Re: Mystaraspace

If you haven't already, you should also post this over on the Mystara  
boards or the MML. It will be quickly archived on the Official  
Mystara Fansite to be preserved for posterity. :)


Eric Anondson

On Sep 1, 2007, at 2:36 PM, Matt Hoffman wrote:

> Here are some rough notes on a possible design for Mystaraspace. My
> goal here was to create something that is usable in both the native
> OD&D setting and the 2nd edition setting. I also wanted to preserve
> Mystaraspace's unique physical conditions, which I thought was okay
> since Spelljammer has always allowed for unique sphere designs and
> travel conditions (although this does cut rather against the grain,
> since it is quite different from any other sphere of travelled space).
>
> Some of my numbers might be fuzzy, and some of my wordings might not
> make any sense on first read through. Before I send this I should
> give credit where it's due and list "Vaults of Pandius" and various
> Mystara products as my sources. In particular it must be said that I
> am using an existing Mystaraspace layout designed by Giovanni
> Paniccia over at Pandius, since it was already done and struck me as
> very much in keeping with the layouts of other spheres in the core
> Spelljammer lexicon.
>
> ---M.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> ~Mystaraspace (a proposal)~
>
> The problems of integrating Mystaraspace into an ongoing AD&D
> SPELLJAMMER campaign depend upon a DM's willingness to bend, break or
> reinterpret the standard rules of Spelljammer physics. There are, as
> I see it, two options in adapting Mystaraspace to a Spelljammer
> campaign:
>
> 	-1- Ignore existing Mystaran space travel rules and assume the
> universality of Spelljammer physics as given in the main SJ boxed
> set. While this is an awfully heavy-handed approach, it does make
> things simple and allows for an existing Spelljammer campaign to
> integrate Mystara smoothly, and without much effort.
> 	-2- Accomodate Mystaran space travel rules and integrate them with
> those of Spelljammer. This is the tack I have taken with this draft
> proposal.
>
> I should say that research for this draft has been somewhat
> problematic; while my library is quite extensive, I can't claim to
> own every Mystara product. Access to the archives of Dragon and
> various indices and references thereto have aided a great deal.
> Still, the core of this draft owes credit to the "Champions of
> Mystara" product, the various installments of the "Princess Ark," and
> the authors at the Vaults of Pandius (from whose work I cherry-picked
> based on nothing more than my personal editorial discretion).
>
> ~Unique Wildspace Conditions of Mystaraspace~
>
> Mystaraspace is a remote sphere that is difficult for spelljammers to
> access. It ranks somewhere between Krynnspace and Clusterspace in
> this regard, with respect to the challenge associated with entering
> the sphere.
>
> The crystal shell of Mystaraspace has its own gravity, active on both
> the outside and inside surfaces of the shell. While this in itself is
> not unusual for a crystal sphere, the fact that the radius within the
> shell's gravitational pull exerts a "magic-dead" zone is unique, and
> quite dangerous for spelljammers attempting to breach the sphere.
> Ships which enter the shell's pull start to suffer from the "magic
> dead" zone, and helmsmen who do not recognize the sensation quickly
> risk crashing as the shell draws them toward its surface and the helm
> loses power. (as this is only a draft, I haven't crunched any numbers
> re: sphere's circumference, range of gravity pull, and effects of
> "magic-dead" zone based on proximity to the sphere)
>
> Entering the sphere safely requires staying outside the range of the
> shell's pull and finding a vortex (properly called a "Vortigern's
> Vortex"), which were first observed as part of the Shyshield which
> covers the habitable worlds of Mystaraspace (see planets, below).
> While the vortices that appear in Mystaraspace's crystal shell are
> not exactly the same thing, the concept is similar: a temporary rip
> or tear opens in the shell material -- the cause of this is not known
> -- and the airless void inside the shell creates a "whirlhole"  
> effect  
> that sucks in the surrounding phlogiston. Though the phlogiston
> dissipates immediately after crossing the crystal shell's boundary,
> the sucking effect of the vortex remains and the physical force
> thereof is strong enough to draw objects within its range into the
> Mystaran sphere.
>
> A spelljamming pilot has a straight shot at entry into Mystaraspace
> through one of these vortices. By steering directly into the center
> of the vortex at top speed, a ship can pass the "magic-dead" zone and
> be carried by a combination of momentum and the sucking force of the
> vortex into Mystaraspace. This maneuver carries some significant risk
> to it, as the swirling vortex can batter a vessel around if the pilot
> is not wary.
