# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Sci-fi/Modern Mapping >  Spelljammer Map of the Flow (WIP)

## Nerik

Ok, I'm not sure if this is the right place, but here goes...

Sometime ago I produced this map of the flow, I've recently started work on updating it, with the intention of being as close to the original sources as I can get, while adding as many fan-created spheres as possible.
Here are my current versions (as of *01*/*12*/2012):
Complete PDF version
(still no SVG version this time - mut not that much has changed.)

PDF version that only shows 'known' areas


Older versions can be found here

The actual map is in layers, I plan to produce several versions; a 'player's map' showing only known spheres and rivers, and a 'gm's map' showing unknown features as well, other versions maybe possible as well. I'm hoping I will eventually be able to produce a single pdf with multiple 'layers' - eventually.

*Charles*

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## bartmoss

Awesome, I love spelljammer, I can't say how "accurate" this map is but it sure looks like the best SJ universe map I have seen yet.

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## Nerik

> Awesome, I love spelljammer, I can't say how "accurate" this map is but it sure looks like the best SJ universe map I have seen yet.


Thanks, I'm trying to match canon as much as possible (travel times are mostly derived from the novels, mostly by Paul Westermeyer), and fanon where I'm using pre-existing fan-works (and I am, a lot).

Ok, an update - put the Illithid spheres back in, plus flow direction arrows.

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## Nerik

Further slight update, I've added a SVG version - I've got a problem with font conversion ATM, which I'll look into soon.

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## bartmoss

Cool - saved for the (unfortunately unlikely) case that I might some day run a SJ game.
Could I get my Arth sphere on to it too, even if it's kind of an alternate Sj setting?  :Wink: 

http://enderra.com/worlds/arth-space-spelljammer/

Should probably be a little out-of-way, maybe somewhere around Nivil?

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## Nerik

> Cool - saved for the (unfortunately unlikely) case that I might some day run a SJ game.
> Could I get my Arth sphere on to it too, even if it's kind of an alternate Sj setting? 
> 
> http://enderra.com/worlds/arth-space-spelljammer/
> 
> Should probably be a little out-of-way, maybe somewhere around Nivil?


Ok, I'll see if I can fit it in (its a rather large sphere, even if I put the sphere boundary just outside the oort cloud). Your alternative phlogiston mechanics can be (partially) integrated into a more conventional Spelljammer game using the same trick they used in _Hackjammer_ - once your ship is past a certain distance from the sun (or whatever is in the sphere centre) you can open a portal into the flow (IIRC this has been proposed for Mystaraspace as well).
Are you aware of The Piazza? - they have an active Spelljammer community there (and several members post here - for instance Big Mac, who set up the Spelljammer group).

And Thanks!

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## bartmoss

Oh I am fine if you put it in as a small sphere, after all the map you have is not proportional either, right? I'd just like to be "on the map", really.

And I have heard of the Piazza, mainly because Big Mac was asking spelljammer stuff here a long time ago, but I doubt I should start to follow yet another forum.  :Wink:

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## Nerik

> Oh I am fine if you put it in as a small sphere, after all the map you have is not proportional either, right? I'd just like to be "on the map", really.


Well, the spheres should be to scale (1mm = 1 billion miles - if you print it out at A0 size!) Distances in the flow are 'kind-of' proportional, according to _The Broken Sphere_ the thickness of the river (as shown on a map) is proportional to its 'speed' (although this begs a question or two).

Which raises a general question - should I split bi-directional rivers into two? (it might make some places a bit cluttered though).




> And I have heard of the Piazza, mainly because Big Mac was asking spelljammer stuff here a long time ago, but I doubt I should start to follow yet another forum.


Ok, can I post a link to you site on The Piazza? I'm sure some of them might find it interesting.

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## Nerik

And another update to the SVG version - I re-arranged a few things, moved some more spheres in, and, where a flow river has a travel duration, the thickness of the line represents its 'speed'.

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## bartmoss

> Well, the spheres should be to scale (1mm = 1 billion miles - if you print it out at A0 size!) Distances in the flow are 'kind-of' proportional, according to _The Broken Sphere_ the thickness of the river (as shown on a map) is proportional to its 'speed' (although this begs a question or two).


