Adventures in the Sea! (for AD&D)

For some reason, many people dread taking their adventures under the Seas...or hell, even into a Lake. It IS hard at times because the rules become much more complex when you are dealing with swimming, drowning, several planes of combat in a spherical area around each character...on and on and on. The thing is, few people have trouble with Flying Creatures and gaming "In the Sky" right? So what gives?

In my own experience, I think it has a great deal to do with breathing and weight...and rust! Rust is the worst because it destroys all those cool magical swords and armor. Oh, wait, magical items don't rust...so that one is knocked out immediately! So lets get on to the ones that really bother players and DMs alike.

BREATHING: Unless the thief, fighter and so on have someone with them who can cast spells that enable them to breathe under water, adventurers are scared of drowning! Even at higher levels, characters without spells can't breathe under the waves without someone else or a magical item. Then there is the thing of "But if I give everyone a magical device to breathe water, it just seems to cheapen the uniqueness of the magical item!" That is true. So what do you do?

Monsters! Yep, Monsters are the key to helping you delve beneath the waves. There are critters to help you get this done. Using a particular type of monster in an "Adventure Hook" (a way to snare the party into thinking it is a cool idea to go for a long walk on a short pier) you can have your characters wet in no time.

Lizardmen: These folk usually don't mix well with other races, but there is no reason they can't. In fact, they sometimes are mercenaries in armies; so it wouldn't be out of the question for a party to eventually get a Lizardman as a cool Henchman...or even a full party member; but usually only from among "Advanced" Lizardmen. There is NOTHING that prevents a party from visiting this Lizardman's people if they need help. Maybe they have a Shaman that has a nasty "potion" it knows how to make that enables its people to be under water longer...and if the party can stomach it, they can use it as well to have water breathing ability for an adventure against a common enemy. You can easily use a modified version of this for Mermen or Tritons as well (maybe the party does trade on a beach somewhere with a representative of either race...think ahead and have them make contact peacefully with a Merchant from one of these races. A Wizard sends them to buy pearls maybe?).

Nixies: I LOVE these little rascals! It takes 10 of them to cast a powerful Charm spell, but once they have you, they will keep you for a while! If you want your party to adventure in a large body of Fresh Water (only fresh water mind you!) then Nixies are a go to. They can peacefully approach a party because they need help against some underwater monsters...you don't even have to Charm the characters, they can be offered treasure by the Nixies (who can go onto land!) for helping them against something. What is more, each Nixie can cast a spell that enables a character to breathe water for "1 day" (so if your world has 36 hour days...great!). The Nixies can even give the party a base of operations like the old lair of a Giant Water Spider!

There are other ways to get the party under the water: Druids, Nymphs (as long as they stay clothed!), Sylphs and many others. You can essentially come up with just about any reason you can think of: The pretty Sylph approaches the party "I was flying over the lake and dropped my locket in it!" She then offers to use her magic to help the party breathe under water. Look at any creature with spells enough and you can find a way to get a party into even a long lost dungeon that is under water now because those pesky damn dwarfs built a dam and drowned the place a long time ago!

WEIGHT: Yeah, this one is easy! If you are worried your character(s) will sink like rocks...who cares! They can already breathe under water, so no problem right! This really makes things easier on the party honestly. If the party sinks to the bottom easily enough, you are essentially back to adventuring on land and worrying about aerial (don't ask me why they spell it that way!) attacks...except now pretty much everything flies except for the party. That is just pure win for the DM anyway right? Oh, you aren't a sadist like me when DMing? Hmmm...

Well, there you have it...just a quick way to take your game into another direction. I like to use Under Water Adventures even right next to a major city...who knew that long ago the river jumped its banks and drowned a dungeon! Well, that map the party has says the ancient wizard's tomb was right in the area...maybe THAT is what those crazy Nixies were going on about!

Trust me, once you get your party going under water, they won't be wet behind the ears anymore! Wait, that isn't right...

A Gem for the DM

Every Dungeon Master needs help sometimes. Today I want to talk about one of the best ever modules to help beginning Dungeon Masters, or even experienced Dungeon Masters who have beginning players. In fact, this module is good for anyone with any game...I'm not kidding!

The Sunless Citadel (from Wizards of the Coast, by Bruce R. Cordell) is perhaps one of my all time favorite modules from any version of Dungeons and Dragons. The primary reason is this: it is easily converted to any rules edition. It is also easy to place in any campaign (either yours or one already published by someone) and is easy for a Game Master to read through and be ready to run in very little time.

Other great factors to the game are that it has an awesome cover by Todd Lockwood that you can show the players to pull them into the game, many great interior illustrations to show the players (some below), and many hints and tips for both a Dungeon Master and Players. The module gives solid background for the DM to slowly reveal to the players so that they feel more immersed in the adventure, with unique items of magic and detailed items of treasure that make the entire adventure an all around great experience!

