Re: CUSTOM: Spelljammer -=- The Next Generation

At 02:04 PM 9/4/98 +1000, The Astronauts' Guild wrote:
>
>Some people have suggested stargates, wormholes etc.

I have used wormholes in my SJ game. I found it refreshing to get away from
the whole exploration theme, switching to a multi-sphere campaign. Let's
face it; travel times in SJ leave much to be desired.

>In my actual campaign which has spread cancerously across time and space,
>etc. I have had a few different advances shown in alternate futures, most
>based on the "The Nail" principle - one event or fact alters markedly so
>that the future is a somewhat simplified but challenging one:
>
>NO HELMS - starbeast chariots, planar travel, Planejammers and Timejammers

This is a pretty cool idea. The Starshield novels deal with a mixture of
tech and magic. Some ships use creatures called phase dragons to pull
starships. This could be a decent conversion as an alternate way to power a
ship.

>CHEAP HELMS - Spelljammer - The Next Generation - very trekky

IMC, other races/nations have created their own helms. I hate making the
Arcane the sole seller/distributor of stable, powerful helms.

>WAR IN HEAVEN - Godjammers, fleets of warships, militarised future with
>			cheap "spell packages" learned by "war wizards"
>
>STASIS - Arcane and other shadowy races maintain a technology embargo keeping
>			wildspace as is for centuries. This ends when an
>			external threat race not in on the game crashes
>			through the known spheres, butchering as it goes.

I've tinkered with a plot for a future campaign where an ancient race
enters the Known Spheres from say the Outer Spheres...sorta like the Rim
from B5. In fact, the First Ones of B5 could be used to explain the origins
of spelljamming technology. They do of course have bigger, better ships and
more powerful helms. Maybe the Arcane were the servitor race of the elder
races, who left for some reason. The Arcane decided to sell spelljamming
technology to others, keeping the secrets of helms and such for themselves.

>MIXTURE - the "Dragon Magazine" future as a player called it, and the
>			actual future of the campaign, near enough - the
>			advances each sort of good spelljammer has are
>			incorporated into "modernised" designs, more
>			common "living ships" grown from bizarre wildspace
>			flora and fauna, some mixture of technology
>			Golems as robots, "Half Golem" cyborgs, energy weapon
>			"wands", "staves", gunnes and magic powered armour
>			("gnomeworks" supposedly, actually not) with older
>			style space swashbuckling - a relative golden age,
>			that surely cannot last forever.

I'm sure this will raise the hackles of some list members with the cries of
 "Go play Star Wars, not AD&D if you want robots and lasers" or some other
crap.

Your ideas sound interesting. I'd love to hear more details about your
campaign, especially the Godjammers.


Toby Mekelburg
toby@????.net	mekelbur@??????.edu
My Realms page at http://www.lava.net/~toby
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