Any chance of a Spelljammer-like product?


Conversions


Hey all!

I would assume, that Paizo would be unable to make a Spelljammer product due to intellectual property. Then again, maybe it wouldn't be that big of a deal. Not really sure about the cans and cannot of reproducing such stuff like that. However, would it be possible to make a similar product? I've noticed some of the creatures in Bestiary 4 have a few things that could be used in a setting such as that. It would be really cool to be able to use current rules with out a need to buy 2E stuff and converting it. Yes, I'm a lazy gamer. hehe.

Sorry if this is wrong forum to ask this in, wasn't sure where to ask. For other forum folk, would you please post to see how much of a demand for such a product would be? I'm sure if we ask enough, maybe something could be done.

Thanks for the read and any responses. Keep up the great work Paizo!


Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Maps Subscriber

Some of the information in Paizo things make it seem that space farers use high technology. The crashed spaceship in Numeria and its Androids are an immediate example.

That said, just because there may have been (and may or may not still be) a spacefaring high-tech society does not mean that you could not use Fantasy version of starfaring vessels.

There was a kickstarter within the past year, with a name of something like "Sailing the Starlit stars" or somesuch (it was before I started playing Pathfinder). While it funded for some reason the company decided to cancel the product. It is a shame. as there are many people that are also interested in the idea (myself included).

It would be really cool to have Paizo make a space-faring setting that Golarion is already a part of. There are already not-so-subtle hints of things existing beyond the same solar system. Maybe they are waiting until Golarion is "finished". I mean, eventually they will have statted out the entire world.


Paizo have produced a very small resource for planet hopping adventures in Distant Worlds. However, I was a little disappointed in it (probably the only Pathfinder product that ever disappointed me), because it's really just a large scale gazetteer of the other planets in the solar system, and provides absolutely zero information about the actual methods of getting around it. Bafflingly, instead of providing actual statblocks and details of spaceship travel, it glosses over the most important part of a planet hopping campaign by providing a couple of paragraphs that basically amount to saying "There are spaceships and portals and stuff, how they work is up to the DM".
It's probably still worth picking up anyway, simply because of the description of the planet Eox. That place is badass.


Thanks Shiftybob and Seeleyone for your replies!

Shiftybob, I have that book too. Even bought The Great Beyond during the Golem Sale. Indeed, it is the ship issue that is getting me the most. Just really don't want to sit down and convert that stuff out. Plus without buying the old products, I wouldn't have an idea to convert the propulsion (spell helms or lifestealing helms) with movement or other conditions that may come up during adventures.

Like Seelyeone put, there are several hints at things to come, maybe. But I'd really like a more in-depth product. Heck, I would even settle for a PDF and pay some for a conversion of ships lol.

Thanks for the replies though, both of you! Hope to see more people showing an interest in this. :)


As someone who ran a Spelljammer campaign for about two years, I would also love to see a bit more detail on spaceships in the Pathfinder setting.
One thing I thought of doing, which probably wouldn't be too complicated, is simply converting the ship to ship combat rules presented in Skull and Shackles to work as space-boats. Just whack a vague approximation of a Spelljammer helm on the poop deck, pretend the water is space, and you're good to go.

Webstore Gninja Minion

We cannot do a direct conversion of Spelljammer, but fans can (and probably have) done conversions. I've moved this thread to the appropriate forum.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Kris Myatt 47 wrote:

Hey all!

I would assume, that Paizo would be unable to make a Spelljammer product due to intellectual property.

That and a fair amount of outright Spelljammer hate on the part of the creative staff for it's preceived level of excessive silliness. There seems to be more of a hankering for a sci-fi,l or more precisly, pulp feel to their fantasy space, something on the order of the equally late Dragonstar from Fantasy Flight games. There's been some fan work on the latter that's worth checking out.


Personally, I adore the silliness of Spelljammer. But I can definitely understand why some people don't necessarily want space hippos with lasers in their fantasy game.


Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Maps Subscriber

I ran quite a bit of Spelljammer in the 1990s. I ignored the things that seemed silly to me. But the basic idea of ships flying through space is cool.

I have a lot of notes on a setting kind of like it for my own campaigns. I have space be kind of like in Treasure Planet, where space is an extension of sky and there is none of the vacuum, lack of air, and now that I think about it, I ignored the cold aspect, too (or left it in relation to you and the nearest sun).

I have the ships be able to travel a sort of ley line between each star, where the ship gets onto a mana-current and travels along. Kind of like that sailing sky ship in Tron (of the early 1980s).

But it has not made it past not stages as time is limited.


Let me just say that I would absolutely love to see some new spelljammer (or any other magical sci-fi for pathfinder) released. That would be awesome.

My thoughts on distant worlds was much the same as those upthread. It was a cool idea, but it didn't have any of the information on the ships or means of travel which was what I was wanting from the book.

I think I'm just going to have to convert some of my 40k and some of my gurps stuff into pathfinder and mix it in with the old spelljammer materials.


Dungeon #92 had a 3rd edition conversion "Shadow of the Spider Moon" that was pretty cool. That might be a good starting point if you are looking to do conversions.

I personally found the non-intuitive "fantasy physics" the least appealing part of Spelljammer. I think you could probably do decently well just handwaving it as being identical to sailing ships (for purposes of ship-to-ship combat, cargo capacity, etc.), except with a Fly speed in-atmosphere and the Starflight ability (like a Shantak); maybe requiring a special skill roll (Profession:Spelljammer) to navigate the stars.

That's how I would do it anyway.


I don't think I'd even bother with much of the vehicle mechanics, and the gravity, air, cold . voidspace stuff I would just convert. I obviously never played Spelljammer, though I owned a lot of the books(damn traditionalist fellow gamers) - I only vaguely remember the space-hippos, but I do remember the neogi. I also remember thinking a lot of the ships were silly, and some of the physics a little incredible/strained.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Oceanshieldwolf wrote:
I don't think I'd even bother with much of the vehicle mechanics, and the gravity, air, cold . voidspace stuff I would just convert. I obviously never played Spelljammer, though I owned a lot of the books(damn traditionalist fellow gamers) - I only vaguely remember the space-hippos, but I do remember the neogi. I also remember thinking a lot of the ships were silly, and some of the physics a little incredible/strained.

Physics? What Physics? Spelljammer told physics to go sit in it's corner and not come out until the play session was over. To be fair, Spelljammer never, ever, once tried to pretend to be science fiction.

If you see where Paizo has gone with Distant Worlds, it's leaning towards a heavily sci-fi grounding to their setting. Space has vacuum, worlds are all sphereical, etc. With magic a supplementary element. Which again points more of a Dragonstar feel.

Dragonstar essentially operated as sci-fi, with teleport engines (that looked like something out of the movie Event Horizon) and gate magic taking up the heavy load of bypassing the lightspeed limit.


Some of it was silly and some less so. Like others I ran a SJ campaign for a time, editing out some the silly (except Giant Space Hamsters - loved those things).

The ship designs I liked (mostly) so a more magical sailing-ships-in-space is my preferred method of interplanetary mass transportation.

I backed 'Sailing the Starlit Sea' and was disappointed when it caved.

Cheers
Mark


A KS space campaign that seems to be moving towards publication:

Conquest of the Universe


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Sarcasmancer wrote:

Dungeon #92 had a 3rd edition conversion "Shadow of the Spider Moon" that was pretty cool. That might be a good starting point if you are looking to do conversions.

You can get a PDF of this issue at the Paizo store.

It's 3.5, so it will require some conversion, but the best part is that it ratchets back on most of the ludicrous nonsense, like the aforementioned crystal spheres.


Well, the most common way to travel between the worlds in canon Golarion is via permanent gates and by spells like interplanetary teleport. There are no rules on building spaceships-- mainly broad-stroke descriptions of the kind of spacefaring vessels different creatures would use to traverse the Dark Tapestry.

The closest thing to a spaceship I've seen in print so far has been the "aether ship" King Xeros of Old Azlant, featured in the Season 0 PFS scenario of the same name.

The module Doom Comes to Dustpawn also includes spacecraft. I haven't actually read this module, so I can't speak to any specifics that may or may not be included.

In 2014, the Iron Gods adventure path will include scifi elements, like robots, androids, lasers, and spaceships. I don't know what the mechanics are going to be, but I am very much looking forward to what they're cooking up!

However, I don't think you'll ever see much like Spelljammer game mechanics-- Golarion is far too serious a place to allow the high silliness that was Spelljammer.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Haladir wrote:

However, I don't think you'll ever see much like Spelljammer game mechanics-- Golarion is far too serious a place to allow the high silliness that was Spelljammer.

Be fair, the magitek spaceships were cool. It was the setting, especially the Ptolemaic cosmology, that most people had trouble with.


Son of the Veterinarian wrote:
Haladir wrote:

However, I don't think you'll ever see much like Spelljammer game mechanics-- Golarion is far too serious a place to allow the high silliness that was Spelljammer.

Be fair, the magitek spaceships were cool. It was the setting, especially the Ptolemaic cosmology, that most people had trouble with.

Did they? I thought it was fine. It was tinker gnomes in space that I wasn't keen on - and that had more to do with Dragonlance than Spelljammer.

My biggest gripe was the low production values sometimes. A lot of the interior art was rubbish.

Cheers
Mark


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Mark Norfolk wrote:
Son of the Veterinarian wrote:
Haladir wrote:

However, I don't think you'll ever see much like Spelljammer game mechanics-- Golarion is far too serious a place to allow the high silliness that was Spelljammer.

Be fair, the magitek spaceships were cool. It was the setting, especially the Ptolemaic cosmology, that most people had trouble with.

Did they? I thought it was fine. It was tinker gnomes in space that I wasn't keen on - and that had more to do with Dragonlance than Spelljammer.

Gee thanks, I'd actually managed to block out the Tinker Gnomes. 8-)

Quote:


My biggest gripe was the low production values sometimes. A lot of the interior art was rubbish.

That too.


I really want a proper space opera / fantasy game some day. Something like the Lensman series (E.E. Doc Smith) more than Edgar Rice Burroughs, mind. And Zapp Brannigan better bring the right flavour of Cheetohs or he's out as well.


Spelljammer totally lost my interest when they printed the stats for Giant Space Hamsters. In whole bunch of varieties, including the "Miniature Giant Space Hamster"... which was a normal hamster.

While I agree that the concept of magically-powered spacecraft is intriguing, Spelljammer completely fumbled the ball. I have no desire to see ported rules from Spelljammer.

I would like to see some ideas from Distant Worlds fleshed out though. I am very hopeful that we'll see some of that next summer in Iron Gods.

Oh-- I forgot other methods of space travel that are in canon!

You could ride a shantak.

And, if you can survive in vacuum, regular magical flight works just fine.

(In the module The Moonscar, flying demons equipped with necklaces of adaptation regularly fly between Golarion and the moon. A one-way journey takes a little less than two years of gliding through space.


3 people marked this as a favorite.

I did find a fan conversion of spelljamer a while back, I'll see if I can dig it up.

Edit: the "miniature giant space hamster" is a reference to baldur's gate (the video game) though. (I think)


2 people marked this as a favorite.
williamoak wrote:

I did find a fan conversion of spelljamer a while back, I'll see if I can dig it up.

Edit: the "miniature giant space hamster" is a reference to baldur's gate (the video game) though. (I think)

Indeed. Boo was a miniature giant space hamster. At least supposedly :).

"Go for the eyes, Boo!"

Silver Crusade

1 person marked this as a favorite.
HolmesandWatson wrote:

A KS space campaign that seems to be moving towards publication:

Conquest of the Universe

AUGH! Too late! D:

How could this happen to meeeeeeeee...


