![]() If you like the phlogiston, use it! Just don't let it get in the way of your players' fun. I'll probably use crystal spheres but not phlogiston, that is if I actually end up doing Spelljammer ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ĭungeon of the Mad Mage does have a great (and historically canonical) link to Spelljammer, though, in Stardock. As I mentioned, I love the phlogiston but I realise that it's actually a really bad idea in terms of game design. If I do introduce Spelljammer, it won't be for quite some time, as the party is 5th level and is currently in Undermountain. I didn't actually know that going through a crystal sphere required much of a resource. Interesting about the Spellplague destroying the phlogiston and crystal spheres. Might steal that idea if the party somehow finds their way to the setting for my RPG. I only have 5e books, but I love the idea that different/older worlds still work on the systems of old editions. Might be interesting to have the players have to back translate their characters to an earlier version as they cross into the new world. As for Phlogiston (and relic crystal spheres) if you have the 1-3.x books you could always have the party encounter a world still running under those rules enclosed by a zone of phlogiston and a crystal sphere that was never touched by the spellplague - I know there are lots of just such campaigns still out there. It can be a historic trace and clue/proof of what once was. The presence of shattered remnants in a wyvern in Undermountain just represent a piece that was somehow untouched - quite possibly because it was in Undermountain. According to FR lore the blue fire of the spellplague burned out the crystal spheres and phlogiston. Nothing says that those pieces aren’t a fossil of an earlier system that no longer applies. ![]() TL DR: crystal spheres are actually a somewhat compelling fantasy idea, provided you don't associate crossing them with high-level resource costs and do not use the phlogiston in any way because blech. Or if you like the lore that some stars are Elder Evils, maybe they are why the spheres are protecting the worlds. What is beyond the crystal spheres? Who built them? Are they keeping us in, or something else out? Crystal can be transparent, so it does not interfere with having normal stars, if that is something you want. This has the added benefit of being mysterious. What I would do is make the crystal spheres impenetrable by any known means, requiring spelljammers to plane shift into the Astral Sea in order to continue their journey. ![]() Just make the limited plane shift an additional function of the spelljamming helm. The key, though, is that it shouldn't require resources. What there should be is some kind of hard boundary, and a crystal sphere would provide that. It absolutely does - there is only one Material Plane, not a series of bubbles floating in the Astral - but the way it is written is going to confuse newer dungeon masters and players, and that's a shame. It also begs the question of whether Wildspace continues beyond the transition. It just happens, automatically, and that is both deeply boring and inconsistent with existing lore. The reason I say this is only because there's something big missing from the new Spelljammer material, and that is any kind of explanation regarding the 'transition' between Wildspace and the Astral Sea. ![]() I'm going to break with my own tradition here and suggest that crystal spheres aren't actually the completely awful idea the completely awful idea was their implementation in AD&D2. Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk ![]() Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |