Star Trek to Spelljammer (I)

Based on Classic Trek created by Gene Rodenberry

Space...The Final Frontier.  These are the voyages of the spelljammer
Enterprise.  It's mission, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out
new life and new civilization, to boldly go where no man has gone
before.

The Ship
USJ Enterprise
Designation:  ICC-1701
Class:  Cruiser
Crew Compliment:  452, 73% male, 25% female, 2% other
Captain:  James Rodenberry Kirk Commanding

James R. Kirk, Captain
Species:  Human, Male
10th Lvl. Fighter
The youngest captain in the Armada, Kirk is said to have a streak of
luck as wide as his broad shouldered form.  Following in the
footsteps of his father, Kirk joined the Armada as soon as they would
let him in.  Blasting through the academy at the top of his class,
Kirk proceeded to make his mark on the spacelanes through admirable
service and a nearly unblemished record, which is remarkable as all
of his commanders would simply smile wryly and remark on "that
insubordinate little so-and-so."
As captain, his first mission was that of ferrying an intergalactic
circus around the galaxy, but was interrupted by the sudden
appearance of a mysterious alien ship.  The subsequent events later
let to yet another commendation, followed by more serious missions,
one of which saw the death of his best friend, Gary Mitchell.
James Kirk is also quite the ladies man.  The poster boy for the
expression "a woman in every port," Kirk can be seen wooing a
beautiful alien woman as often as he can be seen in the captains
chair.

Spock, Commander
First Officer and Ship's Mage
Species:  Half-elf (half human, half gray elf) Male
15th Lvl. Dimentionalist Mage
The enigmatic Mr. Spock comes from the Elven Homeworld.  His
remarkable features include severely slanted eyebrows and pointed
ears, common to his fathers race.  A good deal of elves devote their
lives to the study of the various forms of magic-craft, and Mr. Spock
is no exception.  A 15th Lvl. Dimentionalist, Spock is one of the
premier Mages in the Armada, responsible for several innovations in
Dimentionalist theory.
Originally serving as the Enterprise's first officer under Captain
Christopher Pike, Spock was at first rather neutral towards his new
captain.  Since then, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock have become the
closest of friends, and either would gladly give their life to save
the other.

Leonard "Sawbones" McCoy, Commander
Ship's Cleric
Species:  Human, Male
12th Lvl. Cleric, Church of the Universal Constant
"Bones" McCoy, oft called because he believes that the hands on touch
is better than magic any day, is the ships grouchy old chaplain.  The
emotional ballast to the hard and logical Mr. Spock, McCoy is often
on Captain Kirk's left shoulder, offering advice or criticism as the
situation warrants.

Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, Commander
Ship's Spellmaster
Species:  Human, Male
11th Lvl. Artificer Mage
Responsible for the upkeep on the ship and the Jamming engines.  Mr.
Scott is considered to be one of the best Artificers in the Armada,
and has held such prestigious positions as professor at the Academy
and head of the Main Armada Shipyards on Terra.  Mr. Scott is also
responsible for the latest design of the Bi-hoop line of Jamming
engines.

Hikaru Sulu, Lt. Commander
Helmsman
Species:  Human, Male
10th Lvl. Bard
The ships romantic and all around nice guy, Sulu is often the
cheerful buoy on the bridge.  His beaming smile can be seen from the
Spelljamming helm, directing the ship at ultra-high speeds through
space.

Nyota Uhura, Lieutenant
Communications Officer
Species:  Human, Male
10th Lvl. Enchanter Bard
Uhura's voice can often be heard throughout the ships magical
communications system, lifting the spirits of all aboard with her
sonorous voice and beautiful music.  Also in command of the Detectors
department, most of her spells that aren't enchantment or charm
related are Divination Spells.

Pavel Chekov, Ensign
Navigator and Weapons Officer
Species:  Human, Male
7th Lvl. Mage/2nd Lvl. Fighter
The youngest of the crew, Ensign Chekov has pulled his weight as
often as his brash mouth has gotten the crew into trouble.  Chekov
reveres Captain Kirk almost as a father figure, changing his career
plans to follow in Kirk's footsteps.

The Federation:
The Enterprise is one ship out of the entire Federate Armada, which
serves to protect the Federation, an alliance of crystal spheres with
common interests.  The formost members of the Federation are Humans
and Elves.

