Sky Pirates and Supplements

[Afool]

I'm trying to find some sort of supplement for 3.5 about an air based world economy with ports on land or something like that to start a campaign with. A friend recommended that I repurpose Stormwrack, but I'd like to see if anyone's already done something like this so I can find something that already works before I try my own campaign.

[hivedragon]

ever watch Talespin?

[Kuulvheysoon]

Much as I hate to suggest anything 4e....

The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (for post-spellplague FR) has this phenomna know as earth motes - giant boulders that float in the sky. I can think of at least three organizations that base their operations from an earth mote.

[Tvtyrant]

I had one campaign that used Wha (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/whale.htm#baleenWhale)-gons (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/halfDragon.htm)to power their aerial economy. The Whagons were reasonably dumb things, and were perfect for towing cargo across the sky.

[TroubleBrewing]

The Whagons were reasonably dumb things, and were perfect for towing cargo across the sky.

Bolded for emphasis.

Why would a hybrid creature composed of two highly intelligent things end up "reasonably dumb"?

I mean, I get that within the construct of the game, a Half-Dragon Whale would only have 2 int or so, but still...

[Red_Dog]

Ok, first suggestion =>

Why not make a campaign on one of the following planes?=>

Water Plane[submarine-style adventure]
Astral Plane[Planar Handbook has enough ships for it, over all, you have a good start]
Air plane[The original flying machine setting ^^]

These are essentially something that you would play when =>

A]Airtravel is semi mundane. Its not one crazy gnome made a flying ship.
B]Sick of material plane boredom = P

**Other planes can also be used, especially Fire Plane, as even its main City [The City of Brass] is, as far as I remember, hovering above "ground".**

Second Suggestion[s] =>

-Using things like animate object, you should be ok ideas.
-Using Planar Handbook's gear but for material plane. They have an awesome & infamous => "Gate Zeppelin" that costs a ton, but essentially has magical propulsion as it can gate itself, I think, to any plane.
-Using Storm-wrack for writing an analog set of rules. This might be a bit difficult and time consuming though.

==================================================>

So yeah... basically speaking. flying campaigns are awesome, I however would be careful about what magic you do let into the world, so the air travel won't become obsolete in 10 seconds after your teleporting/planeshifting wizard gets to it...

[Yora]

ever watch Talespin?
This is why this forum needs a Like button. :smallbiggrin:

[Khedrac]

If you are willing to do a reasonable amount of work then you can probably use material from other versions relatively easily...

Spelljammer from 2nd Ed (and there may already be 3E/3.5 conversions out there) could be adapted very simply - ships flying in "space" to ships flying in the air is easy. There was quite a lot of material published, I don't remember any being Pirate specific, but if you used SJ for the mechanics then virtually any pirate stuff would transfer.

The Voyage of the Princess Ark boxed sat and Dragon Magazine article chain did similarly for BECMI D&D though the flight rules were probably more complex. Alternatively if you have access to it another other D&D product that could be of use is PC4(?) Top Ballista - a floating gnomish rock.

Good luck and have fun!

[Tvtyrant]

Bolded for emphasis.

Why would a hybrid creature composed of two highly intelligent things end up "reasonably dumb"?

I mean, I get that within the construct of the game, a Half-Dragon Whale would only have 2 int or so, but still...

This is D&D, logic has nothing to do with it. I think it is actually a 5, but that is still pretty dumb.

[Andorax]

Spelljammer from 2nd Ed (and there may already be 3E/3.5 conversions out there) could be adapted very simply - ships flying in "space" to ships flying in the air is easy.

Polyhedron, May 2002. Shadow of the Spider. The "full" rules for bringing Spelljammer into 3.X.

Doesn't capture the whole thing by any stretch, but it isn't a bad place to start...and Spelljamming vessels work just fine in an aerial campaign.

