Ideas for an Underwater Campaign Setting

[Benthicus]

Hi, so I'm kind of new to the EN World forums, and I have some ideas for a campaign setting that I wanted to bounce around. I've always been kind of obsessed with the idea of running a game in a fully aquatic setting, meaning under the ocean's surface, and characters with swim speeds and gills. There are a couple of undersea settings out there (Sea of Fallen Stars and the Sea of Ishamark), but they all seem to be missing a certain something. What I want to create is a world that is believable, and that uses traditional D&D creatures and races (but putting a new spin on each of them).

I realize that the idea might seem a little strange to some people, but I love any kind of setting goes beyond traditional fantasy and into the weird and exotic. So, I'll just go through some of my ideas, and some of the places where I'm having trouble. People should know first-hand that I've taken a lot of ideas from The Deep, the underwater sourcebook, so thank you Ms. Susannah Redelfs. Also, I'm not really a 4th edition person, I like Pathfinder, so if anyone has recommendations for how to better use that system, please share.

My core races include: Merfolk, Locathah, Sea Elves, Tritons, Crabfolk, Malenti (Elven/Sahuagin mutants), and Cecaelians (Octopus merfolk)
I'm mostly doing okay with the different races and their roles in the setting, but the Locathah need to be fleshed out more. They're normally portrayed as unpredictable sea-barbarians, but I want them to be more civilized.

The setting itself is (tentatively) called the Sea of Pelagia, which sounds a bit generic. Other names I've considered include Tethys, Bathys, Benthys, Ahto, Azulia, Demorost and Tannim. It covers a huge coastline along the world's largest continent, roughly equivalent to the area between the Bering Strait and Indonesia. Pelagian culture is dominated by four "mega-cities" created from natural coral reefs. The setting is otherwise very open and wild. I want there to be a lot to explore, sunken ruins, shipwrecks, undersea caverns, etc.

This is definitely a high-magic setting. Most underwater civilizations wouldn't get past the stone age without magic and alchemy. The whole system for how spells are recorded has to do with coral (an idea I borrowed from the Deep). Basically, wizards imprint their spells on living coral, and thus create a shared spellbook to store magic and information (kinda like a computer). It gives the wizards a reason to protect their environment. Magic is also important in how people get around in the ocean. An organization of wizards harness the power of currents to instantly transport convoys to different places around the sea (another idea I took from the Deep). I've designed a whole system of currents for Pelagia. Despite the instant transit stuff, I want Pelagia to be geographically isolated from the rest of the world's oceans, and I haven't yet figured out a good way to explain that. I don't want it to be an inland sea, I just want to keep things manageable.

Here are a few places where I'm still having trouble.

Gods and religion - I'm not sure how big of a role the gods should play in this setting, or if there even should be gods in the first place.

History - I know this is one that I kind of have to handle myself, but I'm just having trouble with the scope of it. I started by writing a short timeline that covered prehistoric times to the modern day, but it just got ridiculous. If I could just get some advice on the process for writing a setting history (how other people went about it), that would be great.

Antagonists - What role should the more "evil" races play? I've got some ideas for the Aboleth, and after reading "The Sea Devils" from 2ed I think I know what I want with the Sahuagin. What about folks like the Kuo-Toa, Ixitxachitl, or the Krakens?

I'd love to hear people's own ideas, and answer any questions. I realize there's a lot of stuff I haven't elaborated on, like magic and core races, but I plan to do that more later on in the thread.

 

[kitsune9]

Here are a few places where I'm still having trouble.

Gods and religion - I'm not sure how big of a role the gods should play in this setting, or if there even should be gods in the first place.

History - I know this is one that I kind of have to handle myself, but I'm just having trouble with the scope of it. I started by writing a short timeline that covered prehistoric times to the modern day, but it just got ridiculous. If I could just get some advice on the process for writing a setting history (how other people went about it), that would be great.

Antagonists - What role should the more "evil" races play? I've got some ideas for the Aboleth, and after reading "The Sea Devils" from 2ed I think I know what I want with the Sahuagin. What about folks like the Kuo-Toa, Ixitxachitl, or the Krakens?

