Endless Seas Campaign.

[iwatt]

I want to start a campaign loosely based on the plot hook of Waterworld. The oceans have risen and civilizations have collapsed. What I´ve come up with until now is the following:

Centuries (or millennia) ago, during the apocalypse/fluke/meteor strike on the poles (haven’t decided exactly how that went), the oceans began to rise. As the steady advance of the oceans continued, great wars were waged to control the few lands remaining. The humans living in coastal areas migrated to the uplands, invading the lands of any that were in their way. The steady push of humanity towards the mountains led to the displacement of countless races. Humans invaded elven lands, while dwarves were forced to take refuge in the highest mountains. The constant wars between humans led to the downfall of civilization, and a steady shift to barbarism. The rising water level also had a similar effect in the underdark, leading to a fierce competition by the goblinoid races. Vast hordes of orcs, goblins and kobolds rose from the underdark, and added to the unceasing warfare on the surface.
The dwarves followed a policy of strict isolationism, taking to the very highest peaks, and creating great mountain refuges completely unlinked from the underdark. A continuous war is waged against those that try to invade these kingdoms, and the dwarves do not tolerate any non-dwarves.
The elves, confronted by an untenable war of attrition protecting their borders, used their powerful magicks to break their lands from the lowlands, leaving their forests as floating citadels wandering over the endless seas. Countless humans, halflings, gnomes and other humanoids perished when the backlash from the powerful elven magic tore the few lands asunder.
The halflings finally took to the oceans in great ships built in the days before the great breking, and until this day live as clans tied completely to their ships. They now survive mosly as whalers, hunting the huge creatures that supply the materials required for more ships. They also are the greates traders of the seas, and although both dwarves and elves would deny it, they are essential to the survival of both of these civlizations.
Gnomish ingenuity saved the day for their race. Abandoned by all their past allies, and confronted by unending hordes of goblins invading their lands, the gnomes applied their crafts and magic ability to create flying citadels to take to the air. Along with the elves, the gnomes are among the few to still hold the secret to the great magicks, and they jealously guard them.
When the oceans ended rising, only the highlest lands remained above the surface, creating a vast archipelago populated mostly by human, goblinoid and orcish cannibal tribes (ploynesian/maori level of technology). They unceasingly invade the dwarven mountain holds, but are continually repelled by the superior martial abilities of the stout folks. Some of the more isolated islands remain as bastions of civilizations, but their survival is contingent on maintaining secret the locations of these lands. To this end, the humans have created vast floating forts ringing their lands, from which they patrol and intercept anybody trying to reach their homelands.

I would appreciate any help with the following:

What resources would help me flesh this setting even more?

State of affairs of the underdark?

What´s going on with the underwater races?

Help me design a relevant pantheon?

Feel free to add to my very brief sketch of the world situation, as well with any good idea for the rising of the oceans?

Also, if you like any of my ideas, feel free to rip for personal consumption.

Basically, I´m just starting to develpo this setting, and wanted to play a swashbuckly with some post apocalyptic ingredients. Any (and I really mean any) help will be appreciated. Also, nothing is set in stone, but I do want to mantain a high level of racial prejudice and hatred, specially towards the elves who heavily contributed to the destruction of civilization.

 

[Taloras]

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=51470

Your not the only one w/ a similar idea. My thread(currently about 6 or so below this one on the page) is the one linked to. YOu might check out hte Seafarer's Handbook. Its got some pretty good stuff on underwater races. And it has some new spells specifically designed for water worlds.

1. Water breathing devices will rise in price dramatically, or be mass produced. you decide.

2. Fly spells will be mostly useless, as most lands will be too far to fly between.

3. The Underdark would be much smaller, as waters have come in and flooded several portions. There might be now deep drow(aquatic drow) that have adapted for this reason.

4. Combat changes underwater. Dramatically. Instead of having to look left right, behind you, you now have to look above and below at the same time. Seafarer's Handbook has some new rules on this as well. The one major change i see is that battle maps become obsolete underwater, as you could be 5 ft away from someone...either up, down, up and to the side, etc....

5. Combat on ships is complicated. See the aforementioned book as well.

6. As for a pantheon...a fire diety will be losing power, and sea deities will be replacing the others as dominant. Most people(with the exception of the dwarves) will be worshipping sea deities. Whether they are good or evil is up to you.

Continuing from what you have said...

Elves and gnomes, as holders of magic, will be very very arrogant towards the other races. Gnomes are all but impossible to reach, in their flying citadels. It is very rare to see one(and anyone wanting to play one should have a damn good reason hes not on the citadel). Same with elves. Humans are surviving as best they can, without a lot of magic, trying to keep the orcs, kobolds, and goblinoids from their refuges. The orcs, goblinoids, and kobolds are fighting amongst themselves for the best lands. The underdark has become much more dangerous, as all the things from the deeps have risen with the water level. New monsters may have appeared. New ports have been created, and most of humanity is clustered around them. Half orcs and half elves are distrusted at best, as the orcs are at war w/ humanity, and the elves abandoned the humans.

Does this help?

 

[Tonguez]

First off Maori ARE Polynesia (and I am not an Orc) Oh and my campaign is set in Mythic Polynesia if you want any help their.

In a similar scenario to what you described I had the Gnomes create a huge Psychoactive Submarine Construct - the Aquasphere - which floats through the endless waters. The Gnomes use mini Devices of Kwalish to explore and mine the seabed. (I'll see if I can find the stats if your interested)

On the old boards too a group were creating a Shark World joint setting right here in Plots and Places (including a Collosal Fiendish Megaladon god)- don't know if you'll find that archived somewhere...

