Way Down, Below the Ocean

Open Design has two new Pathfinder RPG Compatible books available!

When Wolfgang Baur first pitched us on his idea to do a project for us based on the sunken continent of Azlant, we were really excited about the prospects. Wolf has always had a knack for creating settings to explore lost civilizations, so letting him play in Azlant seemed like a good idea. He set up the project using his Open Design patronage system and ended up with two separate products: next month will see the release of From Shore to Sea, an official Paizo-published Pathfinder Module set in Golarion, while Open Design has just published Sunken Empires, a Pathfinder RPG-Compatible sourcebook that brings lost aquatic civilizations to any campaign setting. The print edition of Sunken Empires is in our store now; the PDF will be available on June 8.

The life of an adventurer should be full of great daring, and little is more daring than retrieving the sunken treasures of the Underdeep! Sunken Empires is heaped high with glorious new magic, monsters, and rules for lost technology and abolethic horrors, including the history of the Aboleth by its creator David "Zeb" Cook; a full Ecology of the Aboleth; glyph magic and seaborne familiars; feats and gear for Net Fighters; lost technology from Lightning Spears to Lemurian Coil Rifles; and more than 10 new coastal and undersea monsters. With advice on designing your own lost civilization and hundreds of hooks and story ideas to scatter along the coast for beachcombing adventurers to find, Sunken Empires is one Pathfinder Roleplaying Game-compatible sourcebook you don't want to miss.

Open Design's other new product, Imperial Gazetteer, was originally released for 4E, but now has a Pathfinder RPG-compatible edition! Vampires and spectral knights long ago claimed the country of Morgau & Doresh as their own, leaving the ghouls their empire deep beneath the earth. Both realms of Zobeck are fully detailed in this volume by Wolfgang Baur and Scott Gable. Travel deep within the palatial crypts of deep realms of undeath and learn the secrets of the vampire-princes and the ghoul emperor. This gazetteer provides rich new Pathfinder RPG material including a history of the undead nations above and below the earth; a giant cast of undying antagonists and allies; a new undead race of necropolitan ghouls for PCs; the subterranean realms of the Emperor of the Ghouls; undead-themed gods and magical items; and more original, inventive undead than you can shake a stake at.

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Dark Archive

... Where I wanna be, she may be. Way down, below the ocean...


Awesome gaming goodness here, folks! As a patron I have reviewed my free pdf and am eager to get my hands on the print edition! I highly recommend this booklet for any interested in a sea-related campaign.

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hedgeknight wrote:
Awesome gaming goodness here, folks! As a patron I have reviewed my free pdf and am eager to get my hands on the print edition! I highly recommend this booklet for any interested in a sea-related campaign.

So, first time patron here, how does one get access to the PDF?

Paizo Employee Director of Narrative

Check your email. Wolfgang sent a link.

Scarab Sages

It looks good. And I'm very happy my wharflings made the cut. I got a little nervous when it was mentioned some creatures were going to be let go.

Dark Archive

Adam Daigle wrote:
Check your email. Wolfgang sent a link.

Awesome, thanks!


Just got the PDf and while the goblin sharks are not what I was expecting I like them all the same. Great work, I hope my patronage in this gets me a physical copy as well. If not, I will get a physical copy as I love what I see here and want to run a campaign around this material.

Paizo Employee CEO

the David wrote:
... Where I wanna be, she may be. Way down, below the ocean...

And Vic said that nobody would get the title. :) He wanted to go with "I'd like to be, under the sea..." which I dismissed, because I don't believe there are any gardens in this book! :)

-Lisa

Dark Archive

Nobody gets the reference? That's odd.

Liberty's Edge Contributor

I can't believe that no one mentioned Paizo's very own production specialist, Crystal Frasier, did the entire layout and design for this gorgeous tome!


Crystal Frasier wrote:
I can't believe that no one mentioned Paizo's very own production specialist, Crystal Frasier, did the entire layout and design for this gorgeous tome!

Crystal, I can't get get over the amazing layout job you did on this! I've been going over it all afternoon and am just beside myself. Incredible job, and it fits the theme so well! Awesome, awesome work.

