Aether & Flux: Sailing the Traverse

This product contains a complete d20 System™ rules set and everything needed for swashbuckling adventures in a fantasy space environment, including classic to fantastic ship designs, ship movement and ship-to-ship combat, and new spacefaring spells, skills, feats and items. Ship movement and combat is gridless, allowing play on any available surface. Flexible travel times between planets and stars keeps focus on the adventure, and ship-to-ship combat is designed to promote player character involvement.

If any users have scanned this product and questioned whether or not to purchase, I have one piece of advice...
BUY IT NOW! Don't even dream of delaying any further!
This product is pure brilliance!
I am an Aerospace Engineer with a love of space exploration and fantasy settings. In the past, Spelljammer was my only "fix" that satisfied both loves. With the demise of Spelljammer, I was forced to produce items for my own use and rely on fan-based web sites. Now, with the release of this product, I can finally hold in my hands a product that successfully marries fantasy and space travel (and does so with some novel twists!).
With wonderfully rendered space ships, a selection of full deck plans, intelligent and consistent rules, this supplement should be a MUST HAVE for every fantasy-loving person.
You can't go wrong here. This supplement is litterally worth every penny I spent on it (which is more than I can say for a large number of D20 supplements floating around...).

What follows is a chapter-by-chapter review:

Chapter 1 gives a detailed look at how fantasy flight works under the rules for this new setting. Everything is clearly described and intelligently written. By the end of the chapter, many ideas had already sprung into mind (coming from a DM's perspective).

Chapter 2 gives us Maythorne's Wheel (a "dock" in space) and many, MANY ship stats. It also gives beautiful renderings of several ships as well as the much needed deck plans. My only complaint: I would like to see MANY MORE deck plans (perhaps we can persuade Darkfuries Publishing to give us a supplement?).

Chapter 3 gives rules for crews, new feats, items, magic items, and spells. Except for the small number of new spells, everything was well presented and comprehensive.

Chapter 4 gives detailed information regarding ship movement, combat, and weaponry. This chapter is the shining glory of the supplement. All the details come together to present a setting that is both consistent and playable using the D20 rules.

Chapter 5 gives information regarding "Finding One's Way" as well as small, DM friendly snips of information about various planets and celestial bodies. Finding One's Way is brilliant... The planetary information is kept to a mininimum (again, what about a supplement?).

Chapter 6 presents information regarding the "Age" in which a DM can set his campaign. From the Emergence (think pioneer and frontier), to Exploration (pretty self-explanatory), to Empire (full blown mastery of the stars!), this chapter gives DM's sufficient insight to create a campaign that could potentially span millenia.

Of course, the book has the obligatory Appendicies... I really like the layout of the blank system and planet logs (though I would also like a blank PDF of these pages if Darkfuries is listening...). What really rocks in the Appendicies is the color cardstock containing scale ships that can be used in celestial combat. It really gives you a feel for the overall scale of the various ships.

In closing, I believe that Darkfuries Publishing has presented a book that is truly worth the time of any gamer. It stands head-and-shoulders above many D20 supplements that have flooded the market. If Darkfuries presents the future support for this setting that it deserves, this product could become a powerful tool in opening up the universe to exploration and roleplaying.

Aether & Flux takes your campaign away from the land and into the Traverse. Some people have claimed that this product is Spelljammer for d20 but what exactly does that mean?

It starts off with ideas on how to get into space using Aether & Flux. Aether is a convenient way to get people into space as it's invisible and intangible for the most part and is the 'wind that fills the expanse of the Traverse.' Is also reacts to flux and arcane magic. Using those two things, allowing the GM to use magic or science, ships can be propelled by having a thin covering on one side of a magical or flux object, leaving the other side exposed to the push of Aether.

It provides details on how Aether works as far as celestial bodies and where it's thickest and thinnest. It provides details on the Pale Aether, the mists that collect at the edge of a star system, much like in the old days of Spelljammer's Crystal Spheres. It's a short but workable system that allows a GM to use either magic or technology, for those who say, are playing a steampunk style campaign.

Also introduced in the first chapter are the Ravin. These insects are the main enemy of the campaign and come in several styles, mostly workers with different sizes but also warriors and elitist. While they make an interesting foe, there isn't enough down with them when first introduced. For example, illustrations. One picture of the head of a Ravin isn't enough to portray their style, size, power and presence to me.

The book provides a quick port of call for those new to the space lands in the form of Maythorne's Wheel which includes several detailed but unmapped locations. This is a good stopping point and starting point for those GMs who just want to see how the feel of a campaign using these rules could work out. It allows a wide variety of personas to be placed in one location without sending the players all over the Traverse.