>
> It should be noted that the vortex has suction on both sides of the
> crystal shell, though the reason for this is not clear (since the
> interior of the shell is void). The same maneuver can thus be
> undertaken to exit the sphere, requiring a full-speed charge into a
> vortex and then a slingshot maneuver back out again.
>
> In addition to the perils of flying through the vortex itself, there
> are other dangers -- not the least of which is the temporary nature
> of Mystaraspace's vortices. Vortices in the crystal shell remain open
> for a day at most, and they open and close fairly rapidly (within the
> span of an hour). Entering a vortex while it is closing increases the
> risk of being knocked around by the swirling forces of the vortex, as
> the opening through which the suction force is drawn becomes smaller
> and smaller.
>
> There is also the off-chance that passing through a vortex results in
> a high-speed, difficult-to-avert crash with another vessel that is
> coming the opposite direction. (personally, I find such a prospect
> hysterically funny, myself :-p )
>
> Once within Mystara's wildspace, it should be noted that Mystara does
> not *have* wildspace. Or, at least, not like most spelljammers are
> used to. The void is airless and very cold at the outermost points of
> the sphere -- much colder than normal. As a result of this, native
> Mystaran "voidships" are always air-tight, because the properties of
> Mystaraspace do not normally allow objects in space to retain an
> atmosphere.
>
> Spelljamming helms are a convenient work-around to this problem.
> Whether intended by the Arcane who invented them or not, most types
> of magical helms (including major, minor, series and lifejammer
> helms, among others) allow a vessel to retain atmospheric integrity
> within the vacuum of Mystaraspace. This retained vacuum also allows a
> vessel entering Mystaraspace to retain warmth -- for a while.
> However, if steps are not taken toward preserving that warmth soon
> after entering Mystaraspace (such as by lighting a furnace, or
> magically warming the air), the ship's atmosphere will gradually grow
> colder (here the rules from "Princess Ark" detailing freezing in
> space can apply). Naturally, the conditions of airlessness and
> freezing temperatures make it highly dangerous for crew to leave the
> ship's atmosphere once within Mystaraspace.
>
> Gravity is also different in Mystaraspace, per the physical rules
> detailed in "Princess Ark." Reverse gravity planes are no longer
> reversed; ships not prepared accordingly for this irregularity are in
> for quite a shock (especially for crew working/rooming on a ship's
> reversed lower decks). While all objects in space do still have
> gravity, it is always unidirectional. A vessel's gravity plane has a
> "positive" side that pulls objects down, and a negative side that
> repulses objects away. As standard for Spelljammer physics, however,
> larger objects trump smaller ones whenever two gravitational forces
> come within reach of each other.
>
> ~Worlds of Mystaraspace~
> (here I directly credit Giovanni Paniccia, whose layout of
> Mystaraspace I found most compatible with Spelljammer)
>
> Primary: Ixion (Spherical Fire Body)
> 	Uninhabited, though flush with gates to the Plane of Fire.
>
> Valerias (Spherical Earth Body, class E)
> 	The closest world to Ixion, only the Sollux and select other fire-
> elemental races are native here.
>
> Mystara (Hollow Spheircal Body, class E)
> 	The location of the Known World and Hollow World settings.
> Spelljamming is very rare here, as the Arcane have some as-yet
> unexplained aversion to entering or doing business in this sphere.
> Skyship technology, however, is very common; Skyships are easily
> enough converted into "Voidships" by making them air-tight and
> climate-controlled.
>
> Matera (Earth Body; moon of Mystara)
> 	The primary moon of Mystara, lifeless and featureless. Its waxing
> and waning cycles govern the tides and lycanthropy on Mystara, and
> one of its large craters houses a planar portal to the Immortal City
> of Pandius.
>
> Patera (Earth Body; moon of Mystara)
> 	A normally invisible second moon of Mystara, called Patera by the
> Mystaran Immortals, and called Myoshima by the moon's inhabitants.
