Different models for fantasy space travel

After some thought, I decided to put together some ideas for space fantasy campaigns. To that end, I would present several different models for space travel physics as distinct campaign setting cosmologies.

Aristotelia, the setting of celestial spheres

This setting is based on Blood & Treasure, Dark Dungeons, and Voidspanners.

In Aristotelia, the physics of space travel are very different from reality. The night sky is actually the surface of a massive "celestial sphere" that encompasses the solar system. Outside of the sphere is the "luminiferous aether" and access to other celestial spheres in the universe.

Celestial spheres are not all made the same, but may have different local physics. One sphere might be heliocentric while another is geocentric. One sphere might be filled with an airless "void" (astronauts carry their own air supply without needing suits), while another is full of a breathable "ether." One sphere might have its inner and outer planes as inner and outer planets inside the sphere, while another has its inner planes inside the sphere and its outer planes outside the sphere.

Propulsion systems include:

• Sails of Skysailing are a magical effect that allow ships to fly through the air, void, and luminiferous aether. These are made from the silk of phase spiders and may be attached to conventional sailing ships.
• Void engines are magical items that propel vessels through the void. These need to be activated by a power source, such as a wand, a wizard, or a sacrificial victim.
• Ether sails are magical sails that ride the ether winds. These do not need a power source, but they are only effective in ether currents.
• Tree ships are rare vessels created by elfin druids.

Alhazenia, the setting of outer space

This setting is based on all those settings in which astronomy and outer space operates as it does in real life.

In Alhazenia, star systems and outer space functions as it does in reality. This makes it easy for a player familiar with modern astronomy to enter the setting. There are multiple competing methods for space travel, not one universal method used across the universe. These include fantasy magic, science fiction technology, and more based on a variety of different power sources.

Power sources harnessed for applications as propulsion systems include:

• Magic. Wizards can cast spells or create magic items that allow space travel.
• FTL drive. Seen in Dragonstar, Starfinder, and many other settings. These are taken straight out of scifi, so read scifi for details. I dislike this approach as I find it lazy and bland.
• Flux culler. Seen in Aether & Flux: Sailing the Traverse. These non-magical devices generate the electrical force known as "flux," which provides propulsion by interacting repulsively with the "aether" suffusing the universe.
• Aetherdrive. Seen in Aethera Campaign Setting. These are "magic-technology hybrids" powered by "highly toxic crystals" with "naturally telekinetic properties."

Fitting the planes of existence into Alhazenia requires more work. I should save that for a future post.

Monsters that mimic objects and terrain

D&D has so many monsters whose shtick can be summarized as a simple formula:

1. Pick a taxonomic category like gastropod, cephalopod, manta ray, slime mold, etc.
2. Pick a piece of terrain, architecture, clothing, furniture, surface, etc
3. Create a monster out of category #1 that pretends to be object of category #2.
4. Voila!

This formula is so silly and overused that there have been numerous articles over the years mocking it. Such monsters are often called "obnoxious" or "stupid."

While some writers like to invent new ecologies for these trick monsters, I personally found it easier to treat them all as variations on the mimic. Eventually I might decide to explore ecologies for mimic snails, mimic squids, mimic rays, etc. But it seems a bit silly, no?

Dragon spiders and spider dragons?

A concept I found while googling are the dragon spiders aka spider dragons. Dragons with arachnid (or other arthropod) traits, arachnids with draconic traits, or some horrible hybrid of the two? Who knows! They’re just plain creepy and I like it that way.

Spidragon © 2016 Crowsrock

Some examples of spider dragons include:

• The arachnidrake from Book of Drakes. It is a winged dragon with arachnid features, and has a swarm of spiders living on its skin.
• The draconid from Tome of Horrors. It is a giant arachnid with two dragon heads on serpentine necks. No relation to the similar looking slassans below, but you could always posit a connection.
• The slassan from Arcana Evolved. It is a giant arachnid with a dragon head on a serpentine neck; it is an intelligent creature with mystical abilities. In The Diamond Throne campaign setting, the slassan and mojh were hybrid descendants of the dramojh (fiendish dragons). 
• Reprinted as aqrabuamelu in Monsters of Porphyra 2. "Aqrabuamelu" is another name for the scorpion-men spawned by Tiamat in Mesopotamian myth. In addition to OGL constraints, the new name was presumably used because girtablilu was already taken by Pathfinder Bestiary.

