanes).


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## Aeolius (Dec 17, 2010)

Animal Planet is showing "Blue Planet" episodes from 8pm-2am (Eastern), tonight. Enjoy!


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## Aeolius (Dec 24, 2010)

And now for something completely different:

Christmas Tree Worm:
Saltwater Aquarium Inverts for Marine Reef Aquariums: Christmas Tree Worm on Rock, Multicolor

Christmas Wrasse:
Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Christmas Wrasse, Fiji

Christmas Tree Coral:
Christmas Tree Coral

(searches for Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Festivus, and Kwanzaa had 0 results)

Deep-Sea News Holiday Gift Giving Guide:
DSN Holiday Gift Giving Guide | Deep Sea News


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## Aeolius (Dec 30, 2010)

A recap of last Sunday's game session, just to set the mood:

	In the last session (12/26), the party arrived at the site known as the Chamber of Dissolution. Charged with the task of inspecting and preparing the ancient clockwork mechanisms within four sites, they recalled freeing the hivemind witch Guri from the Grail of Impurities but leaving the site without attending to the musical machine within. At the second site, known only as the Orb of Purification, the party encountered the spectral kraken Mikrokosmus. One site, the Deadwater Fountain, remained undiscovered.

	It was the undead kraken that shared the means of destroying the enclave of mermaid witches which now wore his tentacles, grafted in place of their tails. The four sites must be prepared with care and a sacrifice must be placed upon the altar hidden beneath the isle, causing the Sinking Isle to rise once more. Then ancient gears would spring into motion, acting in unison to forge a weapon of the mysterious metal known as Oerthblood.

	The tsantsa Meir, once a shellycoat of great power but now an unliving shrunken head slain by her own daughter, reflected upon the party’s predicament. Having visited Turucambi Reef, the party collected the first of three tomes which outlined the means by  which her mother Xaetra might be restored to life. With the knowledge gleaned from the first tome, they collected Xaetra’s soul within an artifact known as the Lazarus.

	Transported from Turucambi to the waters near the Sinking Isle, in the realm of the Sea Barons, the party recovered the second tome which trapped the hag’s soul within a magical construct, an eidolon, fashioned from ambergris. The third tome, which would restore the hag to life, was supposedly lost within a region known as the Jungle of Lost Ships.

	Upon Xaetra’s resurrection, the evils of the blackwater hag Diadema would be undone, for her unliving form incorporated the mortal remains of Xaetra herself, as well as Xaetra’s sea hag granddaughter Tempest and daughter Salkt, a salt hag. Xaetra had learned that, upon her return to life she would embrace the path of the Chronomancer. She would travel to far future to witness the destruction of Oerth, before being trapped in the distant past. Upon her temporal travels, she would leave clues to her future self, in the form of the three tomes. 

	The viletooth lizardman Dorman was the first to see that, standing atop the remains of the tower walls which held the Chamber of Dissolution, were six skeletal forms. NeeKaa, the oceanid, spied gears turning beneath the bony ribcages of the strange creatures and plates of opalescent pearlsteel bolted to their bones. The sea elf Sakura watched as the skeletons ascended the tower walls to throw the bones they had collected into its hollow interior.

	Wielding spears seemingly fashioned from the spines of dolphins, the clockwork skeletons closed upon the party. The diminutive anemoid known as Knot, member of a race of intelligent anemones, divined that their opponents were not creatures of the undead. Dorman was the first to discover that the bony spears held electrical magics. 

	As Sakura’s young ward Reiko watched two of the skeletons fighting one another, the party’s locathah companion Canthus used his magical cuttlefish quill to coat the gears of one skeleton with viscous ink. The skeleton turned upon the unwary artisan and unleashed the fury of its spear upon him. Canthus noted the spears were actually the skeletons of eels, coated similarly with pearlsteel.  

	Sakura felt her own powers of stealth and darkness grow, in part due to her growing attraction to the unusual blackwater currents within a shallow trench upon the isle. Her ward Reiko, however, had been dealt a crippling blow during her recent abduction by the mermaid witches and their benefactor, a sea hag fleshwarper known only as Purl. Purl removed Reiko’s legs and grafted in their place the body of a water naga, while simultaneously grafting two tentacles from a giant squid and an eye from a powerful beast known as the eye of the deep.  

	Reiko’s fragile sanity had been saved, in party due to her timely bonding with Shadow, a ghostly visage. Dorman had previously bonded with the living tattoo Echo, another of the soul shards cast off by Xaetra before her murder at the hands of a covey of hags led by Tempest. The third shard, known simply as Me, remains undiscovered. 

	During the ensuing battle, NeeKaa, Canthus, and Dorman were injured by the magical spears. One of the skeletal assailants was destroyed in a cloud of bubbles spewing from the base of the tower, while another was destroyed by one of its own. The part noted that each skeleton seemed to have one component which was made entirely of metal and enshrouded in eldritch fire of azure hue.

	In due time, the battle was won, in part due to the aid of the party’s many companions, including the amphisbaena eel Jur, hatchling coral dragon Gobble, and Hasu the half-dragon sea cat. The locathah Canthus, struck twice by the electrical spears, was slain in the course of the combat. Removed from the innate abilities she once held in life, Xaetra relied upon the components held within her mystic apothecary. Using an arcane infusion, she transformed the corpse of Canthus into a statue of stone.

	Examining the base of the tower in closer detail, the party noted it was ringed by a circle of statues, each of an unknown humanoid that seemed both reptilian and fish-like. One statue stood out from the rest, however, as it appeared as a concave depression instead of a sculpture.  


DM’S NOTES: To be honest, I wasn’t sure if anyone was going to show up on the day after Christmas. We gamed an extra hour, so I was more than pleased. The players of Ryllis the shoal halfling, Junae the mermaid, and Sir Boral the aventi did not attend tonight’s game.

	The four sites of ancient clockwork mechanisms were inspired by equipment used to keep saltwater reef aquariums. The Grail of Impurities, Orb of Purification, Chamber of Dissolution, and Deadwater Fountain were simply a protein skimmer, ultraviolet sterilizer, calcium reactor, and reverse osmosis/deionization filter, albeit in a grand scale with some magics thrown in. 

	The clockwork skeletons, inspired by the Antikythera Mechanism, were actually gold clockwork horrors.


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## Benthicus (Dec 30, 2010)

Excellent! I'm reading this just after watching Finding Nemo again with the family, and now I have two sources of aquatic inspiration. 

I would actually love to read a short summary of your Heirs of Turucambi campaign. I know it's been going for a long time and that may seem impossible, but it would give me some more ideas about how to structure a long-term campaign in my setting. All I really know about it is that it takes place in Greyhawk, and it has a lot of hags.


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## Aeolius (Jan 8, 2011)

I posted last week's recap in this thread , just for a change of pace.