I'd love to hear people's own ideas, and answer any questions. I realize there's a lot of stuff I haven't elaborated on, like magic and core races, but I plan to do that more later on in the thread.

Hi Benthicus!

Gods and Religion--Sure you can have gods down here. If you want to go for a more Cthulu-type campaign, you can make the gods slumbering in the depths of the ocean. They grant powers to their followers, but nothing else, because they are imprisoned. If you want good gods, you can create a few that have undersea themes. I won't provide names, but here's some themes:

Goddess of the Kelp--provides abundant sources of kelp for the undersea people so that they can eat. Good aligned.
God of the Depths--a chasm graveyard where all creatures go to die. Either Neutral or Evil aligned. It is also this incredible depth where the prison of the our mad gods are.
God of the Spear--a god of war that favors spears, javelins, and tridents. He can be a god of valor and honor to make him good, a god of nature that makes him neutral, or a god of carnage (blood-frenzy!) that makes him evil.

History--You don't need a timeline for a history. Chances are, you're players will gloss it over anyways if there's a lot of material to digest so you're best off to start small.

1. Detail your city history with just one paragraph such as how long has it been around and how the city was founded (the result of a great battle? the site of where a great hero / god died? etc), and then you're done.
2. Detail the region and just go back a little further in the history with only one paragraph. For example, what was the region like before the city was founded? Only one or two events to discuss in our one paragraph. At this stage we'll probably want to make it more legend and myth than actual history.
3. Lastly, we'll go back further and detail out one legend / myth that could have been a piece of history. In my Cthulu-god pantheon, we can discuss how the mortal races along with the gods imprisoned these chaos gods and sent them to the Chasm of Graves far into the depths below.

Three paragraphs and you got a history to start out with. As you build your history, you'll fill in gaps here and there as the players explore your campaign world.

Antogonists--For low levels, our evil race is sauhagin, but you know, let's mix it up abit and let's name tritons or crabfolk as our evil races. For mid-levels, the antogonists will be the abholeth and various chaotic-kind creatures such as eye of the deep (underwater beholder), chaos spawn, gibbering mouther, and intelligent slimes and oozes (just add acquatic type and you're good to go!). For high-levels, there is the shaggoth (I think that's the correct name of the creature from the Pathfinder Bestiary) in which these creatures are the direct emissaries of our Cthulu-wannabe gods seeking to escape their imprisonment.

Happy gaming!

 

[Cyronax]

A possible 'evil' race(s) could be deep diving surface dwellers. What if there are a few important shipwrecks around the initital part of the campaign setting.

What if one of these wrecks would start spewing toxic goo into the oceans if the wreck is salvaged?

 

[Benthicus]

Three paragraphs and you got a history to start out with. As you build your history, you'll fill in gaps here and there as the players explore your campaign world.

Thanks Kitsune! The history stuff is really helpful, along with the other ideas too. The reef cities are the part of the setting that I have the clearest picture of. The place where I would start my players out would be Athune Reef in the north. Athune is sort of a frontier/gold-rush type of city with plenty of old ruins and kelp forests nearby to explore. It's a haven for adventurers, and happens to be located near an outcropping of hydrothermal vents, which are important for underwater alchemy (there is also a large population of Sahuagin). The other three Great Reefs include: Kanaloa, the seat of Pelagia's only true empire, the Blood Reef, which is more of a "city of anarchy" inhabited by monsters and demon-worshippers, and Varuni, which was recently been taken over by the Marids from the Elemental Plane of Water.

And Cyronax, I like the idea of the players having to deal with pollution, as I want environmentalism to come up every now and then. I actually had another setting idea (which I could stick in a different part of this world) where the players are underwater creatures living in the wreckage of a huge, technologically advanced city that has partially been sunk.

 

[kitsune9]

And Cyronax, I like the idea of the players having to deal with pollution, as I want environmentalism to come up every now and then. I actually had another setting idea (which I could stick in a different part of this world) where the players are underwater creatures living in the wreckage of a huge, technologically advanced city that has partially been sunk.

