with the announcement of Spelljammer 5e books, I'm sure a lot of you have been cooking up awesome stuff in those nerdy little brains of yours. So tell us about some ideas you've had for your Spelljammer campaign! Can be a campaign idea, planet, villain, we would love to hear about (and possibly plagiarize) your ideas
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my name is not Bryce
Actor
Certified Dark Sun enjoyer
usually on forum games and not contributing to conversations ¯\_ (ツ)_/
For every user who writes 5 paragraph essays as each of their posts: Remember to touch grass occasionally
Well, I've been considering using Allabar, Opener of the Way (4th edition ... living planet. Also far realm abomination, etc) in a game, and Spelljammer seems appropriate. Could also pull in other outer realm stars, such as Delban (the star of ice and hate), Khirad (the star of secrets), and Zhudun (the Corpse Star), all currently contained in the Amber Temple.
I had an idea for a plane-hopping rat-race style adventure where various parties compete against each other, hostile environments, and challenges on different worlds to win their heart's desire.
If you watch Doctor Who, it was partially inspired by the competition from the episode The Ghost Monument.
I’m actually in the word cloud stage. By a happy coincidence, my current campaign is wrapping up and everyone wanted to do something sci fi next. The kids have been exposed to a lot of Star Wars, of course, but their knowledge of sci fi is limited to that one IP, pretty much. I want to give them what they want, but also something they haven’t seen before.
A couple months ago, while babbling on these forums, I thought of mining an asteroid belt for adamantine. And that makes me think of the Expanse, and also, there’s an old Western quality about mining that makes me think Firefly. And then add bits of Babylon Five or Deep Space Nine for a quest hub.
Far Realm monsters have a lot of sci-fi pedigree behind them, so I want them and the Githzerai. I always wanted to use Atropus, the World Born Dead, I like that name. I think I’m going with an outline like this:
Level 1-4: Characters do quests on a space station and get the lay of the land.; 5-8: Wildspace; interactions with Giff, the Arcane, the Neogi; 9-12: the Astral Plane - Gith, etc.; 13-16 Far Realm plot revealed; 17-20 Conclusion of Far Realm plot.
Whether the party are pirates, pirate hunting, or just having a chance encounter, they'll attempt to board and quickly discover their ship grappled and dissolving. A treasure hunt turns into a race against the clock to slay the Astral Sea Monster before they become stranded in an endless void.
Well, I've been considering using Allabar, Opener of the Way (4th edition ... living planet. Also far realm abomination, etc) in a game, and Spelljammer seems appropriate. Could also pull in other outer realm stars, such as Delban (the star of ice and hate), Khirad (the star of secrets), and Zhudun (the Corpse Star), all currently contained in the Amber Temple.
Allabar is a really neat concept, and essentially an elder evil. Were you thinking of using it as a monster, a dungeon, both? I have an unpublished Allabar stat block that I've been working on for a long time.
Well, I've been considering using Allabar, Opener of the Way (4th edition ... living planet. Also far realm abomination, etc) in a game, and Spelljammer seems appropriate. Could also pull in other outer realm stars, such as Delban (the star of ice and hate), Khirad (the star of secrets), and Zhudun (the Corpse Star), all currently contained in the Amber Temple.
Allabar is a really neat concept, and essentially an elder evil. Were you thinking of using it as a monster, a dungeon, both? I have an unpublished Allabar stat block that I've been working on for a long time.
I would probably treat its core as a monster, and its body as a lair. His 4e writeup is a bit limited, though (I'd probably give him the ability to open portals or something; having him open portals and attack through them nicely deals with his rather limited movement).
I just had an idea that the eldritch lich is the source of all otyughs and gibbering mouthers.
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My cults are dead, let's talk about myself where they used to be. I am The_cool_Elsecaller, a transfem lesbian who is still in the closet to all but a few people I know IRL. I enjoy video games, reading, writing, and sleeping. Feel free to PM me if you want writing advice or just want to talk.
"Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination"
I have a long-form campaign (they're 11th level currently) that's been slowly ramping up to reveal a massive war brewing between Githyanki and Illithid. The party is already comfortable hopping planes/"worlds", and found an old Nautiloid ship.
If you're in my campaign, stop reading lol.
My plan is to have it repaired by the party's friends/benefactors, and given to them as a way to take the fight to the enemy; and in this case, the enemy is both the Gith AND the Illithid. There's a lot at play, and the party is about to find themselves caught in the middle of a multi-planar war where no matter who wins, the world loses. I'm interested to see how they decide to handle this arc.
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
Assorted hijinks at a space station culminating with a showdown with a Gaius Baltar/Expanse dude who betrays the station to Beholders. Characters flee with ragtag fleet into the Astral. Assorted hijinks culminating in finding the Gith. Gain some hidden knowledge from them. Return with this secret weapon and defeat the traitor and the beholders. Then culminating in sending Atropus through a dimensional gate into a black hole before it collides with the campaign planet.
Not sure, how I'm going to adapt it. Players are most likely going to seize the castle presented in Hoard of the Dragon Queen, though in my game it's found in Cania and is heisted with Mephistopheles' sanction. It'll be spell jamming capable, and there are a lot of gates between the planes via phologiston/astral space.
Stars are really important to our game already, as are Crystal Dragons' relationship with them. I pulled some MCDM Arcadia stuff and built them out so that stars and dreams have a symbiotic relationship (nightmares too, many stars are hope raising but some are altogether frightening). Anyway curious how the dragons in Spelljammer may mesh.
Of the preview monsters, I'm really excited about the Fractine, not for Spelljammer, but I'm lifting a race from 2e that appeared in a planescape adjacent book, a race that fled into a universe of infinite mirrors and have a whole magic system based around mirrors. Fractines definitely flesh out or glass out that dimensions ecology.
Basically I don't see myself running Spelljammer so much as looted spell jammer for some stuff Im already doing in game that nods/winks at Spelljammer to some degree.
I have a long-form campaign (they're 11th level currently) that's been slowly ramping up to reveal a massive war brewing between Githyanki and Illithid. The party is already comfortable hopping planes/"worlds", and found an old Nautiloid ship.
If you're in my campaign, stop reading lol.
My plan is to have it repaired by the party's friends/benefactors, and given to them as a way to take the fight to the enemy; and in this case, the enemy is both the Gith AND the Illithid. There's a lot at play, and the party is about to find themselves caught in the middle of a multi-planar war where no matter who wins, the world loses. I'm interested to see how they decide to handle this arc.
In 4e lore, this is essentially how the primal spirits became powers. During the "Dawn War" between the gods and primordials, the primal spirits imposed a ban on both powers because they were wrecking the world. If you're a fan of bittersweet campaign endings, the players could be involved in a series of quests that strengthen that ban to the point of cutting off the material plane from the rest of the multiverse completely.
Assorted hijinks at a space station culminating with a showdown with a Gaius Baltar/Expanse dude who betrays the station to Beholders. Characters flee with ragtag fleet into the Astral. Assorted hijinks culminating in finding the Gith. Gain some hidden knowledge from them. Return with this secret weapon and defeat the traitor and the beholders. Then culminating in sending Atropus through a dimensional gate into a black hole before it collides with the campaign planet.
If black holes are the D&D equivalent of endless fonts of negative energy, then they could inadvertently supercharge Atropus!
Think an Enceladus like moon - ice crust moon, hundreds of feet deep (minimum) Deep ocean for miles under the ice crust, sitting on volcano peaking out of a mantle.
Under water outer space adventure, full of all the aquatic races.