Primary Enemies:
The Orcish Empire:
The warrior race of the Orcs are simply one of the many goblinoid
races comprising the Orcish empire, the Orcs just happen to be the
most prevalent.
The Orcish Empire is the result of many mistakes that lead to the
Prime Directive of the Federation.  After first discovering the
principles that made Jamming possible, humans shot out in a mad dash
for the Spheres, meeting as many races as possible.  Most of the ones
they met were also spacefarers, but a few, like the Orcs of the
planet Orog, were only just getting into the "Industrial Era," and
still held many of their old ways, including a nearly suicidal
bloodlust resulting in many wars.  The Orcs immediately took their
warlike ways to the Spheres, causing a reign of terror that was
brought to a swift end when the Humans and Elves took steps to stop
their advance.  By then, Orcs were an established space culture, with
their own area of space that they protected like a mother badger
protecting her young.

The Drow Empire:
Not much is known about the Drow, only that they waged a short,
fierce, long distance war with the fledgling Federation.  No Humans,
or any other species for that matter, have ever seen a Drow, and much
speculation abounds.  The Elves, who have been a spacefaring race for
much longer, are strangely closed-mouth about the Drow.

AD&D Spelljammer Considerations

Life-Antilife Engines:
Zephram Chocran and his other-species contemporaries first created
the Jamming helm, the standard fast movement magical device used
aboard all Spelljammers.  It wasn't until the discovery of Dicryshal
that allowed the opening of small, portable gates to the Positive and
Negative Energy planes, even in the Phlogiston, that allowed for FTL
movement.  This doubles the speed of any spelljammer in Wildspace,
and can increase the speed of the spelljammer up to nine times normal
cruising speed in the Phlogiston.  It also allows for much larger
ships to be moved at normal Jamming speeds, even in Wildspace
The unique magical reaction of Positive and Negative energy is known
as a P-N explosion.

Dicryshal:
Dicryshal is magically treated crystal shell material.  It's special,
nearly indestructible nature makes it the perfect conduit for the
energies that result from a P-N explosion.  Due to the rarity of a
crystal shell completely devoid of life, full scale mining can only
be legally done in a few areas of space.

Phasers:
The Armada learned early on that often battles are decided at a
distance when it comes to space fighting, so they began to develop
magical weapons that could be quickly manufactured and used by
everybody.  There are two types of Phasers currently in standard use.
 One is a variant of a magic wand with simplistic operation that can
draw on even the most base intelligence in the user.  These type of
phasers generally fire Magic Missiles and have approx. 50-100 charges
each, easily rechargeable aboard any Armada spelljammer.  The second
is a magic hand crossbow.  Instead of firing darts at the target, the
hand crossbow throws either a stun missile (variant magic missile) or
a disintegration ray.
Spelljammer mounted phasers consist of ultra-powerful magic missiles,
lightning bolts, or meteor streaks, (modified meteor shower)
depending on the generation of spelljammer.

Torpedoes:
Take a smoke-powder cannon, increase it's size until it's nearly as
large around as a giants arm and long as a dragon, add a "smart"
cannonball (specially elongated to provide room for the magical runes
and constructs), and you have one Armada issue torpedo tube.  The
standard torpedo backloads into the rifled barrel, followed by a pre-
measured amount of pure smoke-powder.  When fired at a normal target
(one not invisible and moving in Wildspace) it will seek out the
target based on the last minute information runes etched in by the
weapons officer (done at high speeds through magical matricies and
non-humanoid golems) and ignite the smoke-powder inside the torpedo,
resulting in a large amount of damage from shrapnel, concusive force,
fires, and searing damage.  Due to the no-small amount of magic work
necessary in making even a single torpedo, they are difficult to come
by outside official Armada channels.

Gravity:
Through a series of reverse gravity spells, gravity on the ship is
maintained in a "downward" direction throughout the ship.  This
minimizes strain on the superstructure of the ship as well.  On the
outside of the ship, gravity works normally.

Atmosphere:
After several space battles in which Armada ships were taken out
through such a simple maneuver as poisoning the air, Armada ships
began to be constructed so the entire ship was enclosed and airtight.
 An Armada spelljammer will still likely have an atmosphere on the
outside, but it can go without being refreshed for years at a time,
though no one generally breaths this outside air, smoke-powder fumes
make it unbreathable after only a few battles.

Teleporters:
Complex magical devices constructed by only the best Artificers in
the Armada, Teleporters all but eliminate the need for boarding and
landing craft.  Soon after their development, however, Psionic
Shields were created, preventing anyone from teleporting in where
they really weren't wanted.

