Fantasy Spelljammer inspired RP

[Tuska]

Alright so first off, hi I’m Tuska and I’m new here. I have this idea that hasn’t gotten much traction in other circles and wanted to see if people here might be interested.

Basically I want to make a setting which has similar idea to what Spelljammer is, which is an an old expansion to D&D that can best be described as magical ships in magic space. These ships are called Spelljammers and in order to function they need to be captained by a magic user. Now the universe it exists in is just the D&D universe with all of its lore and wider happenings but personally I am more inclined to use this just as a base to jump off from to allow both the players and I to homebrew/mak up new stuff because that’s fun and it allows folks to have a better connection to the rp and the universe it takes place in since you’ve had a hand in making a part of it.

Basic points I have decided on are:

• Spelljammers need to be captained by a magic user since they’re the only ones who can make the helm work.
• Space in this is not like irl space, it has air and is generally a habitable temperature unless you go near a realm that is particularly hot or cold. It’s still fairly empty though and apart from spaces near realms nothing permanently lives out there.
• Magical devices in the Spelljammer create gravity for the ship and a bubble around the ship but gravity disappears once you leave the bubble.
• Realms are essentially planets but act a bit differently. Normal ones would be the normal spherical shape you’d think of but others could be much different. For instance there could be a realm that’s just a giant pyramid floating in space

Generally the plot revolves around a Spelljammer and it’s crew going about their business which means going on adventures, transporting cargo between realms, fighting off pirates, being pirates, stopping nefarious schemes and ancient evils that dwell in the stars, all sorts of fun stuff. For the record I am not using D&D’s system I just like the lore and the universe and want to create something inspired by it. We will not be using any sort of complex system in this and if dice are involved it will be fairly simple rolls I do myself.

So yeah that’s what I have so far, wanted to see if anyone would be interested and then work out the other details from there.

 

[Rusty of Shackleford]

Hey! I'm up for this!

 

[Computing Magus]

That sounds pretty epic, I'd like to join!

 

[Tuska]

Alright! Great to see some interest, obviously would like to wait for more folks before taking serious steps at moving forward but while we wait do you two have any questions or ideas?
Computing Magus Rusty of Shackleford

 

[Rusty of Shackleford]

Not really. Thinking of making a rogue of some kind, though.

 

[Tuska]

Not really. Thinking of making a rogue of some kind, though.

Fair enough, also want to make a point that players are meant to be the crew of a ship so might be good to think about your role on the ship as well as your class.

 

[Rusty of Shackleford]

Alright. I'm thinking he'll be the first mate, of sorts. Kind of the middleman between the crew and the captain.

 

[Tuska]

Alright. I'm thinking he'll be the first mate, of sorts. Kind of the middleman between the crew and the captain.

That actually brings up a question, would folks want a ship that’s small enough for the players to be the only crew or would we want it to be a larger ship where there are the players and a larger npc crew like an actual sailing ship with dozens or even hundreds of crewmen?

 

[Rusty of Shackleford]

I'm open to whatever, honestly.

 

[Tuska]

I'm open to whatever, honestly.

Alright, will see what other folks say then.

 

[Computing Magus]

That actually brings up a question, would folks want a ship that’s small enough for the players to be the only crew or would we want it to be a larger ship where there are the players and a larger npc crew like an actual sailing ship with dozens or even hundreds of crewmen?

Good question. On one hand (EDIT: spoiler, I say nothing about the other hand), the NPC crew can handle literraly any other trivial/boring aspects of the RP so that we can get to the adventuring stuff but if we do the "small, just us crew" we can pretty much timeskip to the fun parts as well so... I don't know where I'm going with this but I guess whether we like to do actual ship stuff or not with our own characters? (lol). I'm down with the big NPC crew tho, but maybe NPCs as many as the players, so that there aren't too many.

As for my own character, I've been really stressed lately and just want a lax character to play as without much responsibilities (don't worry, I'll be active in the RP despite that), so something like a crew with a "medium" role like a navigator or something. As long as it isn't someone like the captain or negotiator where I have to be 24/7 in the RP to speak with the NPCs about politics. Sorry if that sounds pretty lazy of me, I really am tired after the new years.

 

[Tuska]

Good question. On one hand (EDIT: spoiler, I say nothing about the other hand), the NPC crew can handle literraly any other trivial/boring aspects of the RP so that we can get to the adventuring stuff but if we do the "small, just us crew" we can pretty much timeskip to the fun parts as well so... I don't know where I'm going with this but I guess whether we like to do actual ship stuff or not with our own characters? (lol). I'm down with the big NPC crew tho, but maybe NPCs as many as the players, so that there aren't too many.