I've been home brewing a Spelljammer campaign arc for a while so I'm super excited about the official campaign release. The arc (in summary) goes like this:
An archmage is seeking knowledge long lost to time, so long lost that the only way to get it is to go back in time (to when the knowledge, secret ect originated) and have a team of adventures recover it. This however is a lengthy undertaking, the archmage needs two things, a chasis or frame for a time machine and fuel. In my campaign the chasis is a ruined (no longer functional, they're going to fix it off screen) artifact called "The End of Days" which the party can recover in a separate arc. In a spelljammer focused campaign maybe this is something lost in the astral plane somewhere hidden on/in the body of a dead god. In my campaign the artifact is somewhere on the pcs home world and recovering it serves as a sort of trial "go fetch" adventure to allow the pcs and archmage to build trust with one another. Now onto the spelljammer part, the archmage needs fuel, specifically "The Sands of Time", at the edge of the far realms, which you can only get to by sailing through "The Head of Janus" adrift somewhere in the astral sea. Since the pcs start on a home world, the first thing they need to do is get a ship (the archmage points them to a wrecked nautiloid) which they need to repair. In my campaign nautiloids need a brain (yes a living humanoid or illithid brain) in order to function, and this brain servers as sort of ship's computer with whatever personality the previous owner of the brain had. This leads to the possibility that the pcs have an NPC ship they have a relationship with. After repairing the ship and jamming their way to the astral plane the pcs fight through marauding Gith, face the challenge of Anubus (who shows up just before the pcs sail through the head demanding to know what the pcs want and is generally touchy about adventurers poking around the corpses of gods) and finally sail through Janus and encounter the edge of time (yes, yes the time knife ... we've all seen it) which I imagine as ring of light in an infinite black expanse that grows exponentially larger as one approaches until the ends stretch to infinity in either direction. The pcs are tasked with recovering a bucket of the "sand" that the ring is made of which they can do by disembarking on the "beach head" of the ring. I plan on having the pcs encounter some Cthulu inspired monsters here and experiencing some other time related weirdness before retreating with their prize. If the DM succeeds with "blowing the pcs minds" at this point (my personal goal) they'll need some well deserved R&R which I imagine they might find at one of the asteroid cities in astral sea. I'll wait for the source books before figuring out what trouble they can get into there. :) Once the archmage has the artifact and fuel the pcs will be ready to "Do the Time Warp Again" and experience the past in whatever setting is appropriate. Admittedly this isn't completely Spelljammer based but I think it gets a sort of "Pirates of the Caribbean" crossed with "Back to the Future" thing about right.
Here is what I have so far for Character generation for my Spelljammer Campaign. The idea is to make backgrounds really matter and the story be player character driven, but I have some mechanisms in place if things go too far off the rails.
Background: This is going to be imperative to this campaign. It will determine the course of the campaign and shape the events. Specific elements are required in your background. In the first part of the adventure, you will escape a Illithid facility and pilot a new SpellJammer Octopus Class Illithid vessel. These vessels were designed to be operated by Illithid and Humans. This spelljammer helm operates on memories.
Five memories of locations you have been to. As specific as possible, the more depth, detail and meaning behind the memory the better. Use the personality/ideal charts for inspiration.
Three memories of people you have a strong bond to. It can be three memories of the same person, but three different might be better. Use bond charts for inspiration.
How did you get captured, or end up at the Illithid facility?
Illithid experiment – The Mind Flayers have experimented on you. In your background include a memory your character should not have. This was inserted into your mind somehow. It should be something completely alien to your character, another sphere or exotic location. This memory has given you strange insight, add +1 to one mental stat (Int/Wis/Cha) and add one tool, one language and one skill to your character as proficient, or add expertise to one skill. Unfortunately, this experimentation has left you traumatized. When within 30’ of an Illithid you must make will save or be frightened. You can make a save again at the start of your turn. Once you make a successful save you are immune to the effects for the combat. This trauma can only be removed with a greater restoration or wish. Class features that make you immune to fear do not affect this.
