Blood-Dimmed Tides is a sourcebook for the World of Darkness that covers what lurks beneath the oceans and seas.
Summary[]
From the White Wolf Catalog:
- Caught Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
- Nobody said the ocean was a safe place — just ask the crew of the Lusitania. What made you think the oceans of the World of Darkness were any safer? There are...things down there, things that slide effortlessly through the arctic chill and lightless void. Creatures that wait quietly for their time, the time of flood — the time of Dagon.
- You Might Be Safer With the Devil
- It's time to take a look at what's going on in the rest of the World of Darkness — you know, the other seven-tenths? The places you haven't explored yet? That changes now. World of Darkness: Blood-Dimmed Tides explores the seas of the World of Darkness, and lays bare the secrets of their denizens, whether the wraith-crewed ghost ships or the fae of the deep. Whether you you're looking to take your landlubber characters to sea or try out a coastal or deepwater chronicle for a change of pace, this is the book for you.
- World of Darkness: Blood-dimmed Tides contains:
- Rules for taking characters under the seas, from underwater combat to variant Disciplines
- A bestiary of underwater antagonists including details on the sinister Chulorviah, an alien threat peculiar to the deep trenches of the undersea
- Two new changeling kiths – the merfolk and merrow – setting information, and more
Contents[]
And the Sea Shall Give Up Her Dead[]
A Ghost Story.
Introduction: Rising Tides[]
- References: The Abyss, Deep Star Six, Leviathan, Dead Calm, H.P. Lovecraft's "Call of Cthulhu, "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", Mutiny on the Bounty, The Caine Mutiny, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", Moby Dick, Marie Celeste and The Flying Dutchman.
Chapter One: Seas of Darkness[]
A primer of sorts on the ocean; it certainly can't top a full oceanography course, but it's an excellent starting point for staging an aquatic story. In addition to the basics, there's also detail aplenty on where the World of Darkness' oceans vary from our own, with Umbral rules and other notes peculiar to the game environment.
- Sample Rorqual Powers
- Breach
- Human Form
- Song of the Sea
Chapter Two: Denizens[]
Takes a look at the five main supernatural groups in the World of Darkness, and the specific adaptations each of them have made to surviving the black deeps.
- Lasombra Merits and Flaws
- Pelagic Compulsion (2-point Flaw)
- Pelagic Harmony (3-point Merit)
- Poseidon's Call (1-point Flaw)
- Weather Sense (1-point Merit)
- Cargo Ship (3-point Merit)
- Armed Vessel (5-point Merit)
- Fetish
- Fisher's Gift - Level Three, Gnosis 6
- Merits And Flaws (Wraiths)
- Drowned (3 to 6 point Merit)
- Natural Helmsman (1 point Merit)
- Seadog (2 point Flaw)
- Creature of the Deep (2 point Flaw)
- Landlubber (3 point Flaw)
- New Skills
- Naval Artillery
- Navigation
- Arcanoi
- New Arts
- Argos
Fix Bearings- Safe Passage
- Lifeweb
- Triangulation
- Comrades in Arms
- Argos
- New Arts
- Heiké Crabs - Stats
- The Mary Anne - A Sample Relic Ship
- New Arts
- Aphrodisia
- Fancy
- Yearn
- Covet
- Crave
- Need
- Kryos
- Cold Shock
- Gelid Rime
- Frost Facsimile
- Crystal Prison
- Coldheart
- Skycraft
- Thunderclap
- Compass Winds
- Dark Sky
- Stormcraft
- Call Lightning
- Aphrodisia
- New Treasures
- Mermaid's Milk (Level One Treasure)
- Mer Trident (Level Two Treasure)
- Melusine's Mirror (Level Three Treasure)
- Conch of Poseidon (Level Four Treasure)
- Coral Comb (Level Five Treasure)
Chapter Three: Spinning Yarns[]
A guide to telling stories using the rules and background in this book. It includes advice both on single stories featuring existing characters, and on running stories and even chronicles with specifically ocean-going characters.
Chapter Four: Lurkers[]
Presents the terrors of the deep, whether gilled fomori or pelagic beasts left over from the beginning of time. There's also advice on using such creatures to best effect in your games.
- Animals
- Shark
- Barracuda
- Dolphin
- Whale
- Orca
- Octopus
- Moray Eel
- Sea Lion
- Spirits
- Fish-Spirits
- Luminescents
- Scuttlers
- Bl'gothwu
- Spiral Schools
- Pakurwu Tooth-Edged
- Aquatic Fomori
- Oceanic Fomori Powers
- Amphibious
- Angler Stalk
- Crab's Armor
- Cuttlefish Skin
- Echolocation
- Electrical Discharge
- High-Pressure Endurance
- Ink Jet
- Poisonous Flesh
- Shark Mouth
- Aquatic Breeds
- Poison Sharks
- Diving Dead
- Bane Lampreys
- Fomori Power: Lamprey Spit
- GENES (Generically Enhanced Nautical Enforcement Specialists); "Sharks"
- Oceanic Fomori Powers
- Ancient Beasts
- Gigantic Squid
- Chulorviah
- The Enfolded
- Petyranos
- Power: Brain-Burrow
- Chulorvian Elder
Appendix[]
Contains some quick-and-dirty systems for swimming, weather conditions, and yes - drowning.