I haven't really worked out any kind of background or theology for it, but I wanted to indulge in some brief world building ideas. I'm thinking that Tiamat, the primordial dragon of chaos and salt water, spawned a number of aberrant dragons. When they entered the mortal world, they appeared in the forms of spiders (a la Ungoliant) but their dragon nature showed through their new forms. And that's where the spider dragons come from.

I had ideas for other connections too. I was thinking of substituting Arcana Evolved's dramojh, slassan, and mojh with the manalishi from OSRIC, aqrabuamelu from MoP, and dragonborn from SRD 5. No firm idea of their relationship yet, maybe in later posts after I defined what the heck a dragon even is supposed to be.

Links

• https://wanderingmoonsword.tumblr.com/post/153494310794/draconid
• https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/184120
• http://fav.me/d98ysed
• http://5e.d20srd.org/srd/races.htm#Dragonborn
• https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/aberrations/draconid-tohc/
• https://koboldpress.com/arachnidrake/
• https://dragon-story.fandom.com/wiki/Spider_Dragon
• http://www.thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?t=7664

The vouivre, a weird wyvern/woman thing

The vouivre is a she-dragon from French folklore. The name derives from the Latin for "viper," and refers to the wyvern of heraldry or a mythical dragon inhabiting Lorraine, Jura, and other regions of France. In English, I suppose the idiomatic translation would be viperess or wyverness.

The following two pages from the comic book Vouivre: Thunder of Fury helpfully summarize the tales of this particular dragon:

The dragon is described as fond of bathing in her private cave and capable of assuming human form. This invites comparison to another French dragon, Melusine. Melusine became a dragon once a week and at this time bathed alone in her private quarters. A Book of Creatures calls the vouivres her spiritual descendants stripped of human form, with later accounts conflating the two to give the vouivre her womanly qualities where originally she lacked such attributes entirely.

Various regions of France and neighboring countries put their own spins on the myth. Traits include appearing as animals or balls of fire, greedily guarding treasure, dependence on magic gems (compare draconite from other folklore), and so forth. Your typical weird folklore stuff.

Modern sources put further spins on the monster:

1. When she was imported to the video game Megami Tensei, the vouivre appeared as a demon with features of both woman and dragon. Indeed, the left half of her body appears human but the right half appears monstrous!
2. When she was imported to the tabletop game Pathfinder, perhaps influenced by Megami Tensei, the vouivre became a bizarre creature resembling an amphisbaena with one end of the body appearing as a lovely woman. One wonders what was going through the writer's head, but I find it delightfully weird!

I like all these ideas so much. If I wanted to have the monster appear in all these forms, then I would use a simple explanation: the viperess' is a shape changer. Her power is flawed, however, and always reveals some obvious hint of her true nature. For example, the right or lower half of her body still appearing as a dragon, or she is followed by an entourage of vipers, or even that she sheds her dragon skin to bathe and is at the mercy of whoever steals it (echoing tales of the mermaid wife).

Research links

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guivre
• https://www.blackdrago.com/species/vouivre.htm
• http://www.blackdrago.com/fame/melusine.htm
• https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vouivre
• https://abookofcreatures.com/2015/12/11/vouivre/
• https://www.wordnik.com/words/viperess
• https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type4080.html

Gaming and popular culture links

• https://megamitensei.fandom.com/wiki/Vouivre
• http://dailybestiary.blogspot.com/2014/02/vouivre.html
• https://shop.gempakstarz.com/clay/LM-XV-S03-ENG

Random generation tables for the basilisk and cockatrice

Since I made random generation tables for the manticore, I decided I might as well do tables for the basilisk and cockatrice. I wrote these tables to reflect the sheer variety of basilisk and cockatrice depictions in medieval and modern art and literature. Such as the inset image:

"Eating Chips and Salsa" @BlueBroxton

I counted all the different depictions I could remember together, so these tables should provide results that were never depicted before. Even so, I doubt I accounted for every possibility so you should feel free to change these tables up at your leisure.

I didn't include any specific mechanical effects because I don't know what rules you'd be using, so any mechanical effects are suggestions only. Feel free to introduce your own mechanics or treat the results as purely cosmetic. If nothing else, then it might come in handy if you are drawing.