Several pages are devoted to the stats of the various ships include small kellboats through common tallships. Each one is detailed with size, hull, sails, crew, weapons, cargo and other details so that with a glance, you can see what each ship is capable of. Some of the more unique ships include the Elven Ormralest, living ships that were created from “a unique ormralest nut” that grew into a living plant, named Lady Liaenestre. The Ravin ships aren't made of wood or steel, but other Ravin who get hollowed out and turned into ships. That I thought was very well done and original for the d20 system as it provides a new ship type without getting into some chaos theory or other really weird material.

Maps are included, featuring a visual overview of the elf and ravin ships, as well as tactical maps and side panel overviews making the unique ships more than just words as you can see what they now look like. Other ships include the caravel, cog, gryphon, and fantail. Maps are good quality and easy to use.

Those wondering what types of crews you'll use will find Chapter Three, Signing Aboard, useful. It reminded me of spelljammer with different crew ratings and various titles and stations. It allows a GM who is unfamiliar with ship terms to quickly catch up to speed on the differences between a deckhand and a petty officer.

Aethership Equipment is also included as are the various items that such ships crews would carrying like boarding axes, gaff hooks, belaying pins and other mundane equipment. The specialized and magical equipment tends to focus on keeping the crew alive or providing direction for the crew who go through the Traverse.

The part on sailing includes how quick Traversal Speed can get and how best to power Aetherships. Star system travel is calculated with beginning and final destinations, as well as rules on tactical maneuvering, hull material, rules for insufficient crew and how ship combat works. The classics, like ramming are covered, as well as critical hits for internal damage to ships.

Those wanting to know what types of weapons such ships carry won't be disappointed as we have the standards, including various types of ballistae like the scorpions (medium ballista), and catapuls and even, yes, cannons. Some new weapons, like lightning canons, and magical weapons, are included to augment standard battles. This section includes the stats as well as information like cost, range, reload, crew, hardness, hit points, and other important game factors.

Chapter Five, The Sea of Stars, provides the reader with information on gravity, celestial navigation, star charts and other means of getting around and not getting lost while moving through the Traverse. In addition, a sample star system, The Maelstrom, is included with several planets, each with a vital planet statistics (type, girth, temperature, gravity, atmosphere, dominant life, hydrographics) and a short paragraph about the world. It's an okay section but because it's so short, doesn't really stand out in memory or strike me as immediately useful.

The last chapter, Captain's Cabin, provides the reader with information on refits for space purposes like adding turrets to weapons, common repair information, ideas on running a campaign using Aether and Flux through three different stages, Emergence, Exploration and Empire, and includes a few heroes and villains to add to the campaign as well as general ideas on what makes a good hero or villain during these time frames.

The book does a good job of introducing an alternative to helms and the entire Spelljammer feel but as a new book, might not go far enough for the player's side of things, which is where the buy in has to come. For example, while there are new spells and feats, there aren't a lot of them and they're not flashy. I know that there are people out there today who claim that art doesn't matter, but to the vast majority, it does and there isn't enough art here, and no art is distinctive. There's nothing here to say, “This is the Aether & Flux style” as opposed to a swashbuckling style or a pirate style. What's worse from a player's perspective is that there are no new races or prestige classes, limiting the majority of the use here to GM's.

For GM's who want to take their campaigns in a new direction, Aether & Flux offers intriguing possibilities but for players, the revised Spelljammer in Polyhedron offers more options.

Aether and Flux is a fantasy space supplement, reminding me of SpellJammer in that you travel through space on ships the can be used on the open sea with a few unique changes. These changes are what make this such a good product. This PDF is broken up into six chapters and three appendixes as follows.


Chapter 1: Introduction gives you a brief history and explains what Aether and flux are. Simply put Aether is stellar winds while flux is a form of electricity. Also introduced are the ravin (the resident bad guys for the setting). The ravin are an insectoid race that are out to expand through all known space, a brief history of the ravin and descriptions and stats for the three major types of ravin (worker, warrior, and elite) are also here.


Chapter 2: Walking the Docks starts by giving you a fully detailed space port for you to use. While being detailed enough for use as is it also leaves you enough room to expand it if you wish. This chapter also details around thirty different ships for use, from small keel boats to galleons. The best part of this chapter is that it includes full deck plans for eight of the ships. Although the majority of the ships are for human use there are two elven ships as well as the ravin ships here as well. The only problem I have with this chapter is there are no other types of vessels specifically for the other races (Dwarves, Halflings, etc.)


