Spelljammer 3.5 Project Index - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Spelljammer 3.5 Project Index

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
eldersphinx
Jan 09, 2006 12:44:15 This post collects key information on a Spelljammer 3.5 setting conversion, calling out key ideas and linking to in-depth discussion. It is a living document and will be updated as new contributions are made to the project.

Core Story:

Spelljammer is a game of exploring the unknown. Characters find unexpected challenges and unimaginable rewards in the depths of unexplored space and the surfaces of alien worlds. Weird creatures that have never before been seen by man, spells and magic unlike anything known to be possible, and the treasures of indescribable civilizations are all waiting to be discovered.

Key Ideas:

1. Spelljamming and space travel affect every adventure the PCs have.
2. Spelljamming will have a major impact on every world, everywhere it's found.
3. The setting will have a map, a timeline, and iconic NPCs and locations.
4. Even the weird stuff in the Spelljammer setting will be self-consistent and able to command respect.
5. Playability and fun are key. Old cows are not sacred if they make the game less fun.

Iconic NPCs:

(None yet)

Iconic Locations:

The Rock of Bral (undeveloped)

Game Mechanics:

(None yet)

Other Important Stuff:

(None yet)
#2
Dragonhelm
Jan 12, 2006 0:17:30 I would add to it that Spelljammer is a setting unto itself, but can link other settings together.
#3
loki_de_carabas
Jan 12, 2006 18:50:51 I think that a look at the Rock of Bral write up on Beyond The Moons would be a good start here. A really excellent expansion of the original TSR release.
#4
loki_de_carabas
Jan 12, 2006 18:55:57 I have some NPC's and former PCs from my campaign I would like to submit, what we need to do first is determine exactly what ruleset for races we will use. For instance, my first proposition is a giff. Do I stat him in Dragon #339 terms or using the version on Shattered Fractine , or do I use some other new version?

Let me know..

http://www.spelljammer.org
http://www.planewalker.com
http://planejammer.blogspot.com
http://humidcity.blogspot.com
#5
rhialto
Jan 13, 2006 1:56:59 I think a key issue for a revised spelljamming campaign milieu is that it shouyld feature multiple crystal spheres as an intrinsic part of the landscape, and it should not necessarily be an exceptional event for a party to travel between spheres. naything less than that cuts out a huge potential part of the background.
#6
loki_de_carabas
Jan 13, 2006 17:58:23
it should not necessarily be an exceptional event for a party to travel between spheres. naything less than that cuts out a huge potential part of the background.

While spelljamming is the baseline, making travel between spheres unexceptional deprives many DM's, yes including me, with the opportunity to work up to it. In most of my SJ campaigns of the past 15 years I have made the lower and sometime thee mid level adventures all take place in the starting sphere. When something finally did take the PC's into the Flow it was always a heightened sense of adventure and expectation.

I do believe that all the standards, Spheres, Flow, nifty ships, etc should all be present. That IS what makes Sj so much fun after all. A good solid baseline with a number of optional sidebars, as is standard in most d20 books is the best way to go. Make it modular and more people willl use it.

George "Loki" Williams, writing and other abberrations
PEACH - Please Examine And Critique Honestly

Section Manager http://www.planewalker.com
Writer,Developer http://www.spelljammer.org
My Game Site http://planejammer.blogspot.com
Writer http://wwoz.org
Music Writer http://www.neworleansbands.net
New Orleans Commentary http://humidcity.blogspot.com
New Orleans Podcasts http://neworleansoralhistory.blogspot.com
#7
rhialto
Jan 17, 2006 6:06:53 I didn't mean that travelling between spheres should be a casual affair, but rather that different spheres should integrated parts of a continuum. With all the original planescape material, there was a strong sense that if you removed any single sphere, the other spheres would not be affected in any way.

I didn't mean that the players would necessarily be making those trips, but rather that the societies they are immersed in would have a definite relationship with other spheres. Somewhat like how, in Mystara, events in Hule will affect Karameikos, half a continent away.

In traditional SF terms, spelljammer has slow interstellar travel, and the equivalent of incredibly diverse and abundant life in every system. A good real-world parallel for that level of communication speed and potential habitats would be the British Empire in its heyday, with each continent being likened to one or two spheres.

