Aeolius's page

Though the fifth edition of the Dungeons & Dragons ruleset is due to be released this summer, I have given some though to trying my hand at a Pathfinder campaign.

In 1998 I started my first undersea campaign, “Beneath the Pinnacles of Azor’alq”, a first edition Advanced D&D play-by-post adventure. In 2007 I created “Heirs of Turucambi”, a 3.5e D&D chat-based game set beneath the surface of the Oljatt Sea on Oerth, the World of Greyhawk. I currently run this game each Sunday night.

Alluria Publishing has created a series of robust undersea supplements for Pathfinder, starting with the Cerulean Seas campaign setting. I would utilize these supplements, also available in printed and electronic formats, for my Pathfinder endeavors.

My current undersea game uses a simple chat interface, Internet Relay Chat or IRC. Should I run a Pathfinder/Cerulean Seas adventure, I would employ a more advanced interface, a Virtual Tabletop application called Roll20. Roll20 allows players to share a common screen, seeing a map of the adventure locale and simple game statistics combined with videoconferencing capabilities. I would use Roll20 in conjunction with Hero Lab, an interactive character sheet.

What would you like to see, in such a game?

Who is running a Cerulean Seas campaign online, these days? My 3.5e undersea game is still running, but the thought of a FP/Cerulean Seas/roll20 game is sorely tempting.

I watched Animal Planet's mermaid special, the other night, and could not help but think it would make a great aquatic one-shot.

http://press.discovery.com/ekits/monster-week-mermaids/

Envision this, as the basis for pearl-money:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042/4226289174_e2aed0812f_z.jpg
A fish entrapped within an oyster, then entombed within a blister pearl.

I like your seaweed city idea..I may have to steal that..

Feel free! I'm working on notes, even now, to write such a city up in two ways. The first will be for my current 3.5e undersea campaign in the World of Greyhawk, where the party may soon travel to the Jungle of Lost Ships ( http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=lg/lgmp/20050118a ). Secondly, I shall write the floating city up using Pathfinder/Cerulean Seas, as a standalone (floatalone?) adventure.

Envision, if you will, a long-dormant submerged volcano rising into the shallows as a seamount. "Because they project out above the surrounding sea floor, they disturb standard water flow, causing eddies... seamounts are thus centers where the fish that feed on them aggregate, in turn falling prey to further predation, making seamounts important biological hotspots." ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seamount ) Thus a great mat of floating seaweed and debris are caught in an endless eddy, a slowly-rotating whirlpool turning almost imperceptibly. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_island )

Now turn your attention to the world beneath the waves. Envision stalks of kelp-like seaweed growing up from the surface of the seamount and the lattice of seaweed intertwined between the massive stalks as it grows down to meet the forest of kelp ( http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/efc/efc_kelp/kelp_cam.aspx ).

Imagine two factions of subsurface dwellers, the first acting as defenders of the seaweed city. They protect its most vulnerable secret, that the heart of the city has been living for nearly one hundred millennia (borrowed from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posidonia_oceanica ). The second cult secretly wishes to free the floaton from its terrestrial tether. To this end they have developed a potent poison, a disease which will weaken the stalks upon which their society is anchored.

I received my hardcopy of Cerulean Seas in the mail, today!

I've had a similar campaign concept on the back-burner for over a decade, now, which I have mentioned a time or two over at EN World. Here's a sample: http://web.me.com/aeolius/turucambi/Nature_of_the_Beast.html

That was quick! I suppose I need to step up my plans for a Cerulean Seas-oriented website for a possible campaign, then? ;)

I've heard quite a few folks interested in a Cerulean Seas PbP campaign. Though, to be honest, I'd like to explore what MapTool has to offer. Any thoughts?

I think the campaign will begin near a "seaweed city", a floating city crafted of living seaweed in which aquatic faces dwell beneath the surface.

I just remembered where I had seen cindarians, before. In a studio tour at Disney MGM Studios (now Disney Hollywood Studios) there is a gallery of concept art. One concept for "The Little Mermaid"'s Ursula was that of a lionfish:

http://www.aladdincentral.org/encyclopedia/images/3/33/Ursulaconcept.jpg

Surprised you haven't taken advantage of a Facebook presence for those of us who are on there. Easy to put together.

The problem with Facebook and gaming, I have found, is that many folks who game and chat online value their screen names and online identities, versus the "real names" that people tend to use on Facebook. Some folks freely mix the two, while others keep them separate.

How about a Cerulean Seas Sim on Second Life, while we're at it? SL has a thriving merfolk community. ;)

I plan to use elements of it in my upcoming game.

Ideally, I'd like to see Alluria Publishing establish a message board, and possibly a weekly chat, so that those of us who find ourselves fascinated with undersea adventuring have a medium in which to share our passions. Barring that, I suppose I could set one up myself, though I doubt it would get the same amount of traffic. I did set up underwater groups on EN World and wizards.com, with little to no response.

Needless to say, this product has sparked both my imagination and motivation in ways I could not have foreseen. More on that, later. ;)

Out of curiosity, how many posters here have a genuine interest in either playing in or running a Cerulean Seas campaign?

...The only down side is their breath weapons are fairly repetive and sonic based...

There's nothing that prevents a DM from changing things about, of course. My aquatic hagstone dragons, pearl, coral, and abalone, have breath weapons of sharpened oyster shell shards, hardening coralline algae, and clouds of cyanide respectively. I like to keep my players on their..errr... fins. ;)

Some random notes, regarding the bestiary: It’s nice to see someone else with an interest in coelacanths. In my game they were the inspiration for the kolocanth or sea bugbear.

The image of the coral shepherd reminds me of my liverock gargoyles. I have used giant hermit crabs in my campaign in the recent past, as well as a hermit crab hivemind, but have yet to use my hermit crabmen.

