VolitionReceptacle
Villager
So I was recently reading my old Dragonstar books, and decided to write this post to generate more thoughts and ideas about the possible usages of the setting in a campaign, and possible variations and improvements that could be added to the setting.
Setting Overview
To give the most basic background, Dragonstar basically posits the idea that all "prime" campaign settings are set in the same universe of the Prime Material Plane and that there exist advanced civilizations in the Prime (ie it is only a matter of time before someone in a spaceship comes across Toril, iirc there is a cool post on enworld called Realmsian Dragonstar that explores this very issue).
Another major point it posits (and one that I frankly dislike) is that ALL of these worlds have the exact same "fantasy lineup" of humans, halflings, dwarves, elves, and so on, because the gods made it that way. Honestly, this part is more stifling than freeing in terms of game design due to its very nature.
However, this sort of ties into a couple aspects that I do like, or at least think are neat, those being that the idea of the Gods of the Unification Church being fundamental archetypes underlying the names each world gives them, or simply being superior to "petty gods" (and potentially other "cosmic beings" as popularized by "secular" sci-fi) on "outlander" worlds/spaces is interesting. In addition, the most preeminent creature in the galaxy are the dragons, having set up a galactic empire.
This brings us to the next aspect of the setting, being that the main government of the galaxy is the Dragon Empire. It is ruled by the houses of Asamet and Qesemet, representing the Chromatics and Metallics respectively, with 5 houses on each side. The rulership of the empire alternates between both sides routinely, though not regularly.
There is also some background plot involving the Dark Zone (Illithid ruled space that is dark) as well as "null-magic" areas and the rest of the galaxy that was unfortunately discontinued when 3.0 ended.
Review
In general, the politics of the setting, so to speak, are more-or-less agnostic enough that they could be used for a good campaign. If anything, the only real major problem is the over-reliance on specific aspects of things (like the fantasy races stuff) and lack of detail concerning tech and magic (more specifically though, the big problem being the need of the writers to adhere to the wonky raw 3.0 rules on crafting and generally many things evident in the shortcomings of 3.0's mechanics). Also, in terms of weaponry, combat breaks down in D&D system due to even the most basic firearms resulting in noticeably larger amounts of damage dice being rolled, with better guns doing much more.
Another major missing thing is the inclusion of the multiverse (in the form of Planescape or otherwise). Ironically, in trying to make everything conform to the specific milieu of bog standard D&D they seemingly forgot all about the cosmology. This is highly disappointing, since I feel it could have benefited a lot from including it, as I have shared in another post on ENworld (Planescape Future).
Personal Notes
In terms of my personal ideas on how the setting could be improved, I have a few guidelines in mind.
First, include the multiverse, likely in the form of the Planescape, but expanded to reflect a greater knowledge of the universe as well as interdimensional areas. This has the benefit of allowing you to keep the "standard fantasy worlds" assumed by Planescape in "crystal spheres" (which could be more like pocket dimensions in this interpretation, for one possibility) as well as introduce more typical sci-fi aliens in the forms of both extraterrestrial and ultraterrestrial (read: originating form another dimension) creatures. The inclusion of "Sigil" areas would be really cool as well.
Second, make the setting more diverse. This ties into the previously mentioned idea of "having more aliens" a little, but it applies again in showing the diversity of the universe and the multiverse. Maybe instead of only dragons the Empire also has some advanced AI/"petty gods"/cosmic beings/etc. etc. in its governmental body. In addition, include more civilizations in the setting, of many different varieties (again, this is unfortunately something that needs to be mentioned due to the original setting simply not getting enough page space probably).
Third, clarify and expand on technology and magic. Just having some kind of "Progress Level/Tech Level" table at all would be useful, just to make the assumptions of certain things and areas more clear. But it might also be useful to really reconsider magic's role, in how it honestly isn't different from technology, therefore having the two be more blended. This is a sort of a digression into mechanics and systems though, for gear, combat, and magic, specifically in how better systems are probably necessary to prevent every attack being rolling fistfuls of dice in a system not geared for such changed assumptions. But beyond this, emphasize the impacts of certain technologies and developments on civilizations as well, with one possibility being post-scarcity and its associated themes.
I hope you find this useful, and I am highly interested to hear your thoughts on this!
