Last month I wrote about an idea for a Spelljammer campaign. One of the things I wasn't terribly happy about was the notion of starting off the campaign with the PCs being abducted as slaves - I'm not keen on that sort of loss of agency early on. Plus, the existing Spelljammer lore makes starting in the Forgotten Realms a suboptimal choice - that sphere is too well known, so that the campaign can quickly become a railroad, as there's probably a 'best' way to go (hire a navigator, and enjoy the ride!).
That being the case, I've given the notion some more thought, and here's what I've come up with.
First off, make sure to tell the players that this is going to be a Spelljammer campaign! Otherwise, this next step is going to feel like a big bait-and-switch.
Have the players create characters for the Eberron setting. They're going to be a group of adventurers hired by an ultra-rich nobleman - his daughter (and heir) is about to depart on a Grand Tour of the Five Nations, and the PCs are charged with going with her and bringing her back safe and well. To that end, the nobleman has hired the use of a very large airship for a year. The airship, like the Golden Dragon, has two bound elementals - a hostile fire elemental that provides the motive power and a 'friendly' air elemental. That combination makes for some planar instabilities, making it vulnerable to a disjointing ritual...
(Whether the daughter in this case should be one of the PCs or not is an open question - the campaign will work either way. However, it should be made clear that the daughter is not in charge of the expedition - the whole reason for agents being hired to protect her is her lack of experience! I would also check whether there are any players who really want to run characters of spacefaring races. In such a case, I would give that player the chance to switch out his character after the first adventure.)
Also accompanying the party will be the noble's court wizard, also charged with keeping his daughter safe. Unfortunately, what the nobleman doesn't know is that the wizard is in league with his younger son, who seeks to remove an impediment to his inheritance. The wizard has a ritual available to transport the airship "to the outer darkness", thus removing the problem.
Anyway, the voyage starts, the wizard performs his ritual, and the party find themselves Lost in Space - the airship disappears from Eberron and instead finds itself in a junk-field of fantastical ships. The fire elemental has been released as part of the ritual (and is gone), while the air elemental is rapidly dying, but can sustain the ship's air supply for a few hours. Perhaps one of these ships has something of some use?
The first (second?) adventure is therefore to investigate a broken Spelljammer for salvage, which will just happen to include a helm (thus fixing the air supply, giving them a means to get home). And it will give the party some guidance as to their next step.
From there, as discussed in the previous post, it's mostly a case of navigating home. However, because the Eberron sphere is isolated, they can't just hire a navigator. Instead, they must follow some clues and generally find their way. The last step in the campaign, and the penultimate adventure, sees them making a literal leap of faith, crossing the Phlogiston where there is no longer a path, and getting back to the Eberron Sphere.
And then it's finally a journey home, a confrontation with the evil wizard, and time for tea and biscuits. Huzzah!
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