Into The Blue

The Ocean Waters Surround You...

The mighty seas and oceans are more than just a color on the map. Lurking just below the surface of those waters are civilizations and dangers that landed folk can only whisper of in children’s fables. Those stories are a reality, but only true adventurers get to see the stories come to life before their very eyes.


Essential Knowledge For Players & GMs
Those that claim to understand the magnificence and power of Nature must also include the waters of their realm. Survival techniques, terrain features, the dangers that lurk in the depths, civilizations, and creatures are just some elements of essential lore that bards, druids, funklords, rangers, and others should grasp.

For the GM, Into the Blue allows the waters of a world to churn with as much life as the mountains of the dwarves or the forests of the elves. Take your adventures to the next level among the kelp jungles and deepwater trenches of the oceans.

Into the Blue is the 3rd book in Bastion Press's "Into the ..." series, which are basically d20 sourcebooks devoted to a specific environment. While going the title, it could conceivably be about the sky, this book is actually about the ocean. If you've read or seen Into the Green or Into the Black, then this is pretty much exactly like them, only devoted to the sea.

This book was good timing for me, because I just read Tanith Lee's "Venus Preserved", which is about a city under water in the future (in an alternate history, where Venice was called "Venus" for some reason). So it got me thinking about putting a similar underwater city in my campaign. This book should help quite a bit in fleshing out the neighborhood, so to speak.

There are 6 chapters. The first is sort of an introduction to oceanic living (that is, assorted info about oceans in general), then comes one chapter on each main sort of ocean environment (coastal waters, open sea, and deep water), a shortish chapter on equipment, and a shortish chapter on new spells.

RPG books often talk about "En Media Res", that is, starting a session in the thick of the action. Well, that somewhat applies to how this book starts. Right away, you're presented with a discussion of algae blooms. Definitely not your typical d20 sourcebook.

Much of the first chapter will probably be known to those that have actually lived around an ocean. I used to live in Florida, so I knew most of this. It generally discusses basic facts of the sea, things like tides and such, plus types of animals and plants that appear in all areas of the ocean. You learn about sea cucumbers and octopii and that sea water ruins books, and some lesser known facts.

The meat of the book are the 3 chapters which describe specific regions. Much like the two previous books in the series, it starts off with an overview of the region, along with specific terrain highlights and hazards. Then it discusses some common plants and normal (non-statted) animals, and finishes off with several monsters and their stats, and adventure hooks involving those critters.

The Coastal Waters chapter describes the ecology of the region where the land meets the ocean. Beaches, coral, kelp, reefs, salt marshes are all described. I also learned what a maelstrom is.

It also describes coastal sea animals like the deadly manatee. Well, actually, as this book correctly points out, they're about as harmless as animals get. I used to watch them while I was in Florida, and I would often puzzle that they aren't extinct yet. I mean, they basically float there and splash a little. They're sitting ducks for anything that would want to eat them. I mean, they really are like sea cows, but cows are cow like because they've been domesticated. I guess no one but man wants to, for some reason. I always thought they looked fairly tastey. It does mention crocodiles, but no gators or chocodiles or caimans.

The monster section for the coast has a couple of dolphins, who are of course portrayed as nice, charming animals. This irked me, as in reality, nothing could be further from the truth, though that is the common perception of them. Probably the most interesting in the coastal section is the "Kelp Stalker", which is basically a shambling mound, only derived from kelp.

The Open Sea chapter largely deals with ocean life near the top of the ocean, away from the coast, though there's a brief mention of floating sea cities. There's actually not much plant/animal life here worth mentioning, apparently. Barnacles. Sargasso seas. There's also a line of sight chart (though presumably only valuable on an earth sized planet) which determines how far you can see on the sea.

The monsters here tend to be a bit dull. 2 giant jellyfish (1 actually more a man of war), an undead sailor, an electric manta ray, the narwhal, another whale, and a mutated octopus.

The Deep Water chapter is basically under the sea, and away from the coast. Things are a bit more interesting here, terrain wise, with Abyssal Plains (flatter than Kansas) and Brine Lakes (will pickle you if you enter. ).

