What are reviewers saying about the recently released Sunken Empires (print/PDF)?

If you’d like to drop your campaign into Atlantis or Mu you should get this book.

You get new Pathfinder monsters like the Coral Drake and the Goblin Shark. New spells like Barnacle Armor and Sea Legs (which would have come in handy when I was in the Navy). Sweet watery weapons like the sawfish sword and the Orca Suit Armor crafted by merfolk. Add some excellent maps and you’ve got an extremely useful campaign tool. And yes, there are Aboleths! …

This book not only lends itself to high fantasy but to a Jules Verne kind of pulp vibe. It’s easily as good if not better than anything the Big RPG Dogs produce.

Read the full review at The Vorpal Spork.

And…

The first chapter of the book is all about “historical” sunken cities in real-world myth and legend. The author specifically discusses Atlantis, Lemuria, and Mu. Each of the three cities begins with a discussion of the history of the city—Atlantis, for example, was first written about by Plato. Plato’s description (as written by Hodge) reminds me a great deal of the Biblical tales of Sodom and Gomorrah—humans become corrupt, and God (or gods) decide to destroy it as an object lesson.

… Hodge designs a lost city of his own… The resulting city is as believable as any of the other three and is rich with plot hooks and story ideas for a fantasy game.

… spells, feats, and items all seem to be relatively well-balanced, with very few exceptions.

… guidelines for GM’s to keep from just utterly annihilating characters from the beginning.

…  excellent creatures here that I will be adapting… I’m especially fond of the goblin shark… provides a number of variants which serve to make the aboleth more versatile and less predictable.

… I’m satisfied with this book. Even though I won’t be playing Pathfinder any time in the near future, I will definitely be using some of the ideas from this book in a Burning Wheel game in the not-too-distant future.

This book rendered on my Kindle DX with no problems or hesitation…

Read the full review at Talking Game.

And…

Open Design’s recent release of Sunken Empires: Treasures and Terrors of the Deep encompasses the perfect storm of history, art, and implementation that makes a supplement not only a useful tool for gamemasters to terrorize their players from time to time but a great read as well…

Honestly, I was very impressed by Sunken Empires. It provides enough “crunch” for an enterprising GM to take it and merge it into his or her own game world quite easily. And if done right, a GM would have potentially years of gaming to explore all the dark corners of the Ankeshel ruins…

Sunken Empires is one of Open Design’s latest Pathfinder compatible products. On 82 pages you get in my opinion the definite works on underwater adventuring for Paizo’s Pathfinder RPG and much, much more. I don’t exaggerate when I tell you that this book is packed!

 

My favorite item is the tentacled shield which looks like you’re using Cthulhu’s head to defend yourself. Yuck! And yes, the tentacles are not there for show.

 

I was pretty surprised by the large amount of content crammed into just 82 pages. I am currently not running a Pathfinder campaign, but after reading “Sunken Empires” I might be tempted to do so. The setting presented in the book is actually a good basis for an extensive campaign. If you don’t fear to get your feet wet, you definitely should check out Sunken Empires.

We’ve got a little something for everybody. Pick up your own copy of Sunken Empires (print/PDF).