D&D 5E PlaneJammer: Sailing the Astral Sea

[Fenris-77]

Does anyone have a good suggestion for merchant/smuggler operations? It doesn't have to be 5E I guess, but if the campaign is going to be built around it I would like a system in place that actually helps adjudicate success and failure, profit and loss.

Skycrawl has some of what you might want there. The 'money', heavy elements, in the version of the Astral there also produces gravity, and there's some cool alchemy to combine the various 'heavy elements' into more concentrated forms. When you fold money directly into the tech and magic, it's easier to handle from a narrative standpoint (IMO anyway). I'm a big fan, obviously.

 

[Fenris-77]

The Disney film Treasure Planet is a good, quick watch for something like that.

That's exactly what prompted me to go in that direction.

 

[darjr]

Oh also I’d use the idea where it’s all accessible via fantasy tropes. Like you could walk to the edge of the world and cast your self into the astral sea. No planets per-se. Lands and planes are defined by mythic ideals and tropes.
A disc on a turtle.
A giant Boulder held in the shoulders of a god, one you could fall off of.
An endless sea with continnents and Islands, infinitely varried, were one moment you in the firmament the next you are cast into the astral, you’ll need to pay attention.

 

[Malmuria]

Monte Cook's 2e Guide to the Astral Plane has a lot of great ideas in it as well. From recent experience I would recommend for PCs to use all their normal stats even though the astral is a "plane of thought." Another difficult issue will be ship navigation and combat. I tried to homebrew a system and it never really worked that well.

Bringing in Githyanki, Illithids, and Githzerai in a big faction war could lead to some really interesting dynamics. I think I would also play up the "sea" aspect of it with some fantastical elements. For example, giant astral squid and such, or areas of the "deep astral" that are particularly difficult to traverse.

I've been playing a bit of Sunless Skies and I feel the vibe could work well for an astral campaign.

 

[TheHand]

I've mashed the two up pretty successfully in my ongoing planar-themed campaign. In addition to mining all the resources folks listed above, I also took the "Rock of Bral" from Spelljammer and moved it to the Astral, giving it a magically contained time and bio-sphere, allowing it to be the main hub for Planesjammer. I added a few portals to the Outlands and other locales to the Rock, to better connect it to the Planescape areas.

Also, if you're not adverse to adapting from non-DND sources, I'd recommend checking out the old Stormbringer adventure "Rogue Mistress", which centers around a dimension-hopping pirate ship.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

I know others have already mentioned it, but I can't recommend The Plane Above: Secrets of the Astral Sea enough. It pretty much is PlaneJammer and is full of details such as:

• Inhabitants: Githyanki, Angels, Couatls, Maruts, Quom, and various planar interlopers.
• Dominion Ships crewed by the souls and celestials of a patron god.
• Various locations drifting through the Astral Plane, such as broken-off pieces of the Outer Planes, islands where souls who were meant to arrive in an Outer Plane got stuck and formed new communities mimicking mortal life, remnants of dead gods, and civilizations such as Mutas and the divine city of Hestavar.

It really is a fantastic resource for a whole campaign and is relatively rules light.

One detail is that spelljammers themselves were rare and coveted in 4E. Most ships in the Astral Sea could only function there, but Spelljammers can fly anywhere and even plane shift.

Here's some art from the book, as well as other 4E sources dealing with the Astral Sea:

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Another recommendation for Skycrawl. I bought it last night after another name drop, do not regret. It is a perfect fit for my planar ship travelling.

 

[Fenris-77]

The only 'issue' with Secrets of the Astral Sea is that it mostly indexes higher tier play. Lower tier play is easier to design for me though, so it's maybe more in the way of a challenge than an issue. Great resource though, for sure.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

It probably goes without saying, but the 2e Planescape A Guide to the Astral Plane book would be a must for a resource.

Based on the Id Ascendant chapter of Rime of the Frostmaiden, I'd say that the Mindflayers would play a big part of the campaign, since it explicitly says that the Mindflayers use their Nautiloids to traverse both planes and the stars.

 

[Fenris-77]

Another recommendation for Skycrawl. I bought it last night after another name drop, do not regret. It is a perfect fit for my planar ship travelling.

Don't you just love the navigation system? I know I do. Very Miyazaki somehow...