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Wolfhound75
Learned Scribe
USA
217 Posts |
 Posted - 14 Oct 2014 : 23:29:25
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My Fellow Sages & Scribes:
Disclaimer: At the time of this scroll, I am not at all familiar with Spelljammer-setting materials as I have never used it before.
The intent of this question & discussion is to help me generate ideas on how to blend Spelljammer into a Realms setting in a functional manner for an ongoing campaign. Since I know at least Wooly is an avowed "Jammer" fan after conducting a forum search, I thought I would poll the crowd for ideas since I don't recall any novels or sourcebooks readily pointing out that City-X is remarkable for having a Jammer-port.
Some background on the campaign to help the creative juices:
This is intended to be a "Toril-spanning" campaign and beyond. Your thoughts are not restricted to Faerun but may include Kara-Tur, Zakhara, Maztica, Returned-Abier, et al. In other words, if it showed up on Toril at some point, feel free to make a suggestion.
Campaign start year is ~1365DR but I may flex a little depending upon needs. No earlier than the end of the Time of Troubles as I want to avoid any accidental acquaintances with Avatars.
Pre- and Post- Spellplague thoughts on Jammer-use are welcome. The PCs may have reason to travel by Jammer both before and after the results of the Spellplague. In this campaign, depending upon PC actions, the Spellplague results may or may not be precipitated in the canon manner. The timeline will not jump. The PCs will have to play through the effects their actions create/avoid.
I know of the existence of "The Triad" from the Spelljammer setting but am still learning the basics of how that setting functioned.
I need extra ideas on how to expand "The Triad" to encompass most of the campaign settings including, Toril/Abier, Earth, Oerth, Mystara/Blackmoor, Krynn, Athas, & Eberron.
I also need to generate encounter ideas within the Spelljammer setting portion of the campaign.
If anyone knows of stashes of info that would bear my further research, please let us know. Thus far, I've started with the Spelljammer Wiki for basic knowledge.
Thanks much in advance!
Good Hunting!
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"Firepower - if it's not working, you're not using enough." ~ Military Proverb
"If at first you do succeed, you must've rolled a natural 20!" |
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xaeyruudh
Master of Realmslore
USA
1853 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2014 : 00:27:06
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Netheril experimented with spelljamming for a while, operating mainly out of Yeoman's Loft IIRC... Wooly will undoubtedly correct that. But I think the Netherese gained pretty universal Kill On Sight status with other spelljamming races and cultures, so it seems to me that with a few easy short hops of logic one can imagine a scenario where being from Toril is apt to sour old/longstanding organizations on the PCs. "Ain't that where those Netherese arcawhatsits were from? Enslaved everyone, and burned whatever they couldn't steal!" 2000+ years ago, sure, but libraries don't forget. 
Halruaa has flying skyships, and it's a very fair assumption that individual wizards from that land have done their own explorations of Realmspace and possibly beyond. I believe I've seen mentions of Shou Lung having ships in space as well. And of course there's the elven armada.
I like the idea of tying spelljamming to Blackmoor, but I don't know any specific hooks. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2014 : 01:09:02
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Yeah, the Netherese were quickly made unwelcome, in space.
Some of the Halruaan skyships have been fitted with spelljamming helms.
The big three settings of the time -- Dragonlance, Greyhawk, and the Realms -- all had Spelljammer sourcebooks dedicated to their respective spheres. In my opinion, the Dragonlance one stunk on ice, and the Realms one was great, except for the Toril- and Selūne-specific lore. I have issues with that lore because none of it was backed up in any of the Realms source material before or after (except for one detail).
That said, Realmspace does list several spelljammer-friendly ports of call.
Athas was said to be closed off and inaccessible to spelljammers.
I am not familiar enough with the Known World to discuss connecting it to Spelljammer.
Connecting Earth to Spelljammer can be done, but that one is going to strain the disbelief of your players -- it's fine to say that space travel is different where we know magic is real, it's a different story to say that where we know exactly how space travel does work. If I was going to bring PCs to Earth, I'd use a portal.
Eberron is going to be another tricky one... I don't know much about that one, but I know the setting's cosmology is way different than any other D&D setting's. It's entirely possible that Eberron is not accessible by spelljammer.
That said, if I had to do it, I'd make that setting geocentric and make the orbiting planes into some sort of dimensionally-separated planets.
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xaeyruudh
Master of Realmslore
USA
1853 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2014 : 04:15:51
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I like the idea of tying Spelljamming to Earth... through steampunk! ...But I know a lot of folks hate the idea and/or specifics of steampunk, and I'm not knowledgeable about it, but I do think it's a good fit. You would have to do a lot of handwaving in order to do it in modern times, but if you set it in between 1890-1920 it could be brilliant. Eh, maybe I'm just weird like that.
