August 2021 Development Update
over 3 years ago – Mon, Aug 16, 2021 at 12:38:52 PM

Hey everyone!

I wanted to provide an update on what we've been up to over the last month and what's coming up.

Development Update

Here are some details on what we've been working on since the last update:

•  Welcome to the Undersea World: We expect writing for this section to reach completion this week. We will then move into editing and bringing all of the myths and legends together into a cohesive story of the undersea world's history and pantheon.
•  An Undersea World to Explore (Writing Complete): Writing for this chapter is complete. Our current focus is on artwork and editing.
•  People of Vodari (Complete): Development, writing, and artwork for this chapter are complete. It will go through additional editing passes and tweaks based on survey feedback.
•  Player Options (Complete): Development, writing, and artwork for this chapter are complete. It will go through additional editing passes and tweaks based on survey feedback.
•  Equipment (Complete): Development, writing, and artwork for this chapter are complete. It will go through additional editing passes and tweaks based on survey feedback.
•  Vehicles: We're heavy into development and I'm hoping we'll have more to share soon!
•  Spells (Complete): Development, writing, and artwork for this chapter are complete. We just added two new undersea-themed healing spells. This chapter is complete and will go through additional editing passes and tweaks based on survey feedback.  
•  Monsters: We are just finishing up adding NPC stat blocks for the new subclasses that appeared in the Quickstart Guide. Final development is focused on completing our remaining higher CR monsters by late August.
•  Running Undersea Adventures: Development for this section is near complete. We're still looking to add some undersea diseases and other small bits. Editing has begun on the completed random tables.
•  The Sunken City of Zuroth: The adventure is being playtested!

Feedback Survey

We will send out a survey to backers for feedback on the new player options and spells in the Quickstart Guide towards the end of the month. If you didn't get a chance to complete the last survey, please provide your feedback this time... every little bit helps. If you completed the last survey, additional feedback on the new stuff and changes is much appreciated and we hope you'll complete another survey.

Pregen Characters

The undersea themed character sheets have been sent out and we're now working on the pregens. All of the pregen character sheets have art and we're about halfway through building out level 3 PCs for each subclass. The goal of the character sheets is for GMs to have them ready to go for players when they run the undersea adventure, The Sunken City of Zuroth.

Under the Seas of Vodari Quickstart Guide v0.5 Sent
over 3 years ago – Thu, Jul 29, 2021 at 08:00:05 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Under the Seas of Vodari Quickstart Guide v0.4 Sent
over 3 years ago – Thu, Jul 29, 2021 at 11:21:13 AM

As promised before the end of July 2021... we've emailed everyone a link to download the latest Under the Seas of Vodari Quickstart Guide.

What's New?

• Ancients are descended from near-divine beings who constructed a highly advanced civilization using magic. War and eons of living in vastly different oceanic zones split the ancients into two people, the Dakri and Varu.
• Karokans are amphibious crustacean humanoids most known as peaceful nomads who keep to themselves. Adapting to vastly different environments divided them into Shallows and Deeps karokans.
• Sea Elves now have racial stats for Sunswimmers who live closer to the surface and for Deepdivers who have adapted to the deepest seas.
• Speargunner Gunslinger Archetype: Use your speargun in inventive ways to foil enemies. Includes a reprint of the  Gunslinger class with notes for using firearms underwater.
• Warden of the Ancients Fighter Archetype: Shift between predator and sentinel using ancient battle techniques.
• Ancient Magic Sorcerous Origin: Channel technology-like magic through an arcane device.
• Corruption in the Flame Warlock Patron: Devastate your enemies with fire and necrotic energy.
• Feats: We've tweaks and the feats and added an additional feat, for a total of 5.

Survey

We'll send out a survey sometime in August 2021 to give everyone a chance to provide feedback on this version of the Quickstart Guide.

Character Sheets, Quickstart Guide v2, and Development Update
over 3 years ago – Sat, Jul 17, 2021 at 10:15:43 AM

It's been about a month since our last update and I wanted to send out an update to everyone to share some news and info on what the team has been up to.

Character Sheets

The printable/form-fillable Under the Seas of Vodari themed character sheet PDFs are complete and we'll be sending them out to all backers shortly. We also have the designs completed for all of the pre-gen characters sheets but we're still developing the specific level 3 character stats for each. 