[Afool]

Thanks for the suggestions. Its my first campaign so I'm not sure if I want to try anything immediately off plane, but Spelljammer sounds like something to look into and Stormwrack looks like a good start as well. I found Aerial Adventures-Sky Captain's Handbook while I was googling around and it looks like it could have some interesting stuff. My idea right now is to have the starting kingdom be in what I'm going to call the Stormlands. I'm thinking along the lines of having it be slightly connected to the Air Plane, which is causing the storms, and the ships be powered by non-sentient air elemental essences gathered from those storms.


Much as I hate to suggest anything 4e....

The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (for post-spellplague FR) has this phenomna know as earth motes - giant boulders that float in the sky. I can think of at least three organizations that base their operations from an earth mote.


I had one campaign that used Wha (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/whale.htm#baleenWhale)-gons (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/halfDragon.htm)to power their aerial economy. The Whagons were reasonably dumb things, and were perfect for towing cargo across the sky.

The earth motes sound like a good in-the-air port source. I don't think the Whal-gons will quite fit the setting, though I do see their potential.

*imagines Whal-gon armada with mounted cannons*
Yes, a lot of potential:smallamused:.

[Tvtyrant]

I don't think the Whal-gons will quite fit the setting, though I do see their potential.

*imagines Whal-gon armada with mounted cannons*
Yes, a lot of potential:smallamused:.

That was where the campaign ended up. Since it was E6 we never reached the "people considerably stronger than their mount" phase.

[Afool]

Why did it end that soon?

[Tvtyrant]

Why did it end that soon?

E6 is a mod of the game where traditional levels cap at level 6, and then you move into a special version of epic. As a result the Whagons have a lot more strength and health than any of the characters riding them, where eventually in an E20 game you would end up outclassing them. It also meant that the siege weapons on the Whagons were legitimate threats to the party in sky combat.

[Afool]

That makes sense, but how did you handle the air to air combat?

[Tvtyrant]

Because whales are too large to straddle, you put a big box on its back that everyone rides in (It can carry about 4,000 pounds). The pilot "steers" the whagon, and as a result they have a combined turn.

Combat would work like this:
1. Roll spot checks
2. See enemy, roll initiative (don't see enemy, surprise round!)
3. People go until the whagon's pilot's initiative turn.
4. The Whagon moves on the pilot's initiative, and can attack if close enough to an enemy (but a whagon cannot attack the riders of another whagon, it has to attack the other whagon or a different separate target. This makes flying off on your own a risk, since the whagon can then target you).
5. Moving from one whagon to another (IE boarding) takes a full round action and they have to be within jump range, or you have to be flying. When you land there is a balance check to see if you landed right and remain on the enemy whagon or slide off.

[Afool]

I think that would work for me, thanks:smallsmile:.

[Perryy]

Though you've already come to somewhat of a decision:

I know in the Eberron Campaign Setting they have airships. I believe they're usually powered magically along with a bound Air or Fire Elemental.

Hope that bit helps out any as well. :smallsmile:

[Cieyrin]

I had one campaign that used Wha (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/whale.htm#baleenWhale)-gons (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/halfDragon.htm)to power their aerial economy. The Whagons were reasonably dumb things, and were perfect for towing cargo across the sky.

Whagons? Soarwhale!
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/aeg_gallery/50066.jpg

AEG pg. 89. Colossal flying baleen whales used for cargo transport, comes with paralyzing gas attack (Fort DC 35!) to send enemy fliers to their dooms when they crash land into the ground below.

[Ravens_cry]

Looking for a less objectively magical approach, has anyone done dogfight and biplane rules for d20?
One of my "I'd love to do this but the rules don't support it" campaign ideas is mixing Porco Rosso/Crimson Skies Interwar period sky piracy with D&D races.

[TheTick]

The FATE system's Spirit of the Century might work, if you are willing to look outside of D20 stuff. At the very least some of the fluff might be worth investigating.

