Mechanical Problems with Underwater

[Seacat]

I have checked the various threads about different underwater and or aquatic settings. There is a plethora of information about race selection, monsters, builds, various temperate differences and so on. Where I am looking for advise is how to handle actually running any type of underwater game.


Back Information: my group uses various figures "minis and such" and a dry erase board. flight is handled with stacking dice faces to indicate height and so on. spell effects can be easily measured and or drawn on the "world" as needed.

So for a true underwater game some mechanical issues need to be addressed.
How do you handle a complete 3D environment? movement and attack actions aside how would you handle it?

I guess it would also be of use to ask how do you keep track of "mechanical" problems in Gaming in general? How do you manage your world?

[Fouredged Sword]

Enclosed spaces are needed for most combat. I like to specify a die color for up and down and use the top number of the die to show depth. Also have the group step back from minis a bit. They get complicated in 3d.

Otherwise, keep everyone's breathe counter running at all times for those who can't breathe (I had a game that the whole party could hold their breathe for hours).

Most other rules are just numeric changes. Treat it much like everyone having perfect flight.

[missmvicious]

The easiest and best way is with your imagination. Thanks to gravity, running a 3D underwater campaign can be tricky on a good day with minis.

As a DM, get used to describing ambiance well. But also try googling some pictures of underwater settings. And do stuff like, "You see this:

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSUD9m53CT_6N5fa3__I6l_c5v20U_iz YM5vGXYq1z2RpLgpe8R3g

What do you do next?" to try to help stylize your session. Unfortunately, a lot of the movement will be more cinematic than game mechanic, but it's okay. Underwater campaigns are tricky enough without bogging the whole thing down by intense rule evocation.

The rest can be answered in the DMG, pg 92 - 93.

And if gridline combat is still important to you, then try this.

You say you have a dry erase board, right? Is it a typical magnetic dry erase board? Head out to a craft store and pick up those magnetic sheets; you know, the 8.5x11s that are thin enough to cut with scissors. Cut them into 1x1 squares (or circles if you prefer) and find a suitable avatar of your character on the internet. I find this to be a great link for the purpose:

http://www.imarvintpa.com/dndlive/Index_Mn_Fam_lst.php?Letter=A

(Change the letter A to whatever letter your PC race begins with and see if they've got anything you can use.)

Print it and grab some scissors and glue. Cut out the image you printed and glue it onto your magnet. Instead of laying your dry erase board on the ground, prop it up so that it is stable and sits vertically on a solid surface next to a standard wet erase vinyl map. Now play D&D: Battleship Edition! Move your minis across the vinyl map to indicate movement in relation to the ocean floor and shadow the movement with your magnet-mini on the dry erase board to imitate vertical movement.

Example:
"I swim 30' diagonally westward and upward toward the surface of the water."

*slides mini over 6 squares toward the west; slides magnet-mini over 6 and up 6.*

In order for an opponent to engage in melee combat with the PC, they would have to occupy an adjacent space to both the normal mini and the magnet-mini.

Not my preferred method of playing in an aquatic setting... but there it is.

[jackattack]

Or just mark the characters' elevations on the dry-erase board.

An enclosed space isn't totally necessary for combat, if the DM rules that anyone outside of a certain area and elevation (or a certain distance from the nearest combatant) is out of combat and needs a round or two to re-engage. This does mean that a combat can quickly become a chase scene.