Ah, I see. - Well, I can easily work in an "alternate cosmology" which makes the Arth "sphere" better to handle.




> Which raises a general question - should I split bi-directional rivers into two? (it might make some places a bit cluttered though).


This iwll probably clutter the map up a lot.





> Ok, can I post a link to you site on The Piazza? I'm sure some of them might find it interesting.


Oh but of course! I post my stuff on the 'net so others may enjoy it (hopefully).

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## Nerik

> Ah, I see. - Well, I can easily work in an "alternate cosmology" which makes the Arth "sphere" better to handle.


Well, I've put it on the current version of the map at a size that assumes the 'shell' is just outside the oort cloud - if you shrunk the oort cloud you could reduce the radius by up to a half. (If the oort cloud was the same size as in the real would, the sphere would be over 10 _metres_ wide!).



> This _(doubled flow rivers)_ iwll probably clutter the map up a lot.


I think you're right, I'll leave it.



> Oh but of course! I post my stuff on the 'net so others may enjoy it (hopefully).


Ok, done.

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## Nerik

Another update - mostly re-arranging the Arcane Inner Flow.

SVG version

I've also started matching phlo river thickness to travel times.

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## Nerik

Further update - shrunk Vodoni empire region, added travel times to Vodoni Empire, enlarged Radiant Triangle region, moved Scro conquests further out, added *Chimpman*'s Mystaran cluster.
SVG version
PDF version

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## bartmoss

Cool, I like "my" new location near Nivil. Is there a sphere dominated by gnomes and/or halflings? Arth was close to such a system, iirc (I haven't checked my own PDF in ages)...

And is "Bug" something dominated by insects? I use the formians in Arth Space, too, so that'd fit.

BTW - I did sign up to the Piazza after all.  :Wink:

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## Nerik

> Cool, I like "my" new location near Nivil. Is there a sphere dominated by gnomes and/or halflings? Arth was close to such a system, iirc (I haven't checked my own PDF in ages)...
> 
> And is "Bug" something dominated by insects? I use the formians in Arth Space, too, so that'd fit.
> 
> BTW - I did sign up to the Piazza after all.


I did have a gnome dominated sphere called Emongspace in my old campaign (it was actually created by another DM). But I'm not sure I have the notes for it.
Bugspace is a creation of Chimpman as part of the Exiles Campaign centred on Mystara.

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## Nerik

Further update, now with frame! SVG version, PDF version

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## Nerik

Updated again, see first post for details.

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## bartmoss

Would you mind adding my old fantasy setting as well? The world is called Enderra, the name-sake of my site. I posted a really quick overview of the individual planets here: http://enderra.com/2011/07/01/enderraspace/ - No real preference on location, use it whereever you want it; spelljamming is known to some of Enderra's nations but not done a lot. A suggestion would be the empty sphere south east of Mystara, but as I said, place it wherever you need a "plain vanilla" fantasy world as a filler.

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## Nerik

Ok, do you have any details on the planets' orbit radii, and for that matter, how big the planets are themselves?

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## bartmoss

Lost to the ravages of time. Enderra is at 1AU of course. I'll recreate it, no problemo.

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## bartmoss

Okay, this is what I came up with:
Inner Tracks:
2 - Goras (Earth, Sphere, Size E)
3 - Sharee (Earth, Sphere, Size F)
5 - Enderra (Earth, Sphere, Size F)
8 - Kayla (Earth, Sphere, Size G)

Outer Track
3 - Delora (Earth, Sphere, Size F)
5 - Celste (Air/Fire, Sphere, Size H)
7 - Aeron (Air, Sphere, Size G)
9 - Aguara (Water, Sphere, Size F)
13 - Orec (Air, Sphere, Size G)
14 - Mikturu (Water, Sphere, Size F)
15 - Dakordu (Water Ice, Sphere, Size E)
19 - Nemesis (Earth/Ice, Sphere, Size E)
38 - Shell

Does that sound reasonable? Can always tighten the orbits if that makes it too big again.

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## Nerik

> Okay, this is what I came up with:
> Inner Tracks:
> 2 - Goras (Earth, Sphere, Size E)
> 3 - Sharee (Earth, Sphere, Size F)
> 5 - Enderra (Earth, Sphere, Size F)
> 8 - Kayla (Earth, Sphere, Size G)
> 
> Outer Track
> 3 - Delora (Earth, Sphere, Size F)
> ...