Monsters here include an evil octopus, a blood sucking worm, and a tricky, fast-talking fish (not a laywer-fish, but close). And what look like a couple of deep sea variations of standard D&D monsters.


Although shoved into the monster section of the various chapters, there are 5 new races in the book that are suitable for players or NPCs. The most interesting race in the book, I thought, is the "Orcam". Basically, they are ocean travelling orcs, sort of playing off the name "Orc" and "Orca". Oddly enough, the Sovereign Stone campaign setting does the same basic thing, having Orcs being related to Orca, but in that, they are just Sailors (and fairly human looking, if a bit tusky), in this, they are more like nomadic plainsmen of Earth, only on the ocean.

2 of the new races in the book are basically anthromorphic animals. For instance, Otterkin, which are basically intelligent otters. And Turtle Folk are basically intelligent, upright walking turtles. Actually, it's about half the main characters of Spellsinger. Except the Turtles explode if they come to the surface (it seems they are high pressure creatures, despite their shells).

There's also the "Trench Elf", who besides wearing trench coats, also have a thing for black clothing and katanas. Seriously, while they are kind of angsty and have pale skin, they actually get their name from where they live, in the deep water trenches of the ocean. Because they cannot stand low pressure, they cannot go above 1000 feet of water. Because of this, they feel isolated.

And I almost forgot, there is the "Reef Scapper", which seem to be poor Tritons, who have been forced to live on the scraps of the sea. I found this race to be a bit distasteful, if not a bit offensive, actually, as it seems to stereotype poor people. (As I happen to be one, I find this irksome). I was surprised the picture of one wasn't entitled "Cletus".


The equipment chapter is pretty short, and is largely stuff only used underwater. All sorts of kelp and bone/shell armor. Sharkskin armor. Also crocodile and seal skin stuff (no dolphin skin, sadly).

Similarly, most of the spells in the spell section (which is 6 pages) are mostly useful underwater, or in some cases, on top of them. Bubble of Air. Buoyancy. Animate Kelp. Waterproof. Desalinate. Ink cloud.

Rounding out the book is a series of encounter tables. Which can be useful, but generally only if you are a playing in a default D&D world and plan on using all the critters in this book.



The book is pretty nice looking. Doom Striders was a bit uglier than most Bastion books, but this is more in line with what you expect from them. Though in a nice touch, they've also added titles to the illustrations in addition to the artist's name. While generally speaking, the text of a book is the most important thing, I do appreciate art, and it's nice to know who did illustrations I like and what they are supposed to be.

My favorite piece is something of a landscape called "A sea maiden calls out to an approaching vessel." by Jesse Mohn. It's mostly a landscape, you can see the ghostly maiden, and a ship way out on the ocean, but it's mostly sky and sea illuminated by a full moon, all of which are very well done. (Though the ship actually seems to be headed in the other direction, and the critter is technically called a "Sea Scorned". But it's very nice and evocative.)

Actually, many of the labels for monsters are slightly off. I think artists usually get very early versions of the manuscript or just outlines to work from, so this is to be expected, but better coordination between the names of the monsters and the names of the illustrations would have been nice..




While this book contains some pro-Dolphin propaganda, it's a good look at the ecosystem of the ocean in a d20 gaming context. Probably the best look at the ecosystem of the ocean in a d20 gaming context. (As I think it's the only one, but still pretty decent). As mentioned, it happened to come out just when I was thinking about placing some domed cities on the bottom of my campaign setting's seas. So I plan on getting a lot of use out of it. Should also be invaluable if you are running a pirate or ship based game, like say one based in Freeport. Or if you wanted to run a d20 Modern game set "The Day After Tomorrow" with Al Gore. (Though not being based on the writings of Art Bell and a guy who was played by Christopher Walken, the science in this book is actually sound.)