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## Aeolius (Feb 13, 2011)

I just noticed that Cerulean Seas now has s a softcover print-to-order option, over at RPGNow; $20 for the PDF, $40 for the hardcopy, $50 for both.


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## Bryal (Feb 14, 2011)

I'm currently looking into making a purely aquatic game but need some suggestions for races as I want to avoid having an aquatic elf, human etc. I took a liking to two races in stormwrack the Avetni and Darfellan but want to expend a bit more with templates for merfolk (Half fish, shark, eel, octopus and manta ray), crustacean humanoids and reptilian or amphibious cross overs.

The setting I was aiming for would be caribbean or tropical with alot of coral reef shelves and kelp forests acting as plateaus with steep dropoffs rising above the abyssal plain. Travel between each plateau would be done by catching rides on gargantuan but tamed beasts such as giant turtles, whales, manta rays and other assortments of giant fish. Those brave enough to travel the open seas themselves use the ever changing channels and currents, some traveling in schools (Or pods) for protection.

I've already been tampering with ideas of fire spells working underwater with an easy fix of simply making the water around the area boil and mist. Spell books and scrolls would be written or more so carved into thin sheets of sea sponge that absorb ink and can be wrapped into a ball-like cacoon for easy carrying on one's belt. Lightning spells are still a work-in-progress however 

Any books, links or ideas (Both over-used and original) to help me out would be great!


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## Aeolius (Mar 27, 2011)

It's been awhile since I posted a recap of a Game Session.

	In the last session (03/20) the party spoke with Scia, the elderly shaman who seemed to lead the remaining slaves abandoned by the kraken Mikros, in a subterranean passage deep within the Sinking Isle itself. Concerned by the appearance of the child Reiko and her well-being in the face of the grafts she unwillingly received, Scia slowly approached the girl and revealed grafts of her own.

	"These..." she touched the green scaly skin around her gills "Were once part of Shulshalus, a mighty sahuagin warrior. He speaks to me, from time to time." she smiled "At first I was afraid. But soon I understood that I honored him, by keeping even this small part of him alive."

	In time, Scia led the party to a rectangular chamber filled with massive intersecting metal pipes. Between the pipes, hammocks fashioned of netting and seaweed were seen. Along the wall, enormous barnacle shells seemed to grow in a cluster.

	As the shaman continued to interrogate the party, regarding their knowledge of the sea hag fleshwarper Purl, NeeKaa recalled the words of the hivemind witch known as Guri. "Purl's weakness is blackwater, as I have told your companion." she had spoken "Aiptasia is a seahorse of a different color. In her madness, she fears her own reflection". The topic turned to talks of the unliving hag Diadema and the mysterious substance known as Blackwater. When NeeKaa revealed what she had learned, Scia’s interest was obviously piqued.

	"Covey?" Scia questioned "Purl spoke of a Blue Coven, when she thought she was alone. Three hags in the service of Olhydra. I believe she worshipped them. Does this help, in any way?"

	When reprimanded by Xaetra, for mentioning the name of the Elemental Princess aloud, Scia shrugged off the warning.

	"Did you ever wonder, eidolon?" Scia turned to face the ambergris hag "Why? Why does she seek to drain the sea? Malice? Chaos? A dire untoward plan? What does she stand to gain?"

	This spurred Xaetra into further debate.

	"And you, druidess." Xaetra retorted "What do you stand to gain, waiting here countless centuries? Aye. I can sense both your time upon this Oerth and your calling."

	"I... I cannot leave." Scia stammered "To leave is certain death. The forge forestalls aging, but its effects do not carry beyond these walls. Suffice to say that the Hearth of Hearts has prolonged our lives, here. But if we leave these caves, our years return." slowly, Scia added "I admit that I am over three hundred years of age."

	Leaving the party to their rest and slumber, Scia returned to her people. Those who slept once again found themselves sharing a communal dreamscape. Emerging within a dimly-lit oubliette, each party member beheld phosphorescent etchings depicting several sea creatures commonly found in the shallows. Those who had visited the spherical chamber once before recalled the tattoos, bearing the likeness of a single etching they had chosen on their prior journey, now illustrated upon their skin.

	Within the tide pool, Xaetra appeared as a hagfish, Jaena manifest as a silver shelled hermit crab with Jariah fastened to her shell as a barnacle. The reef hag Ciliaris emerged as a blue-eyed scallop, while Meir had chosen a humble chiton. Beside the sea urchin Reiko, a sea snake, puffer fish, and striped shrimp manifested.

	"Do you remember me, young one?" the sea snake asked "I am Jade."
	"And I am Pin'clarr" the puffer added
	"What... what is this place?" the shrimp asked with the voice of Scia "Am I dreaming?"

	 "Scia, is it?" Meir asked "What do you know of this Blue Coven? What do you know of the Princess of Elemental Evil... Olhydra?"

	The naming of the Elemental Princess invoked a trance within the shellycoat.

	"The elemental princess bore the offspring of the demon lord."Meir began, her voice monotonous and distant. "Twin daughters ostracized by their father. Imprisoned, in distant lakes, far from impending waters." 

	Aware that Eyebite, the hag’s tooth artifact seemingly responsible for both her unliving animation and her unbidden prophesies, had spoken through her once more Meir recalled the second artifact, a hag’s tooth, was now in the possession of the insane shellycoat Aiptasia.


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## Benthicus (Mar 27, 2011)

That is awesome! It's great how you can maintain a mythic feel with your campaign and still work in some crazy marine biology. I've actually been trying to outline different campaigns that take place in my own world. I've been approaching it Paizo style by making them each six-part adventure paths that take place in a different region.

My first story idea centers around the return of an ancient sea hag (thank you for the inspiration Aeolius) who has managed to change her body into a bloom of poisonous algae that spreads all over the Northern ocean. The heroes have to find a way to stop the spread of the algae (and the diseases that come along with it), cure those affected by it, and figure out how to permanently kill this vicious hag.

And while I'm on this subject, wouldn't it be totally sweet if Paizo released an aquatic adventure path? I don't think this would ever happen, but who knows? Underwater adventuring is on the rise thanks to Cerulean Seas, and Pathfinder has already covered a lot of ground with their setting, why not dive below the waves? I think there's lots of good material to work with already, the Aboleth and their underground ocean, the Gillmen, the Sodden Lands and the mysterious Eye of Abendego. At the very least, I think a sea-faring adventure path could happen one day.


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## Aeolius (Mar 27, 2011)

Benthicus said:


> My first story idea centers around the return of an ancient sea hag (thank you for the inspiration Aeolius) who has managed to change her body into a bloom of poisonous algae that spreads all over the Northern ocean.




Caulerpa Taxifolia, eh?   

