Three hundred years ago, a catachlysmic war among the wizard guilds of man caused the oceans to rise and the lands to sink into the water. Without the magic possessed by the other races, the world would have died out. Small civilizations have begun to rise from the surviving generation and adapted to living on the seas. Life was difficult in the early years, but those still surviving have managed to adjust. Those that have not adjusted live on the edges to take what they can from those who have.
Re: Robosnake's review
I definitely agree about the Waterworld concern. It's one I had nagging me in the back of my head as I wrote.
Kevin Carsner
We shall not hire Kevin Carsner. It's a shame that he and that movie managed to damage the concept of a 'water world' so much. Still, I have to say, that I like the prospect of some of the innovation this setting presents, even if we have to make sure people don't think of 'Waterworld' when they first see it.
The big frustration with
The big frustration with 'waterworld' was that there was all this possibility for survival. When the focus gets lost on 'finding land' it really becomes a bore. It seems clear the focus here has been on people surviving. Visuals (art) might be a really effective way to make the distinction. Keep the focus on the tools of survival. A large sailing vessel with all kind of atypical equipment included. The question then becomes, what's with the extra stuff? What are they doing with the boat?
Underwater combat & exploration
As sort of a side note to naval combat, when I first read the setting description one of the first things that came to mind was all the sunken treasure. I'm imagining something like lost weapons, machines, and cultures. Of course to get to all this stuff you'd have to make it through the environmental and living obstacles under water.
Does the magic that sunk so much of the land still impact areas under water?
What animals, plants, and peoples survive on the new underwater continents?
Underwater affairs
The underwater situation is definitely something that would be up for adventure as well. I need to add some of the ideas for that aspect to the concept as well.
The magic would probably not be an ongoing issue, but there is definitely the possibility for instability in cave-ins and the like. I am considered whether the dwarves or another of the traditionally underground fantasy races would have survived and adapted in weird ways. Aquatic elves aren't a new idea, and I don't like elves so there won't be any of them in this setting. ;) However, I do think aquatic dwarves might be interesting. Maybe they managed to craft an area that did not flood and used dwarven stone engineering and metalworking to create a system that circulated air and kept areas free from flooding.
There will likely be a need to create additional mechanics for underwater survival, movement, and combat which offers those who are inclined to work on mechanics an opportunity to contribute. We won't be started from scratch with mechanics, but most fantasy systems only have a small portion of their mechanics dedicated to underwater environments.
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It also enables society to meet the needs and desires of people with unpopular lifestyles much better.
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RE: aquatic dwarves
Disclaimer: I just finished reading Markus Heitz's "The Dwarves" (translated from German), so I couldn't help but to think about the aquatic dwarves idea.
I'm imagining semi self contained underground mountains. Traditional forge technology applied to boiling sea water (for power, drinking water, heat, etc.). Perhaps some of the old style tube diving gear.
Any thoughts on traditional underwater races? Merfolk and such?
Part of the reason I put the
Part of the reason I put the setting at only 300 years after the flood was because it would reduce the likelihood of evolutionary developments. So like you said about the dwarves, they could use engineering to increase their chance of survival. There might be merfolk in a fantasy creature sense, but I don't see there being significantly civilizations of them.
Hey there, just chipping my
Hey there, just chipping my two cents in. I think the idea of having some of the underground species surviving in weird ways would be a good way to mark this setting as very unique. Any ideas on how the dwarves and others may have changed? Did they become some sort of aquatic creatures, or did their tunnels somehow remain unflooded and have become even more terrestrial (like going from a gopher to a mole) and eek a living off of the ocean floor, or did something else happen? Also, would any of these 'underwater' species be playable by characters, do they have contact with the surface people and if so how do they interact, and what sorts of magics and technologies might they have? Also, I like the idea of aquatic dwarves, but would their be any other intelligent aquatic species (a lot of books I've read tend to have dwarves competing with another terrestrial sentient species such as the drow and dragons)?
I'd also like to say I like this. It can be difficult to set a system apart in a field like fantasy with all the competitors out there (mostly DnD), but it has a much bigger fan base and people find it easier to transition from system to system in fantasy settings. The best way to succeed in the fantasy genre is to have something unique. I think if we develop some rather natural in fun mechanics for water based actions, be it above or below the water, that combined with the unique plot behind the story should set this setting apart from the rest. Guess what I'm saying is that I think it would be a good idea when the time comes to make sure we put a lot of emphasis on underwater and marital mechanics.
Navy
Just a quick question for you. Is the setting you have created going to have much in the way for designing naval combat? Because I think that would be both cool and very unique!
Naval combat
It is something I am definitely open to exploring. I considered there being steam power or perhaps other industrial age technology that survived the flood, but I decided against it for now. There could definitely be naval warfare with sailing ships and the like though. There probably wouldn't be any communities with very large fleets, but there could be some that have a dozen ships or perhaps even just consist of ships.
I get what you're saying. One
I get what you're saying. One thought is to maybe make naval combat that maybe didn't require that level of technology. Maybe the guilds, before they were destroyed, made magical 'cannons' that just required a person with magical power to put some of their power into the cannon to have it fire an object at an enemy ship. Of course, since the guilds are gone, these things would be harder to come by. Just my two cents, in the end I'd be happy with whatever happens in this regard, but I really would love to see some cool system designed for naval combat (but I guess that is a conversation to be having at a later date).