Tabletop Stuff - Tumblr Posts
to add on to the last reblog, you can theoretically attain infinite speed in one round if you are a gnome. You have the rest of your party ready an action with the trigger being “handed a gnome” and the reaction being “pass along to the next person.” by being picked up by someone and having each of your allies pass you along, because there are no limits on the number of reactions per round, you can get your effective speed as high as you want. this is called the “Railgun Maneuver.”
Well, I've been asked to come back on tumblr, so I'll start by posting some of my recent (ish) videos while I try to remember how to tumbl again!
I wanna run a one-shot. You play all Tabaxi. Specifically, Tabaxi kittens who have been placed in Baby Jail for Small Cat Crimes. You must do a jailbreak to resume your adventures. Everyone is very high level but it's like. Relative? The fighter has a Stick From The Ground. It is a +2 longsword. The cooking pot helmet that the Paladin Will Not Relinquish is Adamantine Plate. The Weird Bug In The Window? Umber Hulk. Your guardians have set up a treacherous dungeon crawl full of puzzles and traps and baby-proof gate latches. You are three feet tall.
I call it Herding Cats.
Okay kids, strap in. Uncle Spy has some worldbuilding to lay on ya.
So the new Spelljammer 5e was announced a few months back, releasing in August (it's just turned June as I write this). Since then my friend and I have been gushing about it and planning some stuff around it, but one of the things that always struck me as disappointing about original Spelljammer was how... boring the Forgotten Realms solar system (Realmspace, where Abeir-Toril lies) was. It's much smaller than our solar system: eight planets, and only one of those is explicitly a giant planet (Coliar, said to be a "gas giant" but really more like a small ice giant). Two of them (Garden and H'Catha) aren't actually planets either, just constructs the size of dwarf planets. Two other planets are just ocean worlds, one with a sargasso sea around its equator and the other full of rocky atolls. Only two planets have any moons at all, to boot. Simply put: there's not a lot to look at, really. I'm hoping the new Spelljammer canon will retcon this and give Toril a larger, more varied solar system with more giant worlds and moon systems.
HOWEVER, there's another factor at play here. I made a character who's a space bard, directly inspired by all the filk I've been listening to lately. The problem is... a good chunk of that filk either A) uses names (planets, programs, people, etc) specific to real life space exploration and/or B) is rocketpunk instead of sailpunk like Spelljammer is intended to be. That got me thinking... I'd had a vague idea for a rocketpunk alt-Toril in the back of my mind for a while –a universe where the magical beings of the Forgotten Realms had reached the stars not through magicked-up sailing ships with atmosphere bubbles, but through magicked-up classic rockets– and this seemed like the perfect excuse to deploy that idea and start hammering it into a more coherent shape.
All of this added up to... well, something! Behold, my attempt to have my cake and eat it too: Terraspace.
This map was made using the template/assets developed by DeviantArt user slimysomething.
Terraspace is a fantasy version of our solar system within the wider Spelljammer setting where elves and dwarves and beastfolk all sing the rocketpunk blues. The Apollo Program exists as part of their history, but Apollo 13 was fine because of hasty Purify Air enchantments and some innovative abjuration. Dragons funded the Space Race. That sorta bullshit. Also, spiced up the solar system with a little idealism, as you can see; part of that was also me leaning into old Golden Age pulpy SF concepts like Jungle Venus and Pyramids of Mars. I don't thhhhhhink this counts as a new worldbuilding project,,, yet? Stay tuned I guess.
Full change log:
Mercury: No physical changes from RL. Terraspace Mercury is a major mining colony, predominantly inhabited by dwarves, earth and fire elementals, and kobolds. A settlement of firenewts have also taken up residency at the north pole, to bask in the heat of the sun.
Venus: No runaway greenhouse hell; instead Terraspace Venus is a tropical paradise world teeming with life. Though still volcanically active thanks to its two moons (not present in RL; Dione and Cupid were added to stabilize the planet's spin and tectonic cycle), this volcanism is moderate and keeps the top layers of the crust enriched for the abundant flora. Native species include aarakocra, kenku, dragons and their kin, the several kinds of batrachids (bullywugs, grippli, grung), and tortles.