Setting Overview
To give the most basic background, Dragonstar basically posits the idea that all "prime" campaign settings are set in the same universe of the Prime Material Plane and that there exist advanced civilizations in the Prime (ie it is only a matter of time before someone in a spaceship comes across Toril, iirc there is a cool post on enworld called Realmsian Dragonstar that explores this very issue).
Another major point it posits (and one that I frankly dislike) is that ALL of these worlds have the exact same "fantasy lineup" of humans, halflings, dwarves, elves, and so on, because the gods made it that way. Honestly, this part is more stifling than freeing in terms of game design due to its very nature.
However, this sort of ties into a couple aspects that I do like, or at least think are neat, those being that the idea of the Gods of the Unification Church being fundamental archetypes underlying the names each world gives them, or simply being superior to "petty gods" (and potentially other "cosmic beings" as popularized by "secular" sci-fi) on "outlander" worlds/spaces is interesting. In addition, the most preeminent creature in the galaxy are the dragons, having set up a galactic empire.
This brings us to the next aspect of the setting, being that the main government of the galaxy is the Dragon Empire. It is ruled by the houses of Asamet and Qesemet, representing the Chromatics and Metallics respectively, with 5 houses on each side. The rulership of the empire alternates between both sides routinely, though not regularly.
There is also some background plot involving the Dark Zone (Illithid ruled space that is dark) as well as "null-magic" areas and the rest of the galaxy that was unfortunately discontinued when 3.0 ended.
Review
In general, the politics of the setting, so to speak, are more-or-less agnostic enough that they could be used for a good campaign. If anything, the only real major problem is the over-reliance on specific aspects of things (like the fantasy races stuff) and lack of detail concerning tech and magic (more specifically though, the big problem being the need of the writers to adhere to the wonky raw 3.0 rules on crafting and generally many things evident in the shortcomings of 3.0's mechanics). Also, in terms of weaponry, combat breaks down in D&D system due to even the most basic firearms resulting in noticeably larger amounts of damage dice being rolled, with better guns doing much more.
Another major missing thing is the inclusion of the multiverse (in the form of Planescape or otherwise). Ironically, in trying to make everything conform to the specific milieu of bog standard D&D they seemingly forgot all about the cosmology. This is highly disappointing, since I feel it could have benefited a lot from including it, as I have shared in another post on ENworld (Planescape Future).
Personal Notes
In terms of my personal ideas on how the setting could be improved, I have a few guidelines in mind.
First, include the multiverse, likely in the form of the Planescape, but expanded to reflect a greater knowledge of the universe as well as interdimensional areas. This has the benefit of allowing you to keep the "standard fantasy worlds" assumed by Planescape in "crystal spheres" (which could be more like pocket dimensions in this interpretation, for one possibility) as well as introduce more typical sci-fi aliens in the forms of both extraterrestrial and ultraterrestrial (read: originating form another dimension) creatures. The inclusion of "Sigil" areas would be really cool as well.
Second, make the setting more diverse. This ties into the previously mentioned idea of "having more aliens" a little, but it applies again in showing the diversity of the universe and the multiverse. Maybe instead of only dragons the Empire also has some advanced AI/"petty gods"/cosmic beings/etc. etc. in its governmental body. In addition, include more civilizations in the setting, of many different varieties (again, this is unfortunately something that needs to be mentioned due to the original setting simply not getting enough page space probably).
Third, clarify and expand on technology and magic. Just having some kind of "Progress Level/Tech Level" table at all would be useful, just to make the assumptions of certain things and areas more clear. But it might also be useful to really reconsider magic's role, in how it honestly isn't different from technology, therefore having the two be more blended. This is a sort of a digression into mechanics and systems though, for gear, combat, and magic, specifically in how better systems are probably necessary to prevent every attack being rolling fistfuls of dice in a system not geared for such changed assumptions. But beyond this, emphasize the impacts of certain technologies and developments on civilizations as well, with one possibility being post-scarcity and its associated themes.
I hope you find this useful, and I am highly interested to hear your thoughts on this!
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The Royal Imperial Guard for the current ruler of the Dragonstar Empire. The standing armies/navies for each of the houses in the Asamet and the Qesemet.