Psionic Shields:
During the intense magical development of the Armada, Psionicists
were almost left out of the loop.  That was changed with the creation
of one of the first psionic items, the psionic shield.  Designed
almost exclusively for Spelljammers and Spacebases, the psionic
shield disrupts the molecular nature of any item and disrupts space
in the immediate area (2-3 cm at most for advanced, strong shields),
preventing any item or teleport to get through that area.  The
psionic matrix that must be maintained by the shield generator is
rather fragile, and can be disrupted in only a few shots.  (SR equal
to 1.5 times that of the host ship)


U.S.J. Enterprise
Designation:  ICC-1701
Class:  Cruiser
Crew Compliment:  452, 73% male, 25% female, 2% other
Captain:  James R. Kirk Commanding

The Book
--------
The Book is simply a modified Book of Infinite Spells (DMG) which
serves as the ships library.  Unlike other Books of Infinite Spells,
several copies are laid throughout the ship, all magically linked to
hold the same information, plus pages can be torn out and replaced,
leaving no evidence of a tear.  Each page serves the same function it
would if it were in the book, and is conciderably more portable.
Only if the book is destroyed (such as during a self destruct) will
the separated pages cease to function magicaly.
In the case of self destruct, a golem tears several pages out of the
Book and seals it in a case and launches it out a Torpedo tube.  When
the other copies of the book are destroyed, the jettisoned pages get
written on with the last ten entries of the Captains Log, the last
entries of the Log from Engineering, and the confirmation of self
destruct by the CO's.
The Book is also exceptional in that it can talk in a reasonable
simulation of a human voice.

Motive Force
------------
Motive Force is provided by two sources, the standard Jamming helm,
and the P-N Engines.  The most common P-N engine, the one aboard the
Enterprise, consists of two hoops that have permanent access to the
Positive and Negative energy planes, two pieces of dicryshal to
encase the apparatus, and one piece of crystal to focus the positive
and negative energy from the natural explosion of Shadow to an
explosion of pure magical energy.
The containment of Dicryshal allows the portals to be active in the
Phlogiston (the artificial crystal shell created by the two crystals
allows for small portals two be opened).
It should be noted that while Dicryshal is nearly indistructable by
physical means, it is rather volitile magically.  It decays rather
quickly during normal use, requiring that the ship dock at a
Spherebase to get replacement crystals.  Assuming that the crystals
aren't subjected to any undue strain, they can last approximately 2.5
years.
Failure of the outer crystals (fracturing, decay, etc.) will release
the positive and negative energy on the engineering department.  The
sudden onslaught of both life and anti-life destablizes the materials
of the engineering compartment (10% chance per every 3 square feet of
affected per round, cumulative), releasing the magical "potential" of
the materials of the ship (similar to a Defiler pulling the energy of
plant and animal life, destroying it) this causes a chain reaction
that causes the entire ship to shatter.  The crew *might* survive the
destruction of the ship, but it is highly unlikely that their bodies
could survive the sudden surge of pure magic. (1% chance for Fighters,
 2% chance for thieves, rangers, bards, and paladins, 3% chance for
most wizards and priests, 4% chance for Chaneller wizards and
priests)
Failure of the inner crystal (the focus) causes the magical energy to
be released immeadiatly, destroying the ship immeadiatly. (no chance
of survival for warriors or rogues, 1% chance for wizards and priests,
 2% for chanellers)
 - Self Destruct
At the orders and confirmation of the three highest living ranking
officers on board, the two outer crystals can be separated,
initiating the self-destruct.  The self-destruct is controled by the
book, and usually there is a countdown before the ship is destroyed.
The countdown can be silent or audible, and the self destruct can be
cancelled at the orders of the two hightest ranking officers aboard
the ship.

From: Johndolar7@aol.com

Great minds think alike. In my campain we have built a prototype ship that works by using portals to the positive and negative material planes!

However, we used them diffrently. You may recal that the demiplane of shadow was created by two such portals, for shadow is what you get when the negative and positive energys collide, not energy. This is acually better, as far as propultion goes. The 'shadow walk' spell allows its user to cover grould about 10x fater by going to the edge of the plane of shadow. By using the "shadow drive", as we call it, we basically do the same thing with our ship by creating a carefully shaped field of shadow and slipping to the edge of the demiplane.

It has its problems. First, it won't work in the phlogiston because you can't acces other planes from there. Secondly, the balance between positve and negative must be perfect or weird things happen (on the maden voyage of our prototype, the 'ShadowDragon', we were trapped in the demiplane of shadow and the crew caught some strange disease from overexposure to negative energy).