"Recently, Caulerpa taxifolia invaded the Mediterranean, where it is not native, and was apparently was consumed by a local herbivorous fish known as the Sarpa salpa. Two people reported having hallucinations and nightmares after consuming the fish. In the Pacific, such hallucinogenic fish species are called "dream fish." Algae blooms can also cause many common edible species to become toxic and sometimes hallucinogenic." LINK

A red tide that causes hallucinations... I will be using that soon, myself.






Now THAT is the stuff of nightmares!


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## Aeolius (May 1, 2011)

My game has been between session for a few weeks, which leads my mind to wander...

	Secure in the knowledge that her companions were safe, Xaetra took a moment to herself, before the hours of slumber marked the time of dreams. Unrolling her burlap apothecary, the medicine bag that had stayed with her even beyond death itself, she inspected the hundreds of small pockets sewn into its surface. Shards of stone, dried herbs, and stoppered vials all seemed in order.

	Turning the unrolled bundle, the ambergris eidolon exposed the crudely-stitched door upon the opposite side. Knocking gently in a deliberate pattern, she steadied herself against the flow of warm waters as the apothecary stiffened and and the door slowly opened.

	Swimming swiftly beyond the doorway, Xaetra emerged into a water-filled stairwell. Along the stone walls of the passage grew a variety of corals and seaweed. Several small wooden traps held crabs which seem to be unmoving. The mortar between the stones illuminated the stairwell with a pale blue phosphorescence.

	Slowly drifting past traps of wood and wire which held their captives in unwaking sleep, the hag encountered the barrier of shimmering mucus which divided the stairwell. Xaetra steadied herself, as she entered the portion of her root cellar filled with breathable air. Shielding her eyes from the golden light cast by the stones set in the ceiling above, she inspected the growth of her garden. An abundance of tubers; potatoes, carrots, turnips, and radishes grew within decorative urns, while flowering vines clung to the walls themselves.

	Walking further upward, Xaetra felt the vines beneath her toes as pumpkins, melons, and gourds enveloped the stairs below. Clinging to trellises secured to the stonework walls, herbs and spices filled the air with a cacophony of pungent aromas. An earthen layer upon the stairwell served to nourish a variety of vegetables, while fruit trees grew within soil prepared with care within receptacles seemingly shaped in the likeness of massive conch shells, skulls, and geodes.

	Pausing by an an unassuming section of stone, Xaetra traced her fingertip in a peculiar pattern atop the mortar. In response, a hidden chamber was revealed. In the passage beyond, resting upon a bed of ferns and wildflowers, Anasta slept. The alu-demon, restored by a single drop of blood protected by her sacred amulet, silently awaited the time of awakening.

	Glaucus held the key. The scarab beetle, seemingly fashioned of glass and roughly the size of a man’s fist, had once served as Anasta’s own amulet, the sanctuary for her soul. Having attained sentience after the demon’s death, Glaucus now served as caretaker for Xaetra’s magical cellar.

	“Greetings, my granddaughter.” she whispered in quiet reverence “Our last story explored the origins of the Devils’ Purse; the shard of the sea between Turucambi Reef, the Sinking Isle, and the Jungle of Lost Ships. Marked by ancient altars, each capable of unleashing maelstroms of unfathomable strength, the angles of the Devils’ Purse should be well remembered, as they define the birthplace of the Leviathan - guardian of the Solnor.

	But one Leviathan may dwell within the waters of the Solnor, though many have assumed the mantle of power granted by the Devils’ Purse. In bygone ages, the Leviathan was borne from the stock of a nautilus and zaratan. Aye, the Chamber of Reflection within Turucambi Reef marks the remains of the nautilus. The hollow shell of the zaratan is ensnared in the waters to the north. The last Leviathan was fashioned from the form of a kraken.

	Do not say it aloud. I know what you must be thinking. In life, the spectral kraken known as Mikros served as the Leviathan. 

	Within the currents of current days, the hydrimera retains the right to the title of Leviathan. Once banished from the Solnor into the Dramidj Ocean in western waters, the beast was fated to return to the Devils’ Purse.

	I am loathe to speak of this to the others, but I bear responsibility for the beast’s return. My beloved Zander, in what surely must have been an epic battle, captured the hydrimera and imprisoned it within a magical pearl. The beast had vexed me in days long passed, so he wished to assure that such tidings would never again come to fruition.

	It was this pearl that brought life to the iron hag, the construct I once called Grandmother Clock. It was this pearl, which Jaenan inadvertently carried through the Underflow, when the construct was destroyed. It was this pearl, which Jaenan unintentionally awakened, to avoid capture by Tempest and Salkt.

	The rebirth of the hydrimera marked the deaths of the blood hag Tempest and salt hag Salkt, though heralding the birth of the blackwater hag Diadema. Their fates are intertwined in a manner I cannot fully fathom.

	Of one thing am I certain. The Leviathan of future days will arise from the form of the amphisbaena.”

	Silently, Glaucus crept from the concealed chamber, up the stairwell, and out of the magical root cellar. Without remorse, he shared the secret knowledge of Xaetra’s confession with all who would listen.


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## Aeolius (Jul 9, 2011)

A recap of last week's game, to tide you over, as there is no game this week.

	In the last session (07/03/11) the partyexplored the site of a seeming cemetery; a bed of giant clams arranged conspicuously in rows. Their appearance not unlike unkempt tombstones, the clams held a sinister secret. Each contained a blackwater wraith, a spirit given substance by the unnatural waters below. As the party noted the wraiths’ affinity for the sea elf Sakura and her blackwater-infused weaponry and cape, a school of bony blackskates formed overhead.

	One wraith in particular seemed most interested in Sakura, pointing to her with a whiplike arm before retreating within the clam shell from which he arose. As he did so, the blackskates above formed into a larger amalgamated shape, that of a manta ray. Sakura discovered, within the clam, a massive black pearl etched with golden runes. As the pearl grew inexplicably larger, the blackskates formed into the likeness of a massive jellyfish.

	Drawing closer, Sakura watched as the golden runes lifted from the black pearl. As they slowly swirled, they approached the cautious sea elf. Two writhing black tentacles rose from nearby clams and seemed to attack the drifting runes; tearing them to shreds and reforming the wayward light into words familiar to all.

	“Free us;” the words read, as they drifted freely in the surrounding sea “the pearl is our prison.  Our ship, entrapped above. Our lives, forfeit. We are the Pirates of the Black Tide, held fast to our graves by the power of the pearl placed here by one who dwells below.

	The Pearl steals from us. It grows stronger. We do not. The Pirates of the Black Tide must endure!”

	Grasping the pearl, Sakura flinched as the golden runes exploded in a shower of sparks. The blackwater, freed from its bond, flowed over Sakura's hands and seemed to disappear beneath her skin. The pearl that remains does not resemble the one first seen. It now appeared as a crystalline egg of azure hue, etched with a delicate spiral encircling its surface. Sakura was similarly affected, for the darkness of her eyes now swirled with the essence of blackwater.

