Nautical World

[JNAProductions]

I am about to begin a Nautical-themed campaign.

General world details:

There was a cataclysmic flood. Most of the world is underwater. There is an archipelago of Coastal Lords and icy wastes to the north.

There are five factions:

Coastal Lords-rulers of the islands. Elves and humans.
Dwarven Coalition-rulers of the deep. Few in number, but by far the best crafters remaining. Dwarves.
Merchants' Guild-the traders of the seas. The main connection between islands. Any races.
Eternal Damnation-a floating cityship of piratical outcasts. Tielfings and half-orcs mostly.
Frozen Storm-the warband of the north. Any races. The antaganists (unless [until] the players decide they'll have more fun as bad guys).

Bit bare bones at the moment, but I have a Google Doc (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JUzL0OvCSWva-XUvAT_E2Ki4Ork8F0w6QHL1h_Eabx0/edit?usp=sharing) for Renown.

Thoughts? Comments? Critiscms? Ideas?

Edit: Walrog.

Imagine, if you will, the ocean floor. Covered in life, deep sea-fishes, floor dwellers, those that glow in the dark places, in fissures and crevices.

That is not the ocean floor of Nautica. The ocean floor is dark and devoid of life. No phsophorescent glow. Only eternal, inky blackness.

Walrog sees to that.

To picture the ocean floor, one must see an infinte expanse of writhing, living darkness. It wriggles and squirms, each tentacle the size of a castle, beaks clacking and claws flexing, suckers drawing in water and bleeding holes oozing inky ichor. Fissures open up, maws the size of cities, And this is but Walrog's skin.

Walrog is the sea, and after the Cataclysm, Walrog slumbers. But Walrog is ever vigilant, smelling for blood and death. Sailors are not buried at sea-they are burned. Bodies in the water leads to many more following.

Walrog sees to that.

Walrog sees all.

[INDYSTAR188]

I am about to begin a Nautical-themed campaign.

General world details:

There was a cataclysmic flood. Most of the world is underwater. There is an archipelago of Coastal Lords and icy wastes to the north.

There are five factions:

Coastal Lords-rulers of the islands. Elves and humans.
Dwarven Coalition-rulers of the deep. Few in number, but by far the best crafters remaining. Dwarves.
Merchants' Guild-the traders of the seas. The main connection between islands. Any races.
Eternal Damnation-a floating cityship of piratical outcasts. Tielfings and half-orcs mostly.
Frozen Storm-the warband of the north. Any races. The antaganists (unless [until] the players decide they'll have more fun as bad guys).

Bit bare bones at the moment, but I have a Google Doc (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JUzL0OvCSWva-XUvAT_E2Ki4Ork8F0w6QHL1h_Eabx0/edit?usp=sharing) for Renown.

Thoughts? Comments? Critiscms? Ideas?

I think it sounds like fun. I'm planning a nautical world myself so I'd love to hear some more about yours. For context:
- what level are you starting at?
- what level of magic do you want to play at (low/med/high)?
- how will you handle ships and combat/navigating?

[JNAProductions]

I think it sounds like fun. I'm planning a nautical world myself so I'd love to hear some more about yours. For context:
- what level are you starting at?
- what level of magic do you want to play at (low/med/high)?
- how will you handle ships and combat/navigating?

4.

Low magic. Lots of items, but only little things-Eagle Lenses, Periapts of Health, a Cap of Water Breathing (that thing is going to get a lot of use). I want my players getting by on wits and skill, not math.
Currently, we've got an Elemental Monk, a Lore Bard, an Assassin, and a fourth player who's yet to choose a race/class.

...
.....
Well . That is definitely something I need to think about. Any ideas there?

Also, thanks for the compliment. Credit goes to one of my players for making up the world, as far as the [I]ED and Frozen Storm go. I added the other factions, but the world is his.

[Naanomi]

What does your cosmology look like? Gods and so on...

