Submarines and Mermaids

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>Blue Submarine no.6
But no pictures of cute tsundere loli girls?

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I uh....have an abundance of those already...they kinda just get into your computer if you spend more than a couple years on this site

I haven't watched Blue Sub 6 in forever. How close are you following the plot? What is the tech-level that you're going for? Please tell us more.

>Hey Veeky Forums, I'm creating a setting inspired by Blue Submarine no.6
Did you ever watch WETSUIT

The show is really just inspiration. Near Future but with pretty advanced undersea technology created through necessity. So you've wi-fi and microwaves for civilians, and then super advanced deep sea exo suits for soldiers and explorers
There's lots of human and merfolk factions. They're all small but have a dedicated fighting force and the means to use them

>Its baywatch meets mad max

Holy shit my sides, thank you user, fukkin saved

Also because of global warming or something similar nearly everything's underwater

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Those are new, they have smaller crews than the older designs. They're also babby attack subs, not the real big boats, but that's still a pretty small crew compared to a few decades earlier.

Somehow I doubt they made them more spacious and luxurious.

The real things you find down there are at least as freaky as fictional sea monsters.

>note: larger fish is approx. the size of your thumb

>"Did someone mention underwater lolis...?"

Well, as for subs of all sizes, you might want to check up on the Schleichfahrt/Archimedean Dynasty artwork and its successor Aquanox.

Or you take pointers off Lodland, which is another RPG in the setting - but it's in German, was never translated as far as I'm aware.

A little bigger than that, but deep sea fish are generally pretty small. There are a few exceptions, though: the biggest deep sea anglerfish is actually several feet long, and gulper eels are also very long, albeit thin.

It's not pictures, but you might like reading Starfish by Peter Watts. It's free on his website, if you're cheap.

The sequels aren't as good, but the first book is pretty excellent. It won't give you visuals, but it will give you inspiration.

Nice, I've been trying to immerse myself in the technical aspects of submarines after watching Sub No. 6, but lemme tell you, that tech is hard for a guy like me to figure out. The best I can do is pop in "The Hunt for Red October" and hope I glean something
Also thank you user, there aren't as many undersea RPG's as I thought, but that's probably because it's a tricky setting to navigate. Are you always in a submarine? What happens when you go from underwater to an undersea base? How does gameplay reflect that? I've got a lot of work to do before my homebrew is ready

I'm also trying to figure out what kind of look I want. Gleaming submarines and bright domed bases? Rusty post-apoc structures? Heavy bio-mechanical fusion (Which I think is just called biopunk)
I'm really a sucker for sleek submarines and seabases, so I might not have too much rust. At least not yet

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I really like the creatures in Sub No. 6. The mermaids have larger versions, like queens, who direct the smaller ones. Like a caste system, which is an interesting way to do a merfolk society. Any other ideas?

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Schleichfahrt/Archimedean Dynasty and Aquanox are PC games set completely underwater, has linked artwork from the latest part currently in developement.
See also: aquanox.com

Ingame, you usually control a jetfighter-sized sub in a similar fashion. Those dock to larger vessels and cities by using pressurized docking bays.

Larger ships usually use external docking tunnels, if they dock at all. The largest open space you'll ever see in that game is the cave settling Atacama City, and that one's still deep below the surface.

The Aquanox games can be had quite cheap on Steam, if you're so inclined, but part 1 usually has trouble with the mouse control.

As for Lodland, I never got further than thumbing through a PDF of the core book. But what stuck with me is the brutal combat - injuries take weeks to heal, and bullets are expensive, costing a few hundred credits per cartridge.

Addendum to If you don't mind binging cheesy 90s TV shows, SeaQuest DSV may give you a few extra ideas.

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I really like the idea of piloting small attack subs/biotech dolphins as a part of gameplay. Not the whole thing mind you, but definitely part of it. I'm probably going to crib that, and the one large settlement like Atacama City. But I want it to be above water, inaccessible from the outside, and controlled by rich assholes from the old world who escaped the flooding using their rich asshole money and power. They like to harass the smaller conclaves for sport, and maybe once and awhile the PC's will try and raid the fortress island for rare supplies.

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So... like a mix of SeaQuest and WH40K Necromunda? Now this sounds interesting.

Undersea mechs as well. How does a mech fight differ from a submarine fight? Why, it's all about mobility and weapons

>Red Alert 2:Electric Boogaloo

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SeaQuest was the shit
Also, I love underwater cities. Not so much Rapture, because that's a fucking horror game, but actual populated cities with awesome culture

You don't want your pic related in that case, it's full of surfaces which hinder movement at every turn unless adjusted before.

Gundam Wing had an episode with specialized underwater gundams. Those buggers had back-mounted turbines as well as propellers integrated into shins and forearms.

Welcome to Aqua, traveller. Enjoy technology and designer drugs in Neopolis, breathe real air in Atacama City, or buy smuggled weapons in Floating Bombay before they're even developed!

If you made them more eel like than fish like you could hand wave that that they can slither around on land like snake people with sufficient muscle training.

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>Gundam Series
>Featuring anything that even remotely makes sense
Granted I do love the idea of giant undersea mecha, but if it's the episode I think you're referencing then the MS's got rekked

If you want a whole series about underwater mechs I'd look into Mars Daybreak. I haven't watched it yet so I can't speak to the quality, but it looks cool in concept.