	As if summoned, the massive bone jellyfish rose slightly, before moving to the north. There it began to sink into the depths. Acting on impulse, the triton called Current swam swiftly to the surface of Synsaal, the Barrier Between Worlds. There he searched for the ship mentioned by the umbral wraiths, yet he found only overgrown mounds of seaweed, writhing vines that moved of their own accord, and groves of trees growing upon the mats of seaweed that comprised the Weed-Sea.

	The aventi Noie was the first to see the approaching form to the north. Humanoid in form and stature, the creature seemed to be made of stone entrusted with coralline algae, soft corals, and sponges. Sea fans, stony corals, barnacles, and seaweed grew upon its stout frame, like badges of honor upon a tattered uniform. 

	"You have destroyed the pearl. Why?"  it asked, a crimson-hued crab crawling from between its lips as it spoke.  "Now the cloud pearl is exposed. Now they will return for it, the storm hags, as they seek control of Cloudsea.

	The covey wreaks havoc upon the waters of the Devil's Purse." the form continued “ for they control terrible waterspouts, but do not yet control the cloud itself. The pearl must be concealed. It must be contained within a natural sheath, or one of magical origins, to mask its location."

	When the party retold the events leading to the cloud pearl’s exposure, the man of liverock seemed unconcerned.

	"Unfortunate... and unintentional." it began "Many pirates have met their fate in the weed-sea, it is said. Pirates, treasure fleets, fishermen, and crafts from unknown waters.

	The pearl gathered blackwater. I assumed it was from a natural source. Rest assured if the blackwater nacre is gone, the souls will be as they were.

	How do you intend to cloak the pearl? If they sense it, if they scry it, they will come."

	After a brief exchange, the ambergris hag Xaetra procured her daughter Jariah from within her magical apothecary. Conceived from the stuff of dreams while the hag was imprisoned within Dream Lake, Jariah appeared as a human infant with skin of pearlescent hue. When the stone-man saw Jariah, he held his arms across his chest.

	"A child? A child of pearl?" he stammered “They will want to know. The whitebeards are the keepers of the forges. They tell of one with skin of pearl."  

	As the party spoke with the unnamed newcomer, they sensed movement in the waters above. An unmoving form, entangled in a fishing net, fell from the shallows. Several small sharks, their underbellies glowing with bioluminescence, took advantage of easy prey, ripping bits of flesh from the body.

	The corpse appeared to be that of the lizardman Rikas, the lycanthrope who had assisted them upon their arrival to the Jungle of Lost Ships.


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## Benthicus (Jul 9, 2011)

Does anyone know what's going with the people at Alluria Publishing? I got all excited about their mini-supplements for Cerulean Seas, but they've been mostly quiet since January.


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## Aeolius (Jul 16, 2011)

Benthicus said:


> Does anyone know what's going with the people at Alluria Publishing? I got all excited about their mini-supplements for Cerulean Seas, but they've been mostly quiet since January.




Seconded. Granted, there's nothing stopping a fan from creating such a supplement. I'd hop right on it, but these days my 3.5e undersea game (now in its 4th year!) consumes most of my gaming time. 

So, which of their Cerulean Seas supplements were you most looking forward to?


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## Benthicus (Jul 16, 2011)

Their Indigo Ice setting expansion looked like it would be interesting, mostly because they talked about including a new base class. I have to wonder what it could be, I was thinking a Ranger variant that focused on using the environment to it's advantage. It could also be more Inuit-themed, like an _angakuk_ spirit shaman or something like that.

Way back in December I remember you and Emberion discussing some other ideas for supplements too. The prehistoric oceans one was very intriguing. In my homebrew setting I've decided to replace the Ethereal plane with a new "Hollow Earth" world filled with dinosaurs and giant ammonites. Planewalkers (or planeswimmers) can travel through this world to reach the Elemental planes.

As far as Cerulean Seas is concerned, I'm mainly interested in crunch and monsters so I can use them in my own world. I would be less interested in writing fan stuff for their setting, but you're right, I could write up something myself and spread it around.


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## Benthicus (Jul 16, 2011)

I was just doing some wikipedia research on the Cambrian Explosion, and all the weird creatures from that era. Imagine your players trying to hide on the sea floor from a giant _Opabinia_! They weren't that big in real life unfortunately...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opabinia


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## Aeolius (Jul 17, 2011)

Benthicus said:


> I was just doing some wikipedia research on the Cambrian Explosion...




Speaking of...
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMwxwRA9Xr8"]Cambrian Explosion[/ame]


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## Aeolius (Oct 23, 2011)

A recap of last week's game session:

In the last session (10/16/11) the party found themselves within the rusted remains of a metal ship. The iron vessel, wedged within the Weed-Sea, was home to a company of sea ghouls and their captive yet reluctant guardian, the pink coral princess Millepora.

Once they had deciphered the means to free Millepora, the party looked to the metal ship made of metal, with no mast or oars. The third of three “twice-named” ships, the Enora Norray reportedly held the final volumes of the Dreamer’s Journal and the Tome of Apotheosis. With the first, the oceanid NeeKaa hoped to hone her skills as Oneiromancer and strengthen her hold upon the Region of Dreams. With the latter, the party hoped to restore the spirit hag Xaetra to life and thus either weaken or destroy their nemesis, the blackwater hag Diadema, by severing her bond with Xaeta’s unliving corpse.

Diadema, an undead amalgamation of three hags reanimated by the mysterious powers of blackwater, sought to awaken three magical maelstroms. In so doing, the waters of the Solnor Ocean would be siphoned through a planar portal into the hollowed caverns of the lesser moon Celene. There, the twin daughters of the demon lord Dagon and elemental princess Olhydra were imprisoned in separate cells by their father. Diadema, instructed by the hags known as the Blue Coven who in turn were directed by Olhydra, sought to free the sisters from their father’s tyrannical imprisonment.

Two of the portals, one within Turucambi Reef and the other beneath the Sinking Isle, had been found by the party. The third, they had learned, rested atop an undersea mountain beneath the Jungle of Lost Ships. The portal, awaked through the act of sacrifice upon an alter ringed by stone monoliths, was guarded by a being known as the Olio.

Through their council with a circle of fey, the party had learned there were two ways to defeat the Olio.

“What do you know of the Olio?” the sirene Gemmifera had spoken “The Olio is a monstrous creature composed of the dead. Perhaps you are familiar with salp, massive rope-like creatures made from masses of jellyfish? Together, they act as one. Such a creature now envelops the ruins below. It grows stronger, from the offerings of the dead. The golden jellies, fashioned from the flesh of the dead, all find their way to the Olio.”

