If everyone would like to contribute post here or PM me
If everyone is interested i m working on mystaraspace crystal sphere... i ll post here after 20 of may to be sure that it won't get lost
If everyone would like to contribute post here or PM me
Not to discourage things, but hasn't Mystaraspace been done before? Heck, I think its been done a couple of times, to be honest.
EDIT: i will refocus my efforts in order to gather as much material as possible and rework it to fit the Spelljammer style then post it to beyond the moons
After digging into archives i have found some things... can this material be added to Beyond The Moons ?
EDIT: i will refocus my efforts in order to gather as much material as possible and rework it to fit the Spelljammer style then post it to beyond the moons
I'll talk to Static. I think its a matter of not having the author(s)' permission to post to BtM, but I don't see why we couldn't put a page together to point to the articles on the Vault. I'll see what he says and get back to you.
And don't let me discourage you! The more material out there the better
I may have off a bit grumpier than I intended...I was having a bad day (week, actually) so please ignore the gruffness ;)I'll talk to Static. I think its a matter of not having the author(s)' permission to post to BtM, but I don't see why we couldn't put a page together to point to the articles on the Vault. I'll see what he says and get back to you.
And don't let me discourage you! The more material out there the better
No problem :P
In fact there is not much: Mystaraspce had only two inhabited planets (Mystara and Damocles) and depending on the official timeline Damocles could have been utterly destroyed so...
The mayor point would be evidentiating the differences between normal crystal spheres and this one.
The major source of info had been printed by Bruce Heard BTW which should prove not difficult to contact
I was developing Mystaraspace more than a couple of years ago, and what I planned was not a crystal sphere with just 2 planets inhabited.
There would have been lifeforms on all Mystaraspace's planets, namely IIRC (the master document is at home right now):
- Intelligent dinosaurs on M-Mars
- Amphibian and underwater creatures on M-Neptune as well as a civilization based on Waterworld
- Psi-creatures similar to the Yuggoth on Pluto
- Stranded Psi-humans fighting against neogi and cryons on Uranus
- Aerial creatures, flying cities (like Laputa) and faeries on Jupiter
- Space pirates inside Asterius's Belt (the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter) descendants of the Pyrithians of Damocles
- Elemental creatures and Azer on Mercury
I don't remember what I got for Saturn , but that was it
If I manage to find what I wrote thus far I'll post it here, if you're interested that is.. ;)
- Intelligent dinosaurs on M-Mars
- Amphibian and underwater creatures on M-Neptune as well as a civilization based on Waterworld
- Psi-creatures similar to the Yuggoth on Pluto
- Stranded Psi-humans fighting against neogi and cryons on Uranus
- Aerial creatures, flying cities (like Laputa) and faeries on Jupiter
- Space pirates inside Asterius's Belt (the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter) descendants of the Pyrithians of Damocles
- Elemental creatures and Azer on Mercury
Cool stuff. What about Venus?
Wyvern
I beg to differ.
I was developing Mystaraspace more than a couple of years ago, and what I planned was not a crystal sphere with just 2 planets inhabited.
There would have been lifeforms on all Mystaraspace's planets, namely IIRC (the master document is at home right now):
- Intelligent dinosaurs on M-Mars
- Amphibian and underwater creatures on M-Neptune as well as a civilization based on Waterworld
- Psi-creatures similar to the Yuggoth on Pluto
- Stranded Psi-humans fighting against neogi and cryons on Uranus
- Aerial creatures, flying cities (like Laputa) and faeries on Jupiter
- Space pirates inside Asterius's Belt (the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter) descendants of the Pyrithians of Damocles
- Elemental creatures and Azer on Mercury
I don't remember what I got for Saturn , but that was it
If I manage to find what I wrote thus far I'll post it here, if you're interested that is.. ;)
Official information (printed in the immortal set) states that only mystara and damocles were inhabited.
Check here : http://pandius.com/planejam.html
i don't remember which one but there is a complete description of the planets
there are also comments from Bruce Heard about how fit together mystara universe and spelljammer
check also here: http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Dungeon/2967/sjrguide.html
Official information (printed in the immortal set) states that only mystara and damocles were inhabited.