The Athas disconnect never sat well with me. I think it was mostly for Dark Sun's story of desperation... why would you stay on a dying world, if you had an accessible means of traveling to a greener place? There would be no campaign setting if it was possible to leave. So it's the Hotel California of settings... as opposed to Ravenloft, which was Alcatraz.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2014 : 04:36:04
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quote:
Originally posted by xaeyruudh
I like the idea of tying Spelljamming to Earth... through steampunk! ...But I know a lot of folks hate the idea and/or specifics of steampunk, and I'm not knowledgeable about it, but I do think it's a good fit. You would have to do a lot of handwaving in order to do it in modern times, but if you set it in between 1890-1920 it could be brilliant. Eh, maybe I'm just weird like that.
The Athas disconnect never sat well with me. I think it was mostly for Dark Sun's story of desperation... why would you stay on a dying world, if you had an accessible means of traveling to a greener place? There would be no campaign setting if it was possible to leave. So it's the Hotel California of settings... as opposed to Ravenloft, which was Alcatraz.
I should think a larger factor would be the effect of that much damage on Athas's environment. I would think that someone who wasn't a preserver, seated on a spelljamming helm, would prolly leave a miles-long swath of defiled ground underneath where the spelljammer had passed.
Another explanation could be that the devastation of Athas extends into its sphere, and that opening a portal in the sphere just takes too dang much power to be worthwhile. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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TBeholder
Great Reader
2388 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2014 : 20:34:30
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quote:
Originally posted by Wolfhound75
The intent of this question & discussion is to help me generate ideas on how to blend Spelljammer into a Realms setting in a functional manner for an ongoing campaign.
It kind of already is?
quote:
I don't recall any novels or sourcebooks readily pointing out that City-X is remarkable for having a Jammer-port.
A lot of minor ports.
Big ones around the West coast of Faerun are Waterdeep (semi-covertly: everyone have to land on water beyond the horizon), Calimport (same deal), Rauthaven (Nimbral; dedicated SJ port).
Kara-Tur is ahead by numbers. The largest are The Dock (dedicated Arcane trading post in Wu Pi Tao mountains) and Chunming (Shou Lung; 'jammers got to clearly land from the city side).
Huzuz on Zakhara sees enough of traffic that locals will not be surprised by yet another landing, but it's still casual - not a SJ port as such. It simply doesn't have much of a reputation in space, in part because the first thing around there visible from above is a huge desert.
quote:
I know of the existence of "The Triad" from the Spelljammer setting but am still learning the basics of how that setting functioned. I need extra ideas on how to expand "The Triad" to encompass most of the campaign settings
What triad?
quote:
including, Toril/Abier, Earth, Oerth, Mystara/Blackmoor, Krynn, Athas, & Eberron.
Athas is abnormal plane-wise. Though not a demiplane. Canonically, its sphere is firmly off the grid.
With Mystara it's inconclusive (they mucked up with basic symmetry), but IIRC the official adaptation says that atmosphere will stay put only as long as the helm is online - granted, big ships tend to have backup power sources, but the discovery can be... most unpleasant. Also, Mystara itself is shielded with sort of self-healing force bubble (allowing the hollow planet to hold more atmosphere than it has any right to), though it can be breached... and occasionally springs a leak spontaneously - not that riding through a hurricane funnel is safe. |
People never wonder How the world goes round -Helloween
And even I make no pretense Of having more than common sense -R.W.Wood
It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo. -Ed Whitchurch |
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Wolfhound75
Learned Scribe
USA
217 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2014 : 20:51:21
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Thanks everyone! This is a great start to the discussion.
In order to get quickly to the Realms-specific portion of the discussion, I'm inclined to share my developing concept. What are your thoughts on keeping with the general concept of Spelljammer (SJ) in the following manner:
- Campaign Setting: Handled as its own Crystal Sphere which, I believe is consistent with known SJ lore
- Results: Each setting could have it's own risks associated with traversing the Wildspace (Realmspace, Krynnspace, et al) portion with Phlog acting as the connection between spheres and flowing in "currents/tradewinds" making access to different spheres more or less difficult
- Supporting Lore: To Be Determined
- Cosmology Handling: Maintain per campaign setting.
- Results: PCs will need to devise strategies to deal with vastly varying world populations and prejudices, Arcane & Divine magic use variations, resource availability, separation from their divinities, and the list goes on. Any additional thoughts of extra-spherical travel problems are welcome!
- Supporting Lore: Avatar Trilogy where Ao turns to another presence that asks how fares his cosmos.
- Supporting Lore: Expand this ending to interpret as one "Overgod" per sphere, possibly?
- Supporting Lore: Previous discussion I recall but cannot find reference to: Deities may "ask" other pantheons' deity of similar portfolio to grant their faithful, for lack of a better way to describe it, "assistance" while visiting the sphere under their purview. Call in a favor so-to-speak.
One thing I forgot to mention in my initial post as part of the campaign background: At the point where travel by Jammer becomes necessary, the PCs should be epic level.
That's enough for now, mostly because my lunch break is about over. Thanks for the input!
Good Hunting!
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"Firepower - if it's not working, you're not using enough." ~ Military Proverb
"If at first you do succeed, you must've rolled a natural 20!" |
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Spelljammer Cross-Campaign
