Re: Hello, I'm new. LOTS of ???

At 10:25 1997-05-07 -0400, John Dye wrote:
>Hi, my name is John, and I have roleplayed for 16+ years (gad!).
>
>I think TSR must be doing something right if it came up with
>Spelljammer.

OTOH, they also dropped it...

>To the questions and problems.
>
>Problem 1
>I need to know which book to try to brief me enough of the background to
>make the conversion.  Adventures in Space, the Warcaptains handbook,
>whatever?  Suggestions are much appreciated. If you know where I can
>also find this book on the cheap, I will name my 10th child after you
>(no I am working on number one)

Adventures in Space (also referred to as "the Boxed set") is the
introductory box for the SJ setting. War Captain's Companion is also
pretty good (it has stats without deckplans for about a zillion ships,
and the deckplans can be found at TSR's web site), as is the Complete
Spacefarer's Handbook.

>Problem 2
>If anyone could synopsis the difference between major and minor helms
>for me, what they do and WHY DOES A SPACE SHIP HAVE SAILS!?!?!, I would
>appreciate it.   I know this is what the book will tell me, but I am
>impatient and I figure you folks already have covered all the
>inconsistancies and ironed out the difficulties in a professional
>manner.  It would also help to know why all these ships look like fish
>or bugs or what not. Please you wonderful people you (obequiese am I
>not?)

The differences between a major and minor helm are:
- Price: A major helm costs 250 kgp, while a minor only costs 100 kgp.
- Power: A major helm can move a 100-ton ship, while a minor only can
move 50 tons. Note that these are measurements of volume, not mass,
analogous to (but not equal to) nautical displacement tons.
- Propulsion (I was going to write speed, but it sounded neat with three
P:s): A major helm moves a ship with a SR of the jammer's level diviided
by 2, while a minor helm divides the level by three instead. One point
of SR equals 500 yards per round, or a turning by one hexside.

As for the sails: they add maneuverability, due to "catching the magical
currents produced by the helm," or some similar magibabble. And the
shape of the ships is there for looking neat, and one could argue that
in a magical universe "like produces like", meaning that a ship which is
built like something that moves well, will also move well itself. This
would also explain why groundling ships have such abysmal
maneuverability classes.

>That's all for now.  I have to try to convert an Illithid to a GURPS
>format without a polymorh spell.  Wish me luck!

As for the conversions, others have gone before you. You can probably
find some stuff at the Beyond The Moons page
(http://k2.scl.cwru.edu/~static/rpg/sj/idx-sj.html), which is also a
great repository of SJ material produced on (and off?) the list. Another
file you might want to check out is
http://www.io.com/~ftp/GURPSnet/Magic/spelljamming , which has a
description of the spelljamming process in GURPS terms. It's not an
exact copy of the AD&D system, but it's a reasonable facsimile,
considering the huge differences involved. That URL may change soon,
however, as SJ Games is in the process of moving things over to a new
webserver. I'm actually considering moving over to GURPS myself, but it
would mean quite a bit of investment on my part (Magic, Fantasy Folk,
possibly the Compendiums and Grimoire).
	Staffan Johansson (d96sj@???.???.se)
The world is filled with willing people; some willing to work, the rest
willing to let them. -Robert Frost