Actually, official information also states that Alpha Centauri is also the nearest solar system and the most likely to be inhabited. But I'm referring to old immortal set here :embarrass
The fact that the whole Mystaraspace was never detailed doesn't imply we cannot suppose other planets were inhabited.
Just imagine what happened with Heldann: one moment we know it's a medieval anarchy with small clans ruling each fief, then it suddenly becomes the center of the most important and powerful theocracy of the Known World! Same thing happened with the Savage Baronies....
Mystara's history and geopolitical situation changed rapidly when an author began to detail an hithertho unexplored or undetailed part of it. I am sure we would have discovered there were other interesting races in Mystaraspace, if they had continued expanding on it
:P Check here : http://pandius.com/planejam.html
check also here: http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Dungeon/2967/sjrguide.html
I'm glad you're posting links to my homepage (the second one) and to Mystara official page, which hosts dozens of articles I wrote about Mystaraspace. I obviously agree with myself ... for now :D ;)
I agree completely with DM that there should be life on all of MSpace's planets. Older Mystaran civilizations (Blackmoor, Nithia) may also have left their mark on the planets explaining things like why there are pyramids on M-Mars.
Håvard
inspired by this I dug out some old notes and posted my version of the Mystara Crystal Sphere here:
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=9216512#post9216512
By the way,
inspired by this I dug out some old notes and posted my version of the Mystara Crystal Sphere here:
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=9216512#post9216512
Very intesting so far, although it is a shame that you seem to be trying to dump some parts of Spelljammer to get your conversion to work. Perhaps there are ways that you can get both settings to work together without having to hobble Spelljammer.
Very intesting so far, although it is a shame that you seem to be trying to dump some parts of Spelljammer to get your conversion to work. Perhaps there are ways that you can get both settings to work together without having to hobble Spelljammer.
Only some of the ideas involve purging certain elements of spelljammer to keep some of the more obscure parts of the Mystara cosmology intact. Most of the ideas should work within the regular Spelljammer cosmology however.
Havard
Only some of the ideas involve purging certain elements of spelljammer to keep some of the more obscure parts of the Mystara cosmology intact.
I'm not a Mystara expert and only have a few products. Is there any chance you would be willing to list the parts of the cosmology that cause problems between Mystara and Spelljammer? If you have the product name and page titles, that would be especially useful as I could then hunt down the source material and read up on it.
I would really like to help find a way to preserve Mystara without damaging Spelljammer. And I'd also like to find a way to preserve Spelljammer without damaging Mystara.
Most of the ideas should work within the regular Spelljammer cosmology however.
I'd like to do a bit of research to see if I can find some tweaks to make Mystara cosmology and Spelljammer's multiverse fit together better.
I already said (on the other thread) that inside the Mystaraspace crystal sphere, the normal cosmology of Mystaraspace would be the default. However, it seems that Mystara material proposes "other solar systems".
Normally each solar system would be a distinct crystal sphere and would have its own gods (and under 3e rules its own cosmology). However, as gods can cross from sphere to sphere, I don't see why the same gods could not be found within both Mystaraspace and one or more nearby crystal spheres. Is the cosmology of Alpha Centauri or Old Alphatia explained?
I'm not a Mystara expert and only have a few products. Is there any chance you would be willing to list the parts of the cosmology that cause problems between Mystara and Spelljammer? If you have the product name and page titles, that would be especially useful as I could then hunt down the source material and read up on it.
* Mystara's Prime universe is described as being similar to our own with a multitude of solar systems and galaxies. Mystara's galaxy is relatively similar to the Milky Way (Immortal's Gold box)
* Mystara has Immortals rather than Gods/Powers. (Immortal's Gold Box, Wrath of the Immortals).
* Mystara has its own separate Multiverse that is different from the AD&D multiverse. (Various, Wrath of the Immortals is a good start though)
Champions of Mystara also has quite a bit on Mystara Space and Voidships.
I would really like to help find a way to preserve Mystara without damaging Spelljammer. And I'd also like to find a way to preserve Spelljammer without damaging Mystara.