“The prophesy and omen pertain to the means by which the Olio might be destroyed, freeing these waters from its grasp.” the nereid Coerulea continued “By the prophesy of the Leviathan, the Olio will meet its end in a battle of beasts. By the omen of euphony, the Olio will be broken like the links of a rusted chain, bested by fugitives imprisoned unjustly, now acting as one. We no not which path will come to pass.”

Once they had freed a metal-skinned captive from beneath coils of rusted anchor chain, the party examined a metal chest filled with silver coins, the spoils of their combat with two lacedon sentries.

The aventi Noi, in pursuit of the lone sea ghoul which fled the scene of melee, discovered that the door through which the undead creature had found egress now warmed the surrounding waters and clouded his vision with boiling bubbles.

His attention drawn to the silver treasure, the viletooth lizardman Dorman was taken aback, when he found that many of the coins became incorporeal, slipping through his fingertips.Those coins that remained held an electrical charge. The shock was uncomfortable, but did no apparent damage. Examining the chest in closer detail, Dorman found a false bottom concealing a pair of gloves, some scraps of parchment, and an unusual metal wand.

“Seek the golden tome and the pouch shaped in the form of a hand” the undead shrunken head Meir had whispered, echoing the words of the coral princess.

Both gloves, NeeKaa discovered, were fashioned of pale skin and contained drawstrings in the manner of a pouch. Within one glove, an assortment of glass tiles were found. Each tile was colored either red, yellow, or blue and held a unique rune. Touching but a single tile, NeeKaa knew the tiles, used together, comprised the third Dreamer’s Journal.

Biding his time as NeeKaa examined the tiles, Noi examined six glass globes floating in a darkened corner of the rust-streaked chamber. The glass globes appear mundane in nature, save for one which seemed hollow and held a sprig of seaweed and a small red shrimp within crystal waters.

Without warning, a lone lacedon entered through the sole metal door, which Sakura noticed no longer radiated heat. Without speaking a word and uninterested in the party, the sea ghoul made fast for the pile of silver coins. Grasping a handful of coins in its withered grip, the creature vanished without a trace.

As if prompted by the strange disappearance, dozens of golden jellyfish swarmed through the open hatchway, forcing the party to retreat into the second chamber. The ephyra Phreb found their melodious droning made concentration difficult. When a single jellyfish brushed against him, the jellyfish merman heard their shared song, saw the image of a city with towering spires in his mind, and felt a warmth within.

Unleashing her blackwater weaponry, the sea elf ninja Sakura was satisfied when the blackskate chain whip responded eagerly. At that moment a voice audible to only Sakura and Neekaa whispered "Find me”. Sakura felt the disorienting pull of blackwater towards the center of the vessel.

The second chamber was rectangular in shape and roughly half the size of the previous room. There were several white fish, here, each with a whip-like tail. Serpent sea stars clung to the rusted walls. Bits of metal littered the floor. There are doors on either side of the far walls. A rectangular section, also holding a door, protruded from the far wall.


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## DrunkonDuty (Oct 23, 2011)

Very cool.


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## Benthicus (Oct 24, 2011)

Just thought I'd let y'all know that there is a tiny bit of news from Alluria Publishing about Cerulean Seas. If you check out Pathways Magazine # 6 from Rite Publishing, there is an interview with Emily Kubisz, lead artistic director and apparently the main writer for the book. The magazine is free as far as I know, and there's lots of other cool stuff included.

Basically, it sounds like they're having some budget trouble, and things have slowed down for the company in general. But, at least they're still planning on writing more Cerulean Seas material if things pick up.


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## Aeolius (Oct 24, 2011)

Benthicus said:


> Basically, it sounds like they're having some budget trouble, and things have slowed down for the company in general. But, at least they're still planning on writing more Cerulean Seas material if things pick up.




Echoes of Mystic Eye Games and "The Deep"?


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## Benthicus (Oct 25, 2011)

Aeolius said:


> Echoes of Mystic Eye Games and "The Deep"?




Well, I didn't want to say anything, but that's how it appears. At least Cerulean Seas is fairly complete, and makes a good solid toolkit for those who are designing their own settings. Perhaps someone will even write up some material of their own as an add-on. Something like Advanced Feats for the Mariner class, or something in that vein. I have a few ideas myself, but my time and attention span are... limited shall we say.


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## Benthicus (Oct 25, 2011)

Something I _have_ been working on recently is a detailed campaign outline/summary that I'm hoping to start soon with my players. I was inspired to write this up after skimming Paizo's Rise of the Runelords adventure path. This would take place in my own undersea setting, Pelagia, in the wild frontier of the Northern Reach. I was having some trouble with certain elements of my setting like history and local flavor, and I realized that Pathfinder didn't create it's campaign setting all in one sitting, they did it slowly by focusing on one particular area, and slowly expanding through their adventure paths. So I've been trying that same approach.

Anyway, I might as well post what I've written so far, in pieces. I should also note that I was inspired to use Sea Hags as the primary antagonists by Aeolius, and his many colorful characters (feel free to point out any glaring plot holes or confusing bits).

*Black Tide*

Save your homeland from an ancient evil.

Background/History: 
Before the frontier of the Northern Reach was claimed by prospectors, freethinkers and adventurers it was ruled without dispute by the Sea Hags for more than a thousand years. It was the vile offspring of Chthondryse, the Bloated Sea-Mother, who held sway over the wild places and dark depths. Her three most gifted and powerful daughters formed a coven, Imalga, the Black Tide, Thorse the Storm Surge, and Aveldine the Sinful Bloom. After the fall of the Ninth Tribe of Sea Elves, the three sisters reigned over the Northern Reach in secret, but their influence was felt everywhere. The Deepholmers who swam the Northern waters lived in fear of them, and rightly so. Any encroachment on their territory around Hashul's Claw resulted in curses, plagues, poisonous blooms and wild animals that suddenly turned against any settlers. It was Imalga who was remembered as the most fearsome and profoundly evil of the three sisters. Thorse was known for her rages and Aveldine was remembered for her cunning and manipulative ways, but Imalga was an embodiment of cruelty. She had an affinity for plants and all things that grew, and she was a master at spreading plagues, causing poor harvests and famines, and even spreading the growth of kelp and sea weeds to consume whole villages. Along with her considerable powers, she had forged alliances and pacts with the Fey and other deep-dwelling monsters. In 905 SA, she caused what is known as a the Great Black Tide, a wave of dark algae that enveloped the Northern Reach completely. The algae had strange effects on life in the ocean, transforming simple creatures into monsters, and raising dead creatures as horrifying wights and zombies. Imalga seemed to be omnipresent during the Black Tide, appearing to attack a Kanaloan fortress in the Velanthi Isles, and then on the same day seen raiding Elven settlements in Kyrene Bay. The Kanaloans sent wave after wave of soldiers and even mercenaries to deal with the problem, but Imalga overcame them all. The empire was eventually driven from the Northern Reach completely after the witch single-handedly overwhelmed Lakaika fortress, a place now known to be infested with undead. 