For the pollution angle, you can have one of your campaign mysteries an advanced civilization that has gone on before but sank to the depths (i.e. global warming). Now, what I mean by advanced civilization is not necessarily our modern type of society but a society that definitely had more power than the current city-state / nation that your aquatic campaign is set in.

 

[gamerprinter]

I know your major 'civilizations' are based around coral reefs, but don't forget kelp beds, sargossum floating seaweed beds as other rich ecospheres and potential communities beyond coral reefs alone. Though the latter two might serves as 'forests' for the setting.

For other deep delving evil races:

Aboleth/Psurlon (worm psionicists) - dwelling near a 'black smokers' on the Abyssal plain, colorless worms, mollusks, and crabs, dwelling in sulpher-laden worm husks.

Ixitxatchitl - with an Aztecan sound I always picture submerged ziggurat temple, with an underground river with a salincline, as the home of these beings, perhaps an ancient rise in sea levels. These would probably be in shallow areas of the sea.

Aside from geographic location, there are defined oceanic borders based on thermocline, light viewability and other defined areas usually marked by depth. Consider your name and use of pelagic. Remember there is the Pelagic, Mezopelagic, and Benthic - each as much a 'geographic' border as anything else. I would think there would be regional rulers of each depth level.

Energy issues, just thinking of course 'fire' magic is poor in undersea conditions, but wouldn't 'cold' be just as affected being more mitigating then in airy environments, however sonic would be exceptionally powerful in this environment.

Also consider the various migrations of sea mammals, turtles, salmon and others in their annual cycle to affect trade, 'hunting seasons', perhaps allowing for long distance travel in 'following the herd' of food. While many undersea populations are static in coral reef and similar environments, others would travel thousands of miles each year consistently. This would affect a submarine culture to a great degree.

What about Red Tides, this algae kills all other life along the coastal areas where it strikes - would this phenomena and others exist in your setting too?

GP

 

[Benthicus]

I know your major 'civilizations' are based around coral reefs, but don't forget kelp beds, sargossum floating seaweed beds as other rich ecospheres and potential communities beyond coral reefs alone. Though the latter two might serves as 'forests' for the setting.
GP

The Great Reefs are the more cosmopolitan melting pots, where many different races can be found living together (although I think it would mostly be merfolk and locathah). I imagined the sea elves being very tied to their kelp forests, with at least one large city as their capital. The Tritons, who are planar immigrants in this setting, simply build their cities around any active portals they can find. They are the only underwater race that doesn't build communities from natural formations, they use summoned elementals to construct large stone monasteries, and then they grow their own food inside the walls.

You mentioned the migratory nature of the different sea creatures, and that's sort of the original reason why I decided to make undersea civilization based around city states. The Reef Cities are self-sustainable as far as food goes, but for just about everyone else, it's a nomadic lifestyle. Just like on land, it's all about food and natural resources, and in the ocean those two things tend to be moving around a lot more. I don't know, does agriculture seem like something that would be possible under the sea? I like the idea for the big reefs like Kanaloa and Varuni, which are located in the tropical zone, but I want it to make sense for the environment. I guess I'm getting into too much detail here, the players probably won't care...

For the red tide idea, I think normal red tides could exist, along with plagues of parasites and jellyfish blooms. These would be kind of like natural disaster scale things, and they make the Reef Cities even more important for providing magical shelter. One idea I had was to make the Blood Reef totally immersed in a kind of red algae that causes strange effects in those who breathe it in. Mutations, more aggressive behavior, it makes the whole area around the Blood Reef seem like a more frightening place.

 

[Aeolius]

I'm mostly doing okay with the different races and their roles in the setting, but the Locathah need to be fleshed out more. They're normally portrayed as unpredictable sea-barbarians, but I want them to be more civilized.

