Difference Between two Older settings and how to convert to 5e?

[DocSun]

First of let me say if this is in the wrong place mods please move it.

Ok So here is my question I never played Spelljammer or Planescape back in the day. Apparently I missed out. Now that I am DMing I want to bring my players into a bigger universe where all realities are possible. So I was curious the best way to do it and I came across these books so I started looking into them. It is a lot to digest in and I was hoping the people on these boards could help explain what the main difference is between them... Can they both be in the same universe theoretically? What is the difference between Planswalking and spelljaming (I get that spelljaming requires a ship of some sort). And any other major differences.

Also heres the tougher part how would it be best to include the crunchy parts of these abilities/worlds using 5e mechanics?

Anyway I know that seems like a lot to ask. Hope its not and will help bring about a good discussion. Thanks Ahead of time!

 

[Nellisir]

Spelljamming is travel through space, while planescape is travel in/on the planes.

In the 2e D&D cosmology, each prime material world or system was encased in a crystal sphere. There were an infinite number of spheres in the Prime Material Plane. Between the spheres was a substance called phlogiston (gesundheit). Spelljammers were throne-like devices that attached to ships and allowed them to sail between planets and between spheres. So spelljamming took place on one plane (the Prime Material) but many spheres.

Planescape took place in the Outer Planes. The "base" was the city of Sigil, in the center of the Outlands, which was the plane of Neutrality. From there you could access any of the other Outer Planes. In theory you could cross into the Astral and down into the Prime Material world of your choice, get on a spelljammer, sail to another sphere, go back up into the Astral, and go home to Sigil.

There was also an article in Dragon magazine, titled Voidjammers, that merged the two concepts.

Planescape had a rich amount of detail, but got a bit overwhelming with the flavor (IMO). Spelljammer had a lot of stuff, but not a lot of depth, and a lot of potential details/depth were glossed over (Xin is a fire world. There are salamanders and red dragons living here in two rival empires. They are hostile.) Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Jim Holloway (or, I am, I think he's a fabulous artist, but...) and his use as the signature artist on the SJ line was a major downside for me.

In either case, it'd be trivial to convert either one to 5e. You can use Planescape pretty much right out of the box, and you might have to do a little conversion with SJ but not much. Just be sure you've got a good method of handling how ships move in space. You might be able to use the rules as written.

Edit: The main reason to have ship movement rules is for PIRATES! And ship-to-ship combat. And so your NPCs can scream "She canna take much more, Captain!"

 

[trancejeremy]

Spelljammer was more like a science fiction game, albeit with fantasy trappings. But you had a ship, you flew around the universe and visited new planets, starbases (usually on asteroids), fought other ships.

Planescape seemed to me to be an attempt at more of a Storyteller/White Wolf type setting. Characters were based in a city at the center of the outer planes, a city divided into about a dozen different factions based on philosophy. While you did traditional D&D stuff, a lot of it was at the behest of one faction or another.

Plansecape is probably easier to convert, since it didn't have a whole lot of specific rules and used a lot of standard planar races. Spelljammer on the other hand had ship combat and had a lot of new creatures like the Neogi and Scro and Giff. It was also kinda high powered, ship loads of Beholders were a fairly common enemy.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Spelljammer is Star Trek. Planescape is Stargate.

 

[Nellisir]

Planescape is Stargate.

Riverworld.