- Equipment
- Weapons
- Bang stick
- Harpoon
- Harpoon gun
- Speargun
- Swimming And Diving Equipment
- Buoyancy compensator
- Deep-Dive Armor
- Dive computer
- Diving clothing
- Life vest
- Rebreather
- Scuba gear
- Weapons
- Merits And Flaws
- Sea Legs (1-Point Aptitude Merit)
- Strong Lungs (1-Point Physical Merit)
- Natural Swimmer (2-Point Aptitude Merit)
- Motion Sickness (1-Point Aptitude Flaw)
- Unable To Swim (2-Point Aptitude Flaw)
Background Information[]
Ads at the back of the book include: Year of the Reckoning: The Fools Luck: The Way of the Commoner (Feb. 99), The Cainite Heresy (Mar. 99), The Time of Thin Blood (Jul. 99), Rage Across the Heavens (Aug. 99), Technocracy: The Players Guide (Aug. 99), The Ends of Empire (Oct. 99) and Hunter: The Reckoning Rulebook (Nov. 99); and Vampire Clan Novels: Clan Novel: toreador (Feb. 99), Clan Novel: Tzimisce (Apr. 99) and Clan Novel: Gangrel (Jun. 99).
The 1999 Jan-Jun Catalog has different text for the book entry:
The Tide Is Loosed
Not all of the World of Darkness' fearsome denizens haunt the cities or stalk the woods. At the bottom of wine-dark seas lurk ancient horrors unknowable to humanity, creature that prowl the fringes of a world wholly unlike our own. And sometimes hunger drives these creatures to swim upward in search of prey...
And Innocence Is Drowned
World of Darkness: Blood-Dimmed Tides is a sourcebook exploring the oceans of the World of Darkness, from the vampires and shapeshifters that have learned to call such depths home to the hideous creatures that lurk in the deepest ocean trenches. Suitable for players and Storytellers alike, this book offers advice for running ocean-based chronicles.
Memorable Quotes[]
(...)
Characters[]
- Commander Jaime Rodriguez - Coast Guard, And The Sea Shall Give Up Her Dead
- David Jordan - Lieutenant Commander, And The Sea Shall Give Up Her Dead
- Javier Rodriguez - Wraith, Jaime's Father, And The Sea Shall Give Up Her Dead
- Baba Yaga
- Yu Huang
- Don Walsh - EFD Explorer, Void Engineer
- Jacques Piccard - EFD Explorer, Void Engineer
- Galarius - Nephandi
- Captain Edward Teach, "Blackbeard" - Renegade Wraith
- Stede Bonnet - Lasombra
- "Calico Jack" Rackham - Renegade Wraith
- Anne Bonny - Unknown Fate
- Mary Read - Renegade Wraith
- Mr. Klieg - Chulorviah/Fomor
- Gorool
- Charon
- Jeremiah Lassater
- Jacob Lassater - Jeremiah's Son
- Harold Dix - Security Specialist, Project: Deepwater
- Tatiana of Odessa, Gangrel ''aquarii''
- Machete Paul, Gangrel ''aquarii''
- Archon-Captain Alejandro Kleist, pirate and Lasombra antitribu
- Justicar Xaviar
- Alfonso Lopez
- Randall Thomas - U.S. Navy SEAL, Alejandro's Executive Officer
- Doc Eon
- Isabel Dubhe - Current Director of the EFD, Void Engineer
- Gilledian Marcus Delarey - Nephandi, Xsiaquotal Labyrinth
- Smiling Lord
- James Meeks - Wraith helmsman, SS Athenia
- Phillip Thompson - Heretic Wraith, Founder of the Seekers of the Tempestuous Seas
- Martyn Atkinson - Wraith, Dutchman marine, Necropolis Boston
- Captain Peter L'smie of the Bucentaure - Wraith
- Patrick Ness - Former Captain, Wraith, Mary Anne Ship
- Captain Peter - Wraith, Mary Anne Ship, Member of the Broken Chain
- Paul - Died, Never became a Wraith
- Salvador Noval - Wraith, Monitor, Mary Anne Ship
- Patricia Black, "Trisha" - Wraith, Mary Anne Ship
- Fickley - Human, Died
- Wittenger - Human, Died
- Dabidson - Human
- Fiorello - Satyr
- Duke Justinian - Changeling, Winter Court of High King David (Greenwich Village)
- Lord Apoxys - Unseelie Changeling
- Lady Qualyssa, envoy to the dirtwalkers, House Lorelei Merfolk
- Lord Schul, envoy to the dirtwalkers, House Syrinx Merfolk
- Sir Virgil Draper, reluctant sluagh envoy to the merfolk.