I'd like to do a bit of research to see if I can find some tweaks to make Mystara cosmology and Spelljammer's multiverse fit together better.
The differences are relatively minor, but to alot of Mystara fans they are an important part of the flavour, perhaps even more so because of how these elements were completely disregarded in the official AD&D2E conversion of the setting. That lines complete lack of respect for the setting's unique features was undoubtedly one of the reasons it failed miserably.
I already said (on the other thread) that inside the Mystaraspace crystal sphere, the normal cosmology of Mystaraspace would be the default. However, it seems that Mystara material proposes "other solar systems".
Normally each solar system would be a distinct crystal sphere and would have its own gods (and under 3e rules its own cosmology). However, as gods can cross from sphere to sphere, I don't see why the same gods could not be found within both Mystaraspace and one or more nearby crystal spheres. Is the cosmology of Alpha Centauri or Old Alphatia explained?
Yes. There have been theories about Mystara being a gigantic Crystal Sphere the size of a galaxy. I think a better sollution is to have Mystara's Crystal Sphere be a connection point between the Phlogiston/SJ Universe and the Mystara universe.
The only thing known about "Alpha Centauri" is that it is the closest solar system to Mystara known to have a civilization. Another system mentioned "Epsion Eridani" is the closest solar system with a civilization using magic. A more magic heavy interstellar civilization is also suggested to the found at the Galaxy's Core. Some have also theorized that this be the location of the Galactic Federation (From the Blackmoor modules).
Old Alphatia is a destroyed world detailed in "M1 Into the Maelstrom" where it is described as being located somewhere in Mystara's galaxy. In WotI it was revised into being a separate Dimension, though I prefer going by M1.
Hope some of this can be of use to you
Håvard
* Mystara's Prime universe is described as being similar to our own with a multitude of solar systems and galaxies. Mystara's galaxy is relatively similar to the Milky Way (Immortal's Gold box)
This is probably the biggest problem between a Spelljammer/Mystara crossover. Spelljammer has crystal spheres surrounded by phlogiston and that doesn't apparently fit with this more "realistic" universe.
Spelljammer doesn't really have detailed maps showing how crystal spheres fit together, so I suppose that crystal spheres could easily be grouped together in galaxy-like shapes. Gaps could even be placed between individual galaxies. The "arms" of a galaxy could be the rivers of phlogiston that flow between spheres. (I think someone in the SJ community has already played with the idea of galaxies of spheres although it isn't in any official SJ material I've seen. I think a SJ fan created something they called a Dragon Galaxy.)
The shape formed by a collection of crystal spheres isn't something that I think SJ purists worry about, so we could create a SJ friendly region of space that had a shape that was more friendly to the Mystara fans. (Patterns of crystal spheres could also help SJ newbies to understand movement through the phlogiston.)
Mystaraspace, and the other systems that are associated with it, could therefore be put into a galaxy of crystal spheres that are relatively distant from their nearest neigbours. (Other SJ authors could also use the idea and help create local clusters of spheres that all work well together in isolation.)
Again, Adam "Night Druid" Miller has done something that might interest you. Check out The Maelstrom - a collection of seven spheres that are strongly linked together, but somewhat isolated from the rest of civilisation. He hasn't done it with a galactic cluster, but you can see that he has created a collection of settings that share common elements with each other.
The same could be done with a Mystara galaxy, although I'd probably suggest making it a lot smaller than a real galaxy and reducing the space between spheres.
* Mystara has Immortals rather than Gods/Powers. (Immortal's Gold Box, Wrath of the Immortals).
That isn't a problem at all. Every TSR Campaign Setting had its own gods and mythology. 2e D&D even allowed general divine spellcasters, who were not specifically associated with gods.
There are stories of mortals gaining immortality and becoming gods themselves. Gods can also die in other D&D product lines.
Because of this variation Spelljammer and Planescape already have to be able to work with any combination of gods or types of worship. Athas has its "Sorcerer Kings" and Mystara has its "Immortals". Local spheres could easily have people who worship spirits, forces of nature or anything else. Local clerics could easily gain power from "elemental lords", "forces of nature" or any other local source of divine power.
