So, I was searching in my basement and I found the old AD&D Spelljammer Box set.
I've spent the the last hour or so unboxing it and just admiring all of the sweet 1989 beauty of it all. I'd love to run a game of this...
... but I don't know a lot about the setting beyond its DnD in Spaaaaaaaace! Anything important/fun for me to know?
>>43919486
>>43919496
Right now I'm just fucking around, setting up the star map and such~
>>43919525
>>43919569
>>43919587
What the fuck is a Neogi?
>>43919615
>>43919662
>>43919683
>>43919711
>>43919735
>>43919852
>>43919486
Man, I got that for my best friend in a charity auction run by my local game store. Legitimately my favorite setting that I've never gotten to play. Cities on the back of giant manta rays flying through space. Illithids and Beholders and Spider people slavers in space with swords and sorcery. Like whats not to love?
>>43919486
Why is that chick wearing a swimsuit and no shoes in space?
>>43919486
A setting where I really want to play or DM in, but my friends think Spelljammer is way too comical and outlandish for them. It sucks.
>>43919615
iirc neogis are like a spider-like race that enslaves people? All I know is I remember a short in-between-adventures encounter is the players get paid to ship a container that contains a Neogi inside and it breaks out of the container mid flight to enslave the crew.
>>43919486
>... but I don't know a lot about the setting beyond its DnD in Spaaaaaaaace! Anything important/fun for me to know?
The foreward at the beginning of Lorebook of the Void should tell you almost everything important right of the bat.
The setting explicitly works with consistant but unrealistic physics and this is taken as normal by NPCs, etc.
>>43919615
>What the fuck is a Neogi?
They're the evil alien slaver race.
Because Mindflayers are busy being the neutral alien slaver merchant race.
>>43919486
A spelljammer thread! Fuck ya!
>>43920385
Because it's awesome?
>>43920596
The Mind Flayers are the neutral ones? Horry sheet~
>>43920819 This setting was actually what made Mindflayers popular.
>>43920596 (cont.) Brief Spelljammer Physics Explanation
Gravity is specifically a force that pulls everything else to one type of area.
If two sources of gravity meet, the weaker source is fully suppressed and the stronger source behaves normally.
Gravity on Planets: (and *only* planets, not asteroids etc.)
How gravity works can vary by planet (just as it can from one plane to the next).
But usually their is a specific "down" a la earth.
Gravity in Space:
Any object of a certain length (50 feet, IIRC) generates gravity.
This gravity acts along a geometric plane that touches [the longest line that can be drawn across the object] and the [longest line that can be drawn perpendicular to that line].
Ship deck plans are generally designed to accommodate this, with a floor built across the gravity plane which is walked which people can walk on both sides of (other floors are built "up" from either side).
Air in Space:
Air gets caught in gravity and stays there.
Anything with gravity will have air, though if the air isn't replenished it will eventually go bad.
Page 7 in Concordance of Arcane Space has a good picture of a gravity plane and an air envelope.
Space Ships are called Spelljamming Vessels.
(not to be confused with "The Spelljammer", a specific legedary Spelljamming Vessel)
Spelljamming Vessels are powered by Spelljamming helms, which are essentially magic chair that drain prepaired spells from casters.
>>43920385
sexism
>>43921074 (cont.)
Wild Space / Crystal Spheres: (non-FTL space)
Most of Spelljammer is set in Wild Space (areas within a crystal sphere).
There are planets here, and you can interact with other planes of existence (and gods, etc).
At the edge of any patch of Wild Space is the inner wall of a giant Crystal Sphere.
The stars are glowy bits studded to the sphere in some way or another, you can touch/steal/etc them if you want to.
The are also portals (as in doors you can look through, not the magical kind) to the Phlogiston at various points along any crystal sphere.
The Phlogiston: (FTL space)
The Phlogiston is an endless expanse of flammable rainbows.
It is completely cut off from all planes of existence (and gods, etc).
The only things of note to see in the Phlogiston are the outsides of Crystal Spheres and the occasional meandering "river" (read: current), both of which are essentially unmoving.
You can ride along a river to go from one Sphere to another, but rivers flow in one direction and you'll need to take another river to get back.
>>43920596 >>43921074 >>43921188
That mostly came from memory, but that should be the gist of it.
Aside from that it's a fantasy kitchen sink age of sail setting.
