Doesn't spelljamming over power your party? Its it posable to run a low level spelljammer game?
If you fear your party will be too powerful, give them a Furnace Helm: it is a very nice device to remove magical items from PCs! Definitely NOT over powering!
The game started off with us as 2nd level PCs. We were hired as crewmen/helmsmen of a tradesmen for a prominent Bral noble house. During one trip, we got attacked by a pair of eelships; we boarded & defeated one, the other one was sent packing with its tail tucked between its legs. We entered into an agreement with our noble sponsor where we acted as an adventuring party in her name, and she got a split of the profits, and we got the eelship.
After many adventures, we're now at about 4th-7th level, and its a blast. Our DM has taken adventures like Isle of Dread and transformed them into SJ adventures (the Isle became a planet in a remote sphere). Right now we explored a ghost ship (which is about to explode ala Hollywood-style ;) ) and are heading back to Bral to spend our pirate treasure on a new ship. We're hoping for a hammership...:D
After many adventures, we're now at about 4th-7th level, and its a blast. Our DM has taken adventures like Isle of Dread and transformed them into SJ adventures (the Isle became a planet in a remote sphere). Right now we explored a ghost ship (which is about to explode ala Hollywood-style ;) ) and are heading back to Bral to spend our pirate treasure on a new ship. We're hoping for a hammership...:D
bah, only if talus can't get to it first will the ship blow up (which he should, considering he's got a ring of elemental command: air).
i don't know how you're going to benefit from a hammership though; last i saw you were still sitting on a minor helm.
and how are you going to crew that thing anyways? the minimum crew requirement is 24 as i recall... and while the party is decent sized, it sure as heck isn't 24 people, let alone the double or triple that number needed for multiple shifts, plus the weapon crews (on a side note, it is my opinion that the ships in the main book should probably be reworked to some extent to fit the ship design rules in WCC a little closer, and the hammership should have a required crew of around 10... 6 to work the sails, per WCC, a helmsman, a captain, a first mate, and a weapon commander. maybe as many as 12, if you want the sails commander to be separate from the captain/first mate, and if you want a lookout.... unless of course, the hammership assumes 3 8 hour shifts as the standard, and therefore requires that many people).
of course, i suppose you could actually use the rules on hiring crew ;)
in any event, i definitely recommend reading the jammers PBEM game turn summaries... it's quite enjoyable, and will help you get a feel for the setting.
[edit] though personally, if i was going for ships under 50 tons i'd probably go with the triop, or if i were going for the 60 ton range (for example, if you had 3+ orbi... which is easier than it sounds, if you're willing to abuse some 2nd edition rules shamelessly) i'd hope for a scro mantis, myself (on account of it looks really cool, is the only ship i know of where you board other ships by slide, and with topped out rigging could look like a winged mantis. but hey, the group isn't exactly on the greatest terms with the scro... it could still happen
though admittedly, those are both a little bit more pricey than a hammership. [/edit][edit 2] oh, and whatever you do, *don't* give your players a furnace helm... those cost 500,000 gp, or double what a major helm costs... meaning you could sell the furnace helm, and buy a major helm if you felt so inclined. also, they work on ships of up to 100 spatial tons... which means that your players, even if they start off with a relatively small ship (say, 30 tons) can still tow other ships they capture, and sell. if you want them to start off with limited resources, the best way to handle that is to start them off with a few scrolls of create minor helm, imo, and let them work their way up from there. [/edit 2]
bah, only if talus can't get to it first will the ship blow up (which he should, considering he's got a ring of elemental command: air).
That's ok, Raken is at least safe from the fire (if not the enormous amounts of shrapnel ;)
i don't know how you're going to benefit from a hammership though; last i saw you were still sitting on a minor helm.
Paul is adopting Hackjammer helms & prices, which should mean we can afford a low-grade helm to power it
and how are you going to crew that thing anyways?
We're trying something new: we'll be taking aboard a number of henchmen PCs. What we'll try is we'll be running each other's henchmen. AKA, I could run say a 1st level wizard who apprentice himself to Holland. Or I could run an apprentice of Raken, although I think we're going to try to run each others' henchmen (so we don't do much talking to ourselves...;) ).
in any event, i definitely recommend reading the jammers PBEM game turn summaries... it's quite enjoyable, and will help you get a feel for the setting.
If you have a LONG vacation...
http://lost.spelljammer.org/Jammers/summaries/
Be warned, this game has been going on for almost 10 years now! :D
Sounds like a great group/and game. At moment I don't have any players/ But I like the idea of spelljamming. The last party wizard I had was a spelljammer master if you will. He knew every ships stats, and he knew how to bend if not brake the rules. So I with him in the group it would have been hard to run a SJ game. I am hopeing to run a low level game say up to level 3 then take them off the planet, but keep them in the sphere. till they learn the system.
it doesn't take much to 'break the system', generally speaking. heck, most systems are pretty vulnerable to breakage. i'm pretty new to SJ, and i've spotted several things you can do which are technically allowed, but probably weren't intended (for example, extra long range combat which allows you to more or less destroy any space station from almost any range, if you're determined enough).
i used some material from the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy books as none of the players had read any of the books and anything else that i could modify from sci-fi movies