How many ppl here actualy held a long standing AD&D Spelljammer campaign?? [Archive] - Wizards Community

How many ppl here actualy held a long standing AD&D Spelljammer campaign?? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Kishpa
10-21-07, 12:12 AM How many ppl here actualy held a long standing AD&D Spelljammer campaign??
cathode_angel
10-29-07, 01:56 PM I did.

Though, I tended to throw out some of the cheesier things, like space hamsters.
Nightdruid
10-29-07, 07:33 PM I'm part of a PBEM that is going on something like 10 years or more...:)
Cornaliss
10-31-07, 03:17 AM I held a good campain for about 6 months before . the group broke up ... Yeah i know im a lousy speller
Bedlamtom
11-02-07, 09:06 PM I ran one for over a year, even crashed the PC's on a planet of Terrasques all the smart creatures lived underground

One is tough try fighting 30!!!! Muhahahaahahaha! I loved my Spell Jammer Campaign!
Terry Hawkins
11-03-07, 05:21 PM I have run two Spelljammer campaigns. Both were single sphere. The first by accident, the second by design. My first game was a group of friends who liked the idea of merchant traders. I had a map of the sphere and there were resouces on each of the main worlds/moons/asteroids. They had a tradesman and went about buying and selling. One of the players enjoyed keeping track of the merchandice more than he did combat. As a result I recall that it they were always quite wealthy and were very well decked out in magic items. They got to about 10th level before it ended with some of the players moving away.

About 6 months after the first game ended the Astormundi Cluster boxed set came out. I saw lots of potental to the setting. So I re-worked quite a bit of it and got a group together that was about half of the old group and some new SJ enthusiasts. We followed the same primius of merchant traders, but this time there was more of a back plot. The war between the Antillans and the Illithids was always present. And they eventually started spying on the illithids, although they seemed to hate the Antillans just as much. They seemed to gravitate to the colder Thoric regions. I think some of their best adventures were there and they liked that area. At some point during this game we converted to 3rd edition. I posted several bits and pieces from my game to the SJ list server at that time, and Static was nice enough to pick them up and post them to this web site (thanks).

I have not done anything with SJ recently, but keep wanting to. Since then I have run an Eberron game from 1st to 12th. and have been running the Cauldrin, Schakled City series for the last two years. They are getting close to finishing that, so maybe it's time to break out my old SJ materials and update them.

Terry
havard
11-06-07, 09:48 AM I never ran an SJ campaign, but back in the early 90s I was a player in one that was centered around Krynnspace and the Rock of Braal. I remember two recurring villains were a pair of Draconian Aurak brothers. Also, there were a few other memorable NPCs like Fyodor, the LE Fighter who was loyal to our party, but really enjoyed hurting people and Lancelot the wimpy Paladin :D

In later years I have gotten more interested in ways of using SJ with my Mystara campaign...

Havard
ORC_Bethanna
11-18-07, 12:58 AM My home (table) game is Spelljammer. My players love it. It was actually at the request of my son that I start one. Before than I had run a Planescape campaign that lasted about a year, it was centered around the World Serpent Inn. And before that I ran a Ravenloft game for about 6 years.

The current campaign is about 6 months old. I do incorporate a lot of Planescape. The characters have had to search for planer portals large enough to fit their ship through :) They currently operate a Galleon. I think they had planned a less traditional looking vessel, but I like the fact that you can use it on water. Some of the portals they are using are on rivers. They have also travelled around Realmspace. Soon they will be in Krynnspace. It should be fun.
DarthCestual
11-18-07, 04:08 PM I'd actually taken the Planescape setting and converted each plane into worlds that would populate about a dozen or so spheres. Tossed in some trade empires, criminal organizations, and the odd outpost town made of wrecked spelljammer vessels floating in the Flow in between them all. I ended up using it for a Fading Suns campaign that worked amazingly well. If I managed to get another group together that wanted to play SpellJammer, I'd use the same set-up.
ikki
01-31-08, 10:59 AM wealth was a big one.. each ship overtaken easily added 100.000 gp from the helm alone.
By 15th level they already had multiple custom design ships.. a small world etc.. extra cash at 50 mil..