Chapter 3: Signing Aboard goes into great detail about crew ratings and crew titles. While important ratings and crew titles will not really affect the players but are more suited for npcs. Under crew titles are stat blocks for ready to use NPCs. Following this are ten new feats, seven new magic items and three new spells. There are also a Varity of new weapons for use on vessels sailing in space or the open sea. The majority of the feats that are here have uses on any sailing type vessel whether in space or on the sea. These types of feats include catapult reloader granting you the ability to reload catapults faster. A few of the feats deal with things like negating the penalties for being in an unfamiliar gravity. The next section is weapons, nothing too powerful here just standard things that can be used as weapons found on board ship. An example would be the Belaying Pin while it can be used as a club its main use is to allow the easy adjustment of tension on ropes. Aeathership equipment details most common thing found on board of the space faring ships. The majority of the items are Flux equivalents of the magical items found in the next section. These items include gravity generators and air purifiers. The magical items are almost the exact same as the flux items while the new spell are the ones needed to make the magic items. That is the problem I have with this chapter there are not enough new spells for the setting while not being a major problem I would have liked a few other unique spells that have nothing to do with the basics of surviving the trip through space.


Chapter 4: Unfurl the Mainsail is where you find the core mechanics for the setting. Traveling speeds, combat between ships, maneuvering and ships armaments are all covered in this chapter. The best part of this chapter is the armaments section; here is where you will find a decent amount of weapons for ship to ship combat. From normal catapults to cannons are all detailed here. There are even a few magical and flux powered weapons as well. Anther thing that I found of great use are grenade like weapons from the PHB ( Tanglefoot bags, Alchemist Fire, etc.), this chapter even has around ten different poisons as well but made for the ships weapons to use.


Chapter 5: The Sea of Stars details a ready to use star system (the Mailstrom). While the majority of the chapter is the Mailstrom there are also sections on gravity, planetary locations and orbits as well as a section detailing everything you need to create a star system.


Chapter 6: Captain’s Cabin is where you will find a better history of the setting. The three eras of play, Emergence (beginning of space travel), Exploration (First people leaving the star system), and finally the Empire (the current time of the setting). Each stage is broken down into a brief history, challenges (adventure ideas), and heroes and villains of that era of play.


Appendix A: Sailors’ Slang is a dictionary of commonly used words and sayings for your NPCs to use to add realism to the setting.


Appendix B: Combat Companion is a full sheet of charts found in the other sections of the book all put in one place to make the GM’s life easier. Examples include ships weapons, tactical speeds, etc.


Appendix C has a few blank sheets for your use in creating star systems and planets.


Overall I enjoyed Aether and Flux but found it lacking in a few areas. The first thing is there are no setting specific classes and no guidelines for how the regular PHB classes or the majority of races can be used or are viewed by other planets. Another problem that I had is there aren’t any prestige classes for the setting either while not a major problem without setting specific things like this the setting feels like normal D&D in space. There are a few things that make this product worth the cost. One of these is the ships deck plans and all of the ships stats, these are great in that you don’t need to use them in space they could easily be used for any regular fantasy setting. Another thing I liked were the ravin, while not being too powerful they add a new and interesting idea to not only the setting but could be used as well in a fantasy setting with no problems. So for a GM looking to add space travel to there campaign with out going sci-fi this will do but keep in mind you will have to do a little modification to the setting for it to be truly a space campaign and not just PCs in space.

Aether & Flux is a d20 supplement from DarkFuries, who are mostly known for maps (if they are known for anything). It's basically a supplement for fantasy ships in space.

I was very interested when it first came out, but never really found out much about it, or a review. A few months later, some info did trickle in, including a few reviews, but by that time, I had mostly lost interest. Until I saw it on ebay with a fairly reasonable price.

From the name, I had thought it was more weird science than fantasy. But it's not - it's almost pure fantasy - if you liked Spelljammer, then chances are very good you'll like this. It's very much like the old Spelljammer for AD&D, with the things that drove most people crazy removed ,i.e., the space hamsters, the weird physics, the shaved ewoks (wait, that's Dragonlance).

Aether, or ether, was a concept popular in the late 1800s. Basically, scientists of the time knew that light was a wave, but they thought that waves had to have a medium to propagate through. That is, ocean waves need an ocean. Seismic waves propagate through the soil. Sound waves propagate through the air. But light could go though even a vacuum. What did it propagate in? This baffled scientists, and so the concept of "Ether" was born.

The traditional ether ship would fly by swimming through it, turning an ether propeller or screw much like a ocean going ship goes through the water.