- Hard Angus - Changeling
- Nuck - The First Murdhuacha
- Queen Merasi - Merfolk
- Lady Relshabinia, Syrinx Baroness of the Ml'ua section of the city Qlzua
- Nuck Chogol, Murdhuacha of the Lusitania Hive
- Naomi - Current Queen of the Merfolk, Nix
- Lady Perue - Changeling
- Lord Talbot - Changeling
- Blood-Quick - Rokea
- Roger Kopek - Diving Dead
- Bill Martino
- Sleeps-with-the-Fishes - Garou
Terminology[]
Ahab's Ghost (SoE Ship), Ahriman, Akashic Brotherhood, Aphrodesia, Apsarae (Boned and Unboned), Aquatic Exploration Teams ("Squids"), Aquatic Pooka, Artifact, Atlantis, Barabbi, The Bertha Kaye (Wreck), Black Aegis (Alejandro's Ship), The Broken Chain, Cantrip, Caul, Changelings, Chasm/Abyss, Chulorviah, Chulorviosis strain, Chuloryiosis, Coldness, Construct, Coral Cities: Drasch, Hiath, Qlzua, Qryll, Quaguin Gateway, Xinqux; Coral Spear (Rokea Fetish), Corpus, Costeau Mark III (Void E. Sub), Cult of Ecstasy, Dark Kingdom of Ivory, Dark Kingdom of Jade, Deathlord, Dirtwalkers, Dolphin, Don Diego Santiago (Freighter), Doppelgangers, Drachus Vachor, Dreaming, Dreamspeakers, The Drowning, The Dutchmen, Earth Frontier Division (EFD), The Electric Prospero (SoE Ship), Emerald Legion, Endron, Falklands War, Far Shores, Ferrymen, Fetter, Funa-Yurei, Gauntlet, Gorge (Rokea planned attack), Grim Legion, Grotto, Guilds, Hallahan, Hampton Star (Ventrue Yacht, Destroyed), Harbingers, Harrowing, Haunt, Heiké, Hengeyokai, Heretics, Hierarchy, Horizon, House Lorelei, House Melusine, House Syrinx, Ice Stalkers, Ichibashi (Hallahan's Japanese Counterpart), Incarna, Iron Legion, Iron Pier, Iteration X, Jackson (Barge), Kami, Kithain, Kopa Loei, Kryos, Kuei-jin, Labyrinth, Lady Yul, Lasombra, Lasombra antitribu, Legions, Lemurian Lightning Guns, Lusitania Hive, Maelstroms, Magellan Five (VE Minisub), Marauder, Mariners (Gangrel aquarii/aquarius), Memoriam, Menehune, Merfolk, Mirrorlands, Mokolé, Moon Bridge, Morthwights, Murdhuacha, Nada Jane (Tanker), Naugs, Nephandi, Nereid, Nezumi, Nihil, Nixes, Oblivion, Oceans: Arctic, Atlantic (Baltic Sea, Bermuda Triangle, Caribbean, Mediterranean Sea, Sargasso Sea), Indian (Australian Coast: Great Barrier Reef, Persian Gulf), Pacific (Mariana Trench: Project: Deepwater, Philippine Sea, Sea of Japan); 'Old Cape May, New Jersey' (Wreck), Omega Plan, Oni-bi (Demon Fires), Oracles, Order of the Crested Wave, Order of Hermes, Pentex, Penumbra, Pharmacopoeists, Phocidaean Webbing (Aquarii Protean Discipline), Port Royal Necropolis, Premium Oil, Progenitors, Protean (Dolphin's Unsight), Ratkin, Reaper/Salvage Ship, Relic, Relic Ships: Atlantic Conveyor, Bismark, Bucentaure, CSS Virginia (Ironclad), Elizabeth Galley, General Belgrano, HMS Ardent (Vanished), HMS Ark Royal, HMS Sheffield, Mary Anne, RMS Titanic (Spectre Ship), Lusitania (Hierarchy), Prince Alexsei, Sir Galahad (Vanished), Sir Tristram (Vanished), SS Athenia, USS Monitor (Ironclad); Renegade, Rite of Dagon, Rite of Vatea, Rokea, Rorqual, Rusalki, Same-Bito, Sea Dogs (Bone Gnawers), Sea Shroud, The Seekers of the Tempestuous Seas, Selkie, Sept of Bygone Visions, Shadow, Shadow Curtain, Shadowlands, Shark, Shen, Skinlands, Skycraft, Sleepers, Sons of Ether, Spectres, Strike Force Zero, Stygia, Sunless Sea, Swar, Tara-Nar, Technocracy, Tempest, Thallain, Thrall, Trieste (Bathyscaph), Tuatha De Danann, Uktena, Umbra, Umi, Undersea Triat (Fish Bearer: Vatea/Kun, The Shelled One: C'et, Tentacled One: Dagon/Qyrl/Kraken), USCGC Thetis (Ship), Vampiros de La Mar (Sabbat Packs), Verbena, Verditius (OoH Ship), Vodianoi, Void Engineers, Watchers of the Void, Water Babies, Way of the Scholar, Winter Court of High King David (Greenwich Village), Wyrm, Xsiaquotal Labyrinth (Santa Barbara), Yunwi Amai'yine'hi,
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