-Nate
Campaign Considerations
GM's who are thinking of adding aetherial adventures to a Pathfinder
campaign should consider a number of questions; some of these are
presented below.
How well
developed is space exploration and travel?
The answer to this question can have numerous implications for a
campaign. After all, if the PC's are among the first to discover the
possibility of aetherial travel, they gain a tremendous amount of
potential influence. The powers that be are likely to take a
considerable interest in the party's vessel; some might wish to hire
their services, while others could seek to steal the ship. Many of
the party's activities are the first of their kind, perhaps allowing
them to lay claim to new territory for their own exploitation.
In what
capacity are the PC's serving aboard their aethership?
The possible crew positions are detailed above, and can determine the
daily tasks that the PC's face. This can be similar to deciding the
watches that characters take during overland travel, in that the
players should also determine in which watches their characters are
active. There is also the question of how powerful the PC's are when
they venture into space. This is likely to influence the positions
that characters fill aboard aetherships, as mentioned above. Starting
PC's might be ordinary crew members, or perhaps assistants to NPC's
in specific positions. More seasoned characters, on the other hand,
could fill those positions themselves, or perhaps even be captains or
owners of vessels. By the end of a campaign, the PC's could even
become merchant princes or military leaders with fleets of vessels at
their command.
What
do members of the planetary populations know about space travel?
The answer to this question can greatly influence
roleplaying situations when the PC's make landfall. Can they just
sail into a port city, or must they land in the wilderness and make
an overland trek so as to avoid suspicion? In the prior case, they
can go about their business as usual, and the locals don't give the
matter a second thought; in the latter case, they must conceal the
true nature of their activities lest they cause a significant
disturbance in the social fabric of the culture.
Is
it possible to travel between known campaign settings?
One
of the novel elements of the old Spelljammer
campaign setting was that it allowed characters to move between the
worlds and solar systems of existing campaign settings—say, from
Oerth to Faerun to Krynn. A later incarnation of that setting, Beyond
the Spider Moon, did away with
that, instead focusing the action on a single system, Pyrespace. That
seems to be the tendency for Pathfinder's
Golarion setting, too. Even so, some GM's may wish to leave travel
between settings. That can have serious repercussions, though, if one
world has relatively low magic while on another one magic is common.
For that reason, such possibilities should not be entertained
lightly.
What
religious implications does space fantasy have for a setting?
Building off of that last question, one must consider
how having multiple worlds, each with its own native culture, affects
the religion—and thus the planar structure—of a setting. In the
example mentioned above, each setting had its own pantheon of
deities. This meant that the universe had multiple pantheons, with
deities overlapping in their spheres of influence. It also raised the
question of whether gods from one setting had any influence in other
settings, and thus whether or not they could grant spells and other
divine benefits to their worshippers. That question has huge
implications for the overall campaign(s).
What
kinds of economic implications does aetherial travel have for a
campaign?
Aetherships are valuable items. To that end, giving one
to a party of adventurers puts a lot of potential monetary wealth at
their disposal. On the one hand, they could share this asset and use
it to set out on any number of interstellar adventures. On the other
hand, they could sell it and use the gold for buying magical items
with which to bolster themselves. The latter possibility could become
unbalancing for a campaign, and it could also become problematic if
the party faces multiple encounters in which they meet other
aetherships in difficult situations and thus have a chance to claim
other vessels as booty. For that reason, the GM should be careful to
limit these potential acquisitions.
Does
the campaign keep moving from place to place, or is it based out of a
particular location?
By
their very nature, fantasy roleplaying campaigns keep the party of
adventurers moving from place to place. While such an arrangement
provides plenty of opportunities for plot hooks and action, it can
also make for a campaign that lacks any real sense of familiarity. It
is true that the ship acts as the characters' home, but that's no
substitute for living in a city to which the PC's return between
their adventures. After all, that sense of “coming home” helps
make the setting feel real for players. That is why it's probably
best to avoid a purely episodic campaign in which the heroes are
always moving from one place to the next.
What
military implications do aetherships have for a setting?
Keep in mind, too, that flying ships have a considerable
impact on battlefield tactics. In most medieval fantasy settings,
fortresses are still formidable obstacles. While powerful characters
have access to magic that lets them fly, ordinary soldiers do not.
This all changes when those same soldiers can board an aethership and
use it to fly over a castle's walls.
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