Also one of the major side characters appears to an uplifted dolphin in a suit of power armor, so that's pretty fucking rad.

Good shit user, hybrid dolphins in power armors a hell of a pitch, I'll have to look into it
All the mecha and subs are the human side of things. I've got to come up with a merfolk analogue to the human settlement's mecha. Some sort of biopunk giant lobster vehicle

Quite possible. It's been ages since I saw that series, and I'm more a fan of Aquanox-style small subs anyway.

Thanks, will do!

see

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Keith Thomas (I think that's his name) is the king of biopunk, if that's what you're looking for with the mermaids

Is there going to be a king of this city? He might meet with an unfortunate end

Got your back op

These might actually be space suits, but on a certain level it all looks the same

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I don't have any submarine pictures, but I would reccommend looking up some old war submarine patents and engineer schematics. That way you get a better feel for the space needed for circulation, electricity, and engines throughout the ship. schematics often will have the vessel at multiple angles aswell, which may be helpful for mapping. hope that helps, OP.

WIP

Obviously all the images are going to be blatantly stolen from other sources, as this is just an amateur attempt at a homebrew. I'm still working out the mechanics, but you guys have been helpful so far. Much appreciated anons

I fucking love Blue Sub No 6

This is a pretty sweet system for a diceless. Going to steal this for something.

Have you heard of Subnautica?

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Mix it. You have your neo-Rapture chrome and Art-Deco tower hand off the NorAm Protectorate, domes and habitrail tunnels in the Greater Indian Cooperative Alliance (fucking gicas), and rust and oil-refinery chic in the SoPac Russo-Chilean Development Zone

Holy hell... thanks!

>Literally named "gorgon heads," these deepwater predators - more commonly called "basket stars" - may have hundreds of repeatedly branching arms, all of them lined with wicked little barbs. Spread out like a net in the water's current, their thorns ensnare the jointed bodies of crustaceans and pass them to the mouth. Think of it as a blind, brainless, thousand-legged spider that's also its own web. Also, the web is made out of barbed wire. I love you, evolution.

Weird ass sea life links:

bogleech.com/bio-deep.html
Really, who knew abyssal worms are hosts to parasytic snails?I had to put symbiotic fake horns and talons for my setting's hobgoblin tribes after seeing this. I also had an idea fo scarbbard-oysters which grow and maintain iron blades underwater, no magic.

youtube.com/watch?v=fXqIb4Tp3XA

bogleech.com/bio-paracrust.html
>A fun-filled summary of Parasitic Crustaceans by Jonathan Wojcik, like...
>Flesh-Anchors
>Crab Cancer
>Crab Cancer's Cancer

bogleech.com/articles.html
>Lots of weird sea life articles

remove hideous

You can see she already has her cheek gills. They don't develop till late puberty so she's already past the loli stage.
She'll be an adult in a year or two if not already.

>fun-filled summary
These words do not go with deep sea life.

Love that game!
Can't wait for Deep Descent

And to think some people say that Lovecraft wasn't sane when he feared the hell out of sea animals.

But user, the deep sea can be a lot of fun! This thing looks like it's having a good time.

As do these things!

These ones...Not so much.

Ok, so it's probably pretty damn miserable place, all things considered. But there's much we can learn from the noble deep sea anglerfish:
youtube.com/watch?v=Ek_wCaBZTCg

livebunker.rocks/chat/int#General

>Race of AnglerPeople in the deep deep
>They're just merchants

Keith Thompson

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What would they trade with, and with who? Deep sea is kind of empty.

Creepy deep sea mermaids are cute, though. I'd like to include them in a game, but it would be pretty hard due to, you know, them living in the deep sea.

>Somehow I doubt they made them more spacious and luxurious
We just use any spared up room to pave it with more canned food. Most every walkway is literally paved with crates of canned goods.

Working on a deep sea campaign myself, had to answer the question of why anyone would live deep down as opposed to just under the surface. Since most power sources in the game come from mercury batteries (tech level is Verne-esque late 19th century), and the most common way to refine mercury is from mining cinnabar. Cinnabar can be found near areas with volcanic activity and hot springs, i.e. deep sea geothermal vents. So that's why communities form deep in the lightless reaches, to mine cinnabar and provide power for the upper colonies.

Just another idea:
the seabed is often scattered with mineral deposits called nodules, commonly made of manganese and other metallic elements.
In this deep-sea campaign, these could contain rare and very sought-after minerals that regular, terrestrial mines can't exhume. They'd also act as a source of mineral wealth wherever there isn't a volcanic shaft.

Manganese are actually occasionally considered as a potential source of minerals, as they're extremely abundant and would be very easy to mine and refine, provided you get equipment down there (you wouldnt really need to mine them in the conventional sense, but just suck them up from the ocean floor with a huge vacuum cleaner). The problem is that getting the minign equipment to the bottom of the ocean would be extremely expensive (and also potential environmental concerns, since collecting them would kick up huge amounts of sediment and cause huge disturbance to the ecosystem).

If you're setting your game pre-1970s no one would care. If you're doing a cyberpunk type deal no one would care. Otherwise just refluff how they harvest the nodules, maybe a sub with dozens of manipulator arms that uses advanced imagery and sonar systems to locate the nodules then harvest them claw machine style.