Aquatic Campaigns

[Kaodi]

One more to the spellbook ideas... could it be conceivable that aquatic wizards might possess a method for conditioning some kind of bioluminescent organism to produce morse code?

Anyway, any underwater campaign should have at least one attack on a surface vessel, hehehe... Making shipwrecks should be just as cool as exploring them, .

Underwater volcanoes creating new islands might be cool too...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Ever read early Marvel Comics?

Namor, the Sub-Mariner, was always leading the Atlanteans against the surface dwellers (usually in NYC) over some toxic spill or weapons test or some such. Could make for good RPG fun from either side.

Also, check out anything by Jacques Cousteau or, barring that, check out the Cousteau spoof "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" starring Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Willem Davoe, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, Jeff Goldblum and many others...including the Brazillian musician Seu Jorge who is constantly doing accoustic covers of David Bowie songs- in Portugese!

 

[KrazyHades]

I've always been interested in how I would do weapons under water...after all, with the water resistance and the fact that you move backwards with the same momentum as your strike forwards (not the same speed, because your arm and weapon is less mass than your body)...

In light of this, I would seriously consider designing weapons that would work well under water. Spears and tridents (and other thin, stabbing objects) are good, since they wouldn't meet much resistance from the water due to their (relatively) aero(or aqua)dynamic forms. Also, one might have arrows which, instead of fletching, have small, stupid squid that can only moves straight forwards, propelling the projectile. It would take some work, but I would lean towards making up new descriptions for weapons that just wouldn't work well underwater (but leaving the actual rules the same...same dmg, crit. range, etc) in order to create convincing flavor.

One thing to keep in mind: I would rule that all sonic-damage is more common underwater, since liquids conduct sound better than gasses (as in, the atmosphere). This could replace the universally popular on-land uses of fire damage. You could just make Sonic damage more common by making all instances of fire damage into sonic damage (so, Noisewrack, or whatever, instead of Fireball).

 

[Set]

One source of metals for undersea dwellers;

Manganese nodules

and a possible way that metal could be heated up / softened to be shaped / worked underwater;

Hydrothermal vents

Note that, at 400C (~750F), a hydrothermal vent isn't going to be the best forge ever, but the harder metals in use in the world above aren't terribly useful underwater anyway. Due to the extreme pressure near a hydrothermal vent, the temperature only a few inches from the 400C jet can be as low as 2C (35F), meaning that a koalinth 'blacksmith' will be a lot a more comfortable in his 'smithy' than a human blacksmith, barely able to feel the heat of his 'fire'!

 

[Aus_Snow]

This thread absolutely rocks.

Just sayin'.

 

[Aeolius]

Also, check out anything by Jacques Cousteau or, barring that, check out the Cousteau spoof "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou"

The TV series "Surface" and TV pilot for "Aquaman" are both available via iTunes, btw. And it goes without saying that one would do well to get Discovery's "Blue Planet" series on DVD.

...including the Brazillian musician Seu Jorge who is constantly doing accoustic covers of David Bowie songs- in Portugese!

You might also look for Sting's music for "The Living Sea" and "Aquaria" by Diane Arkenstone.

 

[Aeolius]

...a hydrothermal vent isn't going to be the best forge ever, but the harder metals in use in the world above aren't terribly useful underwater anyway.

I devised a red-skinned race of water dwarves that utilize the black smokers for their forges and live near hydrothermal vents via chemosynthesis.

 

[Aeolius]

...Also, one might have arrows which, instead of fletching, have small, stupid squid that can only moves straight forwards, propelling the projectile.

Every so often, you'll hear about needlefish impailing swimmers, sometimes with fatal results.

 

[Slife]

Every so often, you'll hear about needlefish impailing swimmers, sometimes with fatal results.

Or Marlins.

 

[KrazyHades]

Also, instead of torches, use bioluminescent (sp?) creatures. Also, remember, if you are very deep underwater, there's no light, so this is important, but remember that light attracts both predators and prey!

I've been thinking on more neat ideas for having things work underwater:
bioluminescent creatures (from above)

buildings, vehicles (say, a chariot pulled by dolphins), and equipment grown from coral...the coral is "encouraged" to grow quickly by specially-trained magic-using experts (non-combat magic only), so that it doesn't take 100s of year to get yourself a coral cottage

In a saltwater campaign, one could do the same thing with salt water, forcing it to coalesce into crystals of the desired shape, and then treated so it won't dissolve

possible communication through having a race that uses lights on its body, flashed in certain patters, to talk without noise (instead of or in addition to regular speech, its the DMs choice). This would alllow for silent conversation, but would also be easily visible in the deep (and therefore dark) parts of the ocean

how about having an assassin who murders by forcing someone to drink saltwater or freshwater (whichever is inhospitable to that species...if you are in a freshwater ocean vs saltwater)

Massive amounst of fun with "lightning bolt", unless you chose to alter it!...or if you are in deionized water, which wouldn't have the necessary nutrients to support life

Having very large or strong creatures push other creatures away by blowing/shoving water at them...really big guys could have a simiilar effect to a tornado, creating massive and dangerous underwater vortexes

You could have all sorts of interesting pets/animal companions...not just the ones suggested in the player's handbook

Have some of those MASSIVE (6 feet long, or longer) underwater scorpions (which actually existed on earth, albiet a LONG time ago)

...farting (need I say more?)

Make a feat like an improved versoin of blindfight, where one senses the movement of the water around you to see an opponent's movement without use of your eyes?

Perhaps, where PCs in normal campagins face trouble coping with large bodies of water they must dive through to reach the next part of the dungeon, you could have a cave with a room that is a large air-pocket

I might add more ideas later...

KrazyHades out