Wreck of Giannis D

I remember this happening in a few Dungeons & Dragons games.  We’d be land-based heroes with the occasional ocean adventure involving ships.  Then, our group would be thrown a curveball in the form of a quest that takes place nearly entirely underwater.  It can throw a group off because the tactics aren’t the same.  In fact, this is a different adventure than anything our adventurers ever met.  Needless to say, it’s also why I don’t do this very often.  Lots of things to consider.

The one time I went all in with an underwater adventure is a story in The Life & Times of Ichabod Brooks.  I thought it would be easy and did what I could to make it as similar to a land adventure as possible.  Magical devices were given out to assist with breathing, swimming, and the pressure one would face.  Since this was a short story, I didn’t go all out with explanations.  So, I don’t think I touched on every challenge that comes from this adventure.  I did just enough to demonstrate that the heroes had to take precautions.  Looking back, I think I’d do a few things differently just to spice it up, but it still works for what it was.  This is another reason I began thinking about this specific topic.

As I stated, going underwater brings about multiple questions.  Will the heroes be using magical items or traveling in a machine?  Are there dangerous animals in the water?  How will heroes deal with breathing, temperatures, pressure, and movements?  All of this needs to be factored in because most readers have experience with water.  Even kids get a sense that being underwater makes it harder to move and impossible to breathe.  So, you have to tackle the basic questions to make this adventure believable.  After all, the unfriendly and deadly terrain is part of the challenge.

I think some authors mix underwater adventures with ocean voyages too.  Aside from the latter having a boat, there are other differences.  Most importantly, is the scenery.  An ocean voyage is rather lonely with nothing to see for miles besides water.  You can’t always have an island in view.  Underwater is similar in that you may have total darkness, but you need a visual.  So, authors always have things glowing or give the heroes lights to reveal the scenery.  Being underwater is like being on an alien planet in that you see formations and life all around you.  Things will loom out of the darkness instead of gradually approaching from the horizon.  There’s a deadly beauty to being underwater unlike the isolation of journeying on a boat.  It’s an important aspect of this scene that can make the difference between vivid and flat settings.

The decision to go underwater is a rough one for authors.  Unlike other terrains, you can’t just want to an area and go exploring with the right gear.  This is a region of the planet that will have its own mountain ranges and rival the size of continents.  Fantasy worlds tend to mimic Earth in land to water ratios, so you’re looking at a greater area to explore.  Heroes can’t just drop into the ocean at any point.  They need a reason to go, especially since they’d see it as a riskier adventure than anything else they’ve done.  One can see how a person would be more comfortable facing extreme heat or cold than the possibility of drowning.  Part of that is because there’s a sense you can counter those issues with gear or retreating.  Submarine or water-breathing ring breaks at 1,000 foot depth?  You’re going to die without question.  So, a lot of preparations have to be made by the heroes for the readers to get a real sense of the danger.

I’ll get more into this on Wednesday and Friday.  I think there’s a lot more to unpack on the challenges here.  Of course, I’m talking about heroes who aren’t able to naturally function underwater like Aquaman and sea elves.  This is all about taking a land-based hero into the uncharted depths.  The possibilities of what they find are endless, which is what makes this so much fun.  You can create nearly anything down there and the tension is easy to maintain since everyone has a fear of drowning.

So, what do you think of underwater adventures?