As for my own character, I've been really stressed lately and just want a lax character to play as without much responsibilities (don't worry, I'll be active in the RP despite that), so something like a crew with a "medium" role like a navigator or something. As long as it isn't someone like the captain or negotiator where I have to be 24/7 in the RP to speak with the NPCs about politics. Sorry if that sounds pretty lazy of me, I really am tired after the new years.

Hey the whole idea of an rp is to have fun so if you want to play a character who doesn’t have much responsibility that is perfectly fine. The as many npcs as there are players thing might depend on just how many people end up joining though. Either way I think I wouldn’t give you guys like a massive battleship or anything so it’s not like there’s going to be an actual army of npcs around to worry about. I’m not exactly sure what kind of ship we’d start with first but probably something along the lines of a trade vessel or exploration ship. Something that can carry loot and go a reasonable speed.

 

[BlackoutThieving]

I'm pretty impartial on npc crew or PC-only crew. Both can be done, but a PC-crew ensures that all characters are needed, and as such that nobody could really feel left out, but the NPC-crew means that there won't be any complications should someone stop posting or leave the RP. If we have a lot of NPC's then we might have to establish some of them though, if they're of major importance, requiring a bit more prep.

Oh, and consider me interested.

 

[MythyDW]

Hmn. I will throw my hat in the ring for now, yes.

 

[Tuska]

Alright so we have my personal minimum of four players, have thought about the npc thing and have decided on a small npc crew of 6 individuals who handle menial jobs around the ship which puts the total crew at the moment to 10. Gives enough reason to have a moderate sized vessel. I could go into the exact specifics but at the moment I'll just say the ship is big enough to comfortably house the current crew and anyone else who might for some reason be on the ship and is capable of carrying a good amount of cargo for either missions or to store loot and riches. Now Spelljammer originally has ships armed with ballistas and catapults but I am open to having regular old cannons if folks are one for that. I will still give it a few days to see if any other folks join and will be getting a basic sheet together for you guys to fill out.

 

[MythyDW]

Cannons. Big booms.

 

[Computing Magus]

That sounds great.

Also ^^^ I want boom boom cannons as well. Thar she blows!

 

[Tuska]

Ok so since the only voiced opinions are in favor of cannons the ships have cannons. I have also created this sheet.
MythyDW Computing Magus BlackoutThieving Rusty of Shackleford

Name:

Age:

Species:

Class:

Role: (on the ship)

Alignment:

Equipment:

Appearance:

History:

Look ok to everyone?

 

[MythyDW]

I'm pretty sure that character sheets are not allowed in interest checks. I may be wrong, just remember reading that in the rules

 

[Tuska]

Well I checked the rules and while it doesn’t specifically say no sheets in recruitment it may be implied. Either way I’m just trying to see if folks are ok with that format for the sheet.

 

[Epiphany]

You might consider an Skills/Special Abilities section. To allow people to personalize a few things they're particularly good at that aren't neatly explained by Class. Or you might do Skills and have a separate Special Abilities/Spells section to capture unique racial abilities and specific magical powers any magic-users have.

If you're especially old-fashioned, you can even call your Skills section "Proficiencies".

 

[darkborn]

SpellJammer...

Is that a Ripoff of Starfinder?
Jokes aside, Interested.

 

[MythyDW]

SpellJammer...

Is that a Ripoff of Starfinder?
Jokes aside, Interested.

If anything, Starfinder would have been inspired by Spelljammer in the same way 3.5 was Pathfinder's inspiration. Because Spelljammer was first.

Anyway.

You might consider an Skills/Special Abilities section. To allow people to personalize a few things they're particularly good at that aren't neatly explained by Class. Or you might do Skills and have a separate Special Abilities/Spells section to capture unique racial abilities and specific magical powers any magic-users have.

If you're especially old-fashioned, you can even call your Skills section "Proficiencies".

I would tentatively agree, with the added question of if what species and classes will be available will be in the OOC

 

[Epiphany]

If folks are looking for (more formal) roles, there's always this reference:

And as for ship, I vote for a Damselfly!

Also, if you're taking requests, I'm likely to play a Wizard of High Sorcery from Krynn.

 

[MythyDW]

Hmmm... I kinda want to be a wolf-person engineer