 

[iwatt]

Tonguez

I love the idea of Gnomish unerwater airtank. I'l probably use both the air and sea gnomes. Gnomes just rock. And by the way, i've never read a Dragonlance book.

I also would love any help with Maori culture you could provide. About all I can remember of them is that they were canibals, but still the brits respected them quite a lot. I also get flashabacks to the term "long pig" which I think meant eating humans. I think the reason I separated the Maoris from ploynesian is because I'm chilean, and we've been taught that "our" polynesians wre peaceloving staue builders (easter island Moai sculptures). Honestly, I've never elt that Maori's were blood thirsty vicious bastards, but just the idea of canibal kobolds has got me tingling with anticipation.

Taloras

Thanks, I knew the swashbucling guide from AEG was around, but from what you've said I think the seafarers handbook is right up my alley.

About the pantheons, you got me thinking. The elven and dwarf phanteons I'll pretty much maintain as standard. The fire god is probably losing power as you said (but that just gives me plot hooks for trying to get him back into the game). Because of the importance of the water domain, I'l probably create a dual deity. One represents the bounty of the sea, the provider. The second represents the unforgiving nature of the ocean. Nobody can neglect either aspect, unless willing to risk total anihilation. The air God will probably be important as well. I don't really want to go overboard with dozens of deities, but if anybody feels creative enough to come up with a functional pantheon I would greatly apreciate it.

I don't know about evil gods. Please help me. Since I haven't come up with a creation (or destruction) myth, I really no idea who the antagonist deities might be.

I want to thank both of you for your help (and for any forthcoming assitance you're generous enough to provide).

 

[Taloras]

No problem.

Ill get to work on dieites right away. Might even use em in my waterworld campaign(when i get back to workin on it)

 

[iwatt]

Seafaring Halflings

They remain almost the same, but the racial skill bonuses change to the following.

+2 Climb (remains the same)
+2 Swim (instead of Listen)
+2 Balance (Instead of Jump)
+2 Move Silently (remains the Same)

I think this will help focus them more as the superior sailing race. I'm not sure if I should keep the Moving silently bonus, but it's one of the better racial modifiers.

About favored class, I think I'll keep the rogue cause it's the core class with the closest swasbuckling flavor.

 

[Taloras]

Still working on dieties......i spent the last week trying to get my computer to work properly. I lost my old hard drive.

 

[Bob Aberton]

You should also check out Broadsides! by Living Imagination Press (?)...an excellent resource, I highly recommend it.

As for deities, here are some ideas from my campaign...

Oceanus (CN)

Represents the capricious nature of the sea...smooth as glass one minute, and tempestuous when the whim strikes.

It is he who brings the storms; he sinks ships and drowns sailor for amusement when he is bored, but when placated, it is he who calms the waves and points the way to a safe harbor.

Calypso (NG)

Wife of Oceanus, the Protectress of sailors. It is she who reasons with Oceanus when he is wrathful; she intercedes on the behalf of all who use the sea.

She buoys up drowning sailor, and keeps his head above the waves. She sends fair winds and following seas.

Davy Jones (I know, I know, really dumb name...) (NE)

It is Davy Jones who judges dead sailors; he keeps the souls of drowned men in his locker at the bottom of the cold dark depths.

He has no power over the sea (the surface anyway), but it is he who pulls the sailor beneath the waves; it is he that weighs down the drowning man.

Just some ideas...

 

[Rastfar]

Ooh, this sounds like fun. Wish I could play. I love the Halfling idea! Perhaps you can steal some ideas from us. www.Aquerra.com Here we have developed original sea-farer spells. And the fired deity may not be totally overlooked. As is the case for all sea-faring campaigns, fire-based spells are exponentially worse for ship-ship or ship-shore combats. Especially if the clusters of land are small.

I was thinking that perhaps this cataclysmic event is the best thing that ever happened to the aquatic races. I don't think that they would bother going to the surface anymore. Why bother? They could be mysterious and naught more than rumors. Very rarely, if ever, sighted; even more so thatn the gnomes.

Here you have the potential for whole new type of campaign. A totally aquatic game. The PC's would have whole new lands to discover, settle, and claim. Kingdoms that were once above water are now entirely below. This could take the sahuagin, aquatic elves, kuo-toa, mermen, etc. years to explore, repopulate, reap of worth, map, plot, and claim. This is an interesting idea, I think. Imagine the PC's surprise when they turn the corner in a ruined castle to find these odd little gnomes in diving bells. What would that encounter be like?

As per the pantheon, I think there should be alimited number of 'natural' gods. Perhaps a bunch were lost or forgotten in this disaster, or fell out of favor. A few suggestions may include:
A god dedicated to wind, avian life.
a god dedicated to earth, stone, plants.
a lesser god of elemental fire, sun.
a major god dedicated to water, weather.
a god dedicated to aquatic life, fish (the bounty of life).
a lesser god of luck, freedom, bravery, and exploration.

Again, the pantheon we have established at www.Aquerra.com may lend some ideas.

Ooh, also develop a map. That is fun. But of course, don't plot the Gnomish Citadels (if they are static) and the elven lands will obviously remain off too. Perhaps the halfling clans are known to patrol certain waters (areas, locales) and indeed have trade agreements no to infringe upon one another's territories. Some clans may have differnet reputations as firendlier or harsher. Cutthroat halfing pirates may force a party to take the long way around.

One question: What about the dragons?