Well, it is a bit large, at about 15,200 million miles radius - that's bigger than Arthspace! The problem is that once you switch to the outer tracks, the gaps between orbits increases a lot.

I've used Systemmaker to generate a couple of maps to illustrate; an Outer system map (shows all worlds on outer track), and a sidebar-style map.

On the subject of Arthspace, for the Spelljammer version, I'd be tempted to put the spherewall at twice the orbit distance of the outermost actual planet, with the Outer Belt and Oort cloud between that planet and the spherewall. OR make Arthspace like Cad-Azarspace - the spherewall is only solid on the outside, while inside the sphere it marks where portal spells start functioning.

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## Nerik

Ok, new update, links on first page, but here's a taster:

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## bartmoss

> Well, it is a bit large, at about 15,200 million miles radius - that's bigger than Arthspace! The problem is that once you switch to the outer tracks, the gaps between orbits increases a lot.
> 
> I've used Systemmaker to generate a couple of maps to illustrate; an Outer system map (shows all worlds on outer track), and a sidebar-style map.
> 
> On the subject of Arthspace, for the Spelljammer version, I'd be tempted to put the spherewall at twice the orbit distance of the outermost actual planet, with the Outer Belt and Oort cloud between that planet and the spherewall. OR make Arthspace like Cad-Azarspace - the spherewall is only solid on the outside, while inside the sphere it marks where portal spells start functioning.


I haven't tackled spelljammer directly in a long, long time. Arth was not really intended for the Spelljammer cosmology; the Kuiper Belt / OOrt Cloud can just be outside the last orbit. Distance doesn't really matter; if you think it makes the sphere more useful in a "real" spelljammer campaign I am more than fine with defininng the spheres to be closer to make the systems less gargantuan.

For Enderra, I just rolled up the orbits with the Spelljammer system creation rules. I do know I had worked out a detailed system 15 years ago, including some CGI planetary graphics I eventually did. All lost, so I am not too much worried about making the system "right"; Again the orbits can easily be changed. By the way, may I take those images and put them on my blog as part of the Enderra pages? If so, where would you like a linkback for credits?

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## Nerik

> I haven't tackled spelljammer directly in a long, long time. Arth was not really intended for the Spelljammer cosmology; the Kuiper Belt / OOrt Cloud can just be outside the last orbit. Distance doesn't really matter; if you think it makes the sphere more useful in a "real" spelljammer campaign I am more than fine with defininng the spheres to be closer to make the systems less gargantuan.


Ok, I'll shrink it a bit. On this subject, I rather liked they way your cosmology used something like Niven's 'known Space' hyperspace for the phlogiston (and I think the alternative explaination in _Ringworld's Children_ would be particularly apt for _Spelljammer_  :Very Happy:  )




> For Enderra, I just rolled up the orbits with the Spelljammer system creation rules.


Well, I think the large jump in orbit sizes when you switch from the inner to outer orbit tracks is an artifact of the system creation rules, I'll see what it looks like suitably tweaked.



> I do know I had worked out a detailed system 15 years ago, including some CGI planetary graphics I eventually did. All lost, so I am not too much worried about making the system "right"; Again the orbits can easily be changed. By the way, may I take those images and put them on my blog as part of the Enderra pages? If so, where would you like a linkback for credits?


It's a pity you lost your original work. Feel free to use my images, I generated them using this system-making utility which automates (and, I think, expands) the Spelljammer System Creation rules, and can produce system charts and sidebar charts. When I get time I'll produce see what shrinking some of the orbits looks like.

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## bartmoss

> Ok, I'll shrink it a bit. On this subject, I rather liked they way your cosmology used something like Niven's 'known Space' hyperspace for the phlogiston (and I think the alternative explaination in _Ringworld's Children_ would be particularly apt for _Spelljammer_  )


Thanks -- And, actually, that's in the PDF...  :Wink: 

"It is known that any Spelljammer which approaches a star too closely in the Phlogiston disappears. It's unknown what happens to these ships, as nobody has ever witnessed it to happen. There are wild myths and rumors, the most prevalent of which postulates monsters living in the flow, which will eat Spelljammers that come too close."

