Introduction to Spelljammer
Header Image: Adventures in Space by TSR Inc.
This week we are looking at the basics of the Spelljammer campaign setting, with future posts looking at the ships of Spelljammer, crystal spheres, and more!
What is Spelljammer?
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, 1989 TSR Inc.
Spelljammer is a campaign setting about traversing outer space with a focus on magic as opposed to science. Magic is the controlling force in the Spelljammer setting, not science. Within this setting are the spelljammers, magical ships that can propel themselves out of planets and shoot off with incredible speed to the very edges of their solar systems, pass out of the crystal sphere, and into the phlogiston where hundreds of other crystal spheres wait to be explored.
This setting is focused on the wonders of space, of traveling to the different worlds on fantastic ships, while still being fully grounded in fantasy.
History
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, 1989 TSR Inc.
This campaign setting is first detailed in Spelljammer: AD&D Adventures in Space (1989) which is a box set that contains the lore information as well as mechanics for traveling in space, as well as ship-to-ship combat. The Spelljammer setting is further detailed in three other box sets; The Legend of Spelljammer (1991), War Captain’s Companion (1992), and Astromundi Cluster (1993), as well as several companion books, novels, and adventures that further detailed the setting, as well as providing new spelljammers, locations to visit, and creatures to interact with, like the Giant Space Hamster.
Unfortunately for the setting, it is discontinued after only a few years and has yet to be revived in the following editions. Instead, elements from the setting make appearances across the editions, from spelljammers making their way over to the Astral Sea in 4th edition to a crashed ship beneath a major city in the Forgotten Realms, and many of its iconic monsters, like the Neogi and Giff, have found their way into various sourcebooks.
Major Elements
The biggest elements of Spelljammer are the fantastical spelljamming ships that allow one to leave their planet’s atmosphere, Wildspace, Crystal Spheres, and the Phlogiston. Each of these is combined to create a large universe to explore, visiting strange sights, and that works as explanations for how multiple planets and solar systems can reside in the same multiverse with few to no conflictions.
Spelljammers
Spelljammers are the ships of the Spelljammer setting, though there is a singular ship known as THE Spelljammer, which is a legendary and massive spelljamming vessel with hundreds of legends and myths surrounding it and its construction. Typical spelljammers, the ones that are crewed by adventurers, spacefarers, and monsters; all require a special tool known as a Helm to be flown. This Helm, which looks like a large throne that a spellcaster must remain seated in with recessed slots for their head, arms, and legs, allows them to take full control of the ship and fly it as if they were the ship. The stronger a spellcaster, the faster they can fly the ship, and they can even funnel their magical abilities into the ship for additional ability.
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, 1989 TSR Inc.
Not every ship will have a Helm that appears like a throne, some may have older pieces of magic, like furnaces that require magical items to be shoveled in like a train requires coal, and others might be linked to a powerful item known as a Crown of the Stars which allows the pilot to freely walk the ship while they are piloting their ship. These ships are incredibly fast, moving 400 miles per day while in the atmosphere and up to 10 million miles per day when in wildspace, with greater speeds in the phlogiston.
Wildspace
Contained within the crystal spheres are celestial bodies of the Material Plane. Within a crystal sphere are planets, gas giants, asteroid fields, stars, and more; with the space between each of those objects an airless void known as wildspace. All space within a crystal sphere is the wildspace, and some adventurers and spacefarers may never leave their sphere, sticking to their solar system or celestial bodies as there is plenty of adventure, and money, to be made within these massive areas.
Crystal Spheres
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, 1989 TSR Inc.
Surrounding each system is a massive sphere made of an unknown ceramic material that is impenetrable by brute force. Instead, certain spells must be cast to create a hole in the crystal shell, allowing the spelljammer to move through it from wildspace, the inside of the sphere, to the phlogiston, the outside of the sphere. No one knows who created these spheres, though a few claim it was the work of the divine gods, but it isn’t likely. A cleric who leaves a crystal sphere where their deity is worshiped soon finds it more difficult to touch their deity and regain spells until they visit another crystal sphere that has worshippers of their deity.
These crystal spheres all look the same, as monstrously huge dark, perfectly smooth shells. Due to their immense size, since they house an entire solar system or more, they appear as a flat wall with some holes opening and closing across their surfaces at random. Each sphere’s radius is twice the orbital radius of the furthest object within them, meaning that if there is an asteroid that is 100 million miles from the sun it orbits, and no other object further from that central celestial body, then the crystal sphere would have a radius of 200 million miles.
Crystal spheres range in size from a few million miles, for a small system, too far larger, like thousands of million miles across. Beyond a difference in size, all crystal spheres appear the same, dark, seamless, and immense.
Phlogiston
The phlogiston refers to the space outside the crystal spheres, as well as the rainbow-colored river of ether that connects the spheres together. Ships can travel off these rivers, but it is much faster to stick to the rivers as the distance between spheres is nothing short of mind-bogglingly massive. Even following the faster rivers of this colorful ether can take spacefarers a hundred days to reach another sphere, which is just a reminder as to how massive the phlogiston really is. There are hundreds, maybe thousands or millions, of crystal spheres in the phlogiston, slowly bobbing and drifting through the phlogiston, making it impossible to fully know what is out there.
