''The Sea Elves'' is the final supplement for the fantasy role-playing game '' Elfquest'', published by

Chaosium Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', RuneQuest Glorantha'', ''Pendragon'' ...

in 1985.

Description

The information in ''The Sea Elves'' allows players and

gamemasters A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, or storyteller) is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. They are m ...

to design and play sea elf characters in their natural environment. In addition to various game-related statistics for both sea elves and sea creatures both friendly and antagonistic, the book describes the history, social structure, and the unique magic of sea elves. Three complete scenarios are included as an introduction to life as a sea elf: "Stormcoming Hunt", "Littlesmoke Island", and "Assault on Smalltower Island."

Publication history

Although ''The Sea Elves'' is a supplement for the ''Elfquest''

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

produced by

in 1984, '' Elfquest'' originally started as a comic book created by

Wendy and Richard Pini Wendy Pini ''née'' Fletcher, (born June 4, 1951) and Richard Pini (born July 19, 1950) are the husband-and-wife team responsible for creating the well-known '' Elfquest'' series of comics, graphic novels and prose works. They are also known as ...

in 1978. In the first issue of the short-lived ''Elfquest'' fanzine ''Yearnings'' in 1982, Elizabeth Cerritelli and Debra Vergriss introduced the concept of sea elves in the short story ''Siege of Suncliff Island.'' After Chaosium produced the role-playing game using the

Basic Role-Playing ''Basic Role-Playing'' (''BRP'') is a tabletop role-playing game which originated in the ''RuneQuest'' fantasy role-playing game. Chaosium released the ''BRP'' standalone booklet in 1980 in the boxed set release of the second edition of ''RuneQu ...

system, several supplements were published, the final one being ''The Sea Elves'' in 1985, a 52-page softcover book written by Elizabeth Cerritelli, with interior illustrations by

Wendy Pini Wendy Pini ''née'' Fletcher, (born June 4, 1951) and Richard Pini (born July 19, 1950) are the husband-and-wife team responsible for creating the well-known '' Elfquest'' series of comics, graphic novels and prose works. They are also known a ...

, cartography by Carolyn Schultz Savoy, and cover art by Lisa A. Free.

Reception

In the May 1986 edition of ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes fro ...

'' (Issue #77), Phil Frances found the supplement lacked much in the way of truly new concepts, especially criticizing the lack of creativity in the list of sea creatures, calling the majority "disappointingly derived from creatures in our own oceans. For example, furryfins are seals, manytooths are sharks, manyarms are octopuses, and stingfingers jellyfish." He complimented two of the three included scenarios, which he found a useful way to introduce players to the concept of the sea elf; but he thought the remaining one, ''Littlesmoke Island'', "doesn't give much room for the players to manoeuvre, as the events are pretty much pre-determined, and the adventure as a whole needs a little extra from both referee and players if it is not to become a waste of time." He concluded by giving the book an average overall rating of 7 out of 10, saying, "''The Sea Elves'' is a competent product, but the cover's proclamation of 'A Complete Culture for Elfquest' is misleading." In the May–June 1987 edition of ''

Different Worlds ''Different Worlds'' was an American role-playing games magazine published from 1979 to 1987. Scope ''Different Worlds'' published support articles, scenarios, and variants for various role-playing games including ''Dungeons & Dragons'', ''Ru ...

'' (Issue #46), Michael DeWolfe thought the three scenarios were "interesting and challenging." However, DeWolfe found several issues that had not been caught at the editing stage and commented, "Unfortunately, this supplement ..looks rushed, with excessive glitches." He concluded by giving this book a rating of 3 out of 4.

Other reviews

*''The V.I.P. of Gaming Magazine'' #3 (April/May, 1986)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sea Elves Basic Role-Playing System Chaosium games Elfquest Fantasy role-playing game supplements Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1985 Role-playing games based on comics