It's not perfect, though. As previous books in the series, it doesn't mention if an animal/plant/whatzit is real or fictional/magical, which wouldn't have taken much, and would have greatly added to this book's value for non-fantasy games. It omits some things, like what a lagoon is. And no alligators. Or insects like mosquitos, which are generally problems in saltmarshes. Or Lobsters (also disappointing there were no Dr. Zoidberg like lobster people, which would have also made this review much funnier). While kelp is discussed, just what exactly kelp is isn't mentioned. I mean, clearly it's a plant, presumably seaweed. But not being a diver, I don't think I've ever really seen what it looks like. And I really didn't like the Reef Scapper race, finding it somewhat stereotypes poor people. The monster variety isn't great, either - there are 4 variations on dead sailors (or their wives), several octopii and jellyfish, etc.

Personally, I think it's the weakest of the three "Into the ...." books (and the prose is much less vivid and picturesque than the first two, particularly Into the Green, where some of the descriptions of plants and animals made my mouth water), but still pretty good at what it meant to do.

B-



"I'm sailing away..."

To a certain extent, the oceanic environment is vastly different than "normal" D&D style adventuring. Into the Green was simply about travelling in green areas (woods, forests, etc), while Into the Black was about underground areas, both places that are supported by the default D&D rules and are fairly normal environments and fit into any campaign pretty well. But this, well, it's vastly different, it doesn't have much info on actually adventuring under water, for that you need something like Mystic Eye Games "The Deep" (which in fact is recommended by this book, but something I don't have, and actually can't even find on their web page. Wait, here it is, in the Bluffside section.). So it's not quite as useful to the default D&D game, at least the chapters on the open sea and deep sea.

It's a great supplement for "The Deep" or the various seafaring books (and Freeport), but you would have trouble running a sea based game (either on ships or down below) with just this book. It wasn't meant to be a stand alone sea book, it was just an ecology sort of book, but the back blurb makes it sound more useful than it is. When I review game books, I judge them on how well they do what they were meant to do, and what they were advertised to do or to be. Sometimes those two things can be at odds a bit. In this case, it's pretty minor, it just says "Essential Knowledge for Players & GMs", which is just perhaps overstating things a bit (or a lot). It's useful, but hardly essential, essential knowledge would be rules for actually adventuring underwater or how to get the core rulebooks for free, or Kate Beckinsale's home phone number.

Into the Blue is a decent book. It's just a hop and a splash a way from being a much better book. Into The Blue is Bastion Press' d20 sea supplement. We've new races and spells as well as suitably detailed studies of different aquatic environments.

Where's the hiccup? Despite explaining how alien an all water environment is, how hard it is to think in three dimensions and how deadly a mistake that can be - there's no underwater combat rules here. We're encouraged to use The Deep from Mystic Eye Games instead. I like license ability of d20 products to cross-reference and cite one another; used correctly this gives us, the buyers, more bang for our bucks as products can support one another. In this instance Bastion Press have relegated Into the Blue to a position of a third generation supplement. You need D&D, you need The Deep and then you can fully use Into the Blue. True. If you don't to sweat details over underwater combat then there's no real problem here. Indeed I've a lot of support for Lee Hammock's, Into the Deep's author, assertion that there's no point in treading rules already covered elsewhere. In the interests of completeness; one of the art directors for Into the Deep is Hal Greenberg. Hal's a talented guy and a great sport. He's also closely associated with Mystic Eye Games.

In most other respects Into the Deep is refreshingly thorough. The start of the book looks at general ocean issues - and this includes pointing out the technical difference between an ocean and a sea and when the supplement itself will be using those scientific distinctions. There are notes on hazards and issues like salt, the weather and even tides - all of which could be hazards in their own right. Imagine how a tide going with you could reduce your travelling time and how annoying it would be to have to travel against the tide for an extended period. We're reminded that spellbooks are going to be destroyed unless they're made of water proof (and more expensive) materials. I'm not so sure on this one; pages inscribed with magic energy are subject to something as trifling as water? Surely they're just as likely to be effected by air? Or touching the ground? Or being left open at midnight? Anyway... the comment is a reminder that some taken-for-granted aspects of day to day adventuring can't be taken for granted when you're under water.

The bulk of the book is divided up into three main sections; Coastal Waters, Open Sea and Deep Sea.

