Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Spelljammer, 5e, and the general angst against all things space
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Dire Bare" data-source="post: 6751815" data-attributes="member: 18182"><p>Both the idea of the crystal spheres and the phlogiston are indeed drawn from real-world pseudoscientific theories. Now, how they are expressed in D&D is a bit different, as is almost always the case, but their source is real-world.</p><p></p><p>In the old geocentric model of the cosmos, the Earth was the center of the universe and the Sun, Moon, planets were all fixed in solid, transparent crystal spheres that rotated around the Earth. The stars were gaps in the outer firmament between the material world and the heavens. Well, if I remember correctly.</p><p></p><p>In Spelljammer, we simply got rid of all of the crystal spheres except for the last one, with the stars affixed to it. Although we often kept the "geocentric" part, depending on the system.</p><p></p><p>Phlogiston was a proposed element, as was aether, and a lot of academic study went into trying to discover these proposed elements and their properties. Aether was a cool, misty, heavy element, and phlogiston was airy, light, and energetic. This has transferred over to D&D fairly well, I think! Again, if I remember correctly.</p><p></p><p>Of course, this was all quite some time ago, roughly two hundred years or so?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dire Bare, post: 6751815, member: 18182"] Both the idea of the crystal spheres and the phlogiston are indeed drawn from real-world pseudoscientific theories. Now, how they are expressed in D&D is a bit different, as is almost always the case, but their source is real-world. In the old geocentric model of the cosmos, the Earth was the center of the universe and the Sun, Moon, planets were all fixed in solid, transparent crystal spheres that rotated around the Earth. The stars were gaps in the outer firmament between the material world and the heavens. Well, if I remember correctly. In Spelljammer, we simply got rid of all of the crystal spheres except for the last one, with the stars affixed to it. Although we often kept the "geocentric" part, depending on the system. Phlogiston was a proposed element, as was aether, and a lot of academic study went into trying to discover these proposed elements and their properties. Aether was a cool, misty, heavy element, and phlogiston was airy, light, and energetic. This has transferred over to D&D fairly well, I think! Again, if I remember correctly. Of course, this was all quite some time ago, roughly two hundred years or so? [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Spelljammer, 5e, and the general angst against all things space
Top