D&D 5E Astral Wars: A New Hope

[Delazar]

Did the title give it away? I'm planning a new campaign, and I'd like to do a mix of Planescape and Spelljammer (super original, I know).

But I would also like to have the Multiverse of DnD work a bit like a "galactic empire". Basically, planar travel would be something that the average Joe knows about, and across-planes commerce and communication is a thing.

And of course there will be a tyrannical multi-planes-spanning empire that the heroes will fight against.

I'm still very much at a planning stage, looking for some ideas from the community. I'm going to get HEAVY inspiration from the Star Wars, Star Trek, and Dune universes. So far I'm thinking that Ravnica will be the capital of the Empire, but I'm not sure who or what should the Empire be. I'm thinking maybe the Harmonium (from Planescape), or the Vodoni (from Spelljammer).

With Fizban book coming out, I was also considering do a plane-spanning dragon empire, with the great wyrms ruling from their home plane, and sending their dragonborn armies to conquer the planes.

Spoiler: Marvel "What if?" spoiler

Also recently saw the last "what if" episode of Marvel, and I thought a "construct" empire would also be neat.

So yeah, a few ideas, but all kind of up there at the moment. If anyone would like to jump in and give some ideas, pls do so!

 

[AtomicPope]

Suggestions from someone who is running a 5e Spelljammer/Planescape campaign for several years:
1. Mine the 4e books for Inspiration: one of the many things 4e gets right is their treatment of Planescape and Spelljammer, blending the two together rather than trying to take modern scientific concepts of space and brush over it with wonky magic.
2. Astral Currents - one of the best things about Star Wars, before Jar Jar Abrams and Disney effed it up, was Hyperspace. It was a lot like the Age of Sail in that the ships were limited to specific, known travel routes. In this way, blockades could be set up to catch pirates or intercept enemy fleets. I did this for my Spelljammer campaign, limited movement to specific lanes that were not always open. It also allowed me to have classic Age of Sail hazards like Doldrums where ships would be stuck in the vast ocean of space hoping the Astral Currents would star moving again. It also lets you as a DM limit travel to specific locations: you must go to Planet X and then to to Planet Y.
3. Planar Boundaries - to limit teleportation I set each celestial body in their own planar boundary. In other words, you can't teleport in or out unless you have a known Teleportation circle to zero in on. This gave me a Star Trek "transporter room" on their Spelljammer vessel with a Teleportation Circle. In order to travel to other planets you'd need to either take a Spelljammer or use Planeshift and have the proper circle sequence.
4. Economics - after limiting teleportation and planar travel it makes more sense to use Spelljammers as merchant vessels since it's the only way to transport tonnes of commodities at a time. Using them as troop carriers always made sense but being able to transport souls out of Hell would be a big payday.
5. Grievous Wounds - a big part of running a Spelljammer campaign was getting away from the Dungeon part of D&D. In order to justify a triage on ship I added a House Rule of Grievous Wounds: whenever a character is reduced to zero hp they move one level down the exhaustion track. PCs were less likely to camp out in a dungeon after getting beat up. They would go back to the ship, rest a few days, and then try a different approach. It was more like Star Trek where they would spend time in medical.
6. Limited Natural Healing - a continuation of the injuries was to limit the healing from short rests to ONLY apply if the PCs used a charge from their medical kit, cast a healing spell, or used Song of Rest. That was the only way to spend their hit dice. Furthermore, a long rest didn't regen hit points. They could spend hit dice to heal. This meant that at some point they might be out of hit dice, even after a long rest. It might seem harsh but not when you have a ship and medical bay. Then it all seems to work out as intended. I've ran the game this way for years (the PCs are all 20th level with lots of boons), and it works out just fine. Yes, combat has way more consequences and spells like Healing Word are practically useless but it reinforces a certain style of play.
7. Space Dragons - In my own campaign I had Titans and Giants ruling the Galaxy. Few creatures are Space Worthy, one of them being Giants and the other Dragons. Since Dragons can fly into space and sail along the Astral Currents when they reached adulthood, they could just sail off in search of a soft, unsuspecting world to conquer. Giants, Cloud Giants in particular, could sail through space on their great sky castles and bomb cities from orbit. I added some other kewl, Space Worthy monsters to the list, like Rocs, Pegasus, and Angels.
8. Space Worthy - I treat space like water, sort of. Some creatures can fly, but they can't fly or survive in space. It's like any other trait that allows certain creatures to ignore the penalties of a particular terrain.

 

[jgsugden]

I've used the Astral Plane like a sea between universes since the 1990s and the inspiration was much like yours - Babylon 5 being primary of it. I have my version of Sigil in the Astral Plane - in a place where teleportation circles have been dragged together to create a massive bulk of access to different planes (Stargate style). My Lady of Pain is effectively a Cenobite (Hellraiser). It all works really well for me.

