Monday, February 2, 2015

Talking Aquatic Campaigns with the Dungeon Master's Block



Pop over to the Dungeon Master's Block podcast this week to hear DM Mitch, DM Chris, and Yours Truly talking about aquatic campaigns in fantasy and scifi RPGs of all stripes.

Tired of your grognards knowing the stats of every dragon, demon, and droid you throw their way? Want to see your new players push the edge of their roleplaying and tactical envelopes? Come find out why aquatic campaigns are the next great frontier of RPGs.

http://dungeonmasterblock.podbean.com/e/ep-19-under-the-sea/

8 comments:

  1. In the aquatic setting that I am working on, there's a creature type that I have yet to finish but I think you would greatly enjoy called Aumakua.

    Aumakua are to sharks what dragons are to garden lizards. Now, a quirk of my setting is that arcane magic doesn't work more than 200 feet out to sea. So the Aumakua don't have spells. Instead they have psionic based abilities. For example, the Haehae breed (modeled after great whites) have psionic abilities related to causing and knowing fear. The Kuru (modeled after whale sharks) can create ectoplasmic armor.

    Wairua mango are an undead Aumakua fetuses that were eaten in the womb. Their anger and hatred at being denied life has allowed them to persist after death.

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    1. I love these and would love to see more. The DM Block boys have asked me back for a part 2 and I'll be talking about psionics vs magic a lot more. I'd love to give this a mention.

      Email me at rich@richhowardauthor dot com.

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  2. Would players always have the ability to breathe or would they have to go to the surface to cast a spell or fill a bubble of some sort?

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  3. Would players always have the ability to breathe or would they have to go to the surface to cast a spell or fill a bubble of some sort?

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    1. I'm on the road but will respond soon.

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    2. That's a great question. The podcast was focused on deep/permanently aquatic games with water-breathing races. Mostly anyway. It can be a great tension-builder to have non-water-breathing creatures below the surface for long periods of time, relying on time-limited spells or questionable technology.

      I recommend checking out some of the conversations on the Dungeon Masters Block forums about this episode, and the follow-up Ep 37. Also, Jim McClure, the host of Talking TableTop, was in one of my sci-fi aquatic games and gave some interesting perspectives on being a player.

      talkingtabletop.net/talking-tabletop/001-talking-with-rich-howard/

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    3. Here's a link to the forum posts.

      http://dungeonmasterblock.freeforums.net/

      You can also find more info on running aquatic games in my From the Depths column on Tribality.com.

      http://tribality.com/?s=from+the+depths

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  4. Would players always have the ability to breathe or would they have to go to the surface to cast a spell or fill a bubble of some sort?

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