I took the approach that an undersea setting was a big enough stretch for the imagination of some players, so I added a sense of the familiar with some races. I added aquatic varieties of kobolds, orcs, goblins, and the like inspired by real life examples. Inspirations
I also felt the locathah needed a bit "more" so I took inspiration from the shalarin (Sea of Fallen Stars) and gave them a caste system based on body pattern and coloration. I used larger angelfish as inspiration; the colors of the queen, imperator, majestic, and regal angels are quite stunning, plus juveniles have a different coloration than the adults.
I also made them hermaphroditic. In a group of females, one will change into a male. They are also viable with humans, producing the golden-skinned garibaldi.

The whole system for how spells are recorded has to do with coral (an idea I borrowed from the Deep). Basically, wizards imprint their spells on living coral, and thus create a shared spellbook to store magic and information (kinda like a computer). It gives the wizards a reason to protect their environment.

I've used spells stored in living coral "wands" as well, plus shells used as spell tokens. I've also started work on Nacremancy, magic from the Plane of Pearls. For druids, you could take an example from Neptune grass, some patches of which have lived for 100,000 years. There's got to be power in that!

Despite the instant transit stuff, I want Pelagia to be geographically isolated from the rest of the world's oceans, and I haven't yet figured out a good way to explain that. I don't want it to be an inland sea, I just want to keep things manageable.

Have you considered making sea which clings to the inner surface of a hollow world/Dyson Sphere? I'm going that route with Oerth's lesser moon Celene.

I know what I want with the Sahuagin. What about folks like the Kuo-Toa, Ixitxachitl, or the Krakens?

Morkoth, kopru, seaholders (eye of the deep), aboleth, and certain undead ( lacedon, etc) come to mind. You might also enjoy researching the likes of feejee mermaids, globsters, Jenny Hanivers, and other cryptological beasties.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Aeolius and others have a bunch of ideas gathered in the Aquatic campaign ideas thread linked to in my sig.

 

[Benthicus]

I feel like I'm starting to reference things about my setting that I haven't explained yet, so I'll start going into more detail on what I have. I'm still very interested in feedback (even the negative kind).

I'll start with my core races. The Merfolk are basically "the humans of the sea", and there are several different cultural groups that players can choose from... but I haven't come up with them yet, so I'll move on to the Locathah (this is written up for 3.5 or Pathfinder)

Locathah
- Medium Humanoid (aquatic)
- +2 Constitution, -2 Wisdom: Locathah have strong, powerful frames, but they tend to be restless and unfocused.
- Swim Speed 50 ft., Land 20 ft.
- Low-light Vision
- +2 Natural Armor
- Sub Species +4 Skill Bonus (choose one)-
- Bluff - Diplomacy - Disguise - Escape Artist - Hide - Intimidate - Listen - Spot
- Pressure Resistance 300 ft.
- Automatic Languages - Aquan, Locathan

You'll notice a few things about this write-up, the first being the sub-species skill bonus. The Locathah are an incredibly diverse race of people. They embrace racial differences, and there are about as many different kinds of Locathah as there are fish in the sea. Most of them have your typical ichthyic features, scales, bulging eyes, and an underbite, but some look more exotic. A player who chooses intimidate as their bonus skill probably has a scary-looking Locathah with a face like a Grouper. Also note the pressure resistance, Locathah are creatures of the shallows, if they go any deeper then they start taking damage and suffering penalties. 300 ft. is pretty normal for most aquatic races. Finally, Aquan is used as the common tongue in Pelagia, and Locathan is sort of a "secret language" that Locathah use in private with one another.

Again, I'm having a bit of trouble deciding how to make Locathah fun and interesting to play. I like your caste system idea Aeolius, but I want the fish-folk to be fully integrated into the multi-racial society of the Reef City. I guess what I need is a role for them to play. Are they spiritual leaders? Warriors? Are they more like traders or craftsmen?

The Merfolk are a catch-all category, the Sea Elves are protectors of the forests and the environment, the Tritons are evangelical explorers from another plane, the Malenti and Cecaelians are mistrusted half-breeds, and the Crabfolk are an ancient and eccentric race of salvagers. The Locathah have to fill in what's missing. I must think on this, and then I'll post some stuff for other races.