Coastal Waters is that region near the cost and where aquatic and land communities might live close to one another (knowingly or unknowingly). As with the other two Sea sections Coastal Waters includes an early look at some of the animals you might expect to find here. But I know what a seahorse is. I'm actually less interested in a D&D book telling me about seahorses than I am in a D&D book telling me about cows. At least with a paragraph about cows I'd have the reassurance that the price for leather based items have been thought about rather than plucked from the air. You'd think cows would have a really short life span in a world filled with dragons, orcs and goblins and yet leather is pretty cheap. We can't even rustle up that half-hearted debate for seahorses or the other animals the Coastal Waters chapter wants to tell me about. Sticking pre-fixes like "Riding" and "Sentinel" in front of Dolphin isn't all that exciting either.

Into the Blue is scattered with new PC suitable races and we see the first of them swimming in the Coastal Waters under the guise of the Otterkin. I wish there was a small appendix or sub-index which quickly listed the page numbers for all the new PC okay races. Yeah, Otterkin are humanoid otters which have grown legs to, er, better equip them for, um, nautical life.

There are some interesting issues in the Open Sea. Line of Sight is unusual because you'll be able to see as far as the horizon allows. The open sea is a vast expanse and it's quite easy to imagine floating cities in a fantasy setting. Into the Blue picks up on this and finds room for the rather scarier Bloat Island. Ah, alright, the Bloat Island doesn't sound scary but at Challenge Rating 30 it's rather unusual. Here is your "big monster which pretends to be an island" scenario but at least Bastion Press's write up with aplomb and I've reason to use these stats and description as is (not that players in any game I'll run will see level 30).

In addition to the new monsters for every one of the three main water areas there are helpful comments, reminders and observations on the plant and animal life as well as threats and resources. Looking at the PC suitable races in the Open Sea section we can find the Orcam (which I always want to write as Occam). These sea folk like to ride whales and have, er, arms and legs for, um, enhanced swimming speed. Seriously though, the advantage and common sense call in ensuring that the new PC suitable races are bipedal is that they can be used in and out of the water and this makes the DM's life a darn sight simpler when one of their players begs to play one.

The Deep Sea can't quite compete with scary monsters though I think it should be able to. However heard of swimming down and into safety? The critters which caught my eye are the Deep Harvesters and this is because they have that should-be-extinct but actually live on in ocean trenches, dinosaur look about them. Deep Harvesters have a Challenge Rating of 14 (and a bite at +21 melee (2d6+5)).

Also lurking around in those trenches you'll find the Trench Elves. Pick a location and you'll find a specialised elf race for it (space elves, under-the-table elves). The Trench Elves have the faint whiff of Lovecraftian charm to them but they're certainly not going to compete with the Drow for the position of most popular elves in RPG fan circles.

There are 26 new spells in the book. That's not bad going as they're packed into just a few pages. I think that's enough for any DM to dazzle a gaming group with a wizard or sorcerer casting strange and alien spells from the tide pool below. We also have the required amendments to the spell lists so you can tell at a glance where these new spells slot in - a handy resource and often ignored by supplements. There's no new domains though nor re-examination of what the Fire Domain might look like/mean to an undersea cleric.

The font size in Into the Blue is good. I've used phrases like "finds room for" quite a lot in this review and there is the feeling that Into the Blue has managed to pack a lot of helpful information into 96 pages. That's not bad value for $US22.95 either. I do think some of the information is rather too basic though (perhaps a problem when RPGers are as likely to be young school kids as they are to be academics or industry experts).

Into the Blue works best as either additional support for a DM who wants to go all out in an aquatic adventure or as a fairly nice investment for the collector DM who wants to dabble in a few, especially coastal, encounters. There's nothing in the "wow factor" category which suggests you should go out and buy the book and/or throw your players into an aquatic adventure. I'm running a campaign with a naval setting and I can't really say I've been inspired by anything in Into the Blue other than a land bridge of sand which connects two islands during low tide but not during high tide.

* This Into the Blue review was first posted at GameWyrd.

By Bruce Boughner, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack

Initiative Round
Into the Blue is a 96-page sourcebook published by Bastion Press. The author is Lee Hammock with an assist from Kevin Melka and Thomas Knauss. The cover is by Jim Pavelec and features a female sea elf riding a seahorse and a dolphin companion and it is available for $22.95.