Began resembling a mogul monopoly game more than anything else.
Jaid
01-31-08, 09:52 PM wealth was a big one.. each ship overtaken easily added 100.000 gp from the helm alone.
By 15th level they already had multiple custom design ships.. a small world etc.. extra cash at 50 mil..

Began resembling a mogul monopoly game more than anything else.

yes... i personally think that helms (and hulls, for that matter) should be drastically reduced in price for specifically that reason. it's silly that the party can capture, say, a hammership, and then have enough money that they and their crew (if they split it evenly, which they probably wouldn't) would most likely have enough money to retire. (250k gold pieces for the major helm that is probably powering a hammership).
Silverblade The Enchanter
01-31-08, 09:57 PM Had game lasting for a year while back, and bits of SJ lore still get thrown into current games :)

And Space Hampsters RULE!
"GO FOR THE EYES, BOO! GO FOR THE EYES! RAAAAASK!"
:D
bad_credit
02-04-08, 07:07 AM Hello all, I'm new to these boards, but an old Spelljammer fan. I started playing D&D 2nd ed. when I was 16, and I'm playing 3.5 now that I'm 30. Spelljammer is my favorite setting, but I've never been able to find a group to play in it. I always thought Spelljammer was the most original and creative setting TSR ever produced. Some old time gaming friends of mine who hate TSR, wizards, and D&D have even admitted to me that they agree with me on this.

Years ago, I read all the Spelljammer novels and all the comics I could find, and I've lurked at www.spelljammer.org forever. My current D&D group despises the space setting, and refused to play the 3rd ed. revamp I got out of that Polyhedron mag. Some good came out of it, though, all of these oldtime gamers gave me all their old Spelljammer 2nd ed. books and boxed sets, so now I have a nice stack of material I'm currently reading through while on the toilet.

I'm tempted post on the local hobby shop's peg board to try to find a local Spelljammer game, but I know it's a long shot. Anybody here have a pbem campaign with an opening?

If I find a group, I may have to gm myself, which brings up the question do I do it in 2.0 or 3.5? How do I want to do vehicle combat? It's a big part of Spelljammer. I think D&D vehicle combat is WAY too complicated, although it doesn't have the square root equation like in GURPS. I gm'ed Feng Shui RPG for years, and love their simplistic vehicle combat and chase rules, but they are probably TOO simple, but I would use them before anything else right now.
Silverblade The Enchanter
02-04-08, 09:00 AM I think for 3.5 ed, it's best ro run SJ ships as *creatures*. All attacks, AC etc in one format like a monster.

SO you could have it liek this:

SQUIDSHIP
HP: (as per SJ rules) DR: 5/Heavy Weapon (Sj ships should have DR similar to their hardness, only heavy wepaons should bypass it, or attacks from Huge+ creatures)

N Gargantuan Construct (special)

Init: (as per helmsman) Senses: Spot (as per best watchman)

Languages: as per crew

AC: as per ship type, but it should be improved, IMHO, by about 5 over what SJ has.
Immune: crits from non-heavy weapons or major spells.
Resist: Electricity 5 (just a personal opinion, as electricity isn't going to have as great an effect, IMHO)

Fort Ref WIl (all as per Helmsman, otherwise, +5, as it's a magical device)

Speed: Fly or Swim (as per ship rating?)
Melee: Ram attack + (as per helmsman's attack, -4 penalty for size etc)
Ranged: multiple attacks each as per crew an dwepaon, but with reload times.

Base Atk: not applicable.
Atk Options: Ram, heavy wepaons (ranged)
Special Actions: none
Abilities: Str 35 Dex 6 Con - I - (as helmsan) Wis - (or as helmsan) Cha - (or as helsman)

SQ: inhabited construct, helm.