The only survivors of the Black Tide were a few scattered villages, the Sea Elves of the Lost Tribe, and the nomads who knew where to hide. The Northern Reach once again was a wild and forbidding place, and the Hags ruled freely. Imalga seemed to disappear, and almost nothing was heard of her for over a hundred years. Her sisters ruled in her place, and had numerous progeny of their own. All was fairly quiet and stable for hundreds of years, even after Imalga returned from her mysterious absence. No one dared challenge the witches, and the people of the South would not settle beyond the Anuvel Coast. It wasn't until after 1300, when the Sea Hags became complacent, and interest in the Northern Sea's riches grew, that conflict began anew.

The creation of Athune Reef City, and the rise of civilization in the North, came about because of the destruction of Imalga, and the valiant efforts of a party of adventurers known today as the Crimson Coil. The Coil was created with the specific intent of defeating Imalga and her sisters, and making the ocean safe for all peoples. As settlers began to move North again, Imalga responded slowly, but with a disproportionate amount of strength to these encroachments. The Coil was formed from a diverse range of people and backgrounds: Khozed Thross, a paladin from Kanaloa, Rythal Laneir, a Sea Elven sorceress who lost her home to Imalga, Arrluk, a warrior of Inuvaq whose people had suffered at the witch's hands, and even the Sahuagin champion Ar'Thrussk, whose people had recently recovered from a plague spread by the witch. The Crimson Coil gathered armies to fight Imalga, they searched for ancient artifacts of the Agwe Sea Giants, and they even found ways to turn Imalga's allies (including her own sisters and daughters) against her. In the end, they destroyed Imalga in her own lair, and dispersed the Black Tide so it could never again grow in the North. 

With the worst of the Sea Hags defeated, the other supernatural elements in the North retreated to the wild reefs and kelp forests. Kanaloa again settled the North, and found ways to exploit it's bountiful resources, while still working to preserve them. Athune Reef sprang up quickly, and a massive migration from the South was triggered. The temporary alliance with Ar'Thrussk and the Sahuagin crumbled as they instigated war once again (they lost). In another century, the rule of Kanaloa would be overthrown in Northern Pelagia, and Athune would become it's own independent anarcho-state.


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## Benthicus (Oct 26, 2011)

The campaign itself is meant to be very sandbox, after the introductory scenario. The players will be residents of the small frontier village of Spiralstone, which is attacked by the vile spirits of the forest, and one of their dear friends (who is also the village elder's daughter) is kidnapped. They soon learn that the Sea Hags are behind the kidnapping, and that Imalga has returned. From there, they are free to explore the Northern Reach in search of ways to defeat her, and learn more about her weaknesses. This is a summary and explanation of all the plot elements, and some of the likely locations the PC's will visit. 

The Campaign:
Imalga was truly defeated and killed by the Crimson Coil, but not all traces of her Black Tide were destroyed. What very few were aware of is that the algae of the Tide was not just another of her vile creations, it was her own body, transmuted into a swarm of plant life. At the height of her power, she could appear anywhere that the algae was present, and work her magick across vast distances. What no one except Imalga knew was that she eventually lost control of the Black Tide. She had become too massive, too powerful, and in the years following her war with Kanaloa, her consciousness slowly faded and dispersed as the algae spread across the ocean. She nearly lost her mind as her body wandered away. With a tremendous force of will, she reformed herself in her lair, but she had lost much of her power and control. For the next few centuries, she would have occasional bouts of insanity or fugue as the Tide took control of her. 

The Crimson Coil recognized the power of the Tide, and they took steps to defend themselves from it. They used divine magick to kill any traces they found (Khozed Thross summoned a powerful angelic being), and after Imalga's death they managed to wipe out all of the algae. The secret to actually killing Imalga, as the Coil learned, was to pull her heart from her body before it could disperse to the rest of the algae bloom. They froze her body, cut out the heart with a sacred Sahuagin weapon, then proceeded to destroy the rest of the Black Tide.  There were actually two major traces of the algae left. One was stored in a giant sponge in the wild reefs beyond the Elderstar Islands. The mass of algae in the wild reef was kept safe by the Fey spirits who were loyal to Imalga. The witch's mind and spirit were destroyed, so the algae could not revive her, although it would frequently spawn strange, deformed monsters that could manifest many of her powers. 

The second trace of Imalga was left intentionally as a contingency plan, she passed on a part of herself, in the form of a worm-like parasite, to each of her female offspring. Imalga's brood was almost entirely wiped out by the Crimson Coil after her death, and by various witch hunts. Only one child survived, a beautiful Merfolk girl, her father one of the Mers as well. Her heritage remained a secret, even to her father (Imalga seduced him in disguise). The only indicator of the girl's heritage were her bright, purple eyes, which she passed on to all of her daughters. The worm that held Imalga's spirit died, then grew again within each new daughter for every generation. In the present day, the carrier of the worm is Nairine Voluman, the daughter of the Headman of Spiralstone Village, not far from the Elderstone Islands. If she were ever brought in contact with the Black Tide, Imalga would be revived (likely killing Nairine in the process).

Hundreds of years have gone by, and it would seem that Imalga's plan for revival is doomed to failure. Her monstrous followers have lost all trace of her offspring, believing them dead. Although they successfully preserved the witch's remains in the form of the Black Tide algae, they don't know what the next step is. Many believe that their master's heart is still intact somewhere (this is false) and have been searching frantically for it. The deciding factors in the return of Imalga have been her two sisters, Aveldine and Thorse. The other two Hags were by no means friendly with their sister. They were essentially slaves to Imalga when she was at her strongest. They were bound together by a complex web of magickal oaths, the most powerful being their Coven Seal. This was a geas that bound the three of them to meet every 99 years and renew the rituals that made them immortal. Part of their agreement was to revive Imalga if she were ever killed by natural means, as it was her power that fueled the spell. If they ever failed in this duty, they would suffer a terrible curse, and a slow painful death.

Aveldine and Thorse naturally panicked when Imalga was finally killed. The curse of the geas quickly took effect, not to mention that they had become the next targets of the Crimson Coil. Rather than honor their oath and revive their sister, they decided to escape to the only place where their sister's curses wouldn't affect them, the home of their mother. Chthondryse resided in a magickal realm that was separate from Pelagia, the Pit of Abhorrence. Aveldine and Thorse took refuge there for more than 300 years. Conflicts with their cantankerous mother, and the other denizens of the Pit, eventually forced them out, back into Pelagia. At that point they had no choice. They had no way of unraveling the geas, as their power was too weak. They had to revive Imalga or die slowly and painfully. They made use of some powerful scrying magic, and eventually learned about Nairine and what was left of Imalga's body (the Black Tide). Aveldine set in motion a plan to invade Spiralstone Village, kidnap Nairine and a number of other sacrificial victims, and perform the ritual of resurrection.