Into the Blue is the next in the Into the- series from Bastion Press and is the sequel to Into the Green and Into the Black, as with those previous works Into the Blue delves into various environmental areas, the first two dealt with forests and plains and the underworld respectively. Into the Blue goes into ocean life and its stated purpose is to give players and DMs a way to utilize this as a fully realized environment.

Chapter one starts with ocean life. This is a basic overview of sea life. Beginning with the general environment, the chapter starts with algae blooms. For those readers unfamiliar with this author, I live in Southwest Florida, I can attest to the health and unpleasantness of Red Tide, which makes the area smell and causes skin irritation and lung issues and is used as an example of the detrimental effects of some forms of algae. The temperature of the sea is also talked about with a wide degree of temperature ranging from just above freezing to a warm 90’. Most of the creatures of the sea can control their buoyancy naturally but non-sea creatures need to use skills like Swim and Profession: Diving and apply the buoyancy guidelines that are provided. Currents are also a concern in the ocean. There are rivers of current in the open ocean that are influenced by weather, tides, geography and the rotation of the planet and in turn influences the weather and shipping along the coastlines. The Gulf stream is a good example of this, Ranging through the Caribbean, up the east coast of America to Newfoundland eastward across the Atlantic to the coast of Ireland and south to the Azores before turning west to the north coast of South America, it influences weather and shipping trade across the Atlantic. Hurricanes form off the west coast of Africa and blow into the Caribbean and American shores but also carry the warm Gulf temperatures northward and help keep the winters mild in the British Isles and western Europe. Using currents is explained here. Salt water, ice, illumination, pollution (even a medieval society creates pollution), spellbooks are all short topics covered in the chapter. Storms are a bigger subject. From their creation and the effects they have are well covered as well as the effects of temperature and waves (specifically Tsunami or Tidal waves) are also covered. Plant life, algae, seaweeds and planktons are talked about with Blood Floater, Glowbites and Mage Spores introduced as unique to the book. Animals like Anemones, Comb Jellies and Sea Wasps are among the many natural sea animals given here.

Coastal waters are the focus of chapter two. Starting with beaches, kelp jungles and corals, several charts list the type of settlements of Sahaugin, Locathah and Merfolk are given a percentage of being located here and encountered by traveling adventurers. Maelstroms created by tidal influences are also a concern near to shore and are a hazard as are coral reefs. Rocky coasts created from a number of causes are another type of coastal environment as are salt marshes. Sand bars and land bridges cause inconvenience to shipping but are easily avoided by the normal inhabitants of the area. Mermaid’s Kiss, Rope Kelp and Seagrass are part of the types of plant life in these areas. Common fauna includes Manatees, Seals and Sea Snakes. Some of the hazards of this environment are poisonous corals, riptides and undertow, all of which are threats to adventurers going into the water. New monsters are included in the chapter that the Coral Snare, Kelp Stalker and Otterkin are examples of the thirteen given.

Chapter three takes us to the open seas. From the surface it appears as a wide blue desert stretching to the horizon. Currents and weather conditions like El Nino are described. Much like Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea series, floating cities are among the topics given here. Most often these are built by surfaces races and are made by lashing barges and ships together for the most part, although other means of construction can be created. They are often built in trade routes where aquatic races are nearby to create a trade center. They have difficulty surviving the wear of waves and tides and are generally funded by trading companies. They also face threats from pirates, sea monsters and weather. Line of sight distance is increased a great deal on the open sea and a chart is provided for that purpose. Hazards like sargassos and volcanic islands are listed as the naturally encountered difficulties. Plants like Drowning Sargassum, Salas Kelp and Warning Weed are among the natural ones encountered while animals such as Barnacles, Whales and Tuna are there also. Doldrums, exposure and scurvy are prevalent in the dangers of the open sea. New monsters such as Floating Dead, Lightning Rays and Orcam are part of eight new menaces to face. The Orcam can be used as player characters as they travel in pods like whales and are very warlike.