Existing SJ rules suggest that clerics of specific mythoi can have restricted access to spells outside their home sphere. So I'd say that the same applied to anyone reciving power from a Mystaran Immortal (or other "non-standard" source of power).
* Mystara has its own separate Multiverse that is different from the AD&D multiverse. (Various, Wrath of the Immortals is a good start though)
I don't think the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting existed until just before 2nd Edition D&D was released. I think it was around that time that TSR started trying to tie together the different campaign settings. Initially this was done via the inner and outer planes, but then Spelljammer came along and offered an alternative route with its phlogiston.
If you look at the cosmology in the 3e versions of Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms, they have both changed their Outer Planes from the 2e versions. Standard D&D has also dropped a lot of the Inner Planes. The Plane of Shadow was ignored in 2e, but has resurfaced in 3e.
With a lot of changes in the campaign settings to deal with I think the differences between "standard" D&D's multiverse (whatever that is now) and Mystara's multiverse are not as problematic as they would have seemed before.
I think that the rest of the campaign settings are coming around to the Mystara idea of localised cosmology. I'll have to see if I can obtain "Wrath of the Immortals" so that I can read up on this and see the problem first hand. However, there is no reason why there couldn't be a collection of "demi-planes" that are accessible from a collection of crystal spheres, but not from outside those spheres. Inside the Mystara galaxy these demi-planes (with their own special rules) could take the place of any or all of the inner or outer planes. (Any planes that don't fit in with Mystara cosmology could simply be inaccessible from within its crystal sphere - and the other spheres in the Mystara galaxy. You could even have a layer of buffer spheres that act as a connection between the two sets of planes.)
Champions of Mystara also has quite a bit on Mystara Space and Voidships.
I'll have to hunt that down when I get the time. That is obviously going to be the most interesting book to a SJ fan.
The differences are relatively minor, but to alot of Mystara fans they are an important part of the flavour, perhaps even more so because of how these elements were completely disregarded in the official AD&D2E conversion of the setting. That lines complete lack of respect for the setting's unique features was undoubtedly one of the reasons it failed miserably.
The fact that Mystara 2e didn't sell as well might prove that you are correct but it might also be partly down to the market getting saturated with different settings. Buying all the products in a product line can be quite expensive, so people wouldn't want to invest in a new (to them) setting if they didn't know anything about it. TSR really needed to get the original Mystara fans to embrace the new version and be part of their viral marketing strategy.
As for the apparant lack of respect - this isn't something specific to Mystara.
The inner and outer planes have also taken a battering over the years. They have been renamed at least twice. And the "Plane of Shadow" was ignored in 2e (despite the fact that the spells like Shadow Walk referred to it).
Gods have also been fiddled with. With some gods being created or destroyed between different versions of D&D.
Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms have also been fiddled with. In the 3e versions the outer planes have been ripped out and replaced. Only 2 Dragonlance gods have been cut out, but the Forgotten Realms setting has got a lot of changes.
I haven't read the (now out of print) 3e Ravenloft hardback cover to cover, but believe that it moved Ravenloft off of a plane and made it a slightly more conventional setting.
I think that the anti-roleplaying elements of religions may have scared TSR into making some of the changes they did, but I suspect that other things were done by well meaning people over-reacting to minor issues. With a small timescale and a small budget, I can see how someone might chop out a bunch of problematic background that they don't "think" is so important. I think that towards the end of TSR the quality went downhill, so if the 2e Mystara setting was a late product it would have been harder for the staff to get enough time and resorces to do the setting justice.
(I'm mostly happy with most 3e (and 3.5e) stuff from Wizards of the Coast, but for me the most frustrating product I've ever seen is WotC's version of "Oriental Adventures". I nearly bought this book, but just before parting with my cash decided to have a flick through it and found out that the entire Kara-Tur setting had been dumped, so that they could replace it with something from one of their trading card games. This was obviously done to avoid paying royalties to the original creators of Kara-Tur, but as a Spelljammer fan I really wanted to see a product containing the Eastern Realms of Toril. It was my whole reason for wanting to buy the thing and although they suggested that it could be used in conjunction with the old Kara Tur products, I was put off by it. Just as you say old Mystara fans were put off the 2e version.)
