Words From Nora Blake

Legends of the Deep

A game of aquatic fantasy & discovery inspired by the Legend of Zelda.

Introduction

Far beneath the oceans is another world. A world of vibrant coral and jagged rock, of luminous and blubbery and sleek bodies. A world of gleaming scales and rushing currents. This is a world without a name, for the sea knows no borders. It is riddled with small communities, small pockets of life and light and warmth suspended in an endless void of cold, dark oblivion.

There were kings once, but now their thrones seat none but dust and dirt, their scepters are held not by hands, but by barnacles. You know better than to go searching for these kings. You know that your ancestors threw them off, cast them into the trenches.

And now…

To call this world peaceful would be falsehood. Everything is always moving, always living and dying. There is an infinite diversity of life, of experience, of ability. Culture is fluid, like the currents that shift with the seasons.

Will you fight those currents, or ride them? When you leave your mortal shell to drift into the depths, what legacy will you leave behind with it?

Creating a Legend

First, create your character. Give them a name, a species, and a set of pronouns. Here are some examples of the types of species found in this thriving, teeming world.

Atlanteans are descended from the surface world. They lost that world long ago, and none now remember why. They resemble humans.

Mer have slick, sea green skin. Instead of fins, their bodies boast humanoid arms, heads, and torsos. They are powerful swimmers, and even stronger magicians.

Octopuses have soft, malleable bodies and many limbs. Their skin changes color as a natural camouflage and can squeeze their bodies through tiny openings.

Brachyurans have hard shells and strong claws. What they lack in speed they make up for in tenacity and diligence.

Do not take these examples to mean these are the only people who matter. Feel free to create your own undersea citizens if these options are not to your liking.

Attributes

Your character has 3 Attributes: Courage, Power, and Clarity. Courage represents your affinity for risky and bold actions, Power represents how forceful you can be, and Clarity represents your cunning and thoughtfulness. Distribute 7 points between your Courage, Power, and Clarity attributes, with a minimum of one point in each and a maximum of five in any one attribute.

Rolling the Dice

To accomplish a heroic deed, choose the appropriate Attribute and try to roll under that number on a d6. Which attribute applies to your roll depends on your approach to the situation. A head-on attack might use Power, but a well-placed shot or a sneaky backstab might use Courage or Clarity. Talk with the Game Master (or GM) about how you’re approaching the action in the fiction.

When you put your strength, ability, and skill into helping someone else, they may roll two dice and choose the lower of the two.

Skills

Skills make rolls easier. Subtract one point from your roll if you have a skill that applies to what you’re doing. When you make your character, choose two skills from the following list: Assess, Attack, Endure, Navigate, Seek.

When you Assess , you focus on something in front of you to gain insight.

When you Attack , you aim to cause harm to people or objects.

When you Endure , you steel yourself against an effect or push yourself to your limits.

When you Navigate , you move from one place to another on as safe and as stable a path as you can find.

When you Seek , you search for new information or details.

Items

Equipment will also aid you in your adventures. Each item has tags that tell you how. If two items with the same tag would apply to the same roll, you receive both benefits.

For your starting gear, select one Mobility item and either one Combat item OR one Apparel item.

Combat Items :

  • Melee Weapon (Light)
    • This melee weapon is a club, knife, or sword, and requires only one hand to wield.
  • Melee Weapon (Heavy)
    • This melee weapon is an axe, spear, or hammer. Its added reach makes it more effective from an extra foot or two away. If used to Attack without both hands, add +1 to your final result.
  • Shield
    • This cumbersome plate can block attacks.
  • Wand
    • This length of bone, driftwood, or crystal is used to channel arcane forces and requires only one hand to use.

Mobility Items

  • Farclaw
    • This Mer gadget fires a clawed glove at the end of a chain. A synchronicity enchantment lets the user control the hand with their own. It can be used as a weapon in a pinch, but its intended use is as an anchor in sharp currents. The chain is retractable. With one on each hand, a user could navigate the depths without fear of being swept away.
  • Subsail
    • This device catches the current and allows the user to drifts along it. Some say its design is an ancient Atlantean invention. Two hands are needed to securely travel with this device.
  • Seahorse
    • This loyal creature will bear the weight of two, pulling you and a friend through the strongest currents.
  • Thoughtfin
    • This pair of anklets turn your feet into wide, floppy fins. They are powered by thought more than strength, and allow for incredibly swift swimming.

