Spelljammer: GreatSpace (system chart)

[Port Paladine]

Hello everyone! I'm part of the new Spelljammer group here on the guild. I have looked through many maps here and there are many great artists and talented people. I know that what we will be doing in the Spelljammer group will be kind off like switching gears but we hope to contribute to the site and help to inspire ideas in others.

This is my first map post. All my Maps pay homage to the first RealmSpace map printed by TSR. With spelljammer imagery acenting the planets and their rings on a similated parchment. I tend to make my maps and pictures on the large side. So with the file limit here at the guild I will be posting smaller versions here and the full size maps on my personal website.

This is the GreatSpace planetary system. The GreatSpace setting has a ancient greek flavor to it so I wanted to reflect that in the fonts and imagery.

[mearrin69]

Looks very nice! Never actually played Spelljammer but it always intrigued me...a great way to tie campaign settings together if your party gets antsy sticking around their home setting. Neogi were part of SJ, right? I like (er, hate) Neogi! Great villains.
M

[Port Paladine]

Hey! Good to hear from the community. Thanks, and yes Neogi are part of SJ. Picture Pirates of the Carribean in space... thats kinda like Spelljammer

I plan to try my hand at land maps as well. After all Spelljammer is just spaceships without a good Dungeon crawl to put the PC's through. Nothing like a nice treasure hord after a epic boss fight.

P.S. I have already been admiring your work. I really like your "Haibianr" map.

[mearrin69]

Thanks! Much appreciated.

Does SJ have "space dragons"? A dragon lair in an asteroid might make for a cool encounter...and map!
M

[Big Mac]

Looks very nice! Never actually played Spelljammer but it always intrigued me...a great way to tie campaign settings together if your party gets antsy sticking around their home setting.

Spelljammer can work well as a "transitive setting" taking you from one world to another. The original boxed set is based around connecting up Greyhawk, Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms.

The phlogiston connects the different settings, but the crystal spheres within the flow, give each gameworld its own "planetary system". What is great about Greatspace (if you will excuse the pun) is that the Hellenic theme means that you could connect it to other spheres or you could have a series of adventures flying a ship around the various parts of this one sphere.

I plan to try my hand at land maps as well. After all Spelljammer is just spaceships without a good Dungeon crawl to put the PC's through. Nothing like a nice treasure hord after a epic boss fight.

Something I've been reading about recently, is that Dave Arneson took a map of Holland, spun it around and turned it into Blackmoor. I wonder if it would be possible to play with a map of Greece and turn it into the one of the worlds of Greatspace. Maybe other Greek things (like town plans) could be rebooted and used for other maps.

Given that Thesalys is the world rules the sphere I think it might be best to make its map a modified version of Greece.

I did a quick search and found this map of Greece and its neigbours. That doesn't look too easy to use as a world map, as countries like Turkey fill one edge, but look at this other map that only shows Greek lands. That seems a bit more believable as a world map because it is "surrounded" by what seems to be sea. Rotating the map 90 degrees clockwise could help make this less obviously a map of Greece.

Does SJ have "space dragons"? A dragon lair in an asteroid might make for a cool encounter...and map!

There are several types of space dragons, but a conventional dragon can also fly into space. A "groundling" dragon could not fly far, but it might get from Thesalys to its moon (Myle).

I have never done an astroid lair in any of my campains. Cool idea!

There are a lot of asteroids in Greatspace's asteroid belt and plenty of different monsters in Greek mythology.

[Ryan K]

Probably the best parchment I have seen too

[Port Paladine]

Aye! Tharrr be Dragons in space. And ya know I have never done an astroid lair in any of my campains. Cool idea!



@ Ryan, Thanks!

[Big Mac]

This is the GreatSpace planetary system. The GreatSpace setting has a ancient greek flavor to it so I wanted to reflect that in the fonts and imagery.

I've always loved your crystal sphere charts. I've seen people do these various ways but the parchment thing really sells this as a fantasy map (and lessens the impression that Spelljammer is a sci-fi thing).

This version of the Greatspace map has some great things going on.

I love your Hellenic-style Greatspace logo and think the logo should be the logo adopted for the cover of any netbook that ever gets developed for the crystal sphere.

The helmet, horse riders and woman-like column give a Hellenic feel to the parchment. Seeing those riders reminded me that the world Thesalys needs to have some epic battles in its history and those riders could easily be from one of the many city-states that existed before the Time of Unity.

I wonder if you could put something like a sketch of Castle Skyview (the palace on Thesalys that Greatspace is ruled from) onto the blank areas of the map.

There is one element that confuses me (although the full size map might make this clearer). You have some writing on the left and some squiggly lines. They look a bit like they might be cross sections through mountain ranges, but I can't quite work out what they are.

[Sapiento]

Interesting map, especially the combination of a solar system and ancient Greek art.

[torstan]

Very pretty - I love the aesthetic you're going with on this. And I agree, the parchment background is great. Is that a scan, or something you created from scratch?