>>43921074
>>43921188
Very helpful!
>>43919486
>Anything fun for me to know?
Spam filter won't let me link this. TT_TT
If you google "spelljammer woodcut" the first result that comes up is some good Spelljammer trivia from Jeff Grubb (the author of most of the Spelljammer product line).
Also, http://www.lomion.de/cmm/dragradi.php
>Mature adults do mingle among mere mortals, often taking the face and the role of an adventurer or hero as the dragon passes through the asteroid citadels.
>A character who is faced with unpaid bills for services from places he has never visited may guess that his renown is great enough to earn him the mimicry of a radiant dragon.
>In some regions this is considered a great honor (once it is confirmed by detect lie and other divination spells).
>In other areas of space it is considered a blasted nuisance.
>>43920386
>A setting where I really want to play or DM in, but my friends think Spelljammer is way too comical and outlandish for them. It sucks.
Just run anything outlandish by your players a session two or three ahead of time to find out if they're OK with it.
But all of the material (from mercenary hippopotamus-men who only accept payment in gunpowder, too barbarians who live on flying whales) can be run in a serious manner.
www spelljammer org is a good place to get info on the game. Also lost spelljammer org is good.
>>43924039
>spelljammer.org
>looking at the 3D fan art
holy shit this site is an antique. It reminds me of the Space Jam website.
bumping for curiosities sake.
>>43921074
>>43921188
it seems that this was the source for the better setting elements of Dungeons the Dragoning...
>>43919615
Tiny eel-spider slavers with mind control powers and immunity, flying spider-ships and basing their entire social hierarchy on slavery. They're aberrant ferengi.
bump, im entertaining the idea of running a 5e Spelljammer campaign.
>>43921188
>The stars are glowy bits studded to the sphere in some way or another, you can touch/steal/etc them if you want to.
>The are also portals (as in doors you can look through, not the magical kind) to the Phlogiston at various points along any crystal sphere.
I thought that the stars were portals to various other planes. Like a red star was a portal to the elemental plane of fire, and a white star was a portal to the elemantal plane of radiance (or light, or whatever it was called). Maybe I'm thinking of one sphere in particular.
>>43928212 Most suns are portals to the elemental plane of fire.
>Maybe I'm thinking of one sphere in particular.
Probably. What a star *is* varies from sphere to sphere.
They can be anything from giant incandescent bugs to ever burning fires.
The only important thing is that they produce light and are on the inner wall of the sphere.
You could easily homebrew a Sphere where the "portals" (as in non-magical door/window/passageways to the Phlogiston) *are* stars, but by default they're unrelated.
>>43919486
Spelljammer being as great as it is is a miracle considering it started as the CEO saying ''make Star Wars in DnD'' as a way of cashing in on a trend.
2nd edition has a ton of really neat expansion settings.
>>43928882
No I was talking about stars (the dots on the edge of the inner sphere) as opposed to primaries (the body at the center of the sphere).
And also aren't suns in generally just considered fire bodies? As opposed to regular planets which are earth bodies. And then air bodies which are essentially gas giants, and water bodies which I can't remember if they are just solid masses of water or an earth body covered in water.
>>43929569 I (>>43928882) made a passing remark to fire bodies then went on to talk about stars.
>And also aren't suns in generally just considered fire bodies?
Don't all fire bodies contain a portal to the elemental plane of fire?
Or a I just thinking of Forgotten Realms?
>as opposed to primaries (the body at the center of the sphere)
>And also aren't suns in generally just considered fire bodies?
Yes, but they aren't necessarily the primary.
For example, Greyhawk is geoecentric.
>>43929855
Ah, missed that on the first read through.
>fire bodies
Maybe. I could be talking out of my ass. Its been a year since I actually looked up this stuff.
>primaries
I meant it more as the central body of any sphere is called the primariy, and generally speaking its a fire body because it makes sense.
Its funny though I prefer the spherez that dont have fire bodies. Like aqua sphere (or something like that). Its a sphere filled with water and a massive whirlpool\black hole.
Man I need to reread some of this stuff again.
so much fun with this setting.
Fuck it, Imma run this in fifth. Have the king send adventurers to investigate the disappearance of an entire village and have them captured by Neogi. Have to escape and steal a ship. And now be on a quest to find a navigational map that includes their home planet.