Feats: nil

Skills: Hide (as per helsman with -12 for size)

Think that works? :)
Jaid
02-04-08, 07:31 PM i would probably just treat it as an animated object with a lot more attacks than usual, if i was gonna treat it like a creature ;)

alternately, there *is* a third edition revision on BtM... it hasn't been playtested nearly as much as it should be (i think a lot of the SJ players still use 2e) but it does exist.
bad_credit
02-05-08, 12:26 AM Hmmm, running vehicles as monsters is a pretty creative solution. The pilot still has to have a skill with the vehicle, though, right? I would assume it would be a dex skill, but I could also see spelljamming being int or wis based because it would be used by spellcasters and it's described as an almost symbiotic link between helmsman and ship. Heck, the Spider Moon 3.0 revamp in Polyhedron even had a Spelljammer ace prestige class.

So, my question is, how would the pilot's skill affect the monster? Man, I gotta read the 3.0 version again, even though I wouldn't use the setting. I like the original setting, it just needs some filled in history for the last several years.

I'm thinking my explanation for why Spelljamming is so rare in 3.5 is because of the events of the last Spelljammer novel. All the fleets met in battle to try to capture the Spelljammer, and fought each other and then got wrecked by it. I postulate that helms and ships are really rare now. I would basically use the 2.0 setting, but 3.5 rules, and say that years have passed, the spacelanes are closed to trade, but space is still there.

It's just waiting to be re-explored, and everything old is new again. There's a lot of salvage opportunity at the site of the last fleet battle, and a lot of danger. The spacelanes are much wilder now, and filled with unchecked monsters and pirates. Places like the Rock of Bral have had a hard time surviving.

Hmmm, then again, maybe the Arcane, or Mercane or whatever they call themselves now, would keep pumping out helms. Yet then again, maybe that's why 3.5 made all these Spelljammer races groundbased, including the Mer/arcane; they've given up space.

(BTW, I could describe the Feng Shui vehicle combat rules in about one paragraph, seriously. I like how they work, too. I wouldn't quote directly from the book, but would it get me in trouble with the mods to post them?)
Silverblade The Enchanter
02-05-08, 02:33 AM Cut helm prices by a factor of 5, or even 10, to avoid the crazy problems ;)
littlejohn333
02-05-08, 12:44 PM I'm new to the whole D&D thing but want to learn. My preferred setting would be Spelljammer. It really seems to have caught my imagination. However I'm a complete newb and liveing over seas at the moment in the Philippines so would like to find a game and tutor online. I'm sure this would take a bit of time in chat, I use both Yahoo ad MSN chat. Would greatly appreciate a teacher.

I did buy a couple boxed sets and supplements for Spelljammer through Amazon several months back but they are still in the states. If needed I could buy the online PDFs though.

Thanks

littlejohn333
Jaid
02-05-08, 03:27 PM Cut helm prices by a factor of 5, or even 10, to avoid the crazy problems ;)

i would cut down the costs for the hulls as well, somewhat.

it's hard to justify a trading vessel that can earn a whopping 1d6*10 gp per spatial ton (this is using old 2e rules for the spelljamming trader kit) imo (that's before expenses such as crew, repairs, supplies, and so forth). 30 trips through dangerous territory before making your money back assuming you have 0 expenses just isn't seeming like motivation enough to see a private individual (or, for that matter, a trading company) to invest in a spelljamming ship (that's the old 2e cost for thick wood... suppose you could use thin wood and it would only be 500 gp per spatial ton), and you would have to add the cost of the helm to that too.

so yeah, if we're going to have a setting where spelljamming ships are common (kinda like how the spelljammer setting basically implies they are), they should probably all drop in price quite a bit, otherwise people would just be using an appropriately sized rock, simply because it's free.

incidentally, so long as people are signing up for a nonexistant PBEM game, i would certainly be interested in trying that out =P (2e or 3e, i have most of the 2e SJ stuff anyways but i don't know how we'd handle 3.5 if we did it)
bad_credit
02-06-08, 12:04 AM Dang, and here I was thinking that in my setting the helms and ships would be even more rare and therefore more expensive. I didn't realize it was such a problem.

