Spelljammer Galactica

[pneumatik]

The idea is cool. The set-up reminds me of the Greek myths about Cronus overthrowing Uranus. He gets help from his siblings the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires, but after the fight he locks them back up in Tartarus.

The whole campaign also reminds me of Dark Sun in a way. It's not a perfect match, but the conflicts the PCs are in are after-effects of mistakes super-powerful entities made in ancient times. Tharizdun and the Other Thing play the role of Rajaat: both are imprisoned (at least partly) for the good of existence. The gods are like the sorcerer kings, who are getting mortals killed because of the events that locked up Tharizdun/Rajaat.

All in all it sounds like a lot of fun. Having that backstory allows the origins of the conflict to possibly resolved better than BSG.

 

[malraux]

Having that backstory allows the origins of the conflict to possibly resolved better than BSG.

Well, that's not hard to do. </s>

 

[Mouseferatu]

I guess the only real question is what is preventing of the escape to the mortal realms?

I've had a few thoughts on that precise question, and I haven't decided yet which, if any, I'd go with. But the two that I'm leaning toward are:

A) While the maruts won't deliberately target mortals in the natural world, because it won't add to the "soul debt," they would follow the fugitives there, and wreak all sorts of carnage while hunting them down/searching for them. Enough so that the loss of life would increase exponentially, and the fleet's leaders won't risk it. (Perhaps some of the fugitives do want to try it, not caring who else dies as long as they have the chance to hide.)

B) Given that the outsiders on the Border Islands are already the souls of deceased mortals, perhaps they simply can't survive for long in the mortal world. After spending some time there, they simply discorporate and return to the Astral Sea--right back on the Border Island they started from, in the midst of devastated, marut-held territory.

 

[Janx]

Its a pretty cool interpretation of the BSG idea to D&D.

I think it's worth noting that there are reasons to deviate and obfuscate from the show, and reasons to draw close parallels (warforged as Cylons).

Some obfuscation is good, because it sets an expectation that this campaign is not the same as the show, though it may have been inspired by it.

Thus a player can play "Starbuck", but not expect to go through her exact story arc. because the campaign has some differences, it sets that expectation.

In all of this, as the suggestion about Warforged as Cylons pointed out, it should be pondered all the types of adventures this setting enables, and level appropriateness.

1st levels probably aren't suited to running the fleet. That should be something the party grows into.

low level missions to scout islands, find resources would probably be very fitting

I'm not up on 3e or newer planeology, are Marut pretty high CR? Do they have the ability to affect the fleet, and how?


To bring cylons back into it, the Marut might have created the WarForged using captured souls (the ones they intend to turn over to the Thing), and wiped them. Thus, initially, you can present the Warforged as "soulless" killing machines, but later present them as individuals (perhaps as they begiin remembering their past life). The Marut could be continually improving the design (higher CR), eventually having human prototypes (for paranoia inducing fun). the Marut might have built a Collector ship to capture the souls, wipe and biind them to Warforged bodies. When they have enough WarForged, they'll turn over the souls to the Thing. Until then, they are using them to complete the task of collecting the remaining souls.

Thus, also, you get the moral dilema, that the Warforged ARE the souls of friends and family of the fleet. If the PCs learn that, it opens the quest possibility of destroying the Collector, and freeing the souls, so they can go to a better place.

 

[Wik]

I've had a few thoughts on that precise question, and I haven't decided yet which, if any, I'd go with. But the two that I'm leaning toward are:

I dunno. I think there's a simpler solution. I mean, if I belonged on a world that was getting invaded by these guys, I'd want to do my best to chase them away before the Maruts came. And I'm pretty sure the Gods would just say "Hey, if anyone goes onto a world, we're gonna tell the Maruts where you are" to protect the grand scheme of things.

Going to a world on your lonesome is pretty much a suicide sentence, since everyone would want you dead (you are, after all, very dangerous to be around). At least by staying with the fleet, you can have friends and a life - even if it's a life on the run.

 

[darjr]

Why not just eliminate the 'mortal' world? The setting IS the astral sea. The mortal worlds ARE motes in the drift.

Make it part of the creation story for the current mortal world.

 

[malraux]

Why not just eliminate the 'mortal' world? The setting IS the astral sea. The mortal worlds ARE motes in the drift.

Make it part of the creation story for the current mortal world.

Were it I, and were I an incredible writer/adventure designer who could actually pull it off, I would put the destruction of one of the prime planes as the event that kicks off the entire campaign. Have the promised payment to the far realm entity be either the fey wild or the shadowfell or the prime plane, or all three. The gods could have decided to give up the material planes with the idea that they could figure out how to create them again. Its a sucky bargain, but if the gods were really desperate, it is a plausible one.

This also gives you space to go for the always exciting "the good gods are really evil because they are working to fatten up the material world, while the evil gods are really good because chaos and death keeps the world from growing to the size agreed upon in the bargain" semi-cliche.

The heroic tier would be the time immediately preceding the planar crack, dealing with a mote of the world set adrift, organizing and moving survivors onto spelljammers and setting off.

Paragon would be the search for a suitable realm for the fleet to finally rest. The epic tier would involve taking on the far realm directly.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I have a very "Tim Taylor" approach to most of my settings, so I would certainly just make it the "mortal world," start it off with all (most) life being scoured from the face of it by the Maruts, and then follow the small contingent of spelljammers as they try to find a new home amongst the infinite planes...

Cool idea. I'm pro-this.

 

[Stormonu]

B) Given that the outsiders on the Border Islands are already the souls of deceased mortals, perhaps they simply can't survive for long in the mortal world. After spending some time there, they simply discorporate and return to the Astral Sea--right back on the Border Island they started from, in the midst of devastated, marut-held territory.

Taking this and several other thoughts - the Marut's "first strike" destroys the mortal realm. In a sense, the characters who will eventually join the fleet "die", but because they have been marked by the Marut for sacrifice, they end up on specially designated islands for pickup. For some reason, the Marut get delayed long enough for a rag-tag fleet to form and start its escape (those who remain behind are doomed to a 2nd and final death).

The side effect of this is the characters can't return to a mortal world because they would be nothing more than spirits - undead ghosts who will never fit into the natural world on another mortal realm.

You could then have a campaign that: starts on a mundane world and suffers an apocalypse; the doomed characters awaken on a strange world (an Astral Isle) and meet others, learning of the doom heading their way; they then can plan escape and begin seeking some way to find a safe haven; only to learn that the only way they will ever be free is to somehow dissuade the Marut from completing their ghastly goal - either by beating them down and/or finding some loophole in the original bargain (perhaps the world's destruction nullified the bargain because it was a pact to "save the world"?).

 

[MortalPlague]

Ari, this is a fantastic idea. I may have to borrow parts and pieces of it for use in my own campaign.