The ether that makes up the phlogiston can get denser, and the deeper rivers of phlogiston that you submerge your ship in, the faster you can travel between the spheres. These rivers may flow in two directions, allowing you to travel back and forth between two spheres, or the river may only flow in a single direction, forcing you to make a longer trek to return to a previous sphere. In addition to the difficulty of winding through the flow, one must also be incredibly careful to not have any fire on the ship as the ether is incredibly flammable and volatile. Luckily, the phlogiston emits radiant light, and you can use magical light to lighten up areas inside the ship. Those who disregard warnings may soon find that lighting a candle creates an explosion that would rival a fireball, and anything greater than that can seriously damage your ship, as well as threaten your crew with death or permanent injury.
If one does end up drifting in the phlogiston, like if your air supply runs out or your only spellcaster dies, instead of dying, your flesh slowly turns to stone and you continue drifting along the flow until a salvage ship finds you and rescues you, returning you from stasis and to life. Of course, most salvage ships are run by the Mind Flayers and Neogi, in that circumstance, it’s probably better if you had just died by asphyxiation.
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, 1989 TSR Inc.
Travel to Wildspace
Those looking to travel to wildspace need only find a spelljammer, which can be quite difficult if they are in a low-magic world or have very few traders willing to stop at their crystal sphere. Antiquated spelljammers could be ancient relics left behind by long-dead adventurers who decided to settle down, or were killed when they thought they could take on a dragon.
Though spelljammers aren’t the only way to reach the wildspace, they are just typically the fastest. An adventurer might be able to ask a roc, or any creature with wings, to fly them to the wildspace. While it is possible, it’s not a very feasible option as the atmosphere grows thin and a personal supply of air only lasts for a few short minutes before it runs out. Spellcasters and wizards have also teleported to nearby celestial objects that they can see, though they require telescopes or other devices to help them study the world for proper teleportation.
The best, and safest, way of traveling to wildspace, and beyond, is through the use of a spelljammer. Only those vehicles are capable of traveling the millions of miles required to even reach a nearby moon or planet within a few days.
Traversing Wildspace and the Phlogiston
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, 1989 TSR Inc.
The fastest, and truly only meaningful way, of traveling across wildspace, and the phlogiston, is by the use of a spelljammer. While you can teleport, so long as you stay within your crystal sphere, it is rather risky as just seeing your teleport destination in a telescope doesn’t give you the familiarity you truly need to use that magic properly. In addition, many spellcasters have attempted to teleport out of their crystal sphere and to another world, and even if they have been there, they are blocked by their sphere. When they cast their magic, they simply appear at the very edges of their crystal sphere and must travel through the crystal shell, through the phlogiston to their destination, enter the new crystal sphere, and then teleport to their final destination. Teleportation magic doesn’t work in the phlogiston, and so spelljammers are the only way of truly traveling.
Atmosphere & Gravity
Two major problems may become apparent to would-be spacefarers who are leaving their planets for the first time. Many spelljammers are completely open, their decks open to the airless void of wildspace. How does one breathe in wildspace and the phlogiston? Once that problem has been crossed, how does one ensure they don’t simply drift off their ship?
When any object or creature leaves a planet or large mass, they bring with them a bit of atmosphere that is proportional to their size. A medium-sized creature, like a human, brings a small envelope of air that is enough to last them for several minutes, but since they have no way of purifying that air, will then shortly asphyxiate, thus ending their journey into wildspace rather quickly. Larger objects and creatures, like a spelljammer, have a larger envelope of atmosphere they bring with them, allowing creatures to survive longer on them. For every ton of cargo space a spelljammer has, one creature has enough air for four to eight months, which means a spelljammer with a crew of 30 people should be at least capable of carrying 30 tons of cargo to have enough air for everyone on board for a multi-month long journey, like traveling from one sphere to another in the phlogiston.
In addition, gravity accompanies any suitably large object based on the object’s longest axis. Since spelljammers are longer than they are tall or wide, their longest axis is known as their keel and gravity exists along the center of that axis. Along this central axis, gravity pulls creatures toward it with the same force that would be on a typical planet. This does have the strange effect that if creatures are on the bottom of the ship, they are pulled to the center of their ship, so they can stand along the hull of the ship comfortably and can walk around the bottom of the ship to the top deck, the gravity keeping their feet pointing towards the central axis of the ship the entire time. Though, this has the strange effect that gravity can disappear when a smaller object drifts toward a larger object, like a ship coming in to dock with an asteroid. This means that the ship must orient itself properly to the asteroid, or find it suddenly crashing out of control of the pilot. This is also used in ship-to-ship combat as a smaller vessel can enter the other vehicle’s space and crash down on the larger ship, sometimes this is done on purpose by the smaller ship and other times it is done on purpose by the larger ship.
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, 1989 TSR Inc.
Encounters
There are strange events and people from all across wildspace and the phlogiston that can be encountered. Horrible creatures, like the Neogi, are some of the greatest threats that could be found, but there might be horrific monsters whose very names are enough to drive creatures mad. There are a huge number of dangers out in wildspace and the phlogiston, but for those canny enough to survive it, they may find themselves richer than their wildest dreams.
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, 1989 TSR Inc.
Resources & Further Reading
Spelljammer: AD&D Adventures in Space (2nd edition)
For a general overview of the setting, its lore, and mechanics.
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