Anyway, getting back to 2e Mystara, there are almost certainly a lot of things in the 2e version of Mystara that are very useful and it would be a shame to dismiss everything in it. It must have its own fans. Perhaps you can tie the two versions together and extrapolate a 3e version that has a Mystara feel, but fits in with the rest of the multiverse. The Planescape setting did a very good job at tying up planes that were given different names in different versions of D&D. They explained away most of the inconsistancies as inaccurate information. Perhaps you could do the same sort of thing. After all most Mystarans haven't actually been into space and might not really understand how the rest of the universe works.
Yes. There have been theories about Mystara being a gigantic Crystal Sphere the size of a galaxy. I think a better sollution is to have Mystara's Crystal Sphere be a connection point between the Phlogiston/SJ Universe and the Mystara universe.
That could work as well, although Mystara's crystal sphere needn't be the only connection between the Mystara universe and the D&D multiverse.
The unique aspects of the Mystara universe can be converted into planes (and seen as hard to reach demi-planes by outsiders).
The solar systems linked to Mystara can be converted into different crystal spheres that are all linked by some sort of force.
If things like spelljamming itself cause problems then you can come up with local alternatives (like Nilespace's nilejamming) that are "cheaper" than spelljamming. This would mean that conventional spelljamming would be a curiosity to locals and only be used for long-distance commerce.
If you really needed to avoid the phlogiston, you could even move Mystara and the other planets/systems off of the (prime) material plane and onto a new plane that has slightly different rules (like transparant crystal spheres). However, this could unzip the rules of the universe and make them fall apart if it wasn't done carefully. You would need to create a plane that was very similar to a (prime) material plane, but in some way different.
None of the existing planes would do the job, but the best "type" is probably the transitive planes, because they are not associated with elements, like the inner planes, or gods, like the outer planes. For want of a better term I'll call this new plane an "ultramaterial plane" - ultrasonic sound can't normally be heard and ultraviolet light can't normally be seen. This would be a plane that can't normally be accessed.
You would then need to create some sort of method to allow people to get from the material plane to the ultramatirial plane and restrict that method to special groups. The pirates of gyth give you a good model as they are able to steal elven navy ships and take them onto other planes.
If you rob the everyday Mystarans of the ability to planeshift you could lock them into a "ultramaterial plane" and the few individuals who could access the material plane would be the only people who could get into the phlogiston. Instead the "ultramaterial plane" could cross out of the crystal sphere and continue on forever. (This would allow you to implement your invisible crystal spheres. Inside the sphere you could planeshift down to the material plane and use that to access the phlogiston, but outside the crystal sphere you would be unable to do this.)
The opposite applies to everyday visitors from other spheres. They could get into Mystaraspace, but only on the material plane. They would be unable to shift up to the "ultramaterial plane" to interact with anyone.
This could create a Mystaraspace that to outsiders was apparantly an empty sphere or apparantly a collection of lifeless rocks in the same places as Mystaraspace's planets. Ships coming in from the phlogiston would then need to planeshift to get to the plane where the locals were living.
Here is a fun idea. How about combining this with the idea of the worlds and moons in Mystaraspace all being hollow and making only the central suns (inside them) visible to people on the material plane. The gates/portals/whatever between the material and "ultramaterial" planes could then transport spelljamming ships to the insides of the planets and moons. This would give spelljammers access to all the planets and moons in the sphere, but would make it impossible for them to access "Mystaraspace" directly. Ships would have to be ripped apart, transported to the surface and reassembled to do that.
The only thing known about "Alpha Centauri" is that it is the closest solar system to Mystara known to have a civilization. Another system mentioned "Epsion Eridani" is the closest solar system with a civilization using magic. A more magic heavy interstellar civilization is also suggested to the found at the Galaxy's Core. Some have also theorized that this be the location of the Galactic Federation (From the Blackmoor modules).