[JNAProductions]

I'm thinking low-godliness. They're remote and distant, more concepts than beings.

A Cleric does not devote him/herself to Pelor, for instance, but to Life and Light.

Plane-wise, the same cataclysm that flooded the world sealed it off from other planes. I might add them in, but any true records of existing planes are long in the past.

In other words, I'm going fro Schrodinger's Cosmology. It doesn't exist until the players want to adventure in it, and when they do, it's virgin territory so I don't have to make it all up front.

[Naanomi]

A flooded world leaves rooms for all sorts of 'elder things' deep under the waves to empower warlocks at the very least.

You will have to give some thoughts to the status of the aquatic races/monsters as well. Sahaugin, merrow, merfolk all in the MM; aquatic elves get mentioned but not given stats. Past editions of course had a bunch of others I can't seem to recall the spelling of (locathah? Morkoth? Ixitxatchtil? Triton?)

Id have at least one zaratan out there as well

[JNAProductions]

A flooded world leaves rooms for all sorts of 'elder things' deep under the waves to empower warlocks at the very least.

You will have to give some thoughts to the status of the aquatic races/monsters as well. Sahaugin, merrow, merfolk all in the MM; aquatic elves get mentioned but not given stats. Past editions of course had a bunch of others I can't seem to recall the spelling of (locathah? Morkoth? Ixitxatchtil? Triton?)

Id have at least one zaratan out there as well

Sahaugin-almost extinct. Why? Walrog.
Merrow-almost extinct. Why? Again, Walrog.
Merfolk-dominant sea race. Why? Walrog (wiped out their more violent competitors).
Aquatic elves-meh. I'm sticking with statted subraces.

Walrog is around for an Awaken the Sleeping Giant scenario. Blood is not allowed to be spilled in open waters. Bad things happen to those who do it. It's why Kraken (CR 23 Kraken, yes) aren't as much as an issue as one would think.

Walrog.

Edit: Walrog is in the OP now! Yay!

[SharkForce]

hmmm... one thing to consider, metal is probably a lot harder to get your hands on (mining won't be easy at the bottom of the ocean to say the least, even if you can breathe water), and wood is probably an extremely valuable commodity (everyone needs it for ships, which are going to be transportation and livelihood to a significant portion of the world's population, but it only grows on land and there isn't much of that).

combined with the fact that 99/100 people agree that trying to swim in plate mail is a bad idea (the one that disagrees is probably either lying or cheating), you may wish to consider some minor compensation to classes that would normally wear heavy armour.

you may also wish to consider how a low-tech culture with relatively little land might adapt. knowledge of distillation techniques may be common and widespread. fishing is likely a primary source of food since trees will compete with cropland, and since presumably the remaining land was at one point mostly mountains there is probably relatively little soil in the first place (fortunately trees require less soil than normal). dwarven underground farms may actually be another major food source, and cultivation of edible seafood in offshore farms may be more advanced than you might expect (not to mention food trade with various underwater civilizations to provide more non-fish food). you may even see the dwarves selling the spoil from their mining operations in an effort to expand land space, particularly since i'd expect most mountains provide less of a "continental shelf" than actual land.

[Naanomi]

Also consider the role of bigger time aquatic monsters. Marids, sea hag covens, Aboleth... All excellent villains.

Alternatively the only truely aquatic dragons are good ones, so evil dragons may rule isolated islands but one could go poking around the sea for allies in the bronze/gold varieties.

[Joe the Rat]

A World sealed off with too much water? Sounds like we've found Athas's (http://what-if.xkcd.com/53/) twin world (http://what-if.xkcd.com/54/).

How flooded is it? Are the former continents abyssally deep, or do they end up as shallow seas in a larger body of Dark Water? That does give you some resource flex - the old mountains that may or may not be islands are still in relatively shallow chains, possibly even reachable. Actually, they'd have to be, given your dwarves.

And you could still play with Underdark-type elements, with the whole sunken continent turned cave under the sea floor thing. And now I want Mer-Drow.