Terra (and Luna): Geophysically identical to the Earth and Moon we know. The main difference here lies in its inhabitants: in addition to humanity, Terra harbors the many species of close-humanoids common to fantasy worlds (dwarves, elves, giants and their kin, gnomes, goblins and their kin, halflings, and orcs) in addition to several species of beastfolk, centaurs, merfolk, and even some dragon-kin (though dragons proper are extinct on Terra). The history of Terran civilization has understandably progressed a bit differently, but recent history shares something particular in common: the Space Age. Though it may not have been the USA and USSR that raced to the moon, there was indeed a Space Race, Apollo and all. Sure these folks have magic, but magic takes energy, and the scholars of Terra found it more economical to use enchanted rocketry than go the way of typical sky-sailing spelljammers. Luna, by the way, is heavily populated and highly industrialized by the point of deep astral travel.
Mars: Orbits a bit closer to the Sun and with a much lower eccentricity, as well as retaining geological, hydrological, and atmospheric activity (in large part thanks to its sizable moon Nerio, not present in RL). Mars is a chilly world, largely arid, but still has some flora near its seas. Funny, then, that its inhabitants are mostly reptilian in nature! Mars is inhabited by dragons and their kin, as well as various species of lizardfolk and serpentfolk. The most elusive Martians of all, however, are the mantis-like Thri-kreen, who ruled Mars long before the creator civilizations arrived in Terraspace.
Ceres: Somewhat larger and denser than the real Ceres, it has also captured Vesta as its moon. Ceres, once a mining colony, has changed hands many times and is now in the process of being transformed into a micro-terra through futurist druidcraft: the current inhabitants of Ceres seek to enclose Ceres in a worldshell made of space-tolerant vegetation, and create a paradise within. The surrounding asteroid belt is aflutter with activity, mainly mining done by dwarven and kobold clans.
Jupiter: Much the same as our own Jupiter, sans a slightly smaller orbit and the magically-fortified gas mining facilities that dot its skies. The Jovian moon system, too, is very similar, with the exception of a fifth major moon: Juno, a cold waterworld slightly smaller than Mars. Juno is natively inhabited by a modest number of aquatic sapients: Kuo-toa, Locathah, Sahuagin, and Tako. All four of the other moons also have well-established populations.
Saturn: Nearly identical to our solar system's Saturn, with the sole exception of name changes for its moons and the switching of Enceladus Hyperion and Tethys Theia. The Saturn system is also well settled, particularly its largest moon Titan Rhea.
Uranus: Renamed Minerva, because goddamn she deserves a planet. Similarly strange axial tilt, but only three major moons instead of five: Victoria = Miranda, Mnemosyne = Titania, and Themis = the other three merged into one (plus some). Well-settled, particularly the academic citadels on Mnemosyne and the megacities on Themis.
Neptune: Again, identical to RL Neptune, but it has four major moons instead of 1.5: Triton still exists, but added to its retinue are Oceanus, Tethys, and the very large Salacia. Less populated than the rest of the system, though the industrial helium and methane platforms in Neptune itself have appreciable staff counts.
Pluto: Larger than RL Pluto, and its moon Proserpina is larger than Charon. Many frontier towns scattered around both bodies, capitalizing on the thin pure nitrogen atmospheres.
Janus is a new addition to the system, a Mars-sized rocky body covered in ices that orbits just outside the Kuiper Belt, acting as the outer shepherd of KBOs. Its population is largely scientists and support staff, though a few frontier towns have sprung up around the spelljammer ports.
Haven't decided exactly what equivalent year this would be, but probably 22nd or 23rd century. They got out into space a lot quicker than we have at this point. This is pretty much all I've got so far, stay tuned for more. :)
Okay kids, strap in. Uncle Spy has some worldbuilding to lay on ya.
So the new Spelljammer 5e was announced a few months back, releasing in August (it's just turned June as I write this). Since then my friend and I have been gushing about it and planning some stuff around it, but one of the things that always struck me as disappointing about original Spelljammer was how... boring the Forgotten Realms solar system (Realmspace, where Abeir-Toril lies) was. It's much smaller than our solar system: eight planets, and only one of those is explicitly a giant planet (Coliar, said to be a "gas giant" but really more like a small ice giant). Two of them (Garden and H'Catha) aren't actually planets either, just constructs the size of dwarf planets. Two other planets are just ocean worlds, one with a sargasso sea around its equator and the other full of rocky atolls. Only two planets have any moons at all, to boot. Simply put: there's not a lot to look at, really. I'm hoping the new Spelljammer canon will retcon this and give Toril a larger, more varied solar system with more giant worlds and moon systems.