The players are residents of Spiralstone Village, many of them probably being childhood friends of Nairine. The events of the story begin with the village coming under attack by monsters, and Nairine being kidnapped. The players will, presumably, want to rescue her, or at least get revenge on the Grindylows and other monsters that attacked their community. They will follow the trail all the way out to the Elderstar reef, but one way or another, they will not be able to stop Imalga's revival. If they arrive in time, they might be able to save Nairine, and possibly defeat Imalga's incarnation (slowing her down considerably and making future battles easier), but the witch's followers have too much of a head start, plus Aveldine is overseeing the operation personally. If the players find some way to overtake the kidnappers, she will step in. Though she suffers from the effects of her sister's curse, she is still more than a match for low-level adventurers.

From there, the PC's have to do everything they can to learn about Imalga, the Crimson Coil, and how they defeated her in the past. They will likely visit Athune to commune with the Vision Reefs, possibly visit the Sea Elves of Kyrene Bay to learn what they know. They have the option of exploring the Shrine of Davoral, which houses the Tomb of Khozed Thross (and a valuable summoning ritual). They could also visit the Sahuagin city of Athalfar to recover the Blade of Daganys, a weapon that proved most effective against the witch in the past. Once Imalga is revived, she will start moving on her own (more about that later), and Aveldine and Thorse have little choice but to help her with her plans. If the players were to approach either of the other two Hags, they would be open to betraying their sister, but the PC's would have to do most of the work in unraveling their magickal bonds. Another good idea (once they're strong enough) would be to visit the Pit of Abhorrence and ask for a boon from Chthondryse. The Mother of Monsters is not exactly feeling kindly towards any of her three daughters, so she would be open to negotiations. While they ready themselves for a final battle, Imalga is not sitting idle.

(NOTE: Imalga has returned from death, and been reborn from a worm, and as a result she is COMPLETELY insane, and doesn't approach her situation logically). Here is the timeline for Imalga - 

One: She returns to her former lair, which is unfortunately where the Alchemist's village of Shoronoe is now located, she bolsters her defenses there, and turns everyone in the village into mindless tunicates. 

Two: She flexes her muscles and attacks a few other outlying settlements from Shoronoe, using the Black Tide again as her primary weapon. She tried to do this secretively, but the players might find out if they have their ears open. 

Three: She begins to secretly infect agricultural villages and even migrating fish-herds with her algal plagues. Sickness starts to spread around the North, undead are on the rise. 

Four-Six: In no particular order, Imalga starts a campaign of revenge in which she defiles tombs and monuments associated with the heroes of the Crimson Coil. She also makes a point of hunting down known descendants of the heroes. This can offer the players some good chances to run into her personally during their own adventures. She will likely visit Laneir's Grotto in Kyrene Bay's kelp forests, the Shrine of Davoral, Arrluk's Monolith in the farther North, and even the Sahuagin city of Athalfar. Once the players are strong enough (they may not know everything they need to), Imalga will attack the Athune Reef City itself. If the party manages to thwart her early on, their final showdown with the witch will likely be in her cavern near Shoronoe. But if she continues unabated during this whole time (roughly eight to ten months sounds good) she will envelop Athune in the Black Tide, and release a horde of monsters and undead into the city. 

The witch will not be defeated easily, in the end. Imalga may or may not confront the party several times over the course of the campaign, but she will not be at full strength. She will not even be able to manifest her body completely, so she technically can't be killed, just slowed down. In the end, she will be forced to remove the PC's, so she will risk fully manifesting so she can use all of her class abilities and natural attacks. The same tactics the Crimson Coil used can defeat her, but she has taken a few extra precautions this time. Cutting out her heart will have no effect this time, she must be fully isolated from the rest of the Black Tide, then somehow destroyed on a massive scale (disintegration should do the trick). This is because she was reborn from a worm, so she technically has several hearts. ALSO, while she doesn't have any hidden phylacteries or horcrux-type things, she does have Nairine, assuming she survived Imalga's rebirth. If she is destroyed, she can use Nairine again to be revive herself, as the worm always reproduces before it grows to the next stage. This is bad for Nairine, but there are a few solutions for her. Any of the other Sea Hags, including Chthondryse, can remove the worm safely. The angelic spirit summoned by Thross can also cure her, but this may limit the amount of boons the players can ask of the spirit (it could, for example, kill all the traces of the Black Tide again, or help with Imalga). 

However they do it, the players will become the new heroes of Athune and the Northern Reach if they are successful. If Imalga had won, she would almost certainly have conquered the North again, and destroyed the dreams of those who worked so hard to build it up. The players may want to continue their crusade and defeat the other Sea Hags in the wild, or they may be in serious debt to those same Hags, especially Aveldine and Thorse. The party may have also triggered a war with the Sahuagin, promised to go on some ridiculous quest to the Abyss on behalf of the angels.


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## Aeolius (Nov 3, 2011)

Benthicus said:


> Just thought I'd let y'all know that there is a tiny bit of news from Alluria Publishing about Cerulean Seas.



I thought of them just this morning, when I was cooking:


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## Aeolius (Nov 19, 2011)

Inspired by Aurora the Octopus , I got this last weekend:


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## Aeolius (Nov 27, 2011)

Benthicus said:


> But, at least they're still planning on writing more Cerulean Seas material if things pick up.




I guess things never picked back up?

www.alluriapublishing.com : 
"NOTICE: This domain name expired on 11/12/2011 and is pending renewal or deletion."


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## Benthicus (Nov 27, 2011)

> I guess things never picked back up?




Apparently not, I check the site frequently, I've sent emails, things seem pretty dead at the moment. Still, one has to look at the positive end of things. Those who game under the sea still have a really awesome core book to work with, and I believe they are still doing the print on demand thing at RPGNow. 

I dunno, does anyone have any other ideas about getting a response from the company? We could send them a dead fish in the mail. Good symbolism, but it would probably get me arrested. 

Awesome tattoo by the way.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Nov 28, 2011)

> We could send them a dead fish in the mail. Good symbolism, but it would probably get me arrested.




Depends on the packaging- a tin of sardines, a can of tuna, a slab of smoked salmon...


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## Benthicus (Dec 3, 2011)

Here's a wacky idea. 

What if someone were to produce an undersea focused role-playing game that was independent of D&D, with it's own ruleset, setting, magic system, etc?

What would people want to see in such a game? Or rather, what elements of the game would draw in new players? Is this even a necessary consideration, or does D&D/Pathfinder already do a pretty good job of covering the bases? What could a new game that is built around the underwater world do that D&D couldn't?