And, if it makes you feel any better, there wasn't any mention of the guy that actually wrote the darn thing, either. =-)

But really, folks -this book is really something else, and I'm not sure we left a single shore-stone or seashell uncovered in our quest for the penultimate guide to lost seaside civilizations.

-B.

Liberty's Edge Contributor

Brandon Hodge wrote:

Crystal, I can't get get over the amazing layout job you did on this! I've been going over it all afternoon and am just beside myself. Incredible job, and it fits the theme so well! Awesome, awesome work.

And, if it makes you feel any better, there wasn't any mention of the guy that actually wrote the darn thing, either. =-)

But really, folks -this book is really something else, and I'm not sure we left a single shore-stone or seashell uncovered in our quest for the penultimate guide to lost seaside civilizations.

-B.

Psht! Writing! Nobody cares about the writing. If you'd wanted to be appreciated and notice, you should have joined the faceless production underclass :)


So, who did the layout and design for this book?


Crystal Frasier wrote:
Brandon Hodge wrote:

Crystal, I can't get get over the amazing layout job you did on this! I've been going over it all afternoon and am just beside myself. Incredible job, and it fits the theme so well! Awesome, awesome work.

And, if it makes you feel any better, there wasn't any mention of the guy that actually wrote the darn thing, either. =-)

But really, folks -this book is really something else, and I'm not sure we left a single shore-stone or seashell uncovered in our quest for the penultimate guide to lost seaside civilizations.

-B.

Psht! Writing! Nobody cares about the writing. If you'd wanted to be appreciated and notice, you should have joined the faceless production underclass :)

That's totally true... it seems like the writter does ALL the work... designers, cartographers and illustrators seem to be there just to add to the writter's awesomeness.... pffff... ;P

Superb work Crystal!


oh, BTW, I'm trying to raise funds for Wayfinder 3 and my PaizoCon trip and I'm putting all my originals from Sunken Empires (and some other KQ products) in here

Check it out, at least to see how the sketch looks like ;P


Hugo Solis wrote:

oh, BTW, I'm trying to raise funds for Wayfinder 3 and my PaizoCon trip and I'm putting all my originals from Sunken Empires (and some other KQ products) in here

Check it out, at least to see how the sketch looks like ;P

Hey! DIBS on that dwarven explorer and the aboleth, my man!


Crystal Frasier wrote:
I can't believe that no one mentioned Paizo's very own production specialist, Crystal Frasier, did the entire layout and design for this gorgeous tome!

Gorgeous is right! The chapter intros are fantastic!


Looking forward to getting my hands on these, I've been dying to know more about the Azlanti since we finished Second Darkness.

Although...

Underdeep? Seriously? I hope we aren't going to Scarytown next, I here that place is a sh!thole. ;p

Keep up the good work everyone. I can't wait until my group has time to start on Kingmaker.


Yknaps the Lesserprechaun wrote:
So, who did the layout and design for this book?

Crystal Frasier, of course. Now, if we could only tell who she was...


Brandon Hodge wrote:
Hugo Solis wrote:

oh, BTW, I'm trying to raise funds for Wayfinder 3 and my PaizoCon trip and I'm putting all my originals from Sunken Empires (and some other KQ products) in here

Check it out, at least to see how the sketch looks like ;P

Hey! DIBS on that dwarven explorer and the aboleth, my man!

I'll save those up Brandon! ;)

The Exchange

I would have gone with:

THE RISING SEE

The old timber ship moved between the lapis lazuli towers under the power of its oarsmen alone, the blood-red sails now emptied of any breeze that might have fuelled them. Bridges held aloft by art alone strained between their distances.
Elman the Explorer noticed something that the others did not. An increasingly many something’s that seemed to shadow their passage, drifting amongst the peaks of the tallest towers as their vessel moved forward with every stroke.
"Softly to the ballista Mister Ganel, we have predators above us in the battlements and eaves." His second moved away slowly to relay the order to the other crew.

DM Briefing: A city is flooded by increased ocean height. Though the towers extend a hundred feet or more above the Water they have already sacrificed an identical distance below the surface. The city is a hundred miles from the current coastline.

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