HOWEVER, there's another factor at play here. I made a character who's a space bard, directly inspired by all the filk I've been listening to lately. The problem is... a good chunk of that filk either A) uses names (planets, programs, people, etc) specific to real life space exploration and/or B) is rocketpunk instead of sailpunk like Spelljammer is intended to be. That got me thinking... I'd had a vague idea for a rocketpunk alt-Toril in the back of my mind for a while –a universe where the magical beings of the Forgotten Realms had reached the stars not through magicked-up sailing ships with atmosphere bubbles, but through magicked-up classic rockets– and this seemed like the perfect excuse to deploy that idea and start hammering it into a more coherent shape.
All of this added up to... well, something! Behold, my attempt to have my cake and eat it too: Terraspace.
This map was made using the template/assets developed by DeviantArt user slimysomething.
Terraspace is a fantasy version of our solar system within the wider Spelljammer setting where elves and dwarves and beastfolk all sing the rocketpunk blues. The Apollo Program exists as part of their history, but Apollo 13 was fine because of hasty Purify Air enchantments and some innovative abjuration. Dragons funded the Space Race. That sorta bullshit. Also, spiced up the solar system with a little idealism, as you can see; part of that was also me leaning into old Golden Age pulpy SF concepts like Jungle Venus and Pyramids of Mars. I don't thhhhhhink this counts as a new worldbuilding project,,, yet? Stay tuned I guess.
Okay well, since tumblr mangles image quality, here's the same stuff on DeviantArt.
Okay kids, strap in. Uncle Spy has some worldbuilding to lay on ya.
So the new Spelljammer 5e was announced a few months back, releasing in August (it's just turned June as I write this). Since then my friend and I have been gushing about it and planning some stuff around it, but one of the things that always struck me as disappointing about original Spelljammer was how... boring the Forgotten Realms solar system (Realmspace, where Abeir-Toril lies) was. It's much smaller than our solar system: eight planets, and only one of those is explicitly a giant planet (Coliar, said to be a "gas giant" but really more like a small ice giant). Two of them (Garden and H'Catha) aren't actually planets either, just constructs the size of dwarf planets. Two other planets are just ocean worlds, one with a sargasso sea around its equator and the other full of rocky atolls. Only two planets have any moons at all, to boot. Simply put: there's not a lot to look at, really. I'm hoping the new Spelljammer canon will retcon this and give Toril a larger, more varied solar system with more giant worlds and moon systems.
HOWEVER, there's another factor at play here. I made a character who's a space bard, directly inspired by all the filk I've been listening to lately. The problem is... a good chunk of that filk either A) uses names (planets, programs, people, etc) specific to real life space exploration and/or B) is rocketpunk instead of sailpunk like Spelljammer is intended to be. That got me thinking... I'd had a vague idea for a rocketpunk alt-Toril in the back of my mind for a while –a universe where the magical beings of the Forgotten Realms had reached the stars not through magicked-up sailing ships with atmosphere bubbles, but through magicked-up classic rockets– and this seemed like the perfect excuse to deploy that idea and start hammering it into a more coherent shape.
All of this added up to... well, something! Behold, my attempt to have my cake and eat it too: Terraspace.
This map was made using the template/assets developed by DeviantArt user slimysomething.
Terraspace is a fantasy version of our solar system within the wider Spelljammer setting where elves and dwarves and beastfolk all sing the rocketpunk blues. The Apollo Program exists as part of their history, but Apollo 13 was fine because of hasty Purify Air enchantments and some innovative abjuration. Dragons funded the Space Race. That sorta bullshit. Also, spiced up the solar system with a little idealism, as you can see; part of that was also me leaning into old Golden Age pulpy SF concepts like Jungle Venus and Pyramids of Mars. I don't thhhhhhink this counts as a new worldbuilding project,,, yet? Stay tuned I guess.