What sort of theme do you want to go for here? Funky Fantasy Pirates? Sinbad? Odyssey-style island of the week? Waterworld/Post-Apocalypse Scavenger? Dark Sun II: Archipelagoes of Doom? Take your theme, then build the resources necessary to support it.

[JNAProductions]

Space Quest style. Play around as much as you want, but pay attention to the oncoming Frozen Storm before it consumes the world.

I want to give the players as much freedom as possible, mostly.

As for the tone? Settled before the Frozen Storm arrives or Walrog (who I'm considering ditching, because eh. Not needed), since the world has been flooded a long while. General low-level interfactional tension, overpopulation, but no wars in sight except up north.

[JNAProductions]

Got my player blurb written up.


Thousands of millennia ago, or so you have heard, the world was land. Vast, open expanses of ground, grasslands and forests, rocky mountains and sprawling deserts. You, however, have lived your life on the islands and the coasts, in the seas and on boats. The world has been flooded, so long ago not even the elves can personally remember a time where land prominent.

The world is, however, a stable place. Food is tight, as is freshwater, but people get by, though it grows ever harder as the populations grow. The Coastal Lords, humans and elves who rule over the Archipelago, are fair, if not always just. Most people are satisfied, and those who aren’t typically take to the seas, searching for their own small but of sovereign land, or join the Merchants’ Guild, the vast, sea-spanning trader organization that has power equal to that of the Coastal Lords.

Below the earth resides the Dwarven Coalition. The dwarves, weakened more so than other races by the flooding, have joined together as one race, in a rocky but effective alliance. With their surviving tunnels, they provide the most metals and other minerals of the earth, long since locked away under miles of water to most people. The Coalition is insular, but peaceful.

All is not well, though. Pirates roam the seas-foremost among them the crew of the city-ship Eternal Damnation. A place of outcasts, manned by tieflings and half-orcs, the Eternal Damnation raids settlements and merchant vessels, growing richer and more powerful as it goes. Early on when she was launched, the Coastal Lords and Merchants’ Guild together tried to stop her, but she survived and has grown too powerful to shut down without heavy losses. Now, she is an accepted danger of the sea, and her enemies await the day she is weakened and vulnerable.



The greatest threat, however, lies to the north. In recent years, word has come down that the icy, inhospitable tundra at the top of the world has been civilized, or at least conquered. Argos, the Eternal Frost, leader of the Frozen Storm is upon the world, and he is not content with the tundra alone.

[Drakefall]

This sounds like a pretty cool setting. Certainly a different way of doing a nautical campaign.

Allow me to make some remarks.

If you have never watched an older cartoon series called Pirates of Dark Water, I suggest you look it up. The series featured a fantasy oceanic world filled with islands, pirates, monkey-birds and eerie magic, with dystopian elements in the form of the ever present titular Dark Water. It was literally evil, semi-sentient, black water that had already claimed a large portion of the world and would taint and corrupt everything it came across.

Final Fantasy X, and presumably X-2 though I never played it, took place in an archipelago world where an evil whale thing was corrupting the waters. Anyone who died in or around the sea (Or possibly in general. I can't quite remember) would become some weird, evil monster minion unless their souls were properly shepherded to the afterlife or somesuch via a cool little ritual finery service performed by the Love Interest character, and presumably other priests or whatever like her.

Stealing elements from these you could refine your original Walrog idea so that the feel you were going for is still there, but in a far less restrictive way (Because it was a cool, but a little oppressive. The no spilling blood at sea or everyone dies horribly thing for instance was a tad restrictive to adventuring). So I'unno, there's this Walrog dude who is a surviving bad guy from the primordial vs god war cataclysm or whatever happened. He's in semi-slumber and far from his glorious old self, but as he slumbers his subconscious will spreads through the sea, tainting and corrupting what it comes across.