The fourth chapter details the deep seas. This section is more about the undersea than surface conditions. Pressure, light and temperature become important factors underwater. Pressure increases the deeper you go as light recedes and temperature drops. Some of the most dangerous creatures on the world live in the deepest parts of the oceans like krakens and giant squids. The ocean bottom is formed of Abyssal Plains made up of organic and inorganic sediment several hundred feet thick and makes up a third of the ocean floor. Brine Lakes are salt deposits that are thicker than normal seawater and dehydrate and pickled within moments. Light fades after a few hundred feet and the temperature hovers around freezing at the ocean floor. Hydrothermal vents, ridges and trenches are geological features at the bottom of the sea. Plant-like creatures like Pressure Vines and Shadow Kelp can be found here, these are magical creatures as they do not survive on photosynthesis. The animals of the floor include Chemosynthetic Bacteria, Giant Clams and Glowfish that are uniquely adapted to life under the crushing pressure. Danger on the bottom include heated water (from geothermal vents) that can rise swiftly over 400’ and turbid currents caused by undersea landslides from the edge of the continental shelves that can swiftly bury creatures and objects. Bloodworms, Iron Crabs, Trench Elves and Turtle Folk are part of the seven new monsters found in this chapter. The last two can be used as player characters.

Chapter five is dealing in equipment. Nine new pieces of equipment are introduced. Diving Bells, Glow bulbs and under water musical equipment are among the listings. Gold has only ornamental value as any form of currency is worthless and barter is the main form of trade. A dozen new magic items are offered like Helmut of Serakus, a turtle-folk piece of armor, Lightning Charms and Wet Cloaks that allow sea creatures to travel on land. New materials are introduced that are produced from the various denizens of the deep. Kelp Rope, Kraken Beak and Volcano forged steel are samples of these. This expands into new substances like Bloodfish Brew, Eel Slime and Kraken Blood that can be created be sea based alchemists. A section on armor constructed from kelp, coral, bone and shell is next.

New spells are the focus on chapter six. All spellcasters receive a few new spells that deal with oceanic existence. Animate Kelp, Desalinate and Tidal Call are samples of the spells, twenty-six new spells are introduced. The book ends with an appendix of encounter charts.

Critical Hit
Into the Blue is an excellent supplement for a number of uses. Added to books like Broadsides and The Seafarers Handbook and it expands on some of the information used for dealing with sailing the seas. Added to The Deep and underwater campaigning becomes that much easier to play in or run. The beauty of this book is that we are getting two sets of environs to deal in, the surface and the depths. The introduction of four new player races, all from the sea, gives an even more populous selection to choose from if you are playing an oceanic campaign. Part of my game world includes an Earthsea/Water World section and can be enhanced from this product. The idea of floating cities is not a new one but it is the first time I have seen it in a D20 product. Several of the new monsters and spells fit very well into the theme; others are variants from other sources adapted to fit here.

Critical Fumble
I would like to see more illustration of new items than just supplemental artwork. What Bastion Press did with Doomstriders is like what I am speaking of. In Doomstriders, the new items for use were given pages of illustration among the descriptions, making it easier to describe from a DMs standpoint. There was enough new items here that a page or so could have been devoted to showing us what these items might look like.

Coup de Grace
Into the Blue has the advantage of being the third of a series. Improvements suggested following Into the Green and Into the Black have been applied here. This book is a little more streamlined and gives more suggested usage than the first two did. The Earthsea trilogy was one of the inspirations for 1st edition D&D and some of the ideas in the book, like the floating cities, speaks of this influence (or perhaps Water World). It opens the door to a number of intriguing uses for the book into a campaign with a lot of oceanic travel like Dark Furies’ Maelstromsetting would be good for this as would Green Ronin’s Skull & Bones and Mystic Eye Game’s The Deep would also benefit from adding the information from this book.

Final Grade: B+

Just regarding your spellbook commentary: spellbooks are not "imbued with magical energy". They even don't have any magical aura whatsoever. They are no scrolls, where the writing is indeed magical as it represents the mostly spoken spell. Spellbooks are mundane books susceptible to the same hazards as other mundane books. I know that the costs for writing spells into the book (100 gp per page) suggest otherwise, but this is one of the inconsistencies of D&D 3.x.