Re: Sci-fi and Spelljammer? - Was: Pirates

From: "Mark Vorwerk" <ZEPHYRMEV@???.com>
Subject: Re: [SPELLJAMMER] Pirates - Was: Places: Dragon Rock Map


> David,you are the greatest.Do you have a list or page for scfi stuff?I am
> setting up a scfi campaign and need help.zephyrmev.

Sorry I don't have a list of sci-fi stuff yet (if I was the David you meant). I was
planning to put some links on my website, but haven't gotten to making that section yet.
If you have a specific question on sci-fi I might be able to point you in the right
direction. If it is definitely not SJ related then contact me offlist, but if it might be
a topic useful for SJ games then other people here might be able to help you as well.

You can find quite a few sci-fi resources if you use something like Google, although it
can be a bit hard to wade through the pages that are dedicated to films, books and things
like that. Typing several words can narrow down the search a bit. Then when you find a
good site you can look around the rest of it.

Click on Google's Advanced Search link to see a *lot* of tricks you can use to do research
for any sort of subject. Did you know for example that you can do a search of just *one*
website? (For a SJ gamesmaster/player than means that if you go to a SJ site that unlike
BtM doen't have a "search this site" box, you can run a site search for yourself by
copying the URL into Google's "Advanced Search" page. If you can't remember what page
something is on this can save you a lot of time.)

The website in my sig contains information for a science fiction live action role playing
game (called Virtual Eclipse), so you (or some SJ authors looking for some sci-fi stuff)
might find a *few* bits of inspiration there. (The content is all copyrighted by Virtual
Eclipse, so please don't rip anything off as I'm not authorised to let people do that.
I'll give you a hand offlist if you want to create something *similar* for sci-fi or
onlist if you want to create something *similar* for SJ.) The main website page is in my
sig but here is the sci-fi page:

http://virtualeclipse.aboho.com/scifi/

I've put a couple of things that might also be of some interest to Spelljammer authors in
my encyclopedia. One thing I think has a lot of potential in wildspace (or real space if
you do sci-fi) is LaGrangian points:

http://virtualeclipse.aboho.com/scifi/pedia/l.htm#lagrangianpoint

There are five of these gravitationally stable points. L4 and L5 are the only totally
stable points and things at the others would need the occasional nudge with a spelljamming
helm to stay there. Any of them would make a good place for an elven base similar to
Lionheart (or a spacestation). They can also be called "libration points" if you want to
avoid the name of the Earth scientist that named them.

A related thing is Trojan Asteroids:

http://virtualeclipse.aboho.comscifi/pedia/t.htm#trojanasteroid

The "real" Trojans are asteroids in the orbit of Jupiter, but you could put Trojans into
orbit ahead or behind any planet a conventional planetary system (one where the planets
orbit the centre of the sphere). (In sci-fi you need to use the term "star system" but
never say this for SJ stuff.)

The principle of either of these things can either work with a sun and a planet (star and
a planet if you are doing sci-fi) or a planet and a moon, so Trojans could be placed in
the same orbit as a moon. The third object needs to be lot smaller than the other two, but
you could probably have a Bral-sized asteroid following (or preceding) a planet the size
of Earth or a Bral-sized "object" (see below for why I called this an object) following
(or preceding) a moon the size of Earth's moon.

The 3e FRCS already has introduced the concept of Trojans to D&D space with their
description of the Tears of Selune stating that they are Trojans.

Technically the FRCS also makes a mistake (in real scientific terms) by calling the Tears
"asteroids". *Real* asteroids orbit the sun and real science would call the Tears moons
(or perhaps moonlets). However, I think that while technically incorrect, the term
asteroids "feels" better for the Tears. (Many of the tiny moons in our Solar System are
asteroids that were captured by the planet's gravity.)

In SJ fantasy terms an asteroid is being defined by its size rather than its orbit. This
sort of thing is something for any SJ writer to remember if they want to borrow from
science fiction. Science fiction brings along an element of scientific baggage that can
interfere with the fantasy feel of SJ, if you are not careful. As SJ has such a small
product line, we need to grab ideas from other sources to top it up, but we also need to
run those things through some sort of adaptation process to try to ensure that they don't
damage the fantasy that makes SJ so special.

David "Big Mac" Shepheard
Virtual Eclipse Role Playing Club
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/virtualeclipselrp/links/d20_system_001071937434/Spelljammer_001071430476
http://virtualeclipse.aboho.com/