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Worlds of Design: How Would You Design For Spelljammer?
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<blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 7739408" data-attributes="member: 22424"><p>How would I design for Spelljammer?</p><p></p><p>Firstly, I'd make it <em>mostly</em> it's own setting - the 'big three' of Realmspace, Greyspace and Krynnspace would exist (along with Athas-space, Eberron-space, etc), but I'd move them <em>waaay</em> over to the side of the map. Links between Spelljammer and those other settings would need to be vanishingly rare - as noted, this is needed to avoid polluting those settings. (I would fix the Shou by casting the Spelljamming empire as an offshoot who departed the Realms centuries, and two editions ago, and who had been utterly cut off by one of the Realms-Shaking Events - an in-setting retcon <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> )</p><p></p><p>I would remove the "Phlogiston is explosive" point of lore. That's a small thing, but necessary because I also want:</p><p></p><p>At least some ships should be mounted with cannon, and other black-powder weapons. (And, of course, the Giff just love these.) Also, I would have at least some Steampunk ships and helms in the mix.</p><p></p><p>I would also remove the "spellcasters lose their slots" bit of lore, since it's just pain (and was largely ignored anyway). And, in fact, I'd be inclined to get rid of the requirement that the helmsman be a caster anyway - base it on character level rather than caster level.</p><p></p><p>They need to introduce some things into the setting to make for an economy - if Krynn offers all the standard fantasy gear, and the Realms also offers all the same standard fantasy gear, how can there be trade between the two, especially if it's inherently slow and costly? So maybe there's a fleet of ships hunting for Space-whales for the oil, or miners extracting Residuum from various worldlets, or similar. (And the more they can make these into adventure-fodder, the better for everyone of course.)</p><p></p><p>I'd be disinclined to make the Elven Armada the "bad guys" - arrogant, officious and generally annoying, yes, but even more annoying because most of the time they're <em>right</em>. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> However, I'd be inclined to view them as a paper tiger - the Unhuman War was <em>hugely</em> destructive, to the extent that although they won the Elven Armada has had it's back broken and will never recover. Of course, the elves are desperate to hide this fact... and it also means that when the Scro get around to kicking off the Second Unhuman War there isn't actually anyone in a position to stop them.</p><p></p><p>The setting needs more settlements, especially small-ish settlements with distinct characters (and not just "this is the dwarf city", "this is the elf city" - they need to allow for a comfortable mix of races, yet not all feel the same).</p><p></p><p>And it also needs more mysterious locations. The Spelljammer is all well and good, but it's only one example - the PCs really need something to quest for in their <em>second</em> campaign as well. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="delericho, post: 7739408, member: 22424"] How would I design for Spelljammer? Firstly, I'd make it [i]mostly[/i] it's own setting - the 'big three' of Realmspace, Greyspace and Krynnspace would exist (along with Athas-space, Eberron-space, etc), but I'd move them [i]waaay[/i] over to the side of the map. Links between Spelljammer and those other settings would need to be vanishingly rare - as noted, this is needed to avoid polluting those settings. (I would fix the Shou by casting the Spelljamming empire as an offshoot who departed the Realms centuries, and two editions ago, and who had been utterly cut off by one of the Realms-Shaking Events - an in-setting retcon :) ) I would remove the "Phlogiston is explosive" point of lore. That's a small thing, but necessary because I also want: At least some ships should be mounted with cannon, and other black-powder weapons. (And, of course, the Giff just love these.) Also, I would have at least some Steampunk ships and helms in the mix. I would also remove the "spellcasters lose their slots" bit of lore, since it's just pain (and was largely ignored anyway). And, in fact, I'd be inclined to get rid of the requirement that the helmsman be a caster anyway - base it on character level rather than caster level. They need to introduce some things into the setting to make for an economy - if Krynn offers all the standard fantasy gear, and the Realms also offers all the same standard fantasy gear, how can there be trade between the two, especially if it's inherently slow and costly? So maybe there's a fleet of ships hunting for Space-whales for the oil, or miners extracting Residuum from various worldlets, or similar. (And the more they can make these into adventure-fodder, the better for everyone of course.) I'd be disinclined to make the Elven Armada the "bad guys" - arrogant, officious and generally annoying, yes, but even more annoying because most of the time they're [i]right[/i]. :) However, I'd be inclined to view them as a paper tiger - the Unhuman War was [i]hugely[/i] destructive, to the extent that although they won the Elven Armada has had it's back broken and will never recover. Of course, the elves are desperate to hide this fact... and it also means that when the Scro get around to kicking off the Second Unhuman War there isn't actually anyone in a position to stop them. The setting needs more settlements, especially small-ish settlements with distinct characters (and not just "this is the dwarf city", "this is the elf city" - they need to allow for a comfortable mix of races, yet not all feel the same). And it also needs more mysterious locations. The Spelljammer is all well and good, but it's only one example - the PCs really need something to quest for in their [i]second[/i] campaign as well. :) [/QUOTE]
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