Apparel Items

  • Current Cape
    • This mantaskin cloak can be swept to manipulate the currents around you.
  • Anchor Charm
    • This magical charm can be activated with a thought to root you in place, ignoring any attempt to move you.
  • Bracelet of the Trenches
    • This relic of the deep can be used to summon a pair of tentacles that extend from the user’s body.
  • Sunshard
    • This amulet brings the light and warmth of the sun to even the deepest and darkest waters.

Health

If you are injured, whether in battle or by misadventure, you’ll take a point of damage. You have three health, with one additional health per rank of Power. If you run out of health, you’re knocked out or otherwise removed from the scene. Health can be restored by nereids, found in dangerous or hard to find places, or special types of moss, cultivated and sold for exorbitant prices in shops. Best get adventuring!

Combat

It may not solve every problem, but sometimes there’s simply no other option available but to fight. For characters with low Power or who don’t have the attack and endure skills, this can be quite dangerous! Keep these rules in mind as you play.

A single good hit will fell your foe, but that doesn’t mean combat will be easy! An enemy with a shield will block your blows, and a large monster may even be immune to your strikes. Combat in Legends of the Deep is about finding an enemy’s key weakness and exploiting it. Think of it more like a puzzle than a duel.

To this end, sometimes you need to work together to take down a particularly tough enemy. Remember that when you spend your turn in a fight helping another character or setting them up to succeed, they get to roll an additional die and select the lower of the two for their result!

Running the Game

This isn’t a game just about fighting monsters (though it can be). It’s about exploration and adventure. That’s why the players have to choose between a weapon and a cool magic item. They should not feel like a weapon, or even a character capable of violence, is required to play the game.

Present the players with grand challenges like royal tournaments, ancient ruins, and trench expeditions. Make your own magic items for them to play around with. Give them puzzles to solve and environments to traverse and always a bit of danger.

Establish clear boundaries. This is an important thing to do, and it should be the first conversation you have with your group. What may be merely unpleasant to you could be traumatic or even triggering for someone else. Be upfront about what themes and situations you are and are not comfortable having in the game. Even one person objecting should be enough reason to retool the content of your game.

Respect the consent and agency of the other players. While the GM has a certain amount of authority over scenes and consequences, they only have that authority by the consent of their players. The game doesn’t work if one person tries to pull the reins too hard.

Creating Quests

The following tables are designed as GM tools to help create quests. Just roll a ten sided die three times to build a fun quest! Of course, it’s easy to take these prompts and spin them out into more involved adventures.

Add a twist by introducing a new hazard or obstacle when the players think they’ve got everything figured out!

Someone needs help!

  1. A moss farmer
  2. A patrolling town guard
  3. A wayward Octopus family
  4. A Brachyuran merchant
  5. A young Atlantean child
  6. A bumbling shop owner
  7. A Mer bard
  8. An exhausted mailperson
  9. A grumpy tide-sailor
  10. A jellyfish mayor

They need something done!

  1. Retrieve a lost toy
  2. Defeat a group of bandits
  3. Find an exotic anemone
  4. Light a distant beacon
  5. Harvest some coral
  6. Escort some whales
  7. Scare away some sharks
  8. Find a missing pet
  9. Escort someone through dangerous terrain
  10. Deliver a love letter

But they can’t do it themselves!

  1. The objective is in a trench
  2. A group of bandits just moved in
  3. Dangerous vents make it hard to see
  4. There are ancient and dangerous ruins in the way
  5. You must pass an icy anomaly
  6. Community Guards have quarantined the area
  7. The way to the objective is blocked by an unpersonable denizen
  8. The lights are out
  9. Something magical is going wrong
  10. There’s a sleeping predator in the area

Of course you can also pick what you want from the lists if you don’t feel like rolling!