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Hi Port Paladine! Great to see you here. I hope that I can learn how to make the same sort of maps you made for Greatspace, Realmspace and Greyspace.
BTW: This is a small self-contained group for SJ. Please feel free to post threads in the normal parts of the forum, and then drop a link in the Spelljammer threads thread to let people know where to look for your project.
anyone else having trouble with the SJ mail list today?
Sorry, I didn't notice problems with the SJML.
Hi, thought I'd introduce myself. I stumbled upon Spelljammer not a long while back when I was researching realmspace astrology for a NWN2 game UI (link). I've never actually played D&D (or much gaming in general) but I enjoy the creative process of bringing such things to 'life'. I'm actually working on a Spelljammer campaign project (for NWN2) and have been scouring the web for sphere/etc. descriptions and resources (maps/textures) The images I posted represent 3D game areas I'm attempting to create, and my vision of 'the flow' based upon the most definitive map I've found (actually found it @spelljammer.org) I also tried using Astrosynthesis to create a spherical map (based on this map again). Astrosythesis can create a set of xml pages, with textures attached. Not a bad layout, if you have all the info. Anyway, always looking for info, and hope ya'll like the map/game board. Cheers
Hi Boozehound Blue! Welcome to the Spelljammer group at Cartographer's Guild. Your Realmspace Astrology program looks pretty intersting. I wonder how easy it would be to do the same sort of thing, but not limit the "camera" position to a location on one world. Can this gizmo be used without NWN? Does it measure time in Dale Reconing (so you can use it for in-character astrology)? An in-character astrology chart might be really interesting to a number of Forgotten Realms players.
I've actually been researching Spelljammer canon, to add to the Realmspace page on Spelljammer Wiki, but have not got too far yet. I've not even looked properly at The Stars Are Right (in Dragon 340) yet (I've only skimmed it) but I'll get there eventually. You may be interested in the following Additional Astronomicals from SJR2 Realmspace (which do not seem to be mentioned on your page): Skull of the Void (page 54), Caer Windlauer (pages 55-56), Galleon Nebula (page 56) and Colour Spray Nebula (page 56). It also has a decription of Comet K'Thoutek (which you already have) and might give you some useful number for calculating the orbit.
You might also be interested in calculating the position of The Wanderers. They walk around the surface of the crystal sphere, so kind of have some sort of astrological significance. I've heard of the Age of Aquarius in real-world astrology and wonder if the passage of The Wanderers from one zodiac constellation to the next could have some sort of significance (in Realmspace astrology). I'm not sure how you can get a complete map of the sky if The Stars Are Right is only about the zodiac, as the zodiac is really just going to give you the constellations around the ecliptic. But if the article does not fill in the top and bottom of the sky, I suppose this is something where fanon stars or fanon constellations could fill in the gaps.
Real world astrology has different names for stars, with Arabic astronomers giving individual stars proper names, and I wonder if Realmspace could have a bunch of star names based on things from Al-Qadim. Accurate information from Chinese astronomy also predates that from western astronomy, so I wonder if some Kara-Tur elements could be applied to the sky. Anyhoo a full map of the sky (both for Toril's stars and for those of other D&D worlds) is something I've been saying I'd love to see for the last few years. I don't know if you have seen some of the 3D art that has been made for Spelljammer, but it would be really great if fans could build up a library of starmaps for spheres and artists could use an area of one of the maps to help set a picture within a specific crystal sphere. I like what you have done with the phlogiston map. I think that much "rainbowness" may make my eyes bleed if I look at it for too long, but I can't think of a better way to describe the flow. :-)
Unfortunately, the astrology UI cannot be used outside the game, as it relies on its coding, but certainly it is possible to create something similar for a webpage etc. (for someone skilled in such things). If one can define the orbital elements of their orbiting bodies, or simply their periods, distances, 'start' position, and assume their orbits are simple elipses or circles, it's all a matter of maths. For Realmspace, I used our own solar systems orbital elements (link) and the constellations laid out in Dragon 340, so it provides something of a confluence between fantasy/reality. I haven't purchased any other Dragon issues, but I may if I can incorporate more into my current project.
