Deep water dive -- WWII era diving suits

[JonHook]

Is anyone aware of an existing CoC adventure or supplement that details skills the equipment, skills, or anything with deep water diving. I'm thinking about Navy divers in those old diving suits with the cool helmets. I'm looking at the Diver occupation in the Investigator Handbook, and the info there is really thin. I'm looking for something that really talks about the occupation, the hazards, the procedures, equipment that was used... that kind of thing. Is anyone aware if something like that already exists in a published CoC book? 

 

[Ian Absentia]

I'm not aware of any ready-made sources for Call of Cthulhu (which seems odd now, given the aquatic ties of quite a bit of the mythos), but I have two go-tos in my library for undersea adventure, regardless of system.  You may have to do a bit of hunting, but they're still out there on the Internet.

• The Undersea Environment, for Traveller.  Covering a range of technological levels, you'll find a broad treatment of the sort of diving suit you're asking after.
• Under Pressure, for GURPS: Transhuman Space.  It actually treads a lot of the same ground as The Undersea Environment, but in more specific detail, and also at a much higher technological level.  Probably less useful to you.

Both books suffer from inclusion of simplified diving tables, with the bold disclaimer that these are NOT TO BE USED FOR ACTUAL DIVING.  Really, though, they're generalised versions of real tables, so, yeah, they shouldn't be used for calculating actual dives, but are intended to explain what a diver's body will have to go through to dive at increasing depth for increasing duration, but I think the matter could've been addressed in a more abstract manner in-game.  But that's picky, picky, picky.

I've heard tell of Pagan Publishing's fabled underwater adventure, "Grace Under Pressure" from The Unspeakable Oath, but I've never actually laid eyes on a copy.  From what I understand, it doesn't involve diving scenes, focusing instead on a deep-sea submarine.

Bang for the buck?  Keeping it simple, digestible, and cheap, I'd go for The Undersea Environment, though you might almost find it too simplistic.

!i!

[kross]

Don't remember much in the way of details, and my book is not at hand, but I'm pretty sure one of the scenarios in Fearful Passages dealt with the use of a diving suit or suits.

[JonHook]

Nice. I have Fearful Passages... I'll check it out. I'll also see if I can find a copy of Grace Under Pressure. 

[Atgxtg]

The three pages on diving in the Crash Dive adventure in Fearful Passages is probably all there is. Was there something specific you were looking for? Bermuda Triangle has some notes for SCUBA, and there are some things in soem BRP supplments, and even some non-BRP games that could be adapted. 

[JonHook]

I'm just looking for a guideline on deep sea diving. 

[David Scott]

There are some 1927 British diving suits that the player use in the scenario "Bad Moon Rising" in The Great Old Ones if you have access to it (one of my favourite adventures):

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/1680/The-Great-Old-Ones

I daren't say more...

 

 

 

[Atgxtg]

On 11/4/2019 at 1:14 PM, JonHook said:

I'm just looking for a guideline on deep sea diving. 

Then  the Crash Dive adventure in Fearful Passages is probably want you want, or at least as close to it as you will find in a CoC supplement.

[rsanford]

33 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

Then  the Crash Dive adventure in Fearful Passages is probably want you want, or at least as close to it as you will find in a CoC supplement.

Seth Skorkowsy reviewed that and was very negative about it. You can find the review here -> 

 

[Atgxtg]

46 minutes ago, rsanford said:

Seth Skorkowsy reviewed that and was very negative about it. You can find the review here -> 

 

He was very negative about the adventure, not about the diving rules, which he stated were better than the house rules he had come up. Since the OP is looking for 1920s era diving rules and gear, this seems to be the best  supplement, regardless of the adventure.

[rsanford]

12 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

He was very negative about the adventure, not about the diving rules, which he stated were better than the house rules he had come up. Since the OP is looking for 1920s era diving rules and gear, this seems to be the best  supplement, regardless of the adventure.

Good point. I agree.

[JonHook]

Thanks guys. I had totally forgotten about Fearful Passages. I have a copy of it, so I'm using it as a baseline now. I'm updating the rules for 7th Edition, plus I'm adding a little something extra.