Quickstart Guide v2 - End of July 2021 Release

Our layout designer has begun work to update the races and player options chapters of the Quickstart Guide. These updated chapters will include additions and changes based on feedback and playtesting: 

• Ancients are descended from near-divine beings who constructed a highly advanced civilization using magic. War and eons of living in vastly different oceanic zones split the ancients into two people, the Dakri and Varu.
• Karokans are amphibious crustacean humanoids most known as peaceful nomads who keep to themselves. Adapting to vastly different environments divided them into Shallows and Deeps karokans.
• Sea Elves now have racial stats for Sunswimmers who live closer to the surface and for Deepdivers who have adapted to the deepest seas.
• Speargunner Gunslinger Archetype: Use your speargun in inventive ways to foil enemies. Includes a reprint of the Gunslinger class with notes for using firearms underwater.
• Warden of the Ancients Fighter Archetype: Shift between predator and sentinel using ancient battle techniques.
• Ancient Magic Sorcerous Origin: Channel technology-like magic through an arcane device.
• Corruption in the Flame Warlock Patron: Devastate your enemies with fire and necrotic energy.
• Feats: We've tweaks and the feats and added an additional feat, for a total of 5.

We will be sending out the updated Quickstart Guide v2 PDF with the updates to chapters III and IV to all backers by the end of the month (July 2021).

Development Update

Here are some details on what we've been working on since the last update:

• Undersea World: Continuing to expand out the history section with a mix of history and myth passed along through oral traditions and scholarly research. We expect this chapter to be in final editing in August.
• Gazetteer: The Midnight Depths and Wild Seas expansion is near complete. We expect this chapter to be in final editing in August.
• People of Vodari: We have completed the Karokans and some added racials stats for sea elves. Everyone will get a chance to take a look at the lore and stats for the Ancients, Karokans, and more in our Quickstart Update.
• As mentioned last month... the player options, equipment, and magic chapters are all pretty solid now and have all gone through multiple editing rounds. We will continue to tweak and add to these sections after additional survey and playtest feedback. 
• Vehicles: Development continues! As you can see in the illustration above, we'll be providing smaller vehicles and larger ones as well.
• Monsters: Development of the final monster additions continues. This section will be moving to editing and commissioning more artwork in August.
• Running Undersea Adventures: Development continues for natural hazards and traps. In addition, we're adding new random tables and expanding some of the existing tables this month.
• The Sunken City of Zuroth: This level 3 to 5 adventure is ready for playtesting and I'll begin running playtest sessions soon!

Under the Seas of Vodari Update
over 3 years ago – Tue, Jun 15, 2021 at 11:12:37 PM

Here's what we've been up to since our last update.

Feedback Survey

We received 137 responses! Thank you to all of our backers who took the time to complete a survey and provide feedback. We used your feedback to make corrections, tweak content, and even add some new stuff you asked for. 

Development Update

I wanted to share some details of what we've been working on since my last update in May:

•  Undersea World: Currently expanding out this section with details for how religion differs in the undersea world and other additions. We will be moving into completing the history of the undersea to finish up this chapter. 
•  Gazetteer: We're continuing to write out all of the locations and people and places to visit. We're currently expanding out the Midnight Depths and Wild Seas. We also started working on our backer-submitted locations. This chapter is getting very close to being complete and moving to editing.
•  People of Vodari: After seeing your feedback asking for a crustacean type racial option we decided to take the Karokans of our maybe list and move them into development. Karokans are amphibious crustacean humanoids most known as peaceful nomads who keep to themselves. Adapting to vastly different environments divided these undersea people into the shallows and deeps karokans. I'm hoping to be able to share some art previews soon, the stat blocks are done, and we're finishing up their lore.
•  Vehicles: We have started heavy development of our undersea vehicles. Lots of fun working on this and I really hope you'll be excited when you finally see it. 
•  Monsters: We're working on the remaining monster stat blocks and artwork. It's looking like this book will have more monsters than The Seas of Vodari. 
•  Running Undersea Adventures: We've started working to close out this chapter and with development only remaining for natural hazards and traps. We're also working to add more random tables.
•  The Sunken City of Zuroth: I'm currently finalizing the adventure with a target of playtesting starting in July. I can share one detail... kalidus are a big part of the adventure.
• The player options, equipment, magic items, and spells are all pretty solid now and have all gone through multiple editing rounds.

QuickStart Guide Update

We're looking to update the QuickStart Guide this summer. The update will include all of the new and updated player options including the Speargunner subclass for gunslingers and the Ancients and Karokans. It will also include some tweaks we made to equipment, magic items, and spells.