The Midnight Sea
Look, more Spelljammer stuff! SJ5E is only a few weeks away now, and the collaborative setting my friends and I have been building up in anticipation of it is really taking shape. So I'd like to share some things about the Midnight Sea!
The planar cosmography of the Midnight Sea universe is a little different than prior 5e canon. As stated in the previews for Spelljammer 5e, all wildspace systems are pockets of material plane which exist within the greater astral plane, though our homebrewing efforts have resolved to address the Feywild and Shadowfell as parallels to these material planes. The celestial and infernal planes, meanwhile, border the astral plane directly and mark the outer bounds of the known universe (the galaxy shown here), arranged in a loop to form the collective outer planes. The outer planes are represented by prominent constellations that form a sixteen-part zodiac used to navigate the astral sea. By contrast, the elemental planes exist at a lower energy state than the rest of the planar system, while the ethereal plane exists in a higher energy state than the rest of the planar system. Both function, therefore, as a sort of hyperspace and subspace pairing with normal space. Being the source of magic, the ethereal plane lends its energy to the lower planes via the Weave, which is then harnessed to fulfill the extreme energy cost of interstellar travel: the technomagical process of spelljamming.
The Midnight Sea is a galaxy, specifically our galaxy: what we would call the Milky Way. Indeed, the inhabitants of Terraspace (the fantastical version of our solar system) do call it the Milky Way! However, unlike our galaxy, it is the only galaxy in this universe, and its constituent star systems -as pockets of the material plane gestalt- possess mildly varying physical principles based on their location relative to the outer planes. At the center of this galaxy lies a supermassive black hole, the Cataract, about which swirls a vast region of distorted spacetime called the Maelstrom where the planar boundaries are weaker, strengthening the influence of interplanar magic on the local systems. Four major systems bear notable influence from one of the four primordial elements, while a fifth has a strong manifestation of the Weave and an unusual connection to the outer plane of Arvandor, and a sixth is so deep within the Maelstrom that the Material, Feywild, and Shadowfell planes blur together. The outer edge of the Maelstrom is a hub of interstellar civilization, but venturing deeper is quite dangerous.
The systems seen on the map here are all major systems; there are thousands more unseen in this representation. Many of these major systems are original creations (like Terraspace) or pulled in some way from the depths of the Spelljammer 3e fan website (like Banesun), but in the spirit of WotC's recent trend of linking their MtG settings to the DnD settings, we have included a few prominent MtG "planes" as part of bespoke systems: Theros lies in Nyxspace, Amonkhet lies in Godspace, Ravnica lies in Guildspace, and of course Dominaria lies in Gatespace. Though the map may look rather bare now, we expect to fill out the map more in time, as we sail the stars of the Midnight Sea.
Well I've done it again. The free Spelljammer demo adventure was released last week and promptly disappointed me because WotC didn't take the opportunity to make Realmspace more interesting (instead almost literally copy-and-pasting the original AD&D canon)... so I fixed it my damn self. Behold my insanity. I hope to god tumblr doesn't scromble the image quality. So tumblr scrombled the image quality, just look at it here instead.
First up, the sun. Named it Solis to differentiate it. Twin of our IRL sun; G2V yellow-white star. Big ol self-perpetuating nuclear explosion. Probably radiates magic too. Nobody lives there, it's the SUN.
1. Phomus: small airless metallic planet; probably a failed planetary core. Tidally locked to the sun; scorching hot on one side and frigid on the other. No endemic life; but the dwarves and kobolds adore the place and squabble over it endlessly.
2. Anadia: canon planet, retooled. Basically Mercury with an atmosphere. 3:2 spin-orbit resonance, so days are longer than a year here. Only habitable place is the poles, where there's abundant water. Halfling clans have set up dozens of domed arcologies in polar craters.
3. Coliar: canon planet; retooled. Small ice giant (like Uranus) with a quirk- its gravity, density, and warmth mean that life thrives here on countless islands floating in the air. Has 3 moons: Cyrretal, a jungle world; Voturna, an ocean world; and Aureline, a tundra world.
4. Toril: canon planet, untouched. Toril (or Abeir-Toril, if you like) is an Earthlike planet with one moon, Selune, and a cluster of asteroids floating in Selune's L5 Lagrange gravitational keyhole.