The main detractor from Spelljammer in my current group says that there's no reason for ships when high level mages have planar travel spells. I point out the hauling of massive amounts of cargo, safer travel for lower level characters, and exploring beyond known regions so those aforementioned archmages can teleport there safely, but he won't listen.

I tell ya what, after the sheer hate and vitriol directed at me from my current D&D group over mentioning and liking Spelljammer, I really don't want to play with them anymore. I've been talked down to, and my every idea met with disdain and scorn and disrespect. Heck, one of them I'd like to punch in the face. I bring it up all the time now just because it ticks them off. It's become a running joke.

For example, I've been mocked by multiple people in my group for making the weakest character in our party every campaign. Yet, oddly enough, I'm forbidden from taking certain feats, and certain combinations of feats because they were found to be too powerful. Not to mention the items that were banned, etc.

The only character I ever made they liked was an outcast champion. Hmmm, funny that, considering it buffs other characters in the party so it benefits them, too. I liked it because it buffed others while still giving me actions, unlike a bard or marshall. Sigh, sorry about the kvitchfest.
Silverblade The Enchanter
02-06-08, 01:57 PM bad Credit,
Life is too short to put up with idiots, be they lovers, aquaintances or gamers! ;)

Jaid,
yes, but ships are expensive, for the sheer build time etc. But...raw mateirals on a gorudnlign world or asteroid above shouldn't be to high.
hm, you may have a point.

Littlejohn,
When the new digital online stuff for D&D is released, probably be lots of game groups using it ;)
Maldin
02-06-08, 02:21 PM ... I have a nice stack of material I'm currently reading through while ....
TMI!!

My long-running Greyhawk campaign branched out into SJ when the campaign setting box came out, and has continued ever since, so that is over 20 years of Spelljamming in a continuous campaign! We've had several groups of GH adventurers over the years that have ventured into Wildspace, two of the groups stayed there. Plus, one group that started in Wildspace (Bral).

One of the groups in particular has accumulated a fairly large number of ships (and helms) over their time. The issue of the helms' excessive value hasn't come up for a variety of reasons, although I'd certainly go along with the cutting of their value to 1/5th. SJ combat often results in very expensive damage to PC ships, and often selling salvaged ships is the only way to get that kind of cash. The PCs are often in a "hurry" as well (who wants to sit around a scummy port town for 3 weeks while the ship gets repaired) so they spend extra for quicker repairs.

Plus, they actually haven't wanted to sell any of the recovered helms so far... they have decided to build up a fleet of ships (which means ALOT of very expensive repairs to several heavily damaged ships), and start a shipping company. Not for profit (I've over-simplified it to say that any ship they lease out for trading basically makes enough profit to pay salaries and expenses), but because they've learned that a company with a certain number of operating ships gets a seat on Bral's Captains' Council... and they have decided that they dearly want that. Welcome to the world of Spelljammin' political intrigue. ;-)

Denis, aka "Maldin"
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
Loads of edition-independent Greyhawk material... and Spelljammer ship models!
littlejohn333
02-06-08, 08:32 PM bad Credit,
Life is too short to put up with idiots, be they lovers, aquaintances or gamers! ;)

Jaid,
yes, but ships are expensive, for the sheer build time etc. But...raw mateirals on a gorudnlign world or asteroid above shouldn't be to high.
hm, you may have a point.

