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I am cross-posting this here and in a handful of other D&D boards, across the web.

I have been running undersea D&D campaigns since 1998; first with “Beneath the Pinnacles of Azor’alq” (play-by-post) followed by “Heirs of Turucambi” (chat-based). The campaigns 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. I started my current game 3 years ago. While I have a stable following of devoted players (thank you, folks!), I occasionally get the urge to step back, look at my game from a distance, and reinvent my approach as Master Storyteller for my players.

If your current DM approached you with the idea of starting a new campaign set primarily beneath the surface of the sea, what would be your first reaction? Suppose the “core races” were replaced with the likes of sea elves, locathah, and merfolk (or any race that that has a swim speed and the aquatic subtype). Would that be enough to alienate you?

I set my games on Oerth, the world of Greyhawk. Prior knowledge of the campaign setting is not required. I also tend to scale back on the use of dragons, while overpopulating the world with hags. Again, this is simply my personal signature in my games. Is that the killing blow that distances potential players?

My games tend to be role-play heavy and combat light. Rolling lots of dice tends to break my “willing suspension of disbelief”. Spending hours speaking in character as a room full of NPCs is my bread and butter. Again, I know this does not appeal to everyone.

I am 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. This is one of my most enjoyable aspects of the game - creation.

Some of the best inspiration for an underwater campaign can come from the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, visiting a local aquarium or fish store, and perusing ocean-related materials in a bookstore. Discovery’s “Blue Planet” series and Penguin Book’s “OCEAN” are as invaluable to me as “Stormwrack”.

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? What would make you want to spend years exploring the realm of liquid space?

[Torn Asunder: Critical Hits PFRPG Edition]

Torn Asunder: Critical Hits PFRPG Edition will be officially released as a print product come October. It will be available in gaming store and from the Paizo store then. The pdf version of the book will be released sooner, although the exact date remains to be determined.

There is still an outside chance that a few copies of Torn Asunder will be available at Gen Con dependent upon my ability to beat the deadline for layout in order to get it to the printers in time.

Here is the solicitation information for the book:

Combat under the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is efficient yet abstract. While the concept of hit points works well when envisioning a tense fight of blood, sweat, parrying, near misses, and fatigue, it falls on its knees the minute your character takes a solid and brutal blow to the head.
 
How exactly are you supposed to adjudicate a broken arm, a gouged eye, a lacerated liver, or a crushed spine? Torn Asunder: Critical Hits PFRPG Edition provides a complete, comprehensive and award-winning system for critical hits in any Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. The system is elegant and easy to use, it does not do away with hit points, or even alter the combat rules, it simply provides an optional way to deal with critical hits besides piling on additional damage. Critical hits are real hits - disabling function, mangling body parts, and leaving real wounds behind that have lasting effects.
 
Torn Asunder pulls no punches; it provides a realistic and effective injury system for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, covering all creatures, anatomies, and body types. Included as well are rules for natural healing, scarification, and herbal treatments. Torn Asunder also provides a wide variety of resources allowing characters to take advantage of the new system, from quick and precise prestige classes to devastating weapons and spells to powerful and essential magical devices. Don't just beat your opponents into submission, literally tear them limb from limb.
 
Torn Asunder: Critical Hits PFRPG Edition
Product Code: DWG-5000
ISBN: 978-0-9828175-1-3
Release Date: October, 2010
Format: Trade Paperback
Trim Size: 8 3/8" x 10 7/8"
Page Count: 108 pages
Case Pack: 12
MSRP: $24.99

This topic has been moved to Torn Asunder: Critical Hits PFRPG Edition.

http://dragonwing.net/Forum/index.php?topic=72.0

This topic has been moved to Torn Asunder: Critical Hits PFRPG Edition.

http://dragonwing.net/Forum/index.php?topic=186.0

http://www.epidemicbooks.com/

Epidemic Books, owned and operated by Greg Dent and Todd Morasch, are up and running and now have an official Oathbound forum.

I just got the cover art for the revised Torn Asunder and it truly rocks! Artwork by Paul Abrams.

Hello Steve,

I that you are feeling better. There was once discussion of an errata:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-legacy-discussion/62207-confused-about-first-aid-after-reading-torn-asunder.html

Did that ever get produced and released?

Thanx,

cure

We never got around and did a formal errata. I have one on my computer of compiled notes but it's far from being publishable. I have done my best to make sure the new edition will have the changes made in it however.

Hi Cure-

I will see what I can do to close the loopholes you are talking about in the next edition. I agree, more examples are needed.

-Steve

Hola Steve,

I had occasion recently to ponder the stats for, and the making of, peg-leg captains and their like in d20 3.5 and Torn Asunder was suggested to me as the answer.

There was some truth in that suggestion, but also a lot of frustration, for Torn Asunder as written addresses the matter incompletely, in bits and pieces, here and there. So given that you are doing a rewrite of sorts in respect to Pathfinder, please consider the below as constructive criticism.

Proceeding then by example, the effects of a Moderate Critical, to the leg, for balance and the like, are given on p6 and repeated subsequently for the different profiles. Well and good. The effects of a Serious Critical, to the leg, for balance and the like, are not given in this section. Indeed, strictly speaking, they are not given at all. Now on page 50 effects are given once a peg leg has been fitted or, equivalently, once a hook has been fitted, but nothing in the absence of these substitutions. Organisation aside, this hole can probably be filled by deduction. More obscure is the matter of Wounds and Healing beginning on p32. Healing times are given for Mild and Moderate Critical wounds. But nothing is said of Severe Critical wounds. The implication, which is perfectly acceptable, that a severed foot is not going to grow back is fine, but how much time before the injured individual is at least returned to a semblance of health and can be fitted for a peg-leg or a hook? Equally, is there any permanent hit point loss from losing a member? There is arguably also the matter of bleeding to death in the intermin. Finally, and far less consequentially, the stats on page 50 consider only loss below the knee and, equivalently, loss below the elbow. The other cases are of some interest too.

Thanks for listening.

Best regards,

cure

Hello Steve,

I that you are feeling better. There was once discussion of an errata:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-legacy-discussion/62207-confused-about-first-aid-after-reading-torn-asunder.html

Did that ever get produced and released?

Thanx,

cure