5. Karpri-Chandos: canon planets, retooled. Both ocean worlds with no seabed; only an ice mantle. Life thrives here, especially merfolk and fishfolk. Karpri and Chandos are basically twins so I made them a binary pair. Pair has two small airless icy moons: Synos and Andos.
The Garden, aka the Garden Belt: canon-ish. An asteroid belt overgrown with magic space trees. At its heart is Garden proper; a cluster of asteroids held together by an enormous space tree with an internal ecology. H'Catha, a (canon) discworld made by Beholders, is also here.
6. Almeron: small brown dwarf substar. So big that it fuses deuterium at its core, Almeron radiates a moderate level of heat and so has its own habitable zone. Has two small ice giants in its leading and trailing Lagrange points: Palocyne and Oranus. Also has 7 moons, almost like a mini solar system in themselves: Tavati is a volcanic world; Sidar is a warm desert world; Phylora is a warm forest world; Wylenir is a temperate Earthlike world; Merinal is a temperate ocean world; Airelyx is a cool ocean world; and Khysethris is a tundra world.
7. Sybil: small-ish ringed gas giant. Its air isn't breathable but folks go in to mine the gas anyways. Has 4 moons: Mingabwe, Nyralwe, and Lumenwe are small airless ice moons; Glyth (canon planet) is a cold Titan-like world with its own rings that has been claimed by illithids.
8. Ziris: large ice giant. Despite the freezing cold, toxic air, and high gravity, it still attracts gas miners... and kindori hunters. Has 2 moons: Kunain, a small airless rocky moon; and Thrinain, a small airless icy moon. These serve as spelljamming ports for space whalers!
9. Dunbaran: large icy world with thin air and rings. Frigid, silent, desolate- it is a relic of the system's chaotic formation. A network of tunnels below its surface holds eons-old secrets. Has 1 moon: Nuldor, a captured comet with something buried at its core.
The Shell: the outer comet cloud of the system, full of drifting iceballs, a handful of spelljamming ports, and flotsam from the astral sea.
If I may be sanctimonious for a moment- this is all facultative of what I felt was missing from SJ. Don't you want to dance a gravitational ballet among twelve shining moons over a violet sky? Don't you want to sail through the eye of a storm the size of your whole homeworld? Don't you want to watch the sun crest a crater rim, painting sharp shadows across a landscape of ancient cosmic violence? Don't you want to witness the glittering silent splendor of a glacial cliff, two billion miles from a sun, with your breath the only company in your helmet as you ponder how many eons your footprints will last?
Where's the cosmic awe? Where's the wonder?
THAT is what I want to bring to Spelljammer. The beauty in solitude and desolation and vastness. The wonder. The kinship of we who sail the endless deep is born of knowing that, out there, we are all alone together; and in a vast and awesome universe, all we have is each other.
Something this anon has wanted to explore many a time- an adventure wherein traditionally 'evil' creatures go through a reverse dungeon crawl- escaping the fortress in order to desert the Dark Lord's armies!
Campaign Starter: From Under the Shadow
No where to go but up
Setup: More than a mere underdark fortress, Ykandri’s Shackle is a marvel of engineering and hubris that only the Duergar could have managed. Filled with visions of industry and conquest, the architects tasked with building a simple lift through a miles long fissure through the world below let their ambitions sprawl, becoming a make-work project for their subterranean empire and a monument to the pride of their succession of dour and powermad rulers.
Like any expansionist Military power, the Duergar of the “Great-Chain” conscript their defeated foes and societal rejects to do the worst of the labor, toiling away to expand the warrens supporting the Shackle or fending off the beasts of he dark vastness that infest the surrounding caverns. This is where we find our party, the lowest of the low, captives bound together by their mutual desire for escape.
Adventure Hooks:
While freedom is their primary goal, the party must keep up appearances and thier first mission will be a crawl through an mine and adjoining excavation site that has recently become infested with underdark pests. This will give them a chance to show off their characters and you an opportunity to hammer home just how miserable life on the Shackle really is. What’s more, having them return victorious and then being forced to hand over their gear and trophies under threat of lashes will set up great minor taskmaster/guards villains that they can avenge themselves against on the way out.