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Mikaze wrote:
HolmesandWatson wrote:

A KS space campaign that seems to be moving towards publication:

Conquest of the Universe

AUGH! Too late! D:

How could this happen to meeeeeeeee...

AUGH! I missed it too. Rats.


From what I recall about the origin of Spelljammer, the Paizo staff would have had to have began the process just after their meticulous research for Flip-Mat: Pub Crawl had worn off.
While I don’t doubt that many of their staff would be willing to dive into that level of research once again, I doubt that they have any intention of including Pathfinder Fire-Breathing Phase Doppleganger Giant Space Hamsters for Golarion. Not that I would be opposed, it’s just unlikely that any normal bar stocks enough alcohol to convince the entire design team at the same time that this would be a good plan.

-TimD


Ambrosia Slaad wrote:
Mikaze wrote:
HolmesandWatson wrote:

A KS space campaign that seems to be moving towards publication:

Conquest of the Universe

AUGH! Too late! D:

How could this happen to meeeeeeeee...

AUGH! I missed it too. Rats.

+1 so much sad ;_;


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Hmm, I'm never one for being totally serious in what I do, but if there's some significant allowance for me being silly, then this becomes a particularly exciting idea.

Consider, the universe is a strange and unknowable place. Being infinite, anything you can think of can indeed exist. Going for one theme seems like a bit of a mistake to me. Building a single system that allows for a more serious space opera, Lovecraftian horror on a galactic scale, the philosophy of Heinlein, the quirkiness of Adams, and so on, wouldn't really be all that hard. All it requires is setting supplements.

That being said, the whole laser hippopotamus thing is something I can entirely get behind, even when totally sober.

If you have particularly strong opinions on what you'd want to see, lay it on me. The end result will probably be Pathfinder. Then again, it might not be. All I know is this might be worth 75,000 words and my first Kickstarter :)

Though please be aware that I have approximiately 40,000 words to publish before I have an open slot :)


Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Maps Subscriber

I lean more towards the Fire as She Bears by Frog God Games for the ship stuff. Then make it so that the ships can fly in space, and you have it mostly done. Fill out the cosmos as you see fit and you have a campaign setting.


Absolutely. If the PCs can't get themselves a ship, say, "Make it so," and scramble the fighters every now and then, there's no point to any of this.

Silver Crusade

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Orthos wrote:
Ambrosia Slaad wrote:
Mikaze wrote:
HolmesandWatson wrote:

A KS space campaign that seems to be moving towards publication:

Conquest of the Universe

AUGH! Too late! D:

How could this happen to meeeeeeeee...

AUGH! I missed it too. Rats.
+1 so much sad ;_;

This so much.

Please say this will be available in print to non-Kickstarters.

Oh man, that techno-fairy armor picture fits Verces like a glove...

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Son of the Veterinarian wrote:
Haladir wrote:

However, I don't think you'll ever see much like Spelljammer game mechanics-- Golarion is far too serious a place to allow the high silliness that was Spelljammer.

Be fair, the magitek spaceships were cool. It was the setting, especially the Ptolemaic cosmology, that most people had trouble with.

Magitek is more accurately applied to the ships described in Paizo's "Distant Worlds". Spelljammer craft were simply magic. You wouldn't call a flying carpet "magitek", it's just a carpet that flies for no particular reason. Spelljammer ships were essentially like that. They only flew because some idiot got coerced into sitting in a chair that would drain all his spell slots for a day.


Mikaze wrote:
Orthos wrote:
Ambrosia Slaad wrote:
Mikaze wrote:
HolmesandWatson wrote:

A KS space campaign that seems to be moving towards publication:

Conquest of the Universe

AUGH! Too late! D:

How could this happen to meeeeeeeee...

AUGH! I missed it too. Rats.
+1 so much sad ;_;

This so much.

Please say this will be available in print to non-Kickstarters.

Oh man, that techno-fairy armor picture fits Verces like a glove...

I find out about Two missed kickstarter opportunities in one day...one of them I missed by 2 hours (Cthulhu Britannica London Boxed Set).

Sad, sad day...

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