I wanted a more "natural" feel for the setting, and honestly, Phlogiston isn't that far off from Hyperspace to begin with. It made perfect sense to me to turn Hyperspace into a transitive plane like the Astral Plane. As an aside, the fact that Arth's universe is not too strange itself has the added bonus of integrating the Arth setting with the rest of my worlds. I have this meta design, which states that all my worlds are part of one multiverse, that is, they are all parallel worlds to each other. Travel between worlds is possible by magical and technological means. Only very few settings fully understand the theoretical sciences behind that. For example, my Terra setting knows how to travel to other worlds freely using technology (think GURPS Infinite Worlds). On the other hand, my Sci Fi setting's jump drives do "jump" the ship via the structure of the multiverse itself. The space ships use the same mechanism as the transport portals in the Terra setting - except the ships "bounce back" to the original universe instead of entering an alternate one.

And yes this means that those space ships can, in theory, mis-jump and end up in a D&D-style fantasy world, or into a universe where Nazis reign over Earth, etc.

Doubt I'd want a Spelljammer to cross over into a non-fantasy setting, but if I wanted to, I could without violating the rules of my universe.





> Well, I think the large jump in orbit sizes when you switch from the inner to outer orbit tracks is an artifact of the system creation rules, I'll see what it looks like suitably tweaked.


It's an artifact of the designers' observation that planets tend to be be separated more from each other the furhter away you are from from the star. There are plenty of alternative rules to use, pick any sci-fi RPG.  :Wink:  I picked the original SJ rules because I figured that's what you'd like these systems to use.




> It's a pity you lost your original work. Feel free to use my images, I generated them using this system-making utility which automates (and, I think, expands) the Spelljammer System Creation rules, and can produce system charts and sidebar charts. When I get time I'll produce see what shrinking some of the orbits looks like.


Thanks for the URL, and the permission! And yes, losing work is always painful. Won't happen to me anymore; all my files are not only on a raid 1 (mirrored), I also back them up to an off-site server.  :Smile: 

- Nils

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## Nerik

> Okay, this is what I came up with:
> Inner Tracks:
> 2 - Goras (Earth, Sphere, Size E)
> 3 - Sharee (Earth, Sphere, Size F)
> 5 - Enderra (Earth, Sphere, Size F)
> 8 - Kayla (Earth, Sphere, Size G)
> 
> Outer Track
> 3 - Delora (Earth, Sphere, Size F)
> ...


Revised orbits (shrinking it slightly) (Changes in *Bold*)
Inner Tracks:
2 - Goras (Earth, Sphere, Size E)
3 - Sharee (Earth, Sphere, Size F)
5 - Enderra (Earth, Sphere, Size F)
8 - Kayla (Earth, Sphere, Size G)

Outer Track
*1* - Delora (Earth, Sphere, Size F)
*3* - Celste (Air/Fire, Sphere, Size H)
*5* - Aeron (Air, Sphere, Size G)
*7* - Aguara (Water, Sphere, Size F)
*9* - Orec (Air, Sphere, Size G)
*10* - Mikturu (Water, Sphere, Size F)
*11* - Dakordu (Water Ice, Sphere, Size E)
*14* - Nemesis (Earth/Ice, Sphere, Size E)
*28* - Shell

Fell free to use the attached, updated, sphere diagrams.



I've also shrunk Arthspace a bit, and moved Enderra closer to Arth (see next map update)

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## Big Mac

> Ok, I'm not sure if this is the right place, but here goes...
> 
> Sometime ago I produced this map of the flow, I've recently started work on updating it, with the intention of being as close to the original sources as I can get, while adding as many fan-created spheres as possible.
> Here are my current versions (as of 09/07/2011):


This is an awesome project. :Very Happy: 

It is a little hard to locate some of the spheres. There is a lot of data here and with you depicting relative sphere sizes, some of them look pretty small.

Do you think it would be possible to replace your "black - white - black -white" border with something that could perhaps be used to provide readers with a simple co-ordinate system? If you had something like letters across the top and bottom and numbers down the sides, perhaps there could be a separate alphabetical key for the map that lists spheres in the style "Krynnspace - N18".

You are abbreviating a lot of the sphere names to get them to fit onto the map and a separate key might also allow space for the full names.