Have them plan their escape like a heist, rolling out a hastily drawn sketch of the Shackle standing between them and nearby underdark portals. Lay out what sidetasks they may need to perform or challenges they’ll need to overcome to get the resources they’ll need for their escape.
While preparing for their great escape, the party hear whisperings of some tumult among the upper ranks of the Clan’s hierarchy, something to do with a prisoner and the overreach of the notoriously wicked spymaster. Leadership may shuffle from time to time but the lot of those captive in the Shackle never does. “ Different Boot, Same Neck” goes the saying... at least it does until a blinding burst of divine light suffuses the fissure and a band of high-level heroes from the surface world come to rescue that prisoner and bring the Tyrants of the Great Chain down in the process. Pull this trigger before your party is fully ready to escape, or just as things go righteously wrong after they’ve decided to attempt a more risky escape. It’ll be clear they need to get out while the getting’s good, now having to sprint through a warzone rather than sneak through a prison.
Portals in the underdark are tricky things, leading an escaping party to all manner of potential locales ( that they may might not know ahead of time unless they stole the right information). Maybe they’ll end up in a disused mine on the outskirts of a city of new beginnings, a far cavern trading post with fortunes waiting to be made, a friendly settlement of exiles and make their reputation while defending its swampy borders. Perhaps somewhere even more strange?
Operation of the Shackle: The Shackle was built to ferry supplies, thralls, and soldiers en-mass across the great altitudes of the fissure, a task that could otherwise take days of marching or carting and be equivalent to descending a tall mountain. Instead, cargo is loaded from one level into an adjoining fortified platform attached to the great chain, which is raised as the other side decends, until it comes level with another platform. Cargo from one is loaded into the other, and then the mechanism reverses, sending the first platform down while the second platform ascends the way it came. By this way are the Shackle’s contents moved where they need to go by way of an overly elaborate, two way bucket chain, a process important to know should the party seek to escape their current level, or later should they wish to return to the site of their imprisonment and raid its ruins.
Future Adventures:
During the hatching of their escape plan, the party are slipped a few vital supplies by a drider merchant who did a little black market business on the shackle and took a shine to them in the process. Delighted to find the party no worse for ware ( despite possibly hopping dimensions) and that they’re now in a position to afford his more exclusive stock, the drider will be happy to send them on missions to fill their pockets then sell them things to empty them again.
The Party and their favorite spider boy aren't the only survivors of the Shackle, as one of the mercenary captains hired to keep order in the prison fortress has made it out with a newly formed legion of followers, and is interested in carving out a new territory for himself that just so happens to include the party’s new home.
It’s inevitable that the party left unfinished business on the Shackle, and some time into their adventures they may feel the call to return to their one time prison/home. Thoroughly in shambles after the heroes hit it with everything they had, the seat of empire has now become a patchwork of warlords fighting over the remnants of power, with vast stretches inhabited by the beasts of underdark attracted by the slaughter. Bonus points if the party runs into the pests they first fended off in the mines, grown in size, threat and swarming number without their population being culled.
Hey tumblr user spockoandjimjim how is that campaign you dm going
Well I’m glad you asked
I was wondering if I could request a diety? If so may I request a goddess that is for the Gith what Moradin is for the Dwarves?
Deity: Urania, The One Who Names The Stars
Hear me, brothers, sisters, my fellow orphans of the vast,
We are lost, but we are not forgotten,
The Bright Maiden has set a Star Burning for us,
And she calls us Home
The wild unknown and the simple laws that govern the universe, the cold embrace of space and the warmth of distant stars, the mystery of the infinite horizon and the knowledge of your course through it: The goddess Urania is a being of contrasts. Patron to astronomers, navigators, and any who find themselves alone with only the stars for guidance, the bright maiden is called upon by many who sail the astral sea to bless their journeys into the vast cosmos and to guide them back home again.
Legend says it was It was the Gith who found her, aboard a lost and aimless refugee ship too full of desperate souls who’d just escaped from the tyranny of the ilithid. They saw a stranger cast adrift in the void, and though they did not have enough to go around they cast out a line and pulled her from the void because the thought of leaving anyone behind without hope of rescue was too terrible to bear. In rescuing her they rescued themselves, for when the captain gave up his ration of water the goddess awoke with her eyes full of grateful tears, whispering to him of a course towards sanctuary just as a new star flared on the horizon.