Edit: My ideal setting would be a core group of linked spheres that have a real inter-dependency and history that ties together. Players would initially adventure in a single sphere, but would be able to travel to other spheres, knowing that they could affect events in their home sphere in doing so. For true exploration campaigns, the option still lies open to visit strange new spheres.
#8
nightdruid
Jan 17, 2006 6:18:36 Heh, sounds much like the setting I got in the works. ;)

Anyways, made some progress over the weekend. Not 100-pages of material I wish I could do a day, but I'm still pleased with the progress we made.
#9
zipdrive
Jan 18, 2006 3:47:07 ok, i see ther people are having the same ideas as me.
What work should go into brining the ships' stats to 3.5 ed?
#10
rhialto
Jan 18, 2006 6:22:29 I was reviewing some old Traveller stuff, and I noted that 1 traveller displacement tonne (ie the volume 1000kg of liquid hydrogen) is ~14 cubic metres. And a 10' cube (the basic volume unit in most D&D design systems) is ~28 cubic metres, almost exactly double. This happy coincidence made me wonder whether it would be possible to attempt to integrate the Traveller ship design rules into Spelljammer.

I'd probably do it anyway, because I'm a spreadsheet geek, but how much interest generally would there be for this?
#11
wyvern76
Jan 22, 2006 20:33:35 When D&D3e was first released I, like many others, immediately started converting my favorite settings, including Spelljammer. I even bought the two SJ Monstrous Compendiums on eBay for the express purpose of converting the monsters therein. However, Real Life intervened before I got anywhere near finished, and the work has been mouldering on my hard drive ever since. The last time I made any changes to the file was in October '02 (so it obviously hasn't been updated to 3.5e).

At this point, I have no intention of ever attempting to finish the project -- but I'd still like to contribute to the conversion of SJ, so that the work I *did* do doesn't go to waste. It's a rich text file, and I can't be bothered to convert it to html to post here, or to go through the whole thing and rework it. Parts of it are incomplete, and the Level Adjustments for the PC races (especially the giff) are seriously suspect. Furthermore, there may be nothing there that hasn't already been converted by someone else - but someone might still get ideas from my conversions that they hadn't thought of. So if anyone's interested in seeing what I've got (especially anyone on the BtM "team"), post your email here and I'll send the file to you as an attachment.