These tables are organized by head, body, tail, and special attack.

Head features

Species. Roll 1d5 to determine general species of the head

1. Rooster
2. Lizard
3. Snake
4. Dinosaur
5. Multiple heads. Roll 1d4 to determine species, then roll 1d3 to determine number of heads.

Crown. Roll 1d6 to determine the appearance of the crown.*

1. Diamond pattern
2. Feathery plume. Bonus to first impression.
3. Rooster's comb. Charisma bonus against hens.
4. Antlers or horns. Gains gore attack.
5. Vestigial wings. Gains wing buffet attack.
6. Literal crown. This crown counts as treasure, possibly even magic (GM's discretion).
7. Roll 1d6 twice, ignore nonsensical results.
8. Roll 1d6 thrice, ignore nonsensical results.

Tongue. Roll 1d4 to determine the appearance of the tongue.*

1. Normal pointed
2. Forked like snake. Gains scent ability.
3. Spade ended. Bonus to bite damage.
4. Has two tongues, one forked and one spade.

Neck. Roll 1d8 to determine the appearance of the neck.*

1. Smooth scales
2. Rooster waddle. Charisma bonus against hens.
3. Feathery mane. Bonus to cuteness.
4. Movable frill. Bonus to intimidation when unfurled and hissing.
5. Patterned cobra hood. Bonus to intimidation.
6. Long serpentine neck
7. Roll 1d6 twice, ignore nonsensical results.
8. Roll 1d6 thrice, ignore nonsensical results.

*Roll once for each head, if more than one.

Body features

Size. Roll 1d3 to determine the monster's size.

1. Small
2. Medium
3. Large

Body covering. Roll 1d5 to determine the appearance of the skin.

1. All scaled like snake or lizard. Charisma bonus against reptiles.
2. Feathered body with scaly legs like rooster. Charisma bonus against birds.
3. Smooth pinkish skin like a plucked turkey. Charisma penalty against everyone.
4. Patchy mix of scales, skin and feathers
5. Roll 1d4, and this time it is covered in eyes. Cannot be flanked. The eyes sleep in shifts, so it can't be surprised that way.

Movement. Roll 1d3 to determine stance and locomotion.

1. Serpentine slithering without legs. Cannot be tripped.
2. Walking on two or more pairs of legs*
3. Serpentine slithering, with two or more pairs of legs*

*Roll 1d4 to determine the number of pairs of legs, if any. Each leg past the first pair boosts resistance to tripping.

Limbs. Roll 1d4 to determine appearance of the legs and feet, if any.

1. Scaly like lizard
2. Talons and spurs like rooster. Gains claw/stab attack.
3. Feathered like second pair of wings. Gains bonus to flight rolls.
4. Vestigial legs. Relies on serpentine slithering anyway.

Wings. Roll 1d8 to determine the presence and appearance of wings

1. Wingless
2. Bird wings
3. Bird wings with talons. Gains claw attack. Allows climbing.
4. Bat wings. Allow hopping and climbing.
5. Feathery bat wings
6. Pterodactyl wings. Allow walking and climbing.
7. Feathery pterodactyl wings
8. Flightless fan-like fins. Allow swimming.

Tail features

Length. Roll 1d6 to determine the length and appearance of the tail.

1. Long reptilian tail
2. Long reptilian tail covered in feathers. Gains tickle attack.
3. Long colorful pheasant tail feathers. Gains bonus to first impression.
4. Long reptilian tail covered in fan-like feather. Gains bonus to flight.
5. Short feathered fan tail. Do not roll for tail's tip.
6. Vestigial or absent reptilian tail. Do not roll for tail's tip.

Tip. Roll 1d6 to determine the appearance of the tail's tip, if any.

1. No special tip
2. Spaded tip. Gains stab attack.
3. Feathered plume. Gains bonus to first impression.
4. Snake's head. Gains venomous bite attack.
5. Cockatrice's head. Gains petrifying bite attack.
6. Basilisk's head. Gains petrifying gaze attack.

Special attacks

Type. Roll 1d3 to determine the general nature of the special attack. Roll once for each head, if any.

1. Gaze attack
2. Bite attack
3. Breath weapon (same dimensions as a gorgon's breath)

Effect. Roll 2d4−1 to determine the effect of the attack and the monster's coloration.

