Submarines in tabletop role-playing games
How to use submarines in your TTRPG.
It's fair to say that submarines don't feature in role-playing games very often. In fact they are very rare, almost non existent. This is partially to do with a fact that most settings are usually some sort of a fantasy, from low to high fantasy.
As a player, I never encountered one, however as a Game Master I was always very keen to have a submarine in one of my campaigns. It was a fantasy setting and my players were hunting a Kraken. But we'll talk about it later.
Submarines in role-playing games.
Existing Games & Settings
There aren't any major RPG settings/games that I'm aware of that focus on submarines. There are a couple of mini games tho, I have bought some on DriveThruRPG buy haven played yet. See the list below:
In Harm's Way: Pigboats Target Bearing 093 Degrees There is also number of aquatic settings where submarines may well be used. Like this one I have found on DriveThruRPG. Some of the other settings where submarines exist are: Warhammer Fantasy as well as 40k. There will of course also be submarines in all the modern settings such as Weird Wars as well as some of the sci-fi settings like Cyberpunk.
How to use submarines in RPG games - tops for the Game Master
There is a number of ways, you, as a Game Master can incorporate submarines in your RPG games. 1) Submarine as a mode of transport Your players often travel from place A to B. Transporting them in a submarine will definitely be a cool addition to your game. 2) Using submarine as an enemy/big boss battle. You can use submarine the same way you would use a Kraken or some high level monster. This will be a great challange for your players as they will have to come up with a clever ways to defeat it. 3) Use submarine as players base. How could would it be if your players receive submarine (perhaps as a reward for completing a difficult campaign) as their base and mode of transportation. This could open way for many nautical campaigns and encounters.Where to find submarine battle maps, submarine tokens and assets for your role-playing games ?
As I have mentioned earlier on, the submarine battle maps and submarine tokens for tabletop games are thin on the ground. Finding good assets for your game may not be as easy as finding your Goblins and castles. When I was looking for ssubmarine battle maps and ubmarine tokens for my games, there wasn't much out there. I have searched the Internets, also DriveThruRPG as well as the Roll20 marketplace.Below is a list of submarines for your games: Wolfsrudel: WW2 U-Boat, very cool U-Boat with crew and additional tokens. You can get it here on Roll20 Chibbin Grove: A Month of Maps Vol. 2 - huge set of 144 items, submarine map in 4 versions as well as ocean maps and many other cool maps. You can see it here Transportation Sensations: Pulp Era - interesting set of tokens including submarine (2 levels) as well as a seaplane and other vehicles. You can find it here. I do have a surprise for you, I've reached out to Chibbin Grove and asked them if it would be possible to include one of their submarine battle maps in this article. So massive thanks to Chibbin Grove for making this happen. Please do check their Patreon here. The Chibbin Grove Submarine Battle Map is [40x21] [5600x2940px] View the full size here.