I’ve added my share of aquatic dragons also, from my hagstone dragons (coral, pearl, and abalone) to the jellyfish dragon inspired by mauve stingers.

Your giant dragonfly nymph reminded me of my vilax, which was an aquatic thri-kreen inspired by the same beastie. I have deep drow as well, though mine are akin to the NTI in “The Abyss”. Instead of electric eels, I added a new variety of ixitxachitl with electrical abilities (as well as making the vampiric ixitxachitl capable of creating juju zombies).

Your stygian imp reminds me of my fish (styx) and a host of beasties made from aquatic larvae; scullops, demonstars, and hellbenders. I recognize that sea cat pose from images of swimming tigers :) .

It's products like this that make me want to take another look at Pathfinder.

If you want something strange, for your gill-men, I once devised the Opinaku, a hybrid offspring of sea elves and human weresharks, or perhaps my Garibaldi, golden-scaled offspring of locathah and human.

3.5e really could have used a few more seafaring supplements, such as "Races of Water", "The Hydronomicon", "Complete Aquan", and "Waterscape", to compliment Stormwrack. Granted, I've been running undersea D&D campaigns since 1998, so I'm biased.

I always assumed Merrow were fresh-water monsters, or estuarial at most. And that's a thing D&D does, not distinguishing between Marine and Freshwater Aquatic habitats, even though those habitats are mutually exclusive and a marine creature would die a painful death in freshwater, and vice-versa... Mongoose Publishing did a bang-up job with their Slayer's Guide to Kraken, IMO, so I'd rather see something like a Sea Hag...

I kept merrow as brackish water beasties, which mate with shellycoats to produce sea hags. I did create marine merrow as well; merrow mages, ala ogre mage. As for a Slayer's Guide to Sea Hags, I am working on something similar for the shellycoat; in D&D terms a greenhag that spends most of her time in the water.

So, my idea was that the main "fishmen" are the locathah, which are composed of nomadic tribes that trade relics from ancient ruins, treasures from lost ships, corals and seafood for metalwork from coastal communities.

In my games, the locathah bear markings similar to the larger angelfish; queen, majestic, imperator, regal, etc. and are thus fit into a caste system. To complicate matters, I also may them hermaphroditic and capable of siring a half-breed with humans.

While I like the idea of Aquatic Hobgoblins, I'm at a loss to think of them ever being used, and would rather just have the Sahuagin remain the imperialistic lawful kingdom-under-the-sea types...Aquatic Umber Hulks and Aquatic Gargoyles always struck me as odd. While I could understand, particularly in a world with an Atlantic-analogue,...

I went further, adding the krana (sea orc), blinogo (sea goblin, iblishi (sea kobold), and kolocanth (sea bugbear), to name a few. Each was inspired by a particular sea creature.

... I still extremely dislike stealing the name of a mythological creature and applying it to a newly-minted mundane race.

So much for my oceanids, then. ;) They are daughters of tritons and salt hags. Salt hags, in turn, are the daughters of night hags and sea elves.

After seven successful sessions, the adventurers in "Heirs of Turucambi" find themselves on a quest to rescue a water-breathing human (aquatic racial variant) from the clutches of the ixitxachitl. Aided by the reef hag Ciliaris, they have learned of the evil machinations of the blackwater hag Diadema, her rival.

There will be no session on 9/16. Play to resume on 9/23.

Time: Sunday, 9pm-Midnight, Eastern (UTC -4)
Server: irc.otherworlders.org
Port: 6667
Channel: #turucambi

Greensboro lost two gaming stores in the past few years, as well. I do most of my book ordering via amazon.com, these days, but there's a game store near burlington, if I recall correctly. You might look for a yahoo group called Polydice Anonymous, made from the remains of a D&D MeetUp that got tired of paying for the space.

Last Sunday, I had a brief introductory adventure for "Heirs of Turucambi". There's always room for one more! Hope to SEA you there!

Tonight (Sunday) at 9pm (Eastern) I'll be hosting another informal pre-game Q&A session. Hope to SEA you there!

Server: irc.otherworlders.org
Port: 6667
Channel: #turucambi

Within the next few days, I'll be posting the campaign background for "Heirs of Turucambi". Tonight (Sunday) at 9pm (Eastern) I'll be hosting an informal pre-game Q&A session. Hope to SEA you there!

Server: irc.otherworlders.org
Port: 6667
Channel: #turucambi

I am now compiling my notes for "Heirs of Turucambi", an undersea campaign that will begin in the near future.

As the majority of the campaign will be set underwater, the game will draw heavily from supplements such as Stormwrack. Player characters must be able to swim (have a swim speed) and breathe underwater (aquatic or amphibious) without the use of magic. The campaign will begin at level 1-3, to account for characters with templates, monster races, and similar instances.

"Heirs of Turucambi" is set in the Oljatt Sea of Oerth, the World of Greyhawk. Originally detailed in "Greyhawk Adventures" and later featured at wizards.com, Turucambi is one of the "Mysterious Places" of the region. Knowledge of the World of Greyhawk is not required, for participation in the campaign.

Given my preferences, the campaign will draw from my interests in marine biology and my hobby of keeping saltwater aquariums, coupled with my fascination with various mythological creatures such as hags, dragons, and demons.

Be aware that life underwater has its limitations; typical potions are all but impossible to imbibe, paper scrolls will quickly disintegrate, and typical metal items are subject to corrosion. Many typical spells may not suitable for underwater casting. Treasure may be similarly altered, as many undersea races value rare corals, pearls, and shells far more than coins and gemstones.

Keep in mind that some of the best inspiration for an underwater campaign can come from the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, visiting your local aquarium or fish store, and perusing ocean-related materials in a bookstore.

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?