Tarzoli Krux- Tarzoli is a Githzerai that was imprisoned with you. He is capable of co-piloting the octopus class vessel on the Illithid side. Tarzoli was experimented on that lead to him having this ability, but also, he was imbued with one of your memories. Give him a memory that your character does not have and no longer can recall, but Tarzoli will know it was your memory. Tarzoli was experimented on heavily and is unable to assist in physical combat, he relies on the captain chair for life support. He can give the help action in combat and will use psionics as a reaction. Strong magic, research and time may relieve Tarzoli of this fate.
Rod of Memories – Upon escaping the Illithid base you will receive an item that you will know is the Rod of Memories that the Illithid have been using to extract memories from the prisoners. This item will be useful later in the campaign when you can attune to it. At character generation give the DM one secret memory to add to this rod. It should be something shameful or shocking. Use the flaw chart for inspiration.
Character leveling: When you level up your character, you are not learning new skills, you are recovering from the effects of the experimentation and remembering who you were. In addition to normal level bonuses you gain 1 memory.
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with the announcement of Spelljammer 5e books, I'm sure a lot of you have been cooking up awesome stuff in those nerdy little brains of yours. So tell us about some ideas you've had for your Spelljammer campaign! Can be a campaign idea, planet, villain, we would love to hear about (and possibly plagiarize) your ideas
my name is not Bryce
Actor
Certified Dark Sun enjoyer
usually on forum games and not contributing to conversations ¯\_ (ツ)_/
For every user who writes 5 paragraph essays as each of their posts: Remember to touch grass occasionally
Well, I've been considering using Allabar, Opener of the Way (4th edition ... living planet. Also far realm abomination, etc) in a game, and Spelljammer seems appropriate. Could also pull in other outer realm stars, such as Delban (the star of ice and hate), Khirad (the star of secrets), and Zhudun (the Corpse Star), all currently contained in the Amber Temple.
Something like Treasure Planet, probably.
I had an idea for a plane-hopping rat-race style adventure where various parties compete against each other, hostile environments, and challenges on different worlds to win their heart's desire.
If you watch Doctor Who, it was partially inspired by the competition from the episode The Ghost Monument.
I’m actually in the word cloud stage. By a happy coincidence, my current campaign is wrapping up and everyone wanted to do something sci fi next. The kids have been exposed to a lot of Star Wars, of course, but their knowledge of sci fi is limited to that one IP, pretty much. I want to give them what they want, but also something they haven’t seen before.
A couple months ago, while babbling on these forums, I thought of mining an asteroid belt for adamantine. And that makes me think of the Expanse, and also, there’s an old Western quality about mining that makes me think Firefly. And then add bits of Babylon Five or Deep Space Nine for a quest hub.
Far Realm monsters have a lot of sci-fi pedigree behind them, so I want them and the Githzerai. I always wanted to use Atropus, the World Born Dead, I like that name. I think I’m going with an outline like this:
Level 1-4: Characters do quests on a space station and get the lay of the land.; 5-8: Wildspace; interactions with Giff, the Arcane, the Neogi; 9-12: the Astral Plane - Gith, etc.; 13-16 Far Realm plot revealed; 17-20 Conclusion of Far Realm plot.
Definitely a Spelljammer Mimic.
Whether the party are pirates, pirate hunting, or just having a chance encounter, they'll attempt to board and quickly discover their ship grappled and dissolving. A treasure hunt turns into a race against the clock to slay the Astral Sea Monster before they become stranded in an endless void.
Allabar is a really neat concept, and essentially an elder evil. Were you thinking of using it as a monster, a dungeon, both? I have an unpublished Allabar stat block that I've been working on for a long time.
I would probably treat its core as a monster, and its body as a lair. His 4e writeup is a bit limited, though (I'd probably give him the ability to open portals or something; having him open portals and attack through them nicely deals with his rather limited movement).
I love whales. I love putting things on whales. I love space. I love space whales with things on their backs. Kindori are the best.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Thinking something along the lines of Serenity.
I have this Space Trucker / Futurerama idea that just started percolating last night.
I already had one friend say he wants to create a Mandalorian theme game.
I just had an idea that the eldritch lich is the source of all otyughs and gibbering mouthers.
