Known Spheres, a Spelljammer-inspired campaign

[DrFaust]

I've had a spot in my heart for Spelljammer since I read the novels back in my younger days, when I had no clue the books I was reading were tied to a game of some sort. And even when I discovered gaming four or so years ago, it didn't occur to me to look up Spelljammer.

Just this month, however, the itch came out of nowhere: run a Spelljammer-inspired campaign, and use it as a chance to finally test drive HERO. Now I find myself making notes on the setting, deciding campaign guidelines and all that. It's turning into a hodge-podge setting as I pull elements from this game and that book, but that's all right. I like it that way.

I'm sticking with the crystal spheres, only these ones hang from the branches of the world tree, Yggdrasil. Outside, between the spheres, is the ether. Most ships get around using an ether impeller between the spheres and liftwood mechanisms within wildspace -- a la Space: 1889 -- but there will also be spelljamming ships and other types of propulsion.

Races-wise, I'm snagging a fair bit from The Turakian Age: the Drakine wholecloth, elvish names and culture, and some other things. There will be at least some tinker gnomes, as in Dragonlance, because, hey, you gotta love the solar-paddlewheeler.

The cosmology mashes together the gods from George Martin's Song of Ice and Fire novels -- Father, Mother, etc -- with the henotheism as presented in The Turakian Age, where most people recognize the same entities, only through different names and guises.

The magic system is the default one found in The Fantasy Hero Grimoire and The Turakian Age because, like I said, this is as much a long-awaited test drive of HERO as it is anything else, so I want to see how the published stuff works before getting into alternate systems or designing one of my own.

In a lot of mechanical ways, I guess it's a bog standard campaign: 150 point PCs (though with only 50 in Disadvantages), only one stat can start above 20, and so on. I'm excited all the same because I finally get to try HERO out on my own terms.

I think a lot of the first few sessions will be experimenting with different elements, adding them in and out, to see what I like best. Like do one encounter using the SPD chart, one with a DEX roll-based initiative order, stuff like that.

I don't know how much I'm taking directly from Spelljammer, because it was contrived as a metasetting to move characters from one D&D world to another, rather than a setting unto itself. We are definitely having the Rock of Bral, though. And neogi and illithids. But I think I'll skip the giff, or at least save them to introduce later on.

That was kind of a stream of conciousness post. I just felt like sharing.

[teh bunneh]

Sounds like fun, Faust! I've run a Spelljammer/HERO game in the past, though it was so closely tied with my own universe that I doubt any of my old notes would be helpful. Good luck, and keep us posted!

[DrFaust]

We had character creation Thursday night. One guy brought four people he games with in another group, so now there will potentially be nine people in what I thought was going to be a relaxed little test drive of HERO. Yikes.

Also, after some consideration, I've decided to go with a setting closer to what's presented in Spelljammer. The Yggdrasil thing seems to have been weirdness for weirdness' sake. So back to the ever-flammable phlogiston ocean in which the crystal spheres drift.

We do another character creation session next week for the people who couldn't make it, and then the week after, I actually run an adventure. Oh, the pressure!

[Thia Halmades]

We had character creation Thursday night. One guy brought four people he games with in another group, so now there will potentially be nine people in what I thought was going to be a relaxed little test drive of HERO. Yikes.

Also, after some consideration, I've decided to go with a setting closer to what's presented in Spelljammer. The Yggdrasil thing seems to have been weirdness for weirdness' sake. So back to the ever-flammable phlogiston ocean in which the crystal spheres drift.

We do another character creation session next week for the people who couldn't make it, and then the week after, I actually run an adventure. Oh, the pressure!

Please do me a favor. DO NOT RUN WITH MORE PEOPLE THAN YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH.

I just went through this not too long ago; I had too many people and rules lawyering grossly slowed down play. If you do not yet own them, please buy:

- HERO System Combat Handbook
- HERO System Equipment Guide
- Ultimate Vehicle (Absolutely necessary if you're building space faring vehicles).

Cut your group politely if you need to - do not feel obligated to run for strangers if you don't know them. Stick with your group that you know and that'll be more forgiving as you go through the growing pains of a new system.

[Curufea]

I'm not that keen on Spelljammer - although I am tempted to run a Space 1889 game now and then - which is a slightly similar setting.

[Killer Shrike]

Spelljammer was a lot of fun. I only had a chance to play in one campaign using it, and it proved to be too short, but for three or four months we had a blast with it.

[DrFaust]

Cut your group politely if you need to - do not feel obligated to run for strangers if you don't know them. Stick with your group that you know and that'll be more forgiving as you go through the growing pains of a new system.

The thing is, these people are all casual gamers. They enjoy it; they do a lot of D&D, from what I understand; but it's still just a casual thing. I really can't see all nine of them managing show up on the same night. I plan to be very loose and casual about it all, because I know there will be more page-flipping and rules-considering than I like to have in my games. But yes, if 9 is too many, we'll discuss it and I trust enough people will drop out without any rancor.

As for learning the system, my plan is to start out stripped down to the core -- no END, no one's got any mechanically-crazy spells of powers -- and slowly add things in and out as I decide what works for me and the group and what doesn't. Vehicles and statted-out equipment are the last things I want to worry about right now, to be honest.

[Killer Shrike]

The thing is, these people are all casual gamers. They enjoy it; they do a lot of D&D, from what I understand; but it's still just a casual thing. I really can't see all nine of them managing show up on the same night. I plan to be very loose and casual about it all, because I know there will be more page-flipping and rules-considering than I like to have in my games. But yes, if 9 is too many, we'll discuss it and I trust enough people will drop out without any rancor.