You seem to want to capitalize upon existing IP, yet morph it into your concept. The easiest way to do that is to establish a 'current' timeline in each IP (Eberron, FR, Ravnica, etc...) and then advance it by 5 years during which a 'multi-versal' conquest takes shape.

Some options for the ones doing the conquering:

1.) Modrons - There are an insane amount and they have untapped potential. Imagine if an Archfiend supplanted Primus and took control of all of those resources.

2.) Undead - Orcus unleashes a wave across the multiverse that slays a percentage of the entire universe (hey, if you're going to steal from Marvel) and raises them as undead under his control. However, he is thrown down by a mysterious foe who wrests control of the undead from him (as otherwise he'd just destroy with them).

3.) Githyanki invasion - We drastically underestimated their accumulation of resources in the recesses of the Astral Plane. They bomb the capital cities of the Multiverse (or lock them in time, or something else that keeps them out of the action) and then conquer the planes.

4.) Far Realm invasion - Illithid, beholders, Cthulhu, Deep Spawn, Star Spawn, etc... rise up. This could get very funky.

5.) Ancient Evils - Before there were Gods, Archfiends, and Primordials there were the Ancient Evils. They've slumbered in a prison since before history - and someone released them. Now, they've taken control. This could be a less funky version of 4.

6.) The New God - a new God appears and grants powers to a lot of people. Like, 1 in 10 people/intelligent beings are granted significant clerical or warlock powers. This new God does this to create a better world throughout the multiverse, and there is immediate prosperity. And then the guidance from this God begin to shift. Instead of just giving gifts, it turns to discouraging the worship of other Gods, not trusting political leaders, etc... Then, one day, the new God reveals plots meant to end his gifts to the universe and a power struggle between the traditional powers and the New God arise across the multiverse - a struggle the New God wins, leaving the traditional powers as freedom fighters.

 

[Stormonu]

Posted this before, but I think it applies here...

Just use the githyanki and the Lich Queen for the Empire (Lich Queen = Palpatine, Githyanki in white plate = stormtroopers, Dead gods = Super Star Destroyers/Death Star). The Lady of Pain becomes Mon Mothma…A rogue modron as R2-D2/C3P0?

Also, I had this idea...

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I suggest to add elements from Starfinder and d20 Future to cause surprise or the players could notice what is going to happen because they read that book or watched that movie.

Eclipse Phase RPG had got an interesting idea, supercomputers rebels against the humans (transhumans) and they create their own version of Terminators droids and Resident Evil mutants+zombies.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I suppose if you want a true "Galactic Empire," the Vodoni Empire from Spelljammer is a good fit. They controlled 12 worlds on the Material Plane, and then led a huge invasion fleet against Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, and Krynn.

Vodoni Empire

The Vodoni Empire was a vast and aggressive realm in the phlogiston. Spanning twelve crystal spheres, it was the largest and mightiest empire in the region of the Prime Material plane known to the inhabitants of Realmspace. In the mid‒14th century DR, an attempted vodoni invasion of Realmspace...

forgottenrealms.fandom.com

They're army is made up mostly by lycanthropes, but their leader is a Maedar, or male medusa.

 

[aco175]

I read the thread title and thought, "Help me OB1-Githyani, you're my only hope."

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Basically, planar travel would be something that the average Joe knows about, and across-planes commerce and communication is a thing.

Traveling through the planes ain't like dusting crops, boy. Without precise calculations you could teleport right into the Abyss or too close to a mindflayer colony and that would end your trip real quick, wouldn't it?

 

[Eltab]

Are the PCs starting at low levels?
If so, they are sent on a simple fetch quest: their patron has rented an airship. The captain will take you to the Elemental Plane of Air; find and capture an arrowhawk (from 3e Monster Manual) and bring it back; the feathers are useful to craft Rings of Feather Fall. Bonus if you bring the 'hawk back alive so it can regrow more feathers. If a PC is blown off the airship they are not auto-dead, they must be (and can be) rescued.

 

[Delazar]

thanks to everyone for the reactions so far, all good input, I'm going to address a few things that jolted my imagination.

@AtomicPope thanks for the great suggestions! I heard a lot of good stuff about the 4E book about the Astral Plane, but never got a chance to read it. I'll try to remedy in the near future. I'd like to get away from the "crystal spheres" concept of Spelljammer, and use the Astral Plane/Sea as "magic space", so to say. Which should be what the Plane Above does somehow, if I'm not mistaken.

@jgsugden all great ideas, I especially like the "new god". I actually thought a lot about gods in general, and I would like them to be as LESS involved as possible. But I like the idea of super-powered demigods, like Thanos or Darkseid.

@Urriak Uruk yes, the Vodoni were one of my original choices, I'm just not too intrigued by a werewolves army. But the module where they appear is definitely a font of inspiration for me.

@Eltab your mention of the Plane of Air makes me think that I would like to somehow have all the Outer and Inner planes to be some sort of planet... not sure if this would mess too much with DnD cosmology, but do you think it would be possible?