> Awesome, I love spelljammer, I can't say how "accurate" this map is but it sure looks like the best SJ universe map I have seen yet.


I would agree with that.

As for accuracy, there is a canon link between Krynnspace and Realmspace in the Adventures in Space boxed set. That needs to be added to "complete" the third line of the "Radiant Triangle". (I've recently been told that the "Radiant Triangle" is a fanon name, but I would love to discover a canon reference that proves this wrong.

Most of the other spheres in the Spelljammer campaign setting are poorly linked. Some adventure modules start off in "whatever sphere you are in" and that doesn't give you much help. Others provide a few links. I would say that, so long as the canon links are there, it doesn't matter what else Nerik does.

I don't recall the Astromundi Cluster boxed set having any mention of links to other spheres, but the Hotel California effect of the sphere is a bit of problem for long distance travel. The isolated cultures (not even speaking common, but using Neogi as a trade language) do not really seem to fit in with it being so closely tied to the Radiant Triangle and several other spheres. I quite like the way that you have isolated Solarispace (making Refuge the only way in and out).

And I think that the spot where you have put Clusterspace is so logically connected to the heart of the "Known Spheres" that it might be a great location to put Bralspace/Spiralspace. With the Rock of Bral, joining Greyspace, Krynnspace and Realmspace in the boxed set and your Clusterspace location joining to all three spheres, it would allow for Paul Westermeyer's Bralspace research and design to be employed in a way that is not too far removed from the original AD&D Adventures in Space boxed set.

In the unlikely event that Spelljammer comes back into print a 4e SJ (or 5e SJ) is likely to be a total reboot. So if canon 4e or canon 5e says this is wrong, I don't think I'd go with the canon.




> And I have heard of the Piazza, mainly because Big Mac was asking spelljammer stuff here a long time ago, but I doubt I should start to follow yet another forum.


He gets about that guy!  :Razz: 




> BTW - I did sign up to the Piazza after all.


 :Very Happy: 

I figure that The Piazza can deal with all the nerd-level details of Spelljammer and the world-building, sphere-building and multiverse-building aspects can be discussed at a technical level over here. Someone who likes another space game (like Dragonlance or Babylon 5) might get something useful from the technical aspects of mapping, but would probably be bored by the SJ canon. A pair of threads could be the best solution for keeping the more interesting stuff on both forums (without filling it with the less interesting stuff).




> Oh but of course! I post my stuff on the 'net so others may enjoy it (hopefully).


Thanks Bartmoss.

I think that Spelljammer is such a "big concept" that it is really only possible to create a SJ multiverse (within a reasonable timescale) if fans co-operate and share their work. Not everyone is willing to share their own work with other projects.




> Further update - shrunk Vodoni empire region, added travel times to Vodoni Empire, enlarged Radiant Triangle region, moved Scro conquests further out, added *Chimpman*'s Mystaran cluster.
> SVG version
> PDF version


Could travel times be something that was handled in a separate key? You could then have something along the lines of:
Krynnspace - N1 Connects to:
* Chatspace* x days
* Clusterspace x days
* Greyspace (inbound only)
* Heartspace x days
* Pathspace (intermittent) x days

_* = I can't actually read that name on the map, as it is slightly too small for me to make out._

If you did something like that, you could focus on showing the locations of the spheres and the rivers connecting them together. The other stuff could be a separate project. A separate key might also help others to quickly check if their fanon sphere has been taken into your project as well as be a second way for people to double-check that your flow rivers do not conflict with canon.




> I haven't tackled spelljammer directly in a long, long time. Arth was not really intended for the Spelljammer cosmology; the Kuiper Belt / OOrt Cloud can just be outside the last orbit. Distance doesn't really matter; if you think it makes the sphere more useful in a "real" spelljammer campaign I am more than fine with defininng the spheres to be closer to make the systems less gargantuan.
> 
> For Enderra, I just rolled up the orbits with the Spelljammer system creation rules. I do know I had worked out a detailed system 15 years ago, including some CGI planetary graphics I eventually did. All lost, so I am not too much worried about making the system "right"; Again the orbits can easily be changed. By the way, may I take those images and put them on my blog as part of the Enderra pages? If so, where would you like a linkback for credits?


