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View Full Version : [World] Generic Underwater campaign thoughts



sakusha
2006-09-06, 10:21 AM
I've been thinking about designing a campaign setting for a long time now and here were my thoughts:

1) Blend new and old. Take pre-existing fantasy cannon and blend in a heaping of never-before-seen stuff. Races, classes, feats, skills, spells, rules, everything.

2) A setting makes it all work ... or not. Without resorting to Ye Olde Fantasy Realm, what really hasn't been touched upon?

I have never actually played in a home-game setting. It's been RPGA ever since I was 10 and started gaming with my dad. I play/ed Living City, Living Greyhawk, Living Jungle, Living Kalamar (tiny bit), Living Force (okay only judged), Living Death, and Eberron: Mark of Heroes as well as read a lot about Living Arcanis.

With this basis I decided I wanted to make a campaign set underwater with the premis of playing Merfolk, Tritons, Hoccathath (sp? the fish-men kin of the Merfolk), etc. and battling Scrags, Kuo-toa, and even Kraken. Of course, there would be a few new races, one or two new classes, a bunch of spells, etc.

As for new rules, I had this complex idea about Karma Points (similar to Hero Points in Living Death and Favors/Boons) being used primarily for if/when a character dies to be used along with dice-rolling challenges in an attempt for the character to revive themselves. Throw into that mix the opportunity to get reincarnated as one of the many races that exist (and not an animal etc.).

These were my random thoughts for a campaign. I just wanted everyone's opinion as to whether or not this actually sounded appealing or just far too complicated to be any fun.

Many thanks for possible critiques! :)

Altair_the_Vexed
2006-09-06, 03:28 PM
It's a good idea, and can make for a very cool setting. So cool in fact that there are published books to help you.
WotC's Stormwrack will give you lots of extra stuff for coping with a watery campaign setting - both on and under the water. It gives little in the way of a campaign setting, but hasd got some useful rules (and about a tonne of unnecessary fluff, like example characters with each of their abilities RE-exp-lained in their character sheets...).

You don't need it though. You'll want to go through the spells in the campaign and alter or remove the fire-based spells. You'll need to consider depth / light / pressure issues (consider having three depth domains: surface, deep and abyss - characters take subdual damage per minute for moving one depth category out of your home domain, and real damage if they move two [ i.e. abyssal to surface, or vice versa]). Consider what weapons won't work under water, or will have penalties to use, or to range, etc. Ranges are all enormously lowered. Visibility is often limited. Fighting underwater takes place in three dimensions more often than not.

Plenty to go with there. Good luck!

Eighth_Seraph
2006-09-06, 04:15 PM
Yeah, that's the first reason I abandoned my ambition to make an underwater campaign.

Me: Alright, do you all go through the passage in the marching order you made up previously?
PC: Yeah, but I'll stay behind to hold the entrance to make sure that the rest of the party can make it to the room safely and get healed up from the last battle.
Me: Alright, then. The medium shark swims ten feet above you through the passage and strikes the sorcerer from behind, which puts him at -3 HP, he's dying now.
PC: What?!
Me: Yeah; I know you can't see it on the board, but I told you before that the roof is twenty feet high.

And thus begin the first of many such arguments. If anyone has a found a way around this problem, please let me know and It'll make a nice sidequest in my next campaign.

Randomman413
2006-09-06, 04:36 PM
2) A setting makes it all work ... or not. Without resorting to Ye Olde Fantasy Realm, what really hasn't been touched upon?


A setting that hasn't been done before, based underwater?

Late 1800's tech inside giant magic glass domes under the water. People get around outside via large animals or sub sort of things. The glass is permeable ala Star Wars' Gungan cities. Things just pass right through it. A slow land, but fast in water, mammal that was also extremely large could be a method of mass transportation between domes. This might not be original, but I've certainly never heard of it.

Mike_Lemmer
2006-09-06, 07:30 PM
Me: Yeah; I know you can't see it on the board, but I told you before that the roof is twenty feet high.

And thus begin the first of many such arguments. If anyone has a found a way around this problem, please let me know and It'll make a nice sidequest in my next campaign.

I'm assuming you're drawing out the map on the table. First, you need height keys.

For each dungeon, set a default height. (Ex: 20' high ceiling in most corridors & rooms.) Draw that default height marker in the corner of the map. (Ex: A line 4 boxes tall labeled 20'.) Tell your players unless you write down otherwise, every room in this dungeon is 20' tall.

If you have a room with a different height (Ex: a large, open chamber with a ceiling of 60'), draw another height marker right next to that room. (A line 12 boxes tall labeled 60'.) That gives players a simple visual aid for determining 3D spaces.

To track height, place poker chips below the minis. A simple system is 1 blue chip for every 5' above the ground, 1 green chip for every 25' above the ground.

Concerning diagonal movement: use the 2D diagonal movement rules (alternate between using one movement and two) for 3D diagonal movement as well. The math works out about the same. (The distance across a 1x1 square is 1.41. The distance across a 1x1x1 cube is 1.55.)

Oh, and go easy on the tactics details. Resolving them in 2D is bad enough. In fact, Keep It Simple Stupid is a good rule of thumb whenever you're resolving 3D combat on a 2D map.

KISS House Rule: Whenever you can't quite calculate if someone's within range/area of something, flip a coin. Heads, he is. Tails, he isn't.

Mike_Lemmer
2006-09-06, 07:40 PM
A setting that hasn't been done before, based underwater?

Demonic pirates ravage the oceans, destroying any ships they encounter. They can't step on land due to a curse, but they've brought shipping routes to a halt. Port cities open negotiations with the underwater races to ship goods underwater, bypassing the demon pirates.

The underwater races are making a good profit off the deal, but they have to deal with:
1. Isolationists that want to stop the surface's meddling in underwater affairs.
2. Scheming surface dwellers.
3. Accusations that they're responsible for the demon pirates, in order to monopolize naval trade.

sakusha
2006-09-07, 09:52 AM
Lol Thanks for the great ideas/suggestions all. I guess I didn't fully explain that I had a thought in mind already, I was just making sure it sounded interesting. From your input, it seems it is.

Re: Underwater mapping
That was my single biggest concern. My brain started coming up with all kinds of super-tech methods (Star Trek chess anyone?), but as far as "modern" methods ... Still working that bug out.

Re: Sea Domains
Oh yeah! I like that idea, similar to the way I'd planned on arranging the races anyway, but more for anthropological reasons than any true effect.

Re: Pirating
Okay, I guess I really am going to have to just post my notes here. ^^; Too bad I'm at work. Later tonight I will!

sakusha
2006-09-08, 10:29 PM
I'm going to start a new thread since the next post will be a House / Race ruling and not an over-arching world.