My cults are dead, let's talk about myself where they used to be. I am The_cool_Elsecaller, a transfem lesbian who is still in the closet to all but a few people I know IRL. I enjoy video games, reading, writing, and sleeping. Feel free to PM me if you want writing advice or just want to talk.
"Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination"
-First Ideal of the Knights Radiant
Extended Signature. Real Extended Signature
I have a long-form campaign (they're 11th level currently) that's been slowly ramping up to reveal a massive war brewing between Githyanki and Illithid. The party is already comfortable hopping planes/"worlds", and found an old Nautiloid ship.
If you're in my campaign, stop reading lol.
My plan is to have it repaired by the party's friends/benefactors, and given to them as a way to take the fight to the enemy; and in this case, the enemy is both the Gith AND the Illithid. There's a lot at play, and the party is about to find themselves caught in the middle of a multi-planar war where no matter who wins, the world loses. I'm interested to see how they decide to handle this arc.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
This is firming up in my head:
Assorted hijinks at a space station culminating with a showdown with a Gaius Baltar/Expanse dude who betrays the station to Beholders. Characters flee with ragtag fleet into the Astral. Assorted hijinks culminating in finding the Gith. Gain some hidden knowledge from them. Return with this secret weapon and defeat the traitor and the beholders. Then culminating in sending Atropus through a dimensional gate into a black hole before it collides with the campaign planet.
Not sure, how I'm going to adapt it. Players are most likely going to seize the castle presented in Hoard of the Dragon Queen, though in my game it's found in Cania and is heisted with Mephistopheles' sanction. It'll be spell jamming capable, and there are a lot of gates between the planes via phologiston/astral space.
Stars are really important to our game already, as are Crystal Dragons' relationship with them. I pulled some MCDM Arcadia stuff and built them out so that stars and dreams have a symbiotic relationship (nightmares too, many stars are hope raising but some are altogether frightening). Anyway curious how the dragons in Spelljammer may mesh.
Of the preview monsters, I'm really excited about the Fractine, not for Spelljammer, but I'm lifting a race from 2e that appeared in a planescape adjacent book, a race that fled into a universe of infinite mirrors and have a whole magic system based around mirrors. Fractines definitely flesh out or glass out that dimensions ecology.
Basically I don't see myself running Spelljammer so much as looted spell jammer for some stuff Im already doing in game that nods/winks at Spelljammer to some degree.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
In 4e lore, this is essentially how the primal spirits became powers. During the "Dawn War" between the gods and primordials, the primal spirits imposed a ban on both powers because they were wrecking the world. If you're a fan of bittersweet campaign endings, the players could be involved in a series of quests that strengthen that ban to the point of cutting off the material plane from the rest of the multiverse completely.
If black holes are the D&D equivalent of endless fonts of negative energy, then they could inadvertently supercharge Atropus!
For me I would like to do something truly weird.
Think an Enceladus like moon - ice crust moon, hundreds of feet deep (minimum) Deep ocean for miles under the ice crust, sitting on volcano peaking out of a mantle.
Under water outer space adventure, full of all the aquatic races.
