tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post8156609381940364557..comments2024-03-28T13:22:07.685-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: REVIEW: SkycrawlJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-89706947438517963032021-02-11T09:08:06.290-05:002021-02-11T09:08:06.290-05:00One of the more imaginative Silver Age settings th...One of the more imaginative Silver Age settings that TSR floated internally as an idea was a world of skyscrapers that towered above a perpetual cloud layer that hid the surface world. I always liked the idea of the dark fungi-ridden ground haunted by unimaginable and the dungeonesque nature of the lower tower levels. The good people (ie rich folk) would travel between distant towers via skyship). Others might use rickety bridges to cross to nearby towers. [I always get visions of how Roman thieves would raid adjacent tenebrae using a long plank.] Unfortunately it was deemed to be too much science fantasy to be developed further.<br /><br />[Disclaimer: This is mostly based on hearsay from well after the fact btw. I may be even more wrong in this regard than about anything I say. Caveat lector.]Reverance Pavanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01217657347160811310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-18921736604184116962021-02-09T04:24:00.537-05:002021-02-09T04:24:00.537-05:00Spelljammer's official setting is ALL of the c...Spelljammer's official setting is ALL of the crystal spheres and planets detailed in the published stuff and whatever you add. The closest thing to a "home port" sort of place is the Rock of Bral. The Astromundi Cluster details just one clutter-filled (and for me, somewhat uninspired) sphere.Voljahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08826776454392269862noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-84950412080431856872021-02-09T04:18:34.089-05:002021-02-09T04:18:34.089-05:00If anyone sees Spelljammer as a gate between TSR&#...If anyone sees Spelljammer as a gate between TSR's holy trinity worlds or a place to hold a (btw fairly boring and mundane) megadungeon, then the fault is in the user's limited imagination, not in the setting. To me it is the most wide open of glorious starry skies and beckoning alien vistas. Boy, it has endless numbers of crystal spheres with TSR's worlds floating as mere specks in them, titanic star beasts juggling planets on thousand year trajectories, lost space empires, illithid pirate nautiloids, orc hammerships, planets where elves grow living ships, and countless other cool features for playing Pirates (or a number of other things) in fantasy space, detailed just in the _official_ supplements. Even Planescape (or Manual of the planes) feels confined in comparison.Voljahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08826776454392269862noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-55232546071560746472021-02-08T09:24:38.499-05:002021-02-08T09:24:38.499-05:00There's something to be said for being able to...There's something to be said for being able to write the physics of how your "sailing ships" work from the ground up rather than mucking about with all that tedious realism stuff and getting in arguments with sailing buffs about proper rigging and all that stuff. :)Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-22571043344665134152021-02-07T13:28:11.184-05:002021-02-07T13:28:11.184-05:00If you haven't seen it already, I'd recomm...If you haven't seen it already, I'd recommend a look at the Savage Worlds "Sundered Skies" setting books from Triple Ace - they're on DTRPG as pdfs and in physical from their web store. It's not D&D, obviously, but it's a very good take on the "skycrawl/flying ship" campaign trope with some new wrinkles of its own. Like most things using the Savage Worlds engine it's pretty easy to adapt to other systems. Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-82898902502995369722021-02-07T13:00:52.506-05:002021-02-07T13:00:52.506-05:00I find it fascinating that TSR went for ships in s...I find it fascinating that TSR went for ships in space before they actually had a major product covering ships in the water.Ruprechthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00139664977453444000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-8658290706811371922021-02-07T09:31:23.381-05:002021-02-07T09:31:23.381-05:00I think that Weird Worlds is a great solution to t...I think that Weird Worlds is a great solution to the high-level PC conundrum---when they start to outgrow the pastoral medieval settings of your initial sandbox. (The Mythic Underworld too.)<br /><br />However, I currently prefer leveraging the Ethereal Plane as a quasi-space setting---because it easily accommodates all manner of strange and bizarre.squeenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975523149573452984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-71016981407061904202021-02-06T18:51:28.041-05:002021-02-06T18:51:28.041-05:00I didn't dislike the content as such -- what I...I didn't dislike the content as such -- what I objected to was giving a concrete "official" answer to the mystery of the Spelljammer.Darien Sumnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08586351803319498406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-15243084707274183382021-02-06T17:55:01.528-05:002021-02-06T17:55:01.528-05:00By the way, wasn't the Astromundi Cluster mean...By the way, wasn't the Astromundi Cluster meant to be Spelljammer's own setting?<br />artikidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17474295473142339717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-4624084742992877422021-02-06T16:05:13.053-05:002021-02-06T16:05:13.053-05:00FWIW, I actually loved the boxed set where they de...FWIW, I actually loved the boxed set where they described the Spelljammer itself. The idea of a floating megadungeon has stuck with me ever since as an amazing idea.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-91483899325121938962021-02-06T15:25:37.397-05:002021-02-06T15:25:37.397-05:00I loved Spelljammer's over-the-top-ness, perso...I loved Spelljammer's over-the-top-ness, personally. I'll grant that TSR used the setting badly -- as you say, typically as an excuse to get tinker gnomes into non-Dragonlance settings -- but the material presented in the boxed set is so wonderfully baroque I couldn't help falling in love with it. From the cards showing detailed floor plans of all kinds of weird ships to the weird (even by AD&D standards) new monsters to the absolutely wild vocabulary, I loved everything about it. <br /><br />Mind flayers reimagined as a galaxy-spanning crime syndicate was amazing, Beholders as *literal* tyrants, with absolute, iron-clad rule over their own little worlds. And then the neogi -- a race obviously created to one-up the drow in the "evil and spidery" arena. <br /><br />Just me, perhaps, but, yes: I thought Spelljammer was fantastic, though they never should have explained the eponymous ship itself. Darien Sumnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08586351803319498406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-61256116943630418012021-02-06T13:22:01.397-05:002021-02-06T13:22:01.397-05:00Oh yeah, 'Rural Juror' ... I absolutely lo...Oh yeah, 'Rural Juror' ... I absolutely loved that film! For weeks now, I've been wondering what on earth to do if my PCs decide to take the sky ship, which they found under Dwimmermount's summit, for a ride. This sounds like a resource to lean on to flesh out such a journey. James, thank you so much for this recommendation. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12022121234288172191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-88215388181711594952021-02-06T12:16:51.310-05:002021-02-06T12:16:51.310-05:00I liked the concept of Spelljammer a lot, the exec...I liked the concept of Spelljammer a lot, the execution not so much.<br />So much so that I wrote my own take on it for Basic Fantasy by Chris Gonnermann. <br />The supplement was inspired by the 3e version of Spelljammer, Shadow of the Spider Moon.<br />It's a free pdf and you can find it here: <br />https://www.basicfantasy.org/showcase.cgi?sid=110artikidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17474295473142339717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-78330304118177079462021-02-06T12:06:13.320-05:002021-02-06T12:06:13.320-05:00“Azure Etern” reminds me a little of the “Rural Ju...“Azure Etern” reminds me a little of the “Rural Juror”.mjuliushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09710248588764690217noreply@blogger.com