Littlejohn,
When the new digital online stuff for D&D is released, probably be lots of game groups using it ;)

Um when will that be? I hadn't heard of it and will they have a version for spelljammer?
Jaid
02-07-08, 09:27 PM they haven't really specified when it will come out, but it's supposed to be in some way attached to 4th edition iirc.

as far as whether it has spelljammer, why would it need it? it won't be setting specific, and it has to be able to handle homebrew. the easiest way to resolve this is to just have it roll dice. no need to make it attached to anything specific.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Kishpa 10-21-07, 12:12 AM	How many ppl here actualy held a long standing AD&D Spelljammer campaign??
cathode_angel 10-29-07, 01:56 PM	I did. Though, I tended to throw out some of the cheesier things, like space hamsters.
Nightdruid 10-29-07, 07:33 PM	I'm part of a PBEM that is going on something like 10 years or more...:)
Cornaliss 10-31-07, 03:17 AM	I held a good campain for about 6 months before . the group broke up ... Yeah i know im a lousy speller
Bedlamtom 11-02-07, 09:06 PM	I ran one for over a year, even crashed the PC's on a planet of Terrasques all the smart creatures lived underground One is tough try fighting 30!!!! Muhahahaahahaha! I loved my Spell Jammer Campaign!
Terry Hawkins 11-03-07, 05:21 PM	I have run two Spelljammer campaigns. Both were single sphere. The first by accident, the second by design. My first game was a group of friends who liked the idea of merchant traders. I had a map of the sphere and there were resouces on each of the main worlds/moons/asteroids. They had a tradesman and went about buying and selling. One of the players enjoyed keeping track of the merchandice more than he did combat. As a result I recall that it they were always quite wealthy and were very well decked out in magic items. They got to about 10th level before it ended with some of the players moving away. About 6 months after the first game ended the Astormundi Cluster boxed set came out. I saw lots of potental to the setting. So I re-worked quite a bit of it and got a group together that was about half of the old group and some new SJ enthusiasts. We followed the same primius of merchant traders, but this time there was more of a back plot. The war between the Antillans and the Illithids was always present. And they eventually started spying on the illithids, although they seemed to hate the Antillans just as much. They seemed to gravitate to the colder Thoric regions. I think some of their best adventures were there and they liked that area. At some point during this game we converted to 3rd edition. I posted several bits and pieces from my game to the SJ list server at that time, and Static was nice enough to pick them up and post them to this web site (thanks). I have not done anything with SJ recently, but keep wanting to. Since then I have run an Eberron game from 1st to 12th. and have been running the Cauldrin, Schakled City series for the last two years. They are getting close to finishing that, so maybe it's time to break out my old SJ materials and update them. Terry
havard 11-06-07, 09:48 AM	I never ran an SJ campaign, but back in the early 90s I was a player in one that was centered around Krynnspace and the Rock of Braal. I remember two recurring villains were a pair of Draconian Aurak brothers. Also, there were a few other memorable NPCs like Fyodor, the LE Fighter who was loyal to our party, but really enjoyed hurting people and Lancelot the wimpy Paladin :D In later years I have gotten more interested in ways of using SJ with my Mystara campaign... Havard
ORC_Bethanna 11-18-07, 12:58 AM	My home (table) game is Spelljammer. My players love it. It was actually at the request of my son that I start one. Before than I had run a Planescape campaign that lasted about a year, it was centered around the World Serpent Inn. And before that I ran a Ravenloft game for about 6 years. The current campaign is about 6 months old. I do incorporate a lot of Planescape. The characters have had to search for planer portals large enough to fit their ship through :) They currently operate a Galleon. I think they had planned a less traditional looking vessel, but I like the fact that you can use it on water. Some of the portals they are using are on rivers. They have also travelled around Realmspace. Soon they will be in Krynnspace. It should be fun.