[Ravens_cry]

The FATE system's Spirit of the Century might work, if you are willing to look outside of D20 stuff. At the very least some of the fluff might be worth investigating.
It would be good to branch out of d20. The one trouble is the different races. I'm pretty sure SotC assumes human characters.
Having standard fantasy races is vital to the idea, vital. A significant of the setting revolves around the fact that hobbits were the first race to fly, and so have a lot of prestige and power this way, allowing either more nimble or more heavily armoured aeroplanes.
Orcs are gentrified with the pig faces they had in first and second edition.
Elves and half-elves are gearing up to retake an empire they lost centuries ago when magic temporarily stopped working.
Goblinoids are reviled, but only for their part in the Eternal Battle, a time lock that froze a stretch of a front of trench warfare that may have lasted millennia, soldiers rising to fight anew each 'day'.
Dwarves are divided into two groups, more traditional ones who stay inside and underground and the Skyburners, flying around in massively armoured flying boats, with coal black skin (dwarves tan differently) and sunbleached beards.
As good as any dwarf, they are awesome mechanics and are generally all around friendlier than your dour down-under mountain rooter.

[Cieyrin]

Looking for a less objectively magical approach, has anyone done dogfight and biplane rules for d20?
One of my "I'd love to do this but the rules don't support it" campaign ideas is mixing Porco Rosso/Crimson Skies Interwar period sky piracy with D&D races.

The closest I've seen vehicle-wise are Ornithopters, though they're magically enhanced hang-gliders for small characters and they don't maneuver that well, either. Otherwise, you're kinda stuck into homebrewing, as fantasy games seem utterly oblivious to Bernoulli's Principle.

EDIT:
It would be good to branch out of d20. The one trouble is the different races. I'm pretty sure SotC assumes human characters.
Having standard fantasy races is vital to the idea, vital. A significant of the setting revolves around the fact that hobbits were the first race to fly, and so have a lot of prestige and power this way, allowing either more nimble or more heavily armoured aeroplanes.
Orcs are gentrified with the pig faces they had in first and second edition.
Elves and half-elves are gearing up to retake an empire they lost centuries ago when magic temporarily stopped working.
Goblinoids are reviled, but only for their part in the Eternal Battle, a time lock that froze a stretch of a front of trench warfare that may have lasted millennia, soldiers rising to fight anew each 'day'.
Dwarves are divided into two groups, more traditional ones who stay inside and underground and the Skyburners, flying around in massively armoured flying boats, with coal black skin (dwarves tan differently) and sunbleached beards.
As good as any dwarf, they are awesome mechanics and are generally all around friendlier than your dour down-under mountain rooter.

Actually, now that I think more about it, it sounds like you may be able to adapt Dragonmech to that, though their rules geared toward Big O type mecha powered by steam and clockwork. The mecha construction rules could probably hold decently for airborn vehicles and aerial dreadnaughts.

[Agent 451]

You might want to take a look at some of the Deathgate Cycle books by Weis and Hickman. The economy revolving around the lack of water within the air world Arianus (complete with floating continents) was rather interesting.

[Tvtyrant]

You might want to take a look at some of the Deathgate Cycle books by Weis and Hickman. The economy revolving around the lack of water within the air world Arianus (complete with floating continents) was rather interesting.

But in 3.5 you would just make decanters of endless water for each of the sky continents and irrigate everything.

[Ravens_cry]

The closest I've seen vehicle-wise are Ornithopters, though they're magically enhanced hang-gliders for small characters and they don't maneuver that well, either. Otherwise, you're kinda stuck into homebrewing, as fantasy games seem utterly oblivious to Bernoulli's Principle.

Just because they are doesn't mean I am.


EDIT:

Actually, now that I think more about it, it sounds like you may be able to adapt Dragonmech to that, though their rules geared toward Big O type mecha powered by steam and clockwork. The mecha construction rules could probably hold decently for airborn vehicles and aerial dreadnaughts.
Maybe, by 'flying boat' I mean something like this. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_boat)