Kupier belt and oort cloud mechanics are something that badly need to be "Spelljammerised" by the fan community. The "why in game terms" aspect is probably something best handled over at The Piazza, but the mechanics part would all be about sorting out the "double diameter" rule (and that rule got bent by SJR6 Greyspace).

I think that slavishly following the double diameter rule (which I interpret as an "in character theory" from many sages) can make spheres too big. In that case, it might be useful to "reassign" the outer world of a fanon sphere as an "additional astronomical" and recalculate the diameter from the next one in.

There are some people in the SJ community who would like to reduce the size of canon spheres in this way, but I think that a kupier belt and oort cloud could make the area of a sphere beyond the outer planet into something interesting enough to not want to shrink it.

If a kupier belt (in SJ terms) is rogue asteroids (some of which could be uncharted) then a ship can have many possible encounters between the last world and the shell. If an oort cloud (probably inhabited by oortlings) is the outer orbit of the sphere's commets, that could also give a ship some more things to encounter. At that range a comet could be moving slowly enough for a spelljamming ship to approach (and maybe land).

For mapping purposes, it might be worth splitting the distance between the outer planet (or whatever you are going to define as the outer planet) into two regions and make the inner one an area for random "kupier asteroids" and the outer one an area for comets and clouds of material that form into comets.

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## Nerik

> This is an awesome project.


Thanks!




> It is a little hard to locate some of the spheres. There is a lot of data here and with you depicting relative sphere sizes, some of them look pretty small.
> 
> Do you think it would be possible to replace your "black - white - black -white" border with something that could perhaps be used to provide readers with a simple co-ordinate system? If you had something like letters across the top and bottom and numbers down the sides, perhaps there could be a separate alphabetical key for the map that lists spheres in the style "Krynnspace - N18".


Now that's an excellent idea, thanks.




> You are abbreviating a lot of the sphere names to get them to fit onto the map and a separate key might also allow space for the full names.


Actually, IIRC, the only abbreviation I'm using is to remove the "-space" or "-sphere" suffices from the sphere names.




> As for accuracy, there is a canon link between Krynnspace and Realmspace in the Adventures in Space boxed set. That needs to be added to "complete" the third line of the "Radiant Triangle".


Err... actually the _Concordance of Arcane Space_ explicitly states that there is *not* a link (see the sidebar on page 86 & 88 ).




> (I've recently been told that the "Radiant Triangle" is a fanon name, but I would love to discover a canon reference that proves this wrong.


I also do not know where 'Radiant Triangle' comes from, or the occasional references to the 'Trulian Ring' either.




> Most of the other spheres in the Spelljammer campaign setting are poorly linked. Some adventure modules start off in "whatever sphere you are in" and that doesn't give you much help. Others provide a few links. I would say that, so long as the canon links are there, it doesn't matter what else Nerik does.
> 
> I don't recall the Astromundi Cluster boxed set having any mention of links to other spheres, but the Hotel California effect of the sphere is a bit of problem for long distance travel. The isolated cultures (not even speaking common, but using Neogi as a trade language) do not really seem to fit in with it being so closely tied to the Radiant Triangle and several other spheres. I quite like the way that you have isolated Solarispace (making Refuge the only way in and out).
> 
> And I think that the spot where you have put Clusterspace is so logically connected to the heart of the "Known Spheres" that it might be a great location to put Bralspace/Spiralspace. With the Rock of Bral, joining Greyspace, Krynnspace and Realmspace in the boxed set and your Clusterspace location joining to all three spheres, it would allow for Paul Westermeyer's Bralspace research and design to be employed in a way that is not too far removed from the original AD&D Adventures in Space boxed set.


Actually, the _Astromundi Cluster_ boxed set contained one of the three flow maps ever officially produced by TSR. It shows Clusterspace, Realmspace, Greyspace, Krynnspace and the four spheres from 'Crystal Spheres' in the same arrangement I've used. When I first read the description of Clusterspace I expected it to be rather more distant, but then I found the map. Were I to be running my own campaign, I'd probably move it, it kinda gets in the way.




> In the unlikely event that Spelljammer comes back into print a 4e SJ (or 5e SJ) is likely to be a total reboot. So if canon 4e or canon 5e says this is wrong, I don't think I'd go with the canon.