If you can't fit these in as a group of conventional crystal spheres (with a common set of non-standard inner, outer and transitive planes), then I think that perhaps you could fit them in as a group of "ultramaterial plane" crystal spheres that contain material shifted off of the material plane.
I strongly doubt that Mystara needs more than one "galaxy" to keep its continuity. I'm sure that a group of 500 crystal spheres (with rules identical or similar to Mystara) would be enough to give you the feeling of a galaxy. You might even be able to cut this down to less than 200 or 300 spheres.
Old Alphatia is a destroyed world detailed in "M1 Into the Maelstrom" where it is described as being located somewhere in Mystara's galaxy. In WotI it was revised into being a separate Dimension, though I prefer going by M1.
Maybe Old Alphatia could be both things. Look at what the Forgotten Realms setting did with an old empire. Spoiler warning! The empire of Netheril which got destroyed when its flying cities all fell to earth. The flying cities of Anauria, Asram, Hlondath were saved by a godess who sacrificed herself although their inhabitants fled from their enemy, the phaerimms. Another Netherese city escaped into the Plane of Shadow.
So you could pick the best bits of both ideas about Old Alphatia. You could destroy the world, but cut out a vital part and shift that into another dimension. If you did shift the entire Mystara galaxy off of the material plane then you could shift the surviving part of Old Alphatia back onto the material plane and use that as another way for people from other worlds to get to the Mystara Galaxy.
Hope some of this can be of use to you
I hadn't started playing D&D when the original Mystara products came out, so missed out on a great setting. I hope that I can find some of these products. Thanks for your help, Håvard.
My PCs fared many times between he moons (Matera and Patera, of course!). And, of course, I needed a Mystaraspace to let them explore and adventure. My Mystaraspace is here: http://pandius.com/sjmspace.html.
I tryed resolving some problem between the 2 settings and the 2 rulesets.
Galaxy vs. crystal sphere:
My Mystaraspace is enclosed in a crystal sphere like any other AD&D2e space. The Milky Way is of course visible to Mystara spacefarers and to groundlings too. But it is only "painted" inside the crystal sphere. One of the "stars" visible in the Milky Way is known as Alpha Centauri. It is a town. Like gate-towns of the Outlands in Planescape setting, the town of Alpha Centauri grows around a permanent portal leading to the phlogiston. It is one pf the most important trading centers in my Mystaraspace. It is, of course, a town of space centaurs, with many many many foreingers living there too.
The same way, Epsilon Eridiani, is a human magocratic city-state. Foreingers are not so welcome, and spacefarers use the Alpha Centauri portal.
My Mystaraspace centaurs are not a major spelljamming race: they have only a single town, and no ships of their own.
Gods vs Powers vs Immortals:
I my Mystara I use only the Immortal and Wrath rules for divine beings. The fact that people in other crystal spheres like Realmspace and Greyspace call Immortals "Powers" is only local folklore.
So, Celestian is called a Power in his "homesphere", but he is an Immortal like all others, with a Sphere (thought, if I remember correctly), a magnitude and all the other Immortal caracteristics.
Interestingly, some foreinger Immortal, with no followers between Mystara groundlings, have an estate in Pandius. That's becouse (s)he is someway followed by spacefarers inside Mystaraspace.
All the space cults detailed in SJ boxed set are represented in Pandius too.
And, green-skinned Emerondians (from Mystara) and Lakshus (from SpellJammer) are outsprings of the same original people (maybe Pyritians...)
(New Mystaran Artifact of Enthropy)
Created by the Evil Alphatian Immortal Alphaks to allow his minions to Bridge the Crystal Spheres, The Furnace appears as a large iron Incinerator 20 feet diameter. This is not a furnace helm and requires no spellcasters. When active it produces a foul black smoke from the stack.
Power(100pp):
Shipflight: allows any ship to fly at SR1 as a spelljammer for 24 hours before the Artefact must be recharged.
Recharge Cost: The brain of any trueborn Alphatian Wizard will recharge 100pp. Magic items and wealth recharge at 1pp per thousand gp value.
Stokers Disease: afflicts all who stoke the furnace. They permanently loose one hitpoint per 24 hours use. Any who reach Zero hp become Wraith.