Since then it has been tradition among the Gith ( and those who have learned the art of astral navigation from them) to keep a star shaped lantern burning in the goddess’s honour, and to rescue any they find adrift, no matter who they might be.
Adventure Hooks:
Knowledge of the stars is sacred to those who follow Urania, whether it be in charting new courses through the astral sea or divining the movement and influence of celestial bodies. An acolyte of such an order believes she’s had a star-granted vision of a previously unexplored reach of the astral sea but her superiors won’t let her mount an expedition as much of the nearby territory has a reputation for being dangerous, or downright hostile. To this end she hires the party to help her go delving a long abandoned archive-moon in the hopes of discovering ancient records that her research hints might just contain a means of traversal through this hostile stretch of space.
Much ink has been spilled over the potential connections between the bright maiden and Nyx, matronly goddess of primordial darkness, with most scholars agreeing to disagree as to whether the goddess are enemies, aspects of the same being, or somehow related. This debate comes to a head when a night-shrouded acolyte of Nyx steals the star lamp from the vessel of a famous spelljammer captain on the eve of an important voyage, darkening the lamp with occult magics to use in some mysterious ritual. Both men are, as the party discovers after being hired to recover the lamp, brothers, and as their pursuit goes on it becomes wildly clear that the two goddess are having some kind of a wager over the outcome of the theft, subtly influencing events in their own favour
Along their travels, the party discover a reinforced capsule containing an ember of celestial fire, a nascent star that some enterprising mage plucked from the sky in an attempt to tap its power. The item is tremendously useful, (acting as a pearl of power that refreshes after short rests), but in moments of channelling the star’s energy the attuned creature is more and more filled with feelings of loneliness and need to return to a home they’ve never seen before. The ember is alive, if not sentient, and longs to be returned to the patch of sky from which it was stolen. Doing so can be quite an undertaking, but will reward the party with the Bright Maiden’s favour in the process.
Titles: The Bright Maiden, Lady of Far Horizons, The Infinite,
Signs: The appearance of new stars, astronomical lines and diagrams appearing in the sky, a sudden awareness of a heading leading either home or into the unknown
Symbols: A star and sextant or other tool of navigation, lantern with star iconography or burning with celestial fire.
Playing Warriors Adventure Game: the official Warrior cats TTRPG through my college’s tabletop gaming club rn
My Warrior cats OC is Dronestrike, a horse-sized cat robot deployed by the US government to see if the Clans need to be on the receiving end of a coup. I just shot a bird with a Barrett M82
Being myself, I have of course relentlessly minmaxed Dronestrike for optimal DPS
as we all know, red dragons breathe right-channel audio, white dragons breathe left-channel audio, and yellow dragons breathe video.
[The player has recently created a character from Texas, cowboy hat, boots, and has the whole southern stereotype thing going for him]
DM: Is Texas canon to my universe now? I hate you.
Dev Diary 1 - What is Torchship?
Hello everyone! I’m Erika Chappell, @open-sketchbook on tumblr, and I’m the game designer for Torchship, the space exploration tabletop roleplaying game. I’ve been working on this game, in some form or another, since 2016, and it’s incredibly exciting to be approaching a form with it that we can show off to other people.
Showing off is the point of these dev diaries; we’ve done an enormous amount of work behind the scenes over the past year, and while not all of it is ready for primetime and not everything fits together properly yet, there’s a huge amount of game and world and I’m tired of waiting to show it off. These dev diaries will be a way of showing off what we’ve done, share what we’re working on, and get excited about what’s to come.
What is Torchship?
As this is the first diary, I should probably talk about what the game actually is, right?
Torchship is a tabletop roleplaying game about exploring a vast and complex future galaxy of mysteries and danger. It is a traditional structured game with a GM and multiple players, who take the role of the foremost crew members of a rocket ship in uncharted space. It runs on a custom d6 system, designed around a set of solid core mechanics which expand into in-depth subsystems for whatever part of the game interests you.
It is, in many ways, a very retro sort of RPG. It’s deliberately aiming to be maximalist, not minimalist, with extensive and interlinking systems available for whatever possibilities your stories run into and mechanics everywhere you look to sink your teeth into. Each individual mechanic is simple and the game is designed so that you only deal with small subsets at a time in places where it’s appropriate, metering out the complexity similar to how the Routine in Flying Circus cut down on the number of moves in play at any one time.
