Why Underwater?

ExploderWizard · Dec 30, 2008

Underwater adventures can be a lot of fun. As a DM it also helps you to keep the pressure on the PC's

Noumenon · Dec 30, 2008

I have to say this post has a misleading thread title. The actual post I was led to expect would have read like this:

Why did I choose to set a campaign not only in the World of Greyhawk, but also primarily underwater? <snip 495 words that don't explain why the campaign was underwater>
Almost on a whim, I decided to set the game underwater. I had started keeping saltwater aquariums and my campaigns already had a reputation for being somewhat unorthodox, so it seemed a natural fit; the perfect amalgamation of my interests in writing, D&D, and marine aquaria. <snip 140 more words; end of post.>

However, I'm still glad you resurrected the post because the ideas in your signature really open up a new world of water-based adventures for me. Underwater volcanoes; water spiders on the surface; undead dragon turtle. That really expands the palette beyond the underwater monsters in the MM. I also like the idea of using oozes as jellyfish. And illithids make natural octopus-heads.

You mention "hydrodaemons" -- underwater demons are a great new idea too. What kind of flavor and abilities do they have?

On Puget Sound · Dec 30, 2008

I'm a professional aquarist and GM in Charlotte SC. Are you perchance anywhere close by? (Yeah, I know, the screen name...I'm not geographically challenged, I just moved).

Aeolius · Dec 31, 2008

Noumenon said:
You mention "hydrodaemons" -- underwater demons are a great new idea too. What kind of flavor and abilities do they have?

If you go by the books, there are aquatic demons in Fiend Folio, and and aquatic daemon and devil in Stormwrack.

On Puget Sound said:
Are you perchance anywhere close by?

Google maps tells me you're about an hour and a half away.

On Puget Sound · Dec 31, 2008

That's pretty close, but too far for a gaming commute. I work at Fintastic aquarium shop in Charlotte (just moved here from Seattle about 2 weeks ago) and am working on putting together a 4E group here. Had not thought about looking into a tank for monster and dungeon inspiration; what a great idea! Huge anemones and tunnels dug by enormous yellowhead jawfish....

Aeolius · Dec 31, 2008

On Puget Sound said:
That's pretty close, but too far for a gaming commute. I work at Fintastic aquarium shop in Charlotte (just moved here from Seattle about 2 weeks ago)

My LFS, Aquamain's, just changed hands. I briefly considered buying him out but the economy just doesn't seem right. Perhaps in 2-3 years I will open an aquarium store...hrmm... Finland?

Had not thought about looking into a tank for monster and dungeon inspiration; what a great idea! Huge anemones and tunnels dug by enormous yellowhead jawfish....

As I have posted elsewhere, I like to interject a bit of reality into my fantasy; my blinogo (sea goblins) were inspired by goblin sharks, iblishi (sea kobolds) by blue-dot stingrays, koolocanth (sea bugbears by coelacanth, and krana (sea orcs) by black chimaera.

Dannyalcatraz · Dec 31, 2008

Dannyalcatraz said:
<snip>
3) Anything that eats its live prey whole...sloooooowly...creeps people out. Most people would think constrictor snake first, but they don't do the live part. Cone Snails, OTOH, use a harpoon-like radula to inject a nonlethal paralytic poison into small fish (and other prey) and eat them whole. I used a Giant sized one of these in a campaign once...the hate of the thing was almost visceral.

Elsewhere, I had even posted about an aquatic Monk variant that, like nudibranchs, had the class ability to consume anemones and incorporate the nematocysts into their bodies...

Aeolius · Jan 2, 2009

Dannyalcatraz said:
Elsewhere, I had even posted about an aquatic Monk variant that, like nudibranchs, had the class ability to consume anemones and incorporate the nematocysts into their bodies...

In my games, I had the Prophet A'nan, whose followers were anemoids, small humanoid anemones.

As for incorporating the abilities of consumed creatures, I am reminded of the golden hammerhead, which consumes certain fish and shrimp high in yellow pigments. Their young are born yellow in color, which apparently affords a degree of camouflage as they swim in the shallows. As the shark ages, it takes on a typical gray color.

Dannyalcatraz · Jan 2, 2009

Aeolius said:
In my games, I had the Prophet A'nan, whose followers were anemoids, small humanoid anemones.

I suppose they look a bit like tiny rastafarians...

or maybe like Itty, from DC Comics.

Itty@Everything2.com
The Unofficial Itty Biography

Why Underwater?

ExploderWizard

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On Puget Sound

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Aeolius

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On Puget Sound

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Dannyalcatraz

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