Setting is also an important consideration, for me at least. Would the average person be more interested in something mythic, with mystery, magic, sea witches and nixies? Or something weird, in the vein of China Mieville, with complex politics and a proliferation of bizarre creatures? (My own homebrew setting is leaning towards the latter)

I only bring this up because I've been struggling to get new players interested in Cerulean Seas, and it's also a bitch to write custom material for Pathfinder. I figure that a completely new game might just be enticing enough for my jaded gamer friends. So, if nothing else, feedback will help me to get a sense of what might pique their interest.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Dec 3, 2011)

A new RPG with new rules, unique races, etc., will have a certain attraction _if well done._  Something without D&D preconceptions...something new and fresh (to the players, at least) can be exciting to play.  

I've posted about my version of sea Elves with the characteristics of jellyfish, nudibranchs, and Cephalopods, and my anthro Alligator Snapping Turtles, but in a new system, races with those traits could easily support something even more alien.

Or look at it this way: I routinely reskin races from other games to fill in slots in my homebrews, like using Seshayans instead of Drow or Illithids as the masters of the Underdark.

The result is a sense of mystery that can affect the play of any player, even wily vets.  And that can be a very good thing indeed.


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## Aeolius (Dec 3, 2011)

You could start with an established setting and premise, perhaps borrowing from an existing game like Aquaria : Mac , iOS , Windows


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## Benthicus (Dec 4, 2011)

> A new RPG with new rules, unique races, etc., will have a certain attraction if well done. Something without D&D preconceptions...something new and fresh (to the players, at least) can be exciting to play.




- Let me throw some ideas out there that I've thought of trying - 

A customizable magic system inspired by music and song, players can combine notes representing spell components to create unique effects. One could even use actual musical instruments and incorporate them into gameplay somehow, although I'm not sure how that would work as a randomizing element.

A simple system for 3D combat based on relative position, without any need for a map, or tracker trees (which is a fun concept I'll admit, but still clunky).

Greater character diversity and the freedom to play whatever kind of weird sea creature the player desires, without having to adjust the rules too much. Also, the idea of developing powers through evolution seems like a cool concept to me, although I think it's been done before.  



> You could start with an established setting and premise, perhaps borrowing from an existing game like Aquaria : Mac , iOS , Windows




Good idea, although I don't know of too many established settings. Here are some "vistas" that I've come up with - 

_(Mythic) It is the age of the Sea Kings, the Gods' blessing is upon us, and it is our time to rule among the waves. We are free of the darkness of ages past, the time of the Brine Hags and the cunning Rusalki, and now we are chosen by the High Ones to hunt the Golden Serpent and earn glory in their name. Take up your trident and fight for your King and bloodline, shine light into the darkest depths, and be remembered by the Great Singers for ages to come! 

(Horror) The Elder Gods have won. They arose, as was foretold, and the sea rose with them, and now all that once was is dark and lost to the depths. They rule over us, their servants, in a sea of blood and madness. We are the vile children of the Unspeakable Ones, the scaled, bloated offspring of Gythhnar, Y'grwluc, and others still more abhorrent. In this age, hope, rebirth and renewal are lost, there is only the struggle for power and dominance. We can become as the Gods are, our loathsome progenitors, but we must swim deep to the forgotten places and learn the secrets of their ancient and foul magick. We shall betray them with our knowledge, feast on their swollen flesh and become the new lords of this wretched world!

(Weird) Welcome all to the Unfathomable Paradox, the city beneath the waves which encompasses all, endless, sprawling, a tangled urban organism pulsing with life, brimming with secrets, and hungry for new flesh. Ruled jointly by our noble Queen Asphyxstrata and her many-armed consort the Boiling Red Profusion, the Great Reef City is truly the rarest pearl in all the seas. Here you may commune with the ineffable Coral Mind, marvel at the impossible Spiral of Somerkand, and sample the finest intoxicants and foods in Lemora's Pit of Gratification (just don't eat the purple things with the spines!). But beware honorable traveler, for a city as large as the Paradox has it's scummy spots. If you should wander off the beaten channel and run afoul of vicious thieves, plotting anarchists, hungry Starvelites, cannibalistic Fringelings, or, heaven forbid, the Conspicuous Thrusher, well... don't say you haven't been forewarned. 
_


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## Aeolius (Dec 4, 2011)

Benthicus said:


> A customizable magic system inspired by music and song, players can combine notes representing spell components to create unique effects. [/I]




You should watch the trailer for Aquaria, then, as the game centers around just that; a young sea elf bard girl learning magic through song. I've always wanted to combine Aquaria and Loom, to devise a bard that was all about the music - channeling a "universal song".


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## Aeolius (Dec 5, 2011)

I posted the weekly recap of "Heirs of Turucambi" over here , for a change of pace.


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## Aeolius (Jan 17, 2012)

Benthicus said:


> But, at least they're still planning on writing more Cerulean Seas material if things pick up.




I don't know if a squatter bought the domain and stuck a boilerplate template there, but it's definitely different..  Alluria Publishing


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## Benthicus (Jan 18, 2012)

> I don't know if a squatter bought the domain and stuck a boilerplate template there, but it's definitely different




That would seem to be the case. There's been some more discussion about it on the product's page at Paizo (as well as some other stellar reviews). It looks like the company over-extended itself a bit, and may have gone under. What I wish is that they would just make an announcement for the fans to explain what really happened, and what the future of the setting is going to be (even if there is no future, it would be nice to hear it from the creators). The forums at ENworld and Paizo seem like great places to do that.

On a more positive note, the new Pathfinder adventure path which is set to begin in March looks promising (Skulls and Shackles). I'm not big on pirates, but there has been much talk of sea-dwelling beasts, and fans have been clamoring for underwater encounters as well. I might actually subscribe for this one, which I have never been motivated to do before. It could have some utility in an underwater game. Anyone else excited for this one?


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## Benthicus (Jan 18, 2012)

Ooh, I also have a very specific question for people with an intimate knowledge of Pathfinder rules. Just for fun I'm designing epic monsters and antagonists for underwater games that I will probably never get to run. How well would the Magus base class compliment say... A kraken?

Could you, within the boundaries of the rules, use abilities like spell strike, spell combat, and the arcane pool for natural attacks (like tentacles)? And how would spell like abilities work out? Because I think this should also be a half-fiend kraken with at least 20 hd. I would only add 2 or 3 levels of Magus, because otherwise this would just be silly (as if it wasn't already).


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## Aeolius (Feb 14, 2012)

Someone mentioned Elfquest in another thread and it made me think of WaveDancers


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## Aeolius (May 29, 2012)

Did anyone else catch Animal Planet's "mockumentary" Mermaids: The Body Found ?







Passing itself off as a documentary, the show build on evidence such as The Bloop , coupled with the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis and some really cheesy CGI to build a plausible case for mermaids.

Folks on the Animal Planet Facebook page seem less than thrilled that they were duped.


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