Shadow of the Spider Moon - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Shadow of the Spider Moon

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
zombiegleemax
Jun 02, 2005 8:55:40 hm...

I got myself the Spelljammer: Shadow of the Spider Moon Book.

Now how near is this to the original Spelljammer and what needs to be changed to capture the flavour of the old Spelljammer.

As I've only got a few of the old books, I don't know, how appropriate this would be, to add spelljamming to my campaign.

For those wo don't know it, it's from Polyhedron, sort of a small campaign setting revolving around spelljammers.
#2
jeleinen
Jun 02, 2005 21:45:33 It's not very close at all. The similarity ends with both being fantasy in space. SotSM has completely different physics and cosmology from Spelljammer as well as different ships and different political make-up. I strongly recommend you get the original Spelljammer boxed set, as it's pretty much has everything you need for the setting (the rest of the supplements tend to be of questionable quality, unfortunately). I believe you can get it fairly cheap as a .pdf or Ebay always seems to have some available.
#3
zombiegleemax
Jun 03, 2005 10:02:15 hm...

That's sad... But what about the general rules? Just ignoring the cosmology and political outlook.
I don't want to recreate Spelljammer (yet), just give my PCs the opportunity to build and command a spelljamming vessel. I will be using some of the rules foun on spelljammer.org, but there aren't that many converted rules yet and I have pretty much to do with my own work, to bother about that right now.
So how far do the mechanics actually work or are they no good at all?
I don't have the opportunity to test them in the near future, that's why I'm asking
Thanks a lot though, as soon as I got some financial breathing space, I will stock up on the boxed set (as of now, I'm worried about feeding myself and my girlfriend since our german ***** bureaucracy wants to die slowly from hunger).
#4
Raesene_Andu
Jun 03, 2005 16:53:26 With a few minor adjustments you can uses the rules from Shadow of the Spider Moon for your own setting. It has taken some Spelljammer elements and converted them to a single system, and it also left out so much of the Spelljammer rules and setting that it can hardly be called Spelljammer any more. However, the rules are usuable. They aren't great but they are usable until you get something better (like the original spelljammer boxed set).
#5
zombiegleemax
Jun 03, 2005 17:15:49 hm...

Thats good to know, as far as my campaign goes, it will just encompass 3 crystal spheres to start with and just minor adventures in space, but if the players like it, it could turn into a full fledged spelljammer campaign. My only problem would be converting it to 3.5, since I'm no good at that and spelljammer.org hasn't gone too far with this either.
#6
jeleinen
Jun 03, 2005 21:56:59 As I've said before, there's really not that much to convert. Spelljammer was pretty much bog standard AD&D, but in space, so all the races and classes stay the same. There's a few unique Spelljammer races you could add, but I think all of them would require a level adjustment, so you're not missing anything by not including them. So it just comes down to ships being the only thing that needs to be converted. The rules for ships in SotSM is certainly usable (not to my taste, but definitely usable). The ships themselves are built from different premises (SJ ships have open decks; SotSM ships are air tight), but you can use the SotSM ones in a pinch.
#7
zombiegleemax
Jun 04, 2005 5:38:26 hm...

Thats good news...

Perhaps just making airtight ships cheaper (since they don't need to carry around their own air pocket on the inside) and the open decked more popular... Got to think about this and put aside some money for the boxed set
#8
Xorial
Jun 04, 2005 7:33:21 Try here for some conversions. Flit's Fantasy & Fiction. They are linked at Beyond the Moons & have a bunch of stuff converted.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Jun 02, 2005 8:55:40	hm... I got myself the Spelljammer: Shadow of the Spider Moon Book. Now how near is this to the original Spelljammer and what needs to be changed to capture the flavour of the old Spelljammer. As I've only got a few of the old books, I don't know, how appropriate this would be, to add spelljamming to my campaign. For those wo don't know it, it's from Polyhedron, sort of a small campaign setting revolving around spelljammers.
#2 jeleinen Jun 02, 2005 21:45:33	It's not very close at all. The similarity ends with both being fantasy in space. SotSM has completely different physics and cosmology from Spelljammer as well as different ships and different political make-up. I strongly recommend you get the original Spelljammer boxed set, as it's pretty much has everything you need for the setting (the rest of the supplements tend to be of questionable quality, unfortunately). I believe you can get it fairly cheap as a .pdf or Ebay always seems to have some available.
#3 zombiegleemax Jun 03, 2005 10:02:15	hm... That's sad... But what about the general rules? Just ignoring the cosmology and political outlook. I don't want to recreate Spelljammer (yet), just give my PCs the opportunity to build and command a spelljamming vessel. I will be using some of the rules foun on spelljammer.org, but there aren't that many converted rules yet and I have pretty much to do with my own work, to bother about that right now. So how far do the mechanics actually work or are they no good at all? I don't have the opportunity to test them in the near future, that's why I'm asking Thanks a lot though, as soon as I got some financial breathing space, I will stock up on the boxed set (as of now, I'm worried about feeding myself and my girlfriend since our german ***** bureaucracy wants to die slowly from hunger).
#4 Raesene_Andu Jun 03, 2005 16:53:26	With a few minor adjustments you can uses the rules from Shadow of the Spider Moon for your own setting. It has taken some Spelljammer elements and converted them to a single system, and it also left out so much of the Spelljammer rules and setting that it can hardly be called Spelljammer any more. However, the rules are usuable. They aren't great but they are usable until you get something better (like the original spelljammer boxed set).
#5 zombiegleemax Jun 03, 2005 17:15:49	hm... Thats good to know, as far as my campaign goes, it will just encompass 3 crystal spheres to start with and just minor adventures in space, but if the players like it, it could turn into a full fledged spelljammer campaign. My only problem would be converting it to 3.5, since I'm no good at that and spelljammer.org hasn't gone too far with this either.
#6 jeleinen Jun 03, 2005 21:56:59	As I've said before, there's really not that much to convert. Spelljammer was pretty much bog standard AD&D, but in space, so all the races and classes stay the same. There's a few unique Spelljammer races you could add, but I think all of them would require a level adjustment, so you're not missing anything by not including them. So it just comes down to ships being the only thing that needs to be converted. The rules for ships in SotSM is certainly usable (not to my taste, but definitely usable). The ships themselves are built from different premises (SJ ships have open decks; SotSM ships are air tight), but you can use the SotSM ones in a pinch.
#7 zombiegleemax Jun 04, 2005 5:38:26	hm... Thats good news... Perhaps just making airtight ships cheaper (since they don't need to carry around their own air pocket on the inside) and the open decked more popular... Got to think about this and put aside some money for the boxed set
#8 Xorial Jun 04, 2005 7:33:21	Try here for some conversions. Flit's Fantasy & Fiction. They are linked at Beyond the Moons & have a bunch of stuff converted.