Cheers,

Wyvern
#12
nightdruid
Jan 23, 2006 7:58:54 If you want, you can send it to me at night_druid3000 "at" yahoo "dot" com (masking a little to keep the chances of a bot from picking up the email address ) and I can pass it along. Don't worry if I don't get back to you for a couple of days; I'll be pretty much out-of-touch for the next two days. After that, things should settle down & be back to normal.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 eldersphinx Jan 09, 2006 12:44:15	This post collects key information on a Spelljammer 3.5 setting conversion, calling out key ideas and linking to in-depth discussion. It is a living document and will be updated as new contributions are made to the project. Core Story: Spelljammer is a game of exploring the unknown. Characters find unexpected challenges and unimaginable rewards in the depths of unexplored space and the surfaces of alien worlds. Weird creatures that have never before been seen by man, spells and magic unlike anything known to be possible, and the treasures of indescribable civilizations are all waiting to be discovered. Key Ideas: 1. Spelljamming and space travel affect every adventure the PCs have. 2. Spelljamming will have a major impact on every world, everywhere it's found. 3. The setting will have a map, a timeline, and iconic NPCs and locations. 4. Even the weird stuff in the Spelljammer setting will be self-consistent and able to command respect. 5. Playability and fun are key. Old cows are not sacred if they make the game less fun. Iconic NPCs: (None yet) Iconic Locations: The Rock of Bral (undeveloped) Game Mechanics: (None yet) Other Important Stuff: (None yet)
#2 Dragonhelm Jan 12, 2006 0:17:30	I would add to it that Spelljammer is a setting unto itself, but can link other settings together.
#3 loki_de_carabas Jan 12, 2006 18:50:51	I think that a look at the Rock of Bral write up on Beyond The Moons would be a good start here. A really excellent expansion of the original TSR release.
#4 loki_de_carabas Jan 12, 2006 18:55:57	I have some NPC's and former PCs from my campaign I would like to submit, what we need to do first is determine exactly what ruleset for races we will use. For instance, my first proposition is a giff. Do I stat him in Dragon #339 terms or using the version on Shattered Fractine , or do I use some other new version? Let me know.. http://www.spelljammer.org http://www.planewalker.com http://planejammer.blogspot.com http://humidcity.blogspot.com
#5 rhialto Jan 13, 2006 1:56:59	I think a key issue for a revised spelljamming campaign milieu is that it shouyld feature multiple crystal spheres as an intrinsic part of the landscape, and it should not necessarily be an exceptional event for a party to travel between spheres. naything less than that cuts out a huge potential part of the background.
#6 loki_de_carabas Jan 13, 2006 17:58:23	it should not necessarily be an exceptional event for a party to travel between spheres. naything less than that cuts out a huge potential part of the background. While spelljamming is the baseline, making travel between spheres unexceptional deprives many DM's, yes including me, with the opportunity to work up to it. In most of my SJ campaigns of the past 15 years I have made the lower and sometime thee mid level adventures all take place in the starting sphere. When something finally did take the PC's into the Flow it was always a heightened sense of adventure and expectation. I do believe that all the standards, Spheres, Flow, nifty ships, etc should all be present. That IS what makes Sj so much fun after all. A good solid baseline with a number of optional sidebars, as is standard in most d20 books is the best way to go. Make it modular and more people willl use it. George "Loki" Williams, writing and other abberrations PEACH - Please Examine And Critique Honestly Section Manager http://www.planewalker.com Writer,Developer http://www.spelljammer.org My Game Site http://planejammer.blogspot.com Writer http://wwoz.org Music Writer http://www.neworleansbands.net New Orleans Commentary http://humidcity.blogspot.com New Orleans Podcasts http://neworleansoralhistory.blogspot.com
#7 rhialto Jan 17, 2006 6:06:53	I didn't mean that travelling between spheres should be a casual affair, but rather that different spheres should integrated parts of a continuum. With all the original planescape material, there was a strong sense that if you removed any single sphere, the other spheres would not be affected in any way. I didn't mean that the players would necessarily be making those trips, but rather that the societies they are immersed in would have a definite relationship with other spheres. Somewhat like how, in Mystara, events in Hule will affect Karameikos, half a continent away. In traditional SF terms, spelljammer has slow interstellar travel, and the equivalent of incredibly diverse and abundant life in every system. A good real-world parallel for that level of communication speed and potential habitats would be the British Empire in its heyday, with each continent being likened to one or two spheres. Edit: My ideal setting would be a core group of linked spheres that have a real inter-dependency and history that ties together. Players would initially adventure in a single sphere, but would be able to travel to other spheres, knowing that they could affect events in their home sphere in doing so. For true exploration campaigns, the option still lies open to visit strange new spheres.
#8 nightdruid Jan 17, 2006 6:18:36	Heh, sounds much like the setting I got in the works. ;) Anyways, made some progress over the weekend. Not 100-pages of material I wish I could do a day, but I'm still pleased with the progress we made.
#9 zipdrive Jan 18, 2006 3:47:07	ok, i see ther people are having the same ideas as me. What work should go into brining the ships' stats to 3.5 ed?
#10 rhialto Jan 18, 2006 6:22:29	I was reviewing some old Traveller stuff, and I noted that 1 traveller displacement tonne (ie the volume 1000kg of liquid hydrogen) is ~14 cubic metres. And a 10' cube (the basic volume unit in most D&D design systems) is ~28 cubic metres, almost exactly double. This happy coincidence made me wonder whether it would be possible to attempt to integrate the Traveller ship design rules into Spelljammer. I'd probably do it anyway, because I'm a spreadsheet geek, but how much interest generally would there be for this?
#11 wyvern76 Jan 22, 2006 20:33:35	When D&D3e was first released I, like many others, immediately started converting my favorite settings, including Spelljammer. I even bought the two SJ Monstrous Compendiums on eBay for the express purpose of converting the monsters therein. However, Real Life intervened before I got anywhere near finished, and the work has been mouldering on my hard drive ever since. The last time I made any changes to the file was in October '02 (so it obviously hasn't been updated to 3.5e). At this point, I have no intention of ever attempting to finish the project -- but I'd still like to contribute to the conversion of SJ, so that the work I did do doesn't go to waste. It's a rich text file, and I can't be bothered to convert it to html to post here, or to go through the whole thing and rework it. Parts of it are incomplete, and the Level Adjustments for the PC races (especially the giff) are seriously suspect. Furthermore, there may be nothing there that hasn't already been converted by someone else - but someone might still get ideas from my conversions that they hadn't thought of. So if anyone's interested in seeing what I've got (especially anyone on the BtM "team"), post your email here and I'll send the file to you as an attachment. Cheers, Wyvern
#12 nightdruid Jan 23, 2006 7:58:54	If you want, you can send it to me at night_druid3000 "at" yahoo "dot" com (masking a little to keep the chances of a bot from picking up the email address ) and I can pass it along. Don't worry if I don't get back to you for a couple of days; I'll be pretty much out-of-touch for the next two days. After that, things should settle down & be back to normal.