> Could travel times be something that was handled in a separate key? You could then have something along the lines of:
> Krynnspace - N1 Connects to:
> * Chatspace* x days *Charspace*
> * Clusterspace x days
> * Greyspace (inbound only) *Actually outbound as well, but slower*
> * Heartspace x days
> * Pathspace (intermittent) x days
> 
> _* = I can't actually read that name on the map, as it is slightly too small for me to make out._


Are you looking at the PDF version? you should be able to zoom in for a closer look.




> If you did something like that, you could focus on showing the locations of the spheres and the rivers connecting them together. The other stuff could be a separate project. A separate key might also help others to quickly check if their fanon sphere has been taken into your project as well as be a second way for people to double-check that your flow rivers do not conflict with canon.


That's an idea, but I'll keep the travel times on the map for the time being (that way, they are recorded _somewhere_). I think what might be a nice fan project would be a sort of Spelljamming 'Rutter', which I think is a more detailed version of what you are proposing. A 'Spelljammer Navigator's Guide' would be a nice idea, but I don't have the time ATM. (Red-Eyes space is consuming a lot of free time!)

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## Nerik

Well, I'm back, sorry for the lack of updates, I was busy at work, then busy looking for work, then busy at work again.

I've updated the map (after 10 months!) with some additional spheres and other details, see the first post for details.

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## Nerik

I've posted a new version, see first post. Mostly incremental alterations, some new spheres and flow rivers.

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## Sings-With-Spirits

Awesome work. You have no idea how long I've been looking for a map like this.

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## Bogie

Excellent work Nerik!  Thanks for providing this resource.

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## Nerik

> Excellent work Nerik!  Thanks for providing this resource.


Thank you, I've updated it again (12/06/2012), see the first post for URLs.

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## Nerik

Ok, Updated again (24/06/2012), again, see first post for details.

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## Nerik

Ok, its been updated again (24/*07*/2012) after a month.

Mostly incremental additions and tweaks, new art assets (from Silverblade's Suitcase) and re-done some of the symbols. Hopefully the key is easier to read as well.

I've just added a PDF & JPEG versions, and I've included versions that only show 'known' versions.

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## Nerik

Ok, after 2 months, another update - see first post.

I've added more travel times, coloured a few more flow rivers, and some further neatening up and adjustments.

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## Lukc

Oh, god, this is huge!? :O

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## Nerik

Thanks Lukc (sorry for the delay).

Another minor update - all I've done is add more travel times, mostly to the Arcane Outer Flow.

As before, see first post for details.

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## fantomas

So I'm getting material together for a massive spelljammer campaign that should start in about 6 months... I find this spelljammer map pdf.. and I see my own home sphere of NyrodSpace right on the left hand side next to "Tide" (Space?). I am beyond tickled. I have no idea how that happened but I appreciate it. 

This map will be the focal point of the game. Thanks so much for making it!

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## Bogie

Welcome to the Guild Fantomas.

I have made a couple of Spelljammer ships that you might find useful. A Vodoni Wolfship and a Lamprey.  You can find them in my gallery by clicking on this link:

Bogie's Album: Bogie's Battlemaps

And I also have this ship that could be either a Spelljammer or a regular ship.

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## Big Mac

> So I'm getting material together for a massive spelljammer campaign that should start in about 6 months... I find this spelljammer map pdf.. and I see my own home sphere of NyrodSpace right on the left hand side next to "Tide" (Space?). I am beyond tickled. I have no idea how that happened but I appreciate it. 
> 
> This map will be the focal point of the game. Thanks so much for making it!


I believe that Nerik tried to include every fan-created Spelljammer crystal sphere he could find.

Have you hooked up with the Spelljammer forum at The Piazza yet, Fantomas? I'm sure the SJ fans there would love to hear more about Nyrodspace.




> Welcome to the Guild Fantomas.
> 
> I have made a couple of Spelljammer ships that you might find useful. A Vodoni Wolfship and a Lamprey.  You can find them in my gallery by clicking on this link:
> 
> Bogie's Album: Bogie's Battlemaps


Wow! You do some awesome ships! Would you be willing to allow them to be featured images at Wildspace: The Spelljammer Fanzine? There would be attribution of course, plus a link to any sort of website you have, for people to see more of your stuff (or to your album here if you prefer).