My plan is ripoff star wars and wait to see how long it takes for them to notice
I have a PHD in traps
I've been home brewing a Spelljammer campaign arc for a while so I'm super excited about the official campaign release. The arc (in summary) goes like this:
An archmage is seeking knowledge long lost to time, so long lost that the only way to get it is to go back in time (to when the knowledge, secret ect originated) and have a team of adventures recover it. This however is a lengthy undertaking, the archmage needs two things, a chasis or frame for a time machine and fuel. In my campaign the chasis is a ruined (no longer functional, they're going to fix it off screen) artifact called "The End of Days" which the party can recover in a separate arc. In a spelljammer focused campaign maybe this is something lost in the astral plane somewhere hidden on/in the body of a dead god. In my campaign the artifact is somewhere on the pcs home world and recovering it serves as a sort of trial "go fetch" adventure to allow the pcs and archmage to build trust with one another. Now onto the spelljammer part, the archmage needs fuel, specifically "The Sands of Time", at the edge of the far realms, which you can only get to by sailing through "The Head of Janus" adrift somewhere in the astral sea. Since the pcs start on a home world, the first thing they need to do is get a ship (the archmage points them to a wrecked nautiloid) which they need to repair. In my campaign nautiloids need a brain (yes a living humanoid or illithid brain) in order to function, and this brain servers as sort of ship's computer with whatever personality the previous owner of the brain had. This leads to the possibility that the pcs have an NPC ship they have a relationship with. After repairing the ship and jamming their way to the astral plane the pcs fight through marauding Gith, face the challenge of Anubus (who shows up just before the pcs sail through the head demanding to know what the pcs want and is generally touchy about adventurers poking around the corpses of gods) and finally sail through Janus and encounter the edge of time (yes, yes the time knife ... we've all seen it) which I imagine as ring of light in an infinite black expanse that grows exponentially larger as one approaches until the ends stretch to infinity in either direction. The pcs are tasked with recovering a bucket of the "sand" that the ring is made of which they can do by disembarking on the "beach head" of the ring. I plan on having the pcs encounter some Cthulu inspired monsters here and experiencing some other time related weirdness before retreating with their prize. If the DM succeeds with "blowing the pcs minds" at this point (my personal goal) they'll need some well deserved R&R which I imagine they might find at one of the asteroid cities in astral sea. I'll wait for the source books before figuring out what trouble they can get into there. :) Once the archmage has the artifact and fuel the pcs will be ready to "Do the Time Warp Again" and experience the past in whatever setting is appropriate. Admittedly this isn't completely Spelljammer based but I think it gets a sort of "Pirates of the Caribbean" crossed with "Back to the Future" thing about right.
Happy Gaming.
Here is what I have so far for Character generation for my Spelljammer Campaign. The idea is to make backgrounds really matter and the story be player character driven, but I have some mechanisms in place if things go too far off the rails.
Background: This is going to be imperative to this campaign. It will determine the course of the campaign and shape the events. Specific elements are required in your background. In the first part of the adventure, you will escape a Illithid facility and pilot a new SpellJammer Octopus Class Illithid vessel. These vessels were designed to be operated by Illithid and Humans. This spelljammer helm operates on memories.
Illithid experiment – The Mind Flayers have experimented on you. In your background include a memory your character should not have. This was inserted into your mind somehow. It should be something completely alien to your character, another sphere or exotic location. This memory has given you strange insight, add +1 to one mental stat (Int/Wis/Cha) and add one tool, one language and one skill to your character as proficient, or add expertise to one skill. Unfortunately, this experimentation has left you traumatized. When within 30’ of an Illithid you must make will save or be frightened. You can make a save again at the start of your turn. Once you make a successful save you are immune to the effects for the combat. This trauma can only be removed with a greater restoration or wish. Class features that make you immune to fear do not affect this.
Tarzoli Krux- Tarzoli is a Githzerai that was imprisoned with you. He is capable of co-piloting the octopus class vessel on the Illithid side. Tarzoli was experimented on that lead to him having this ability, but also, he was imbued with one of your memories. Give him a memory that your character does not have and no longer can recall, but Tarzoli will know it was your memory. Tarzoli was experimented on heavily and is unable to assist in physical combat, he relies on the captain chair for life support. He can give the help action in combat and will use psionics as a reaction. Strong magic, research and time may relieve Tarzoli of this fate.
Rod of Memories – Upon escaping the Illithid base you will receive an item that you will know is the Rod of Memories that the Illithid have been using to extract memories from the prisoners. This item will be useful later in the campaign when you can attune to it. At character generation give the DM one secret memory to add to this rod. It should be something shameful or shocking. Use the flaw chart for inspiration.
Character leveling: When you level up your character, you are not learning new skills, you are recovering from the effects of the experimentation and remembering who you were. In addition to normal level bonuses you gain 1 memory.