> Myoshima is the home of several small warring nations of Rakasta,
> Pachydermions and Vanara, though evidence exists that humans may have
> once lived there in the distant past. Contact between Patera and
> Mystara is possible and frequent enough that there are running
> skirmishes between Rakastan Voidships and Heldannic Warbirds, both in
> the space between the two worlds and in the atmosphere of Patera. The
> dominant power on Patera is the Empire of Myoshima, ruled by a
> Rakastan warrior-elite, though a loose confederation lead by the
> theocracy of Rajahstan (ruled by a Pachydermion and Vanara-dominated
> clerical hierarchy) opposes them. The Imperials are the primary users
> of Sky/Voidship technology, while the Rajahstanis have not yet been
> able to deploy a significant airborne presence.
>
> Vanya/Rathanos (Spherical Earth Body, class E)
> 	This world has two names, given by the native astronomers of
> Mystara. Thyatians call the world Vanya because it is cold and gray
> during its "winter" phase, while Ylari astronomers call it Rathanos
> because it is bright red in the summer. The changing color and
> climate of the world is due to its wide, elliptical orbit which takes
> it very very far from Ixion, and then very very close to Ixion.
> The world is inhabited by two populations, which dominate the world
> alternatively. In the winter, Frost Salamanders rule the world's
> surface. Just before the onset of summer, the Frost Salamanders seal
> themselves within subterranean burrows and hibernate. Then, when the
> world is red and fiery, the Salamanders awaken from their own
> hibernative cycle and rule the surface until winter begins its
> approach. Neither race has any interaction with the other, nor do
> they harbor any hatred or animosity between them.
>
> Asterius (Diskworld Earth Body, class E)
> 	This diskworld is all that remains of a Blackmoor colony. Having
> been cut-off from the motherland for centuries, the technology-
> deprive descendents have cultivated a civilization not unlike one
> that might be found on Mystara. The world revolves around Ixion and
> subtly rotates such that part of the topside of Asterius is always
> facing the sun. The revolution is faster than the disk's rotative
> compensation, such that the world constantly moves between twilight
> and noon, the sun seeming to move back and forth from one side to the
> other and back again across the sky, never reaching total nighttime.
> On the topside there is one major city, Asterion, and the inhabitants
> are all human and elven, with a sizable half-elven population.
> On the underside, however, are those who did not survive the collapse
> of the Blackmooran empire so well. These are Lightning Zombies,
> rendered undead by the radiation of broken-down Blackmooran ruins.
> Whereas the topsiders enjoy eternal day, the Lightning Zombies of the
> underside languish through cold, endless night, with only fleeting
> glimpses of the daylight that once was. Scholars theorize that
> Asterius used to make full rotations and share daylight equally
> between both sides, but something since the fall of Blackmoor has
> changed, and now the two sides are relegated to eternal day and
> eternal night. (a further extension of this theory would suggest that
> Asterius is an artificial world created by the Blackmoorans)
>
> Tarastia (Spherical Air Body, class G)
> 	This world is known to its inhabitants as "Eloysia" (detailed in the
> "Five Coins for a Kingdom" master adventure; will add more detail
> after I've fully read this module).
>
> Khoronus (Spherical Air Body, class G with rings of asteroids)
> 	A gas giant comprised of foul, toxic and utterly unbreathable air.
> Its rings, however, are home to numerous asteroids and small
> planetoids, most of which have Skyshields and are populated. (G.
> Paniccia suggests this as the optional Mystaran home for the Rock of
> Bral; given my take on Mystaraspace being so isolated, I don't think
> Bral is appropriate here)
>
> Ordana (Spherical Air Body, class E)
> 	This world is Old Alphatia, now comprised of what are known as the
> "Star Kingdoms." The three kingdoms of Delthar, Belthar and Gammar
> are all that remain on the shards of planetary debris that drift in
> the skyshielded remains of Alphatia's atmosphere. The city of
> Kabarkhand, base of the neutral Guild of Merchants, is the major
> spelljamming/voidship port on this world.
>
> Protius (Spherical Water Body, class D)
> 	A watery sphere with no surface land, only a submerged earthen crust
> surrounding a fiery core of magma. Aquatic races detailed in "The Sea
> People" OD&D accessory are native here, and they are not much for
> skyships or spelljamming.
>
> ~ Character notes ~
>
> Incorporating Mystaraspace into a Spelljammer campaign that includes
> the broader spectrum of AD&D worlds will surely lead to bringing
> Mystaran PCs into the party. Because of the highly fluid
> transferability between AD&D and OD&D, this is usually easy. I
> suggest the following guidelines to help a DM along:
>
> 	-Character Races and Classes: Character Races native to Mystaraspace
> are often handled in OD&D sources as self-contained racial classes.