DarthCestual 11-18-07, 04:08 PM	I'd actually taken the Planescape setting and converted each plane into worlds that would populate about a dozen or so spheres. Tossed in some trade empires, criminal organizations, and the odd outpost town made of wrecked spelljammer vessels floating in the Flow in between them all. I ended up using it for a Fading Suns campaign that worked amazingly well. If I managed to get another group together that wanted to play SpellJammer, I'd use the same set-up.
ikki 01-31-08, 10:59 AM	wealth was a big one.. each ship overtaken easily added 100.000 gp from the helm alone. By 15th level they already had multiple custom design ships.. a small world etc.. extra cash at 50 mil.. Began resembling a mogul monopoly game more than anything else.
Jaid 01-31-08, 09:52 PM	wealth was a big one.. each ship overtaken easily added 100.000 gp from the helm alone. By 15th level they already had multiple custom design ships.. a small world etc.. extra cash at 50 mil.. Began resembling a mogul monopoly game more than anything else. yes... i personally think that helms (and hulls, for that matter) should be drastically reduced in price for specifically that reason. it's silly that the party can capture, say, a hammership, and then have enough money that they and their crew (if they split it evenly, which they probably wouldn't) would most likely have enough money to retire. (250k gold pieces for the major helm that is probably powering a hammership).
Silverblade The Enchanter 01-31-08, 09:57 PM	Had game lasting for a year while back, and bits of SJ lore still get thrown into current games :) And Space Hampsters RULE! "GO FOR THE EYES, BOO! GO FOR THE EYES! RAAAAASK!" :D
bad_credit 02-04-08, 07:07 AM	Hello all, I'm new to these boards, but an old Spelljammer fan. I started playing D&D 2nd ed. when I was 16, and I'm playing 3.5 now that I'm 30. Spelljammer is my favorite setting, but I've never been able to find a group to play in it. I always thought Spelljammer was the most original and creative setting TSR ever produced. Some old time gaming friends of mine who hate TSR, wizards, and D&D have even admitted to me that they agree with me on this. Years ago, I read all the Spelljammer novels and all the comics I could find, and I've lurked at www.spelljammer.org forever. My current D&D group despises the space setting, and refused to play the 3rd ed. revamp I got out of that Polyhedron mag. Some good came out of it, though, all of these oldtime gamers gave me all their old Spelljammer 2nd ed. books and boxed sets, so now I have a nice stack of material I'm currently reading through while on the toilet. I'm tempted post on the local hobby shop's peg board to try to find a local Spelljammer game, but I know it's a long shot. Anybody here have a pbem campaign with an opening? If I find a group, I may have to gm myself, which brings up the question do I do it in 2.0 or 3.5? How do I want to do vehicle combat? It's a big part of Spelljammer. I think D&D vehicle combat is WAY too complicated, although it doesn't have the square root equation like in GURPS. I gm'ed Feng Shui RPG for years, and love their simplistic vehicle combat and chase rules, but they are probably TOO simple, but I would use them before anything else right now.
Silverblade The Enchanter 02-04-08, 09:00 AM	I think for 3.5 ed, it's best ro run SJ ships as creatures. All attacks, AC etc in one format like a monster. SO you could have it liek this: SQUIDSHIP HP: (as per SJ rules) DR: 5/Heavy Weapon (Sj ships should have DR similar to their hardness, only heavy wepaons should bypass it, or attacks from Huge+ creatures) N Gargantuan Construct (special) Init: (as per helmsman) Senses: Spot (as per best watchman) Languages: as per crew AC: as per ship type, but it should be improved, IMHO, by about 5 over what SJ has. Immune: crits from non-heavy weapons or major spells. Resist: Electricity 5 (just a personal opinion, as electricity isn't going to have as great an effect, IMHO) Fort Ref WIl (all as per Helmsman, otherwise, +5, as it's a magical device) Speed: Fly or Swim (as per ship rating?) Melee: Ram attack + (as per helmsman's attack, -4 penalty for size etc) Ranged: multiple attacks each as per crew an dwepaon, but with reload times. Base Atk: not applicable. Atk Options: Ram, heavy wepaons (ranged) Special Actions: none Abilities: Str 35 Dex 6 Con - I - (as helmsan) Wis - (or as helmsan) Cha - (or as helsman) SQ: inhabited construct, helm. Feats: nil Skills: Hide (as per helsman with -12 for size) Think that works? :)
