Re: Spelljamming speed, and invisibility

Wow, this sounds just like the way I ran my old campaign. I constructed
everything just like you describe in yours with the hyperlimit being the
crystal sphere and only being visible from beyond hyper (in the Phlogiston).
I also used the same reasoning about it being a form of subspace allowing
ships to "apparently" move FTL due to the shorter distances between spheres
in subspace. Likewise I implied that the Plogiston was the stuff that made
up the insides of atomic particles (raw magic, some positive and some
negative). I also used the color idea for shells, but I did not codify it in
any way; some shells were just different colors and I left it as one of the
Great Mysteries. I ran a very successful campaign for about 20 years with
that same formula and it does work quite well in fact. And as far as mixing
sci-fi type adventures and fantasy, well lets just say even if it isn't
everybody's bag, it sure was fun having sword slingers and spell casters
trying to fight off the alien from "Alien" the movie. You have a great
sounding campaign setting and I wish you the best with it. If it is even
half as fun as mine was you will never regret it. Good luck Coyote.

V/R FC2 Riley, James R. 
cel: 228-249-2967
e-mail: jamesriley@???.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Spelljammer Setting Discussion
[mailto:SPELLJAMMER-L@??????.???????.com] On Behalf Of Danton May
Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2006 1:44 PM
To: SPELLJAMMER-L@??????.???????.com
Subject: Re: [SPELLJAMMER] Spelljamming speed, and invisibility


I have made a cosmology that blends sci-fi concepts
with spelljamming, and in it you can't jump into
"hyperspace" until you are at a certain distance from
the entire solar system and all it's bodies.  This
distance is spherical in shape, and is called the
stellar limit or stellar sphere.  When you jump into
"hyperspace' you can see the stellar limit as a huge
crystalline sphere surrounding the entire star system
you just jumped out of.  The stellar limit is not
detectable before you make the jump, but once the jump
is made and you are outside the star system and normal
space the stellar limit appears to be a solid surface
- a crystal sphere.  Some spheres are transparent
(most are) and some are red, black, etc.  The color
depends on the energies coming from the worlds that
make up the star system inside the sphere.

"Hyperspace" is really the pholgiston, and looks and
acts the same, but I call it "aetherspace" just to
make a distinction.  It is not really another plane or
dimension, but rather more like subspace, where there
is an absence of the inner and outer planer energies
that create planets and worlds.  This makes things
more simple, and the laws of reality are less complex
in aetherspace.


> I *really* don't like to mix sci-fi stuff with SJ
> because SJ is a *fantas*y 
> setting and is not really designed for sci-fi
> concepts (which usually rely 
> on real scientific concepts that are not compatible
> with the SJ universe). 

I mix the two in a certain way, where it is still
fantasy but there is a little bit of science fiction
thrown in.  The laws of physics still apply, as in
science fiction, but they change in each star system
and in different regions of space.  They're not a
constant thing throughout all space and reality, as is
assumed in science fiction.  This variability in the
laws of physics is what creates magic.  

This way you can tailor each adventure to the tastes
of whoever you are playing with by just moving the
adventure from one star system to another, and if they
want to move from say, a mostly fantasy-style game
into a science fiction-style game, they can and they
can use the same characters.  All they have to do is
move to another part of space where the laws of
physics are different.


- Coyote, the Desert Dog (Danton May)
http://www.coyotecry.com
I like trees.

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