But the aether in this, and the aether ships are somewhat different. Basically, instead of being like water, it's more like an electromagnetic field. When it interacts with magical sails or something called "flux", it pushes it, just like it would push a magnet or electromagnet. In fact, "flux" is basically like an electromagnet - it uses "flux" energy to lace the sails which then gets pushed by the aether.

It's not without some flaws, but for the most part, it almost sounds plausible. The main trouble I have with it, is actually it's not Spelljammer enough. In Spelljammer, while there were sailing ships in space, they were relatively rare - special ships were designed for space. While Spelljamming ships didn't use sails for power, unlike A&F ships, it's not terribly plausible (IMHO) that exact duplicates of sailing ships would be in space. I mean, think about it - you'd probably want sails distributed more evenly, since you don't have gravity holding you down or a keel in the water - just one mast full of sails would actually just spin you around. Similarly, I don't understand why keel length in this determines the speed of a ship. In ocean sailing, it's important because the keel is the part in the water, which largely counterbalances the sails, and so a bigger keel allows more sails.

And it's mentioned that large ships (above 20 tons) cannot take off from a planet, so the vast majority of ships in the book would have to be built in space (unless there is a giant space elevator ala A.C.Clarke). So I would think ships more suitable for space would be designed, rather than just using actual sailing ship designs. (Again, like Spelljammer). Actually, the book even says this, that sailing ship designs were only common in the very early ages of space travel. So why the book is mostly full of those designs, I don't get.

That's pretty much the subject of the book. How does it cover this? Pretty comprehensively, actually. There are a lot of ships statted out, 35 by my count, most of which are sailing ships (the majority of those that aren't are special, racial ships, for the elves or Ravin). There's a pretty comprehensive combat system (with a whole bunch of weapons), tables for generating star systems, a fascinating glossary of sailor slang.

There are combat rules, which are basically fairly close to d20, with hit points, armor class, etc. But it's a bit unlike water-borne combat - because unlike in space, you cannot really "sink" an aethership, you either have to reduce the ship to splinters, or kill everyone on board. Ships in this have a whole lot of hit points - thousands of them, so it's generally easier to board. There are new abstract rules for boarding actions.

There is something of a setting, too. It is somewhat Spelljammer-ish, divided up into 3 eras or ages, which mostly affects the available ships and equipment, but also the style of play, somewhat. The elves have ships that are grown - early on, they only have tiny ships. There are no Beholders or Scro, but there is something a lot like the Neogi. Only instead of being like spiders, as the Neogi were, the new villains, the Ravin, are like ticks (both ticks & spiders are arachnids, though. Lawyers, too). They are actually fairly mindless killing machines, not unlike the Magog of Andromeda, the TV show, and like the Magog, are a growing threat. Other bits also seem inspired by Andromeda, at least there is a "High Guard", though they seem more like the Rangers of Babylon 5.

Most of the setting is general, but there is also a sample star system given (basically, just a description of each planet) as well as a space station (which gets a map and keyed entries for it). The map for the latter seems awfully small, though.

While it's an interesting book, I think I would have preferred something closer to Bastion Press's Airships, a book that lets you design your own ships, as opposed to using a bunch of premade ships (mostly based on real world sailing ships). Spelljammer did the same thing, just had a bunch of premade ships. But many of them were aimed at PCs. I'm not sure any of the ships in the book are aimed at PCs. I also can't seem to find prices for any of the ships, which also makes it hard for them to buy them.

While I'm not counting it in my review score, much of the content of this book regarding the ships is also closed, which has little bearing for most people, but I am one of those people vain enough to put their campaign world on the web (or in the process of), and so I find this book unusable for my purposes.

The only real problem with the book, is the structure of it is a bit odd. It gives a very brief bit on background, and then rushes into stats for the villain race (the Ravin), then into the info on the space station. This left me confused and a bit cold. It probably should have been put in the back or a more relevant section. Kinda reminded me of the old Character/Campaign Law for Rolemaster - I remember a friend of mine bought it, and we tried to play it, but what was the first section on? Not making characters, but plants and their properties. (Okay, that might be appropriate for a hippie RPG, but not a generic fantasy game). This isn't that bad, but it's in the same vein. Also, the deck plans (of 8 ships) are about 25 pages into the book - very weird placement. The back would have been the best, thankfully, that is where they put cardstock sheet of counters.

All in all, I would give it a B, though it's not really to my taste. I did really enjoy the glossary of sailor's slang - I now know why Left & Right are called Starboard and Port on a ship.