> You might consider allowing Dwarves and Elves from Mystara the option
> of either adopting AD&D character classes, or using racial classes
> instead. You can modify these racial classes however best fits your
> campaign and style of play; I myself use a complete 2nd edition THAC0
> conversion and have most demi-humans use the attack tables of
> Warriors, unless there is something that convinces me to do otherwise.
> 	-Skills and Proficiencies: Allow native Mystaran characters to use
> native Mystaran skills. Similarly, allow AD&D characters to use AD&D
> skills. Crossover (such as in the Red Steel Savage Cost setting)
> should be possible, such that a Savage Coast fighter using a 2nd
> edition kit would use the proficiency system, while a racial-classed
> Halfling would use the skill system.
> 	-Weapon Proficiencies: Here you might consider streamlining things
> by using only one or the other between the OD&D and AD&D systems of
> weapon proficiencies. If you don't mind being diverse and keeping up
> two sets of rules, you can allow native Mystaran characters (using
> OD&D classes) to use the OD&D system of weapon mastery, while
> allowing characters with 2nd edition classes and kits (including
> Savage Coast characters) to use the AD&D system of weapon
> specialization (and by way of balance, you should probably extend
> this to include the Player's Option mastery, high mastery and grand
> mastery rules).
> 	-Skyship/Voidship Conversions: The Skyship stats in "Princess Ark"
> require only slight modification before they can be used in a
> Spelljammer game. Here are the conversion factors:
> 		"Airspeed" for Skyships is given in terms of a normal move score,
> which means that most common Skyships are actually fairly slow (your
> average Sloop is given an Air Speed of 140', which is equivalent to
> the AD&D move rate of 14). More advanced Skyships are faster (the
> Heldannic Warbird [which is really just about the coolest-looking D&D
> airship ever designed] has a given airspeed of 360', flying at speed
> 36), but how does this translate into SR? Well, a move of 12
> indicates the ability to move 120 yards (360 feet) in one minute. 1
> point of SR is given as a move factor of 50 (500 yards/minute) in the
> air (Concordance of Arcane Space, p51), which means that most
> Skyships cannot actually achieve even 1 point of SR. To be generous,
> and for the sake of tactical integration, I recommend some rounding
> of the Skyship move rates. Anything at or above Airspeed 250 should
> be considered to have 1 SR for the purposes of tactical movement.
> Anything below Airspeed 250 should be considered to have 1/2 SR, and
> is therefore only able to move tactically once every other combat
> round. Alternatively, for "Goundling" vessels converted into
> Skyships, you can just use the Spelljammer Groundling equivalent.
> Whatever method you use, voidships should still be considered capable
> of reaching "spelljamming speeds," thus enabling them to travel to
> places like Patera or Ordana.
> 		"Maneuver Factor" is a conversion that needed a bit of toying with.
> The MF number for Skyships is given in terms of a fraction, moves/
> rounds; that is, the number of turns a ship can make in a single
> round (or, for less maneuverable ships, the number of rounds it takes
> to turn). This is roughly analagous to Spelljammer's Maneuver Class
> system, where a ship's MC governs the number of times a ship can turn
> during tactical maneuvers (while expending SR). Here is the
> conversion that I use, very fast and very dirty:
> 			MF 1 = MC A
> 			MF 1/2 = MC B
> 			MF 1/3 = MC C
> 			MF 1/4 = MC D
> 			MF 1/5 = MC E
> 			MF 1/6 and worse = MC F
> 		"Lift Capacity" should be either ignored (since SJ has no
> equivalent I'm aware of) or incorporated somehow into SJ flight rules.
> 		"Hull Points" in Spelljammer tend to match up nicely with a ship's
> listed tonnage. The Skyships given in OD&D appear to use a different
> rubric, which means that most Skyships are either a fair deal tougher
> or a fail deal frailer than an SJ ship of comparable size. You know
> what? It doesn't matter. Use all hull points as listed.
> 		"Hull" can be used to determine how a Skyship should save on the
> item save tables, as it lists the type of material used to build the
> ship. In most cases this will be "thick wood," but use your judgement
> here.
>
>
>
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