From this you can pull all sorts of plot. Things like:

A big bad world-ending evil for your players to eventually tackle if they're characters ever get high level enough that pirate lords and barbarian hordes from the north don't bother them.
Aboleth servants of Walrog enslaving armies in his name
Strange lovecraftian cults to Walrog and/or his aboleth minions to investigate
Dead bodies that fall into the sea become sea zombies. Leading to bodies either being burned or having to be blessed by a priest of the last goddess of the ocean or whatever.
Warlocks servants of Walrog to spread his corruption through the populated areas and lead his undead monstrosities.
Damned ships crewed by sea zombies
Nautical chase scenes where the players sail a ship through a deadly reef in bid to escape the oncoming tainted water of Walrog
Macguffin artifact gathering to fight off Walrog's taint


You should totally also make more than one city ship. Because city ships are awesome. Give one to the Merchant's League as well or something. Also: a floating wizard library stronghold that is the last true great bastion of history and arcane lore. Because no matter what, wizards will find a way to have their library strongholds.:smalltongue:

I'll stop spewing silly ideas at your setting now.:smallredface:

[jkat718]

#1 recommendation for source material: Mike Ellis' Pieces of Eights, a Caribbean pirate-themed webcomic with roots in a homebrew D&D setting/system. Tons of fun, great writing, better art, and (perfect for you) a fantastic implementation of a sea-based campaign.

[Garimeth]

This sounds like a pretty cool setting. Certainly a different way of doing a nautical campaign.

Allow me to make some remarks.

If you have never watched an older cartoon series called Pirates of Dark Water, I suggest you look it up. The series featured a fantasy oceanic world filled with islands, pirates, monkey-birds and eerie magic, with dystopian elements in the form of the ever present titular Dark Water. It was literally evil, semi-sentient, black water that had already claimed a large portion of the world and would taint and corrupt everything it came across.

Final Fantasy X, and presumably X-2 though I never played it, took place in an archipelago world where an evil whale thing was corrupting the waters. Anyone who died in or around the sea (Or possibly in general. I can't quite remember) would become some weird, evil monster minion unless their souls were properly shepherded to the afterlife or somesuch via a cool little ritual finery service performed by the Love Interest character, and presumably other priests or whatever like her.

Stealing elements from these you could refine your original Walrog idea so that the feel you were going for is still there, but in a far less restrictive way (Because it was a cool, but a little oppressive. The no spilling blood at sea or everyone dies horribly thing for instance was a tad restrictive to adventuring). So I'unno, there's this Walrog dude who is a surviving bad guy from the primordial vs god war cataclysm or whatever happened. He's in semi-slumber and far from his glorious old self, but as he slumbers his subconscious will spreads through the sea, tainting and corrupting what it comes across.

From this you can pull all sorts of plot. Things like:

A big bad world-ending evil for your players to eventually tackle if they're characters ever get high level enough that pirate lords and barbarian hordes from the north don't bother them.
Aboleth servants of Walrog enslaving armies in his name
Strange lovecraftian cults to Walrog and/or his aboleth minions to investigate
Dead bodies that fall into the sea become sea zombies. Leading to bodies either being burned or having to be blessed by a priest of the last goddess of the ocean or whatever.
Warlocks servants of Walrog to spread his corruption through the populated areas and lead his undead monstrosities.
Damned ships crewed by sea zombies
Nautical chase scenes where the players sail a ship through a deadly reef in bid to escape the oncoming tainted water of Walrog
Macguffin artifact gathering to fight off Walrog's taint


You should totally also make more than one city ship. Because city ships are awesome. Give one to the Merchant's League as well or something. Also: a floating wizard library stronghold that is the last true great bastion of history and arcane lore. Because no matter what, wizards will find a way to have their library strongholds.:smalltongue:

I'll stop spewing silly ideas at your setting now.:smallredface:

Dude, Pirates of Dark Water... way to take me back, lol. Awesome ideas, almost makes me want to make this setting.