Jaid 02-04-08, 07:31 PM	i would probably just treat it as an animated object with a lot more attacks than usual, if i was gonna treat it like a creature ;) alternately, there is a third edition revision on BtM... it hasn't been playtested nearly as much as it should be (i think a lot of the SJ players still use 2e) but it does exist.
bad_credit 02-05-08, 12:26 AM	Hmmm, running vehicles as monsters is a pretty creative solution. The pilot still has to have a skill with the vehicle, though, right? I would assume it would be a dex skill, but I could also see spelljamming being int or wis based because it would be used by spellcasters and it's described as an almost symbiotic link between helmsman and ship. Heck, the Spider Moon 3.0 revamp in Polyhedron even had a Spelljammer ace prestige class. So, my question is, how would the pilot's skill affect the monster? Man, I gotta read the 3.0 version again, even though I wouldn't use the setting. I like the original setting, it just needs some filled in history for the last several years. I'm thinking my explanation for why Spelljamming is so rare in 3.5 is because of the events of the last Spelljammer novel. All the fleets met in battle to try to capture the Spelljammer, and fought each other and then got wrecked by it. I postulate that helms and ships are really rare now. I would basically use the 2.0 setting, but 3.5 rules, and say that years have passed, the spacelanes are closed to trade, but space is still there. It's just waiting to be re-explored, and everything old is new again. There's a lot of salvage opportunity at the site of the last fleet battle, and a lot of danger. The spacelanes are much wilder now, and filled with unchecked monsters and pirates. Places like the Rock of Bral have had a hard time surviving. Hmmm, then again, maybe the Arcane, or Mercane or whatever they call themselves now, would keep pumping out helms. Yet then again, maybe that's why 3.5 made all these Spelljammer races groundbased, including the Mer/arcane; they've given up space. (BTW, I could describe the Feng Shui vehicle combat rules in about one paragraph, seriously. I like how they work, too. I wouldn't quote directly from the book, but would it get me in trouble with the mods to post them?)
Silverblade The Enchanter 02-05-08, 02:33 AM	Cut helm prices by a factor of 5, or even 10, to avoid the crazy problems ;)
littlejohn333 02-05-08, 12:44 PM	I'm new to the whole D&D thing but want to learn. My preferred setting would be Spelljammer. It really seems to have caught my imagination. However I'm a complete newb and liveing over seas at the moment in the Philippines so would like to find a game and tutor online. I'm sure this would take a bit of time in chat, I use both Yahoo ad MSN chat. Would greatly appreciate a teacher. I did buy a couple boxed sets and supplements for Spelljammer through Amazon several months back but they are still in the states. If needed I could buy the online PDFs though. Thanks littlejohn333
Jaid 02-05-08, 03:27 PM	Cut helm prices by a factor of 5, or even 10, to avoid the crazy problems ;) i would cut down the costs for the hulls as well, somewhat. it's hard to justify a trading vessel that can earn a whopping 1d6*10 gp per spatial ton (this is using old 2e rules for the spelljamming trader kit) imo (that's before expenses such as crew, repairs, supplies, and so forth). 30 trips through dangerous territory before making your money back assuming you have 0 expenses just isn't seeming like motivation enough to see a private individual (or, for that matter, a trading company) to invest in a spelljamming ship (that's the old 2e cost for thick wood... suppose you could use thin wood and it would only be 500 gp per spatial ton), and you would have to add the cost of the helm to that too. so yeah, if we're going to have a setting where spelljamming ships are common (kinda like how the spelljammer setting basically implies they are), they should probably all drop in price quite a bit, otherwise people would just be using an appropriately sized rock, simply because it's free. incidentally, so long as people are signing up for a nonexistant PBEM game, i would certainly be interested in trying that out =P (2e or 3e, i have most of the 2e SJ stuff anyways but i don't know how we'd handle 3.5 if we did it)
