The Return to Northmoor Podcast had a worksheet for the players to fill out. Its main purpose was to flesh out the world but to also get the players into the campaign without even playing in it. It was a fantastic tool, and I’d never seen anything like it. Since the Northmoor campaign was based in a village swamp and mine was in space I had to change it quite a bit. Here is the original Return to Northmoor Worksheet.
Here is the form I posted on our message board, asking all players to fill it out.
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Please fill out the questioner below. The Glossary on the next post should help you. For questions about your world, this is your chance to kind of be a DM, so just make it up.
Character Worksheet
Group Items
Please insert your recommendations for these Non-player Characters:
The Captain
Name of Captain:
Description of Captain:
Description of Captain’s Signature Item (doesn’t have to be magical):
PCs Public Relationship with the Captain:
The First mate
Name of the First mate:
Description of the First mate:
Description of First mate’s Signature Item (doesn’t have to be magical):
Your Public Relationship with the First mate:
Your Public Role on the Drudge and Relationship with the First mate:
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Character Requirements
- 1st level
- Any Race in the Character Builder. (It cannot be Huge size or bigger)
- Any Class in the Character Builder.
- Any Background in the Character Builder, but it must fit in with your history.
Individual Items
1. Real role on the Drudge:
2. Real relationship with the Captain:
3. Real relationship with the First mate:
4. Keystone event that you want/need to attempt an escape or mutiny:
5. Keystone event that led to you to serve on the Drudge:
6. A love left behind on your homeworld (does not have to be a person, can be a career, material item, pet, etc):
7. A phobia (does not have to be debilitating):
8. The extent of phobia (can be debilitating):
9. Someone you know, or like, on the Drudge that other people may not:
10. A secret that your fellow PCs know about you, but others at large do not:
11. A secret you've not yet shared with any of your fellow PCs, but would be interesting if it came out during play:
12. A secret that you shared with the Captain:
13. A secret that you shared with the First mate:
14. A recurring dream:
15. PC Role on your Homeworld:
16. Motivation to get back to your Homeworld:
17. The racial makeup of the world you’re from (just the major races):
18. Name of a Big City on your Homeworld:
19. What the Big City is known for:
20. Name of your village/town/city you’re actually from:
21. What your village/town/city is known for:
22. The racial makeup of the village/town/city you’re from:
Character Worksheet
Group Items
Please insert your recommendations for these Non-player Characters:
The Captain
Name of Captain:
Description of Captain:
Description of Captain’s Signature Item (doesn’t have to be magical):
PCs Public Relationship with the Captain:
The First mate
Name of the First mate:
Description of the First mate:
Description of First mate’s Signature Item (doesn’t have to be magical):
Your Public Relationship with the First mate:
Your Public Role on the Drudge and Relationship with the First mate:
-------------------------------------------
Character Requirements
- 1st level
- Any Race in the Character Builder. (It cannot be Huge size or bigger)
- Any Class in the Character Builder.
- Any Background in the Character Builder, but it must fit in with your history.
Individual Items
1. Real role on the Drudge:
2. Real relationship with the Captain:
3. Real relationship with the First mate:
4. Keystone event that you want/need to attempt an escape or mutiny:
5. Keystone event that led to you to serve on the Drudge:
6. A love left behind on your homeworld (does not have to be a person, can be a career, material item, pet, etc):
7. A phobia (does not have to be debilitating):
8. The extent of phobia (can be debilitating):
9. Someone you know, or like, on the Drudge that other people may not:
10. A secret that your fellow PCs know about you, but others at large do not:
11. A secret you've not yet shared with any of your fellow PCs, but would be interesting if it came out during play:
12. A secret that you shared with the Captain:
13. A secret that you shared with the First mate:
14. A recurring dream:
15. PC Role on your Homeworld:
16. Motivation to get back to your Homeworld:
17. The racial makeup of the world you’re from (just the major races):
18. Name of a Big City on your Homeworld:
19. What the Big City is known for:
20. Name of your village/town/city you’re actually from:
21. What your village/town/city is known for:
22. The racial makeup of the village/town/city you’re from:
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Here is the Glossary I threw together to help the players get started on their worksheet. I got most of the information from www.spelljammer.org.
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Slave Ship Campaign Glossary
Air: All bodies of any size carry with them an envelope of air whenever they leave the surface of a planet or other stellar objects. Unlike real-world astrophysics, this air envelope is not dispersed by the vacuum of space. These bubbles of air provide a breathable atmosphere for varying lengths of time, but 3 months is considered "standard".
Captain: A current mentor of the PCs on the Drudge. He is wiser, more experienced, generally liked and trusted. The players will flesh him/her out, and determine their group and individual relationships with him. Well known for wearing a particular item, that the players will define. He is kind regardless of the business he is in and promises to return the PC's to their respective homes after they win 10 fights for him, and are cooperative with helping out on the ship.
Crystal Spheres: A crystal sphere (also known as a crystal shell) is a gigantic spherical shell that contains an entire planetary system. Each sphere varies in size but typically they are twice the diameter of the orbit of the planet that is furthest from the sun or planet at the center of the sphere (the system's primary).
