by Denis Tetreault
Version 1.0
Published in 1989, the Spelljammer setting not only introduced a new and very unique type of adventure setting, but it also enabled all other settings to be connected together in a singular "super setting" much like the Planescape setting did. The brainchild of game designer Jeff Grubb, the Spelljammer setting describes how different planetary systems (some representing existing settings, such as the Realms, Greyhawk or Krynn, others as all-new worlds) exist within Ptolemaic crystal spheres that are placed within a vast plane of "phlogiston". Player characters can travel between planets and spheres in open-decked ships powered by special magic. The unique execution of space travel in a sword and sorcery setting relies on a new set of rules that has been nicknamed "Grubbian physics", in honor of Jeff. The open decks of the ships lends itself well to medieval ship-to-ship battles and a very satisfying pirate feel to the campaign.
My own campaign, as explained elsewhere on this website, began in the World of Greyhawk (there were no other settings back when I started playing D&D) and has remained firmly rooted in Greyhawk all along. As the campaign progressed, I began to expand it into other areas as new material was published, adding the Planescape and Spelljammer settings as integral parts of an expanded campaign "multiverse".
| Nerik's Crystal Sphere map | Years in the making, Nerik's map of all known (and unknown) official and fan-created crystal spheres is in my opinion the best, most complete map of the flow that has ever been created. He's scoured every possible source and tried his best to fit to what little available canon there is. |
| Nerik's index of known crystal spheres | Nerik's spreadsheet of crystal sphere data, what he used as the base for his map, is the most complete indexing of official and fan-created spheres that I've seen. |
| Spelljammer ship models | Ship-to-ship combat in the "Wildspace" of the Spelljammer campaign provided
a great new twist to Dungeons and Dragons, and these Spelljammer ship
models made it even more fun. Here you'll find several all-new models
for your own SJ campaign. |
| Osraspace | Osraspace is my own original sphere, where I placed a humanoid homeworld and a few other unique features. |
| Large Luigi, the Orbi, and the Secrets of the Beholders | A great mystery hides a long-forgotten secret of the origin and purpose of the beholder species, and that purpose explains the mechanics behind the unusual wildspace beholder-kin known as the orbus. Large Luigi knows this secret, but he's not telling! |
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This page last modified on July 1, 2019