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## JediSoth

I got this map printed at Staples for my new 5E Spelljammer campaign. Fantastic work. My players (especially the one familiar with Spelljammer from the 2E days) oooed and ahhed over it for many minutes. I have a question though (and I know this is a pretty old thread and may not have a chance of being seen... in which case even that comment is moot :p), but for the travel times between spheres, does that take into account some sort of default speed?

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## Big Mac

> I got this map printed at Staples for my new 5E Spelljammer campaign. Fantastic work. My players (especially the one familiar with Spelljammer from the 2E days) oooed and ahhed over it for many minutes. I have a question though (and I know this is a pretty old thread and may not have a chance of being seen... in which case even that comment is moot :p), but for the travel times between spheres, does that take into account some sort of default speed?


Hi JediSoth.

You would probably have more chance of getting answers about Spelljammer, over at the Spelljammer forum at The Piazza.

However, I do know the answers to this.

There are two and only two defined speeds in Spelljammer:
Tactical speed andSpelljamming speed.

Tactical speed is relatively slow. It's the speed that ships travel at, when they are close to an object that prevents them from accellerating to spelljamming speed. (This includes being inside the atmosphere of a planet or asteroid, but also applies when two ships are in combat range.) A ship can travel faster, at tactical speed, if it has a helmsman that generates more Ship's Raiting. (Higher level helmsmen make ships go faster during combat.)

Spelljamming speed is a speed ships accellerate to, when there is nothing near to them. It's a million miles per day. And all ships travel at th same speed, regardless of how high or low a helmsman's levels are. (Effectively, the helmsmen makes no difference to spelljamming speed, and only makes a difference during take off, landing and combat.)

Phlogiston speed is an undefined thing. Nobody (within the spelljammer universe) was able to tell the exact distances travelled outside of th crystal spheres, according to the _AD&D Adventures in Space_ boxed set. The duration of a trip was rolled randomly. The level of helmsmen had no effect on things. Even the skill of the navigator wasn't put into the random generation process (although it probably should have been).

Phlogiston maps came later, and Nerik's excellent work is based on them, but no canon method for calculating how quickly or slowly a spelljamming ship could travel along a phlogiston river was ever published.

But, if it is possible to "map" flow rivers, the it should be possible for navigators to calculate where those flow rivers are, and for helmsmen to try to move their ship into the fastest part of a flow river, to gain the maximum benefit from that individual river.

I think that what is needed are a set of tables for navigators and helmsmen to roll on. The navigator should be rolling for locating the correct river. The best results should get the ship onto the right river straight away. Lesser results should get the ship onto the river, but the should waste some time getting onto it. Failures should see the ship moving around the outside of the sphere it has just left, searching for the right river, with the navigator re-rolling to look for the correct one. Really bad failures should see the navigator telling the captain and the helmsman to get into the wrong flow river.

The helmsmen should then be able to influence the time the ship takes to get along the right (or wrong) flow river. I would suggest that if phlogiston speed used the Ship's Raiting (just like tactical speed does) that it would make higher level helmsmen more useful than lower level helmsmen. Alternatively, a helmsman could make an ability check (using whatever ability score they use for spellcasting) and that could be used to calculate if a ship can travel faster than usual (or slower than usual).

If you have a cool map, like Nerik's map, the other way to go would be to literally measure the distances between spheres and to knock up a chart of travel times, and stick to that, instead of using Jeff Grubb's random times from the _AD&D Adventures in Space_ boxed set.

There is not really a "wrong" way to do this, but I'm sure different fans would prefer different approaches.

I think that I would personally like a mixture of a measured time (based on the distance between two spheres) combined with the random speed rules from the original boxed set. Perhaps 80 percent of ships could travel at a fixed speed, with the top 10 percent having helmsmen so good that they can get their faster, and the bottom 10 percent having helmsmen so bad that they keep dropping out of the flow river and they take extra long to get there. (Or perhaps each and every flow river could have a different percentage of "reliable travel times".)

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## misomiso

Can some one tell me if there is a version of this map that also marks the source material?

Don't mind at all that there will be fan made spheres or Hackmaster, but it would be really helpful to see WHERE all the information came from, so I can go and read about it.

I have a lot of old spelljammer material.

Many thanks

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