1. Petrify. Black coloration.
2. Immolate. Red, yellow, and orange coloration.
3. Liquefy. Sea green coloration.
4. Evaporate. White coloration.
5. Freeze. Blue coloration.
6. Hemorrhage. Blood-red coloration.
7. Poison. Forest green coloration.

Celestial spheres cosmology, part 2

I previously mentioned the Aristotelian/Dantean cosmology of celestial spheres. The OD&D game took inspiration from the concept when it developed its Mystaraspace cosmology, which would go on to inform the cosmology of Spelljammer. This cosmology was also adopted (or adapted) by retroclones including Blood & Treasure, Dark Dungeons, and Voidspanners. The specifics and jargon vary between settings, so I'll be using Dark Dungeons as my primary reference here.

The basics

In contrast to the Aristotelian/Dantean cosmology, the celestial spheres are much simplified in this model and take further inspiration from the obsolete scientific theory of ether and modern astronomy; it is unique as far as cosmography models go. The solar system generally behaves much as its does in reality, with the planets orbiting the sun (although some systems may be geocentric or weirder). However, Aristotle's firmament of the fixed stars remains as the sole celestial sphere ("crystal sphere" in D&D jargon). The interplanetary space inside the sphere is an empty "void"; unlike real physics, living creatures have sufficient personal gravity to carry a small supply of air and aren't in any danger of a zero pressure environment. The space and planets within the celestial sphere is mirrored in each of the adjacent inner planes (air, earth, fire, water, ether), which are called "inner planes" because they all exist within the sphere. Outside of the sphere is the luminiferous aether, which is the equivalent of interstellar space. Other celestial spheres containing their own planetary systems exist throughout the luminiferous aether.

Space travel is generally accomplished using spacecraft that are powered by magitech or exploit quirks of the fantasy physics, such as through engines, sails, or other means of propulsion. These vessels are generally modeled after sailing ships, and may even be capable of doubling as sea ships and/or airships.

The OD&D and AD&D games differ greatly when it comes to depicting the outer planes. In the original celestial spheres cosmology, outer planes aka demiplanes were artificial spheres created by the immortals (mortals ascended to divinity) that were anchored to a celestial sphere. In AD&D's Manual of the Planes, the outer planes became independent of the celestial spheres cosmology entirely; when it was retrofitted later as Spelljammer, redundancies were introduced such as the distinction between the "phlogiston" (luminiferous aether) and the deep ethereal plane.

One wonders whether Disney's Treasure Planet was influenced by the game.

Simple variations

Blood & Treasure and Voidspanners put their own spins on this basic model. Both settings are closer to the original Aristotelian Universe in that their universe does not extend beyond the firmament, as opposed to having multiple such spheres emulating real star systems. Both settings diverge when it comes to the nature of the planets, however.

In Voidspanners, the system is heliocentric and the planets may be visited and traded with as per the Dark Dungeons model. Furthermore, the void is full of breathable ether; although prolonged exposure may still be harmful. Overall, the differences from the standard model are minor. As a supplement for Basic Fantasy, no rules for the other planes' geography are included.

In Blood & Treasure, the celestial sphere model is combined with the "orrery" or "solar system" model mentioned in the guides for designing your own planar cosmology. Here the planetary system ("Land of Nod") is geocentric and the transitive, inner and outer planes are presented as concentric spheres and associated planets: the ethereal plane corresponds to the lunar orbit, the astral plane corresponds to the space beyond, the inner planes correspond to the inner planets and the outer planes correspond to the outer planets. Taking a further page from Dante, Hell is located inside the earth and Heaven corresponds to the surface of the firmament.

Since these settings are limited to single systems, it is possible for them to be integrated into the basic model by presenting them simply as quirky spheres floating within the luminiferous aether. IIRC, the D&D canon cosmology uses similar logic to explain the cosmological differences between the different official campaign settings: each celestial sphere may have its own set of planes that aren't necessarily the same as those of other spheres.

On another note, the surface of the celestial sphere is comparable to the outer plane "The Vault of Stars" from 3pp Classic Play: The Book of the Planes. If you want to have adventures on the literal night sky, then I highly recommend using that book (not that I found any alternatives, mind you).

Hellhounds and other fantastic canines

In this post, I will direct my attention briefly to the numerous varieties of fantastic canines in fantasy gaming.