As I mentioned, the art in this module is really great and can help create the ever elusive "suspension of disbelief" that I love in my game. Several encounters and areas are given unique pieces of art that players will really appreciate. As a Dungeon Master, I really loved the art for younger players (like my children) who like to look at the images to help them imagine a fantasy world. Many new players of fantasy have a hard time getting out of our world, and so this is a great treasure in my opinion.

The Non-Player Characters included in the Sunless Citadel are awesome! Several are given their own art that help to bring them fully into the mind of both DM and player alike. More than just stat-blocks, they are given details which make them more than simply useful to the DM, they can easily become recurring NPCs to be used again and again...just Google "Meepo the Kobold" and see what you come up with!

My personal favorite NPC in this module is actually the Druid found within. Very non-traditional and fully in keeping with the time honored tradition of having an intriguing villain in a module!

I always look at the replay value in any module I purchase too...and this module delivers on the ability to use it time and time again. I have used it for two versions of Dungeons and Dragons (AD&D and D&D 3.5), for MERP (Middle-Earth Role-Playing) and even once for a Star Wars d6 (from West End Games) where the players were playing on a Medieval technology world in the Star Wars Universe that had not been found yet (and the Force was the magic of the world).

Where can you use such a great module...like I said: anywhere!

• In the World of Greyhawk I would place it somewhere that early adventurers could get to it easily. I placed it in the southern Wild Coast.
• In the Forgotten Realms I would place it in either the Dales (likely somewhere near mountains) or in The North. I placed it south of Mulmaster near the town of Kurth.
• In Middle-Earth, I placed it in the Ered Luin (or Blue Mountain) foothills south of the Tower Hills, and had decided the Goblins that infested the place were the corrupted descendants of the Elves taken by Morgoth. The Kobolds I replaced with other Goblins...the other monsters were easily replaced with Middle-Earth creatures as well.
• In my Star Wars d6 game it was easy to replace the monsters with any number of alien species...and it was by far my greatest experience with the module!

So there you have it, one of the best modules you will find; easily adaptable to any game you want to play...and I certainly encourage you to play it!

It is easily found on E-bay, Amazon.com or even on DriveThruRPG.

Have fun with this one, and let me know how it goes!

To Guide Your Way...

A Compass to find your way?

Lots of adventures start very simply; but they can quickly become the centerpiece of a player's whole gaming life! A Game Master (DM, Storyteller, etc.) can quickly go from an easy paced adventure to nearly drowning under the weight of pressure to create a "great game" for their players! So what do you do when things become so exciting that they are suddenly VERY serious? Where do you go?

Modules are always a great way to go. Nearly every game system has them, and they are a time tested way to "fix the holes" in any game...trust me, I've used them for decades now!

That is why I love to create modules to use even if I don't think I will need them...yes, create your own modules! Any idea you have can become a module. They don't have to be epic page turners, but you should always put your ideas down and flesh them out a bit. You can always tweak them in the future if you need them. If you already don't have time to create your own, then I recommend looking around the internet (Amazon.com has LOADS from any game system you can think of, and so does Ebay). For only a few dollars, you can find just about anything you need.

Some of my favorites are:

KEEP ON THE BORDERLANDS

Even if you aren't playing Dungeons and Dragons, you can use the material here for almost any Medieval-Fantasy game system. Simply plug it into your game, and you have something ready to go! This one works BEST when you AREN'T playing Dungeons and Dragons because your players may have never heard of it, or (at worst) they will have no idea what the statistics for the various monsters are since you can make them what you want for other systems.

THE SECRET OF BONE HILL

Another awesome module is The Secret of Bone Hill! This one has it all: a town, a wilderness, a great dungeon! This can easily be placed in any game with any rules. Much like Keep on the Borderlands, this module is well worth the investment!

THE ISLE OF DREAD

If you need to buy yourself some time...THIS is the module for you! The Isle of Dread only requires that you get your characters on a ship! A horrible storm later and BAM, you have them right where you want them! Ancient Civilization, Check. Dungeons, Check. Dinosaurs, Check. Much needed time for you to work on other things for your campaign, CHECK! Yes, The Isle of Dread is perfect for the Game Master who is in desperate need of time to get things figured out in other places for his game. I saved this one for last because it is one of my all time favorites! Perfectly adaptable to any game that has statistics for dinosaurs, you are good to go...and on top of that, even if your system doesn't have dinosaurs, there is no way you can lose with a "Land of the Lost" style of adventure. Heck, you don't even have to put your players on a Ship! You can just replace all the water surrounding The Isle of Dread with impassable mountains (or in a gigantic cavern!) and you can have them stumble into an amazing adventure that they get to leave when you are ready for them to. Don't worry about them getting frustrated by being railroaded...this module is awesome, and you can let them out any time you want with a passing ship or tunnel out.

Modules are a great resource to help you guide your way through the troubles of being a Game Master. Use them, you will thank yourself for the investment and time reading them.