You play as members of Star Patrol, a multifaceted agency of the Interstellar Union of Republics, or Star Union for short. The IUR is a very new and relatively small alliance thrust to the status of a superpower by the collapse of the local empire. It is ringed on all sides by potentially or actively hostile states, not to mention the looming threat of godlike powers and ancient civilizations that truly rule local space.
Star Patrol are equal parts explorers, diplomats, prospectors, spies, and watchmen, tasked with the impossible task of charting millions of unexplored or long-lost stars for resources, allies, and advantages as the borders close in and the power vacuum closes. Funding is tight and resources scarce; you’ll be the only ship for dozens of light years, but if you’re successful, if you can light the way, the future might be bright after all.
FTL Drives & Radiators
While Torchship’s inspiration is obvious, it might be more accurate to say that it is informed by Star Trek. It is not an attempt to make A Trek Game that directly emulates the feel of an episode; it instead aims to explore, reimagine, critique, and deconstruct its inspiration while injecting new ideas from outside.
One of the main ways it differs is by lingering on logistical concerns which are usually handwaved away and emphasising that you are space explorers, people out in the vast expanse, clinging to fragile bubbles of oxygen and water. Our mission statement for tone is Star Trek with Radiators; shiny space ships with all the retro trappings combined with the enormous glowing heat management systems.
This is deeper than just an aesthetic. Torchship is not hard science fiction, but there is nothing stopping you from putting realistic reaction engines and impossible teleporters side by side, nor from treating that teleporter as a complex machine that still obeys some kind of laws.
Or, in other words, the ship can go faster than the speed of light, but it still needs to do something with the waste heat it generates.
This principle manifests in dangers: Decompression, high-g forces, and radiation are huge threats, heat builds up, vacuum sucks. Instead of the consoles exploding, projectiles zip through the hull and lasers chew through vital parts. But… it’s going to be okay, because you still have impossible energy shields and amazing medicine and tools to repair any damage.
It is also present in the politics and logistics focus of the game. Torchship is a game about scarcity; you have to carry all the resources you need with you, and there are no magic replicators. Somebody, somewhere, labours for everything you use. This system connects to the political aspect; all your choices will be reflected onto the Star Union as a whole, and will shape who they become over time.
Development
Right now, Torchship is in an alpha state. It is still actively being written and rewritten with an eye toward playtesting and public betas. We are filling out the website (which will act as a big setting encyclopedia) and assembling 3d assets for creating artwork.
Torchship is an independent production and it’s being developed by a very small team. Despite that, we’re going to make the best damn space game there ever was.
“i equip my trusty laser revolver. there’s basically no point in it being a revolver and not an automatic pistol except for the aesthetic. honestly it’s just really inconvenient to have only six shots of fuckin light energy at a time but it’s a labor of love for a space cowboy”
I’m building a dnd class rn called “Just Some Guy” and the whole thing is that they are just supremely bad at combat and ability checks the whole time. at level 20 u get an ability called “Fucking Finally” where u get the level 1 abilities of another class. ur hit dice are d4s and the only thing u have proficiency in is improvised weapons. this is the funniest thing I’ve done in a hot minute
Something a little different than what I usually post!
I’ll be launching my first RPG-resource Kickstarter in January! I’ll be drawing 100 fantasy creatures, characters, and monsters to be released as personal and commercial stock art, and this campaign is an opportunity to get everything at a deep discount before it eventually gets uploaded to websites like DriveThruRPG!
Be sure to give this page a follow to be notified when it launches! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/diantimony/make-100-fantasy-stock-art-illustrations
I can't believe Wizards of the Coast destroyed the Open Game License (OGL) just to stop the world from enjoying my very controversial and highly unauthorized add-on: "How to Play Slowpoke in D&D 5E" 😔
joking aside i'll probably have to take this down eventually so download it now while you still can 💾💦
WE. FUCKING. WON.
They will not be moving forward with the new OGL. It will remain as is and will be irrevocable. Thank you to everyone that made their voices heard and made sure they understood we would not compromise. Victory is ours!