As for learning the system, my plan is to start out stripped down to the core -- no END, no one's got any mechanically-crazy spells of powers -- and slowly add things in and out as I decide what works for me and the group and what doesn't. Vehicles and statted-out equipment are the last things I want to worry about right now, to be honest.

Sounds like youve got a good head on your shoulders and a sound plan.

As an aside, you may or may not be able to benefit from the material on my site, both the general High Fantasy HERO material, and the D&D3e Conversion.

There is also an older 2e Conversion (the original material in fact) that might be helpful for your Spelljammer material, but it's many years out of date and I never bothered to get all the paper material I had webbed up. Still, might help.

[Thia Halmades]

The thing is, these people are all casual gamers. They enjoy it; they do a lot of D&D, from what I understand; but it's still just a casual thing. I really can't see all nine of them managing show up on the same night. I plan to be very loose and casual about it all, because I know there will be more page-flipping and rules-considering than I like to have in my games. But yes, if 9 is too many, we'll discuss it and I trust enough people will drop out without any rancor.

As for learning the system, my plan is to start out stripped down to the core -- no END, no one's got any mechanically-crazy spells of powers -- and slowly add things in and out as I decide what works for me and the group and what doesn't. Vehicles and statted-out equipment are the last things I want to worry about right now, to be honest.

See, this is what I like to see. You have a plan and you know roughly what you're doing with it. If more people trusted their own skills and worried less about mechanics, games in general would be a lot better. Just because you have the most flexible system at your disposal doesn't mean you have to use every damn rule in the book.

As I've been quoted as saying before: Play the f'ing game. Well done, sir. Repped.

[Captain Obvious]

The thing is, these people are all casual gamers. They enjoy it; they do a lot of D&D, from what I understand; but it's still just a casual thing. I really can't see all nine of them managing show up on the same night. I plan to be very loose and casual about it all, because I know there will be more page-flipping and rules-considering than I like to have in my games. But yes, if 9 is too many, we'll discuss it and I trust enough people will drop out without any rancor.

As for learning the system, my plan is to start out stripped down to the core -- no END, no one's got any mechanically-crazy spells of powers -- and slowly add things in and out as I decide what works for me and the group and what doesn't. Vehicles and statted-out equipment are the last things I want to worry about right now, to be honest.

I've found a ship-based campaign to be ideal for groups where individuals will be missing several sessions. You can't just leave the ship unguarded when the main action is on shore, and when the main action is on the ship, well, the missing-player PCs are busy with other shipboard tasks. The only time it stretches believability is when the entire ship is threatened, like a pirate attack or a giant monster, but even then, they can focus more on damage control (fire fighting, pumping out water that's leaked in) than actual fighting.

I realize that Spelljammers won't be worried about water leaking in through a damaged hull, but still, as an illustration...

[Killer Shrike]

Well, one advantage to a Spelljammer campaign is that it plays more like Space Opera. Just make sure that the main ship has a collection of shuttles, scout ships, one man skimmers, or the like so that no show players can be said to be off on a jaunt doing something plausible, and when they show up their PC's can conveniently arrive whereever needed.

This basically just leaves the cases where something is left hanging between sessions and someone doesnt show for the next session as a problem, and such situations are usually easily dealt with by the expedient of the GM taking over the PC and having them take a back seat until they can conveniently be exited from the stage. Small ships are convenient for this as well...

[DrFaust]

Excellent ideas, Captain Obvious and Killer Shrike. I'll definitely be using them.

[DrFaust]

So we had our first session Thursday evening. It went pretty well, I suppose. I've never GMed for these guys before, so I was kinda thrown when they started asking for exact costs of things and such. I usually just handwave that stuff.

We had a combat that went okay. I fudged more than I suspected I would. But then, they were just orcish mooks, so who cares, right? The session was more about teaching the players the basics of HERO, rather than having a full-on brawl.

I'm not entirely sold on SPD, but we'll give it a few more encounters before rendering a verdict. We've got one samurai-type with SPD 5; everyone else has SPD 4 or 3.

The wizardly characters are going to need to be retweaked, as none of them have all that much END at their disposal, once we start using it. In fact, I think I'm going to encourage them to add some limitations to their spells, and decrease their magic skill rolls, to free up some points.

I actually found myself wishing for a map and minis. Usually, I don't like minis because I find they limit my thinking. But I kept getting lost about how many orcs were left and what they were each doing. Granted, they were just mooks, but it doesn't bode well for a fight with more significant NPCs.

Next week, I think we'll work more on plot and such. The PCs are taking a field researcher from the Library of the Spheres to find a lost survey ship in an uncharted sphere, with a resupply stopover on Hyspera, an elven colony world -- ooh, sudden idea flash! The colony's missing, Roanoke-style, or maybe brutally ravaged. One of the plots I want to work up to is the goblinkin making a resurgence on the interstellar scene, a la Spelljammer's Second Unhuman War.

[DrFaust]

Just wanted to update y'all that unfortunately Known Spheres stalled after one session because of a lack of sleep on my part. The hour-long ride home at midnight was not compatible with the other demands on my schedule.

But I haven't given up, and am using the downtime to refine setting details and mechanical tidbits. And the quickie battle we did have during the one session was quite valuable in finally seeing a HERO combat goes.

[Erkenfresh]

Sounds like you're having a good time with it. Try not to burn yourself out though!