bad_credit 02-06-08, 12:04 AM	Dang, and here I was thinking that in my setting the helms and ships would be even more rare and therefore more expensive. I didn't realize it was such a problem. The main detractor from Spelljammer in my current group says that there's no reason for ships when high level mages have planar travel spells. I point out the hauling of massive amounts of cargo, safer travel for lower level characters, and exploring beyond known regions so those aforementioned archmages can teleport there safely, but he won't listen. I tell ya what, after the sheer hate and vitriol directed at me from my current D&D group over mentioning and liking Spelljammer, I really don't want to play with them anymore. I've been talked down to, and my every idea met with disdain and scorn and disrespect. Heck, one of them I'd like to punch in the face. I bring it up all the time now just because it ticks them off. It's become a running joke. For example, I've been mocked by multiple people in my group for making the weakest character in our party every campaign. Yet, oddly enough, I'm forbidden from taking certain feats, and certain combinations of feats because they were found to be too powerful. Not to mention the items that were banned, etc. The only character I ever made they liked was an outcast champion. Hmmm, funny that, considering it buffs other characters in the party so it benefits them, too. I liked it because it buffed others while still giving me actions, unlike a bard or marshall. Sigh, sorry about the kvitchfest.
Silverblade The Enchanter 02-06-08, 01:57 PM	bad Credit, Life is too short to put up with idiots, be they lovers, aquaintances or gamers! ;) Jaid, yes, but ships are expensive, for the sheer build time etc. But...raw mateirals on a gorudnlign world or asteroid above shouldn't be to high. hm, you may have a point. Littlejohn, When the new digital online stuff for D&D is released, probably be lots of game groups using it ;)
Maldin 02-06-08, 02:21 PM	... I have a nice stack of material I'm currently reading through while .... TMI!! My long-running Greyhawk campaign branched out into SJ when the campaign setting box came out, and has continued ever since, so that is over 20 years of Spelljamming in a continuous campaign! We've had several groups of GH adventurers over the years that have ventured into Wildspace, two of the groups stayed there. Plus, one group that started in Wildspace (Bral). One of the groups in particular has accumulated a fairly large number of ships (and helms) over their time. The issue of the helms' excessive value hasn't come up for a variety of reasons, although I'd certainly go along with the cutting of their value to 1/5th. SJ combat often results in very expensive damage to PC ships, and often selling salvaged ships is the only way to get that kind of cash. The PCs are often in a "hurry" as well (who wants to sit around a scummy port town for 3 weeks while the ship gets repaired) so they spend extra for quicker repairs. Plus, they actually haven't wanted to sell any of the recovered helms so far... they have decided to build up a fleet of ships (which means ALOT of very expensive repairs to several heavily damaged ships), and start a shipping company. Not for profit (I've over-simplified it to say that any ship they lease out for trading basically makes enough profit to pay salaries and expenses), but because they've learned that a company with a certain number of operating ships gets a seat on Bral's Captains' Council... and they have decided that they dearly want that. Welcome to the world of Spelljammin' political intrigue. ;-) Denis, aka "Maldin" Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com Loads of edition-independent Greyhawk material... and Spelljammer ship models!
littlejohn333 02-06-08, 08:32 PM	bad Credit, Life is too short to put up with idiots, be they lovers, aquaintances or gamers! ;) Jaid, yes, but ships are expensive, for the sheer build time etc. But...raw mateirals on a gorudnlign world or asteroid above shouldn't be to high. hm, you may have a point. Littlejohn, When the new digital online stuff for D&D is released, probably be lots of game groups using it ;) Um when will that be? I hadn't heard of it and will they have a version for spelljammer?
Jaid 02-07-08, 09:27 PM	they haven't really specified when it will come out, but it's supposed to be in some way attached to 4th edition iirc. as far as whether it has spelljammer, why would it need it? it won't be setting specific, and it has to be able to handle homebrew. the easiest way to resolve this is to just have it roll dice. no need to make it attached to anything specific.