Undersea Adventures: Comments, Concerns, & Concepts

[nedjer]

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

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Anything that creates Ice could be handy...

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

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

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.

 

[nedjer]

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

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

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

Also, this:

 

[Aeolius]

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?!?

 

[Jhaelen]

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.

 

[DMH]

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.

 

[knightofround]

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.

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.

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.

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.

 

[Aeolius]

(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?