The Smoke from the furnace poisons the air envelope forcing the crew to wear airmasks and goggles (giving them the appearence of WW1 soldiers on the front line during a gas attack).
Note: If the furnaced is stoked while in the Phlogiston it will ignite the phlogiston and destroy the ship. It is possible that this furnace will be encountwered as floating debris haunted by a stoker wraith or few. -Thanks bigmac.
Created by the Evil Alphatian Immortal Alphaks to allow his minions to Bridge the Crystal Spheres, The Furnace appears as a large iron Incinerator 20 feet diameter. This is not a furnace helm and requires no spellcasters. When active it produces a foul black smoke from the stack.
While this is an interesting device the term "bridge the crystal spheres" implies that it would allow you to leave a crystal sphere and enter the phlogiston, but the term "the furnace appears as a large iron Incierator 20 feet diameter" implies that it contains fire.
Anything that is on fire instantly explodes when taken into the phlogiston. So if this really was an incinerator it couldn't be used to "bridge the crystal spheres". The device would be good for travelling within crystal spheres, but would need to be shut down when going outside them.
I suppose that this could be something with an imaginary fire, but then what would be the point of that when you could come up with some other sort of mechanisim that didn't imply fire.
By the way, you also don't explain the effects of the foul smoke on the ship's atmosphere. I would guess that foul smoke would eat up some of the fresh air and make the air supply run out quicker. Mind you, if everyone was a wraith by then they probably wouldn't care much! ;)
Apart from those niggles, this seems like a fun item.
1. The Artefact known as the furnace of Alphaks
2. The twigriders of Mystaraspace
The Twigriders of Mystaraspace
AC2
HD 108d8 (108-864hp)
Move(240)
Fly(special)
Bite 4d10
Alignment Neutral
With all the apperance of a giant butterfly with 40' long bodies and 100' wingspans these ancient creatures can be found clinging to wood "twigs" of 100-150' length in the Asteroid belt beyond Mystara. They feed off the sap of the twigs as they have done since the beginning of Mystara itself.
The Emerondians used these twigs and their riders as ships that allow travel through Mystaraspace and beyond. While the Twigrider can be coaxed by any Mystaran druid to "sail" Mystaraspace (at SR2) it is the twig itself that will ram the crystal sphere boundary and enter the flow.
It is uncertain what tree these twigs come from (not even the immortals are telling) yet the druids know that the twigs regenerate and may still be somehow connected to the parent tree.
If the twigship enters a planetary atmosphere the rider will abandon its twig to lay eggs and die. As such an unsuspecting crew might plunge to their deaths having mad the mistake of entering the air envelope of a world.
The Exiles Campaign
thanks for posting
Håvard
The Beginning of the Mystaran Universe
In the beginning the starbrothers stumbled across this crystal sphere and encountered there a universe empty of all things.
"Lo, let us make this free of the suffering and pain that spreads across the myriad realms through great and terrible flow." and so the starbrothers touched the within of the crystal sphere and folded it at the boundary that that which was within was greater than that which was without and that which was without was less than that which was within.
The Universe was now infinite and again they twisted and folded the sphere until it was inside itself and that which was inside was outside in.
And then they opened the elements and poured them into and across the sphere that spelljammer space might be concealed from all.
And behold as they created a star and a moon and journied out into their new Universe to create other stars and worlds.
In time life came to Mystara and immortals arose from the early life and spread and flourished in the Universe but deep beneath the surface of Mystara, elves who no longer looked at the sun and sky found the boundary and with the aide of their Immortal patron prepared to take the City of Stars into the flow itself.
But still the Starbrothers do not return.
Havard
Just happened across this thread and thought I'd share some of my own work on Mystaraspace.
It's still a work in progress, but some folks might enjoy it.
The Exiles Campaign
I can highly recommend Chimpman's website which is an evolution of a now dead website called Mystaran Skies.
The new website is a wiki, so if you wanted to help Chimpman he could allow you to add new content. If you want to see how things looked before they got wikified then you can look at the Wayback Machine's archived version of Mystaran Skies.