The surface of the sphere is called the "sphere wall" and separates the void of "wild space" (within the sphere) from the "phlogiston" (that surrounds and flows outside the sphere). The sphere wall has no gravity and appears to be impossible to damage by any normal or magical means. Openings in the sphere wall called "portals" allow spelljamming ships or wild space creatures to pass through and enter or exit from a crystal sphere. Portals can spontaneously open and close anywhere on the sphere wall. Magical spells (or magical items that reproduce their effects) can allow a portal to be located. Other magic can open a new portal or collapse an existing one. Ships or creatures passing through a portal when it closes may be cut in two.
Drudge: A slave ship that the PC’s are on. It specializes in going to different planets and capturing worthy combatants that are sold or used in Gladiatorial arenas. The ship is a wooden galleon with 3 masts for atmospheric movement, with its primary propulsion being a Residuumjammer.
First Mate: An experienced fighter, he helps train the PC's for Arena combat. The players will flesh him/her out, and determine their group and individual relationships with him.
Gravity: All bodies of a sufficiently large size have gravity. This gravity usually (but not always) exerts a force equal to the standard gravitational attraction on the surface of an Earth-sized planetary body. Gravity in the universe is also an exceptionally convenient force, and almost always works such that "down" orients itself in a manner most humanoids would find sensible.
Home world: Each PC will have a home world, a world where they hail from. Most all PC’s don’t even know the name of their world since most were never even exposed to the concept of planets and worlds. Each PC will select features of the land and world they live in, based on their race.
PCs: (Player Characters) Our heroes, the characters crated by the players of the adventure.
The PCs were captured from their respective planets in the past year. Determining what they did their is part of their background development. Currently, they are gladiatorial slaves on the ship, the Drudge. You can choose to help out on the ship in any capacity (but will always be watched), be uncooperative (thus be confined), or something else you can think of. The captain has given you chance to return home if you help out on the ship and win 10 gladiatorial matches.
Phlogiston: The phlogiston (also known as "the Flow") is a bright, extremely combustible gas-like medium that exists between the Crystal Spheres. A signature property of the substance is that it does not exist within the boundaries of a crystal sphere, to the degree that it cannot be brought into a crystal sphere by any known means up to and including the direct will of deities. Every crystal sphere floats in the phlogiston, very slowly bobbing up and down over time. Travel between Crystal Spheres is facilitated by the formation of "Flow rivers" — sections of the phlogiston which have a current and greatly reduce travel time. Travel through the "slow flow" (i.e. off the Flow rivers) is possible, but very dangerous.
Race: Since various races are on every planet, race doesn’t necessarily dictate which planet you’re from. However, it might dictate how you might act though, and you can define that in your background if you feel it might be unique. For instance an elf from Krynn (Dragonlance) might be more of an isolationist, not even trusting other elves, whereas an elf from Westron would probably be more accepting of many other races.
Residuum Jammer: A type of Spelljammer Helm which runs on Residuum rather than being powered by an arcane or divine power.
Rock of Bral: A large asteroid city considered the hub for Spelljammer vessels.
Skiff: A small-sized boat made of wood with a small Spelljammer Helm and 8 oars. It has a capacity of eight medium passengers.
Spelljammer Helm: A magic item which converts energy to propulsion to the vehicle it is attached. It allows interplanetary and interstellar space travel for vessels which would otherwise not be space worthy.
Air: All bodies of any size carry with them an envelope of air whenever they leave the surface of a planet or other stellar objects. Unlike real-world astrophysics, this air envelope is not dispersed by the vacuum of space. These bubbles of air provide a breathable atmosphere for varying lengths of time, but 3 months is considered "standard".
Captain: A current mentor of the PCs on the Drudge. He is wiser, more experienced, generally liked and trusted. The players will flesh him/her out, and determine their group and individual relationships with him. Well known for wearing a particular item, that the players will define. He is kind regardless of the business he is in and promises to return the PC's to their respective homes after they win 10 fights for him, and are cooperative with helping out on the ship.
Crystal Spheres: A crystal sphere (also known as a crystal shell) is a gigantic spherical shell that contains an entire planetary system. Each sphere varies in size but typically they are twice the diameter of the orbit of the planet that is furthest from the sun or planet at the center of the sphere (the system's primary).
The surface of the sphere is called the "sphere wall" and separates the void of "wild space" (within the sphere) from the "phlogiston" (that surrounds and flows outside the sphere). The sphere wall has no gravity and appears to be impossible to damage by any normal or magical means. Openings in the sphere wall called "portals" allow spelljamming ships or wild space creatures to pass through and enter or exit from a crystal sphere. Portals can spontaneously open and close anywhere on the sphere wall. Magical spells (or magical items that reproduce their effects) can allow a portal to be located. Other magic can open a new portal or collapse an existing one. Ships or creatures passing through a portal when it closes may be cut in two.
Drudge: A slave ship that the PC’s are on. It specializes in going to different planets and capturing worthy combatants that are sold or used in Gladiatorial arenas. The ship is a wooden galleon with 3 masts for atmospheric movement, with its primary propulsion being a Residuumjammer.
First Mate: An experienced fighter, he helps train the PC's for Arena combat. The players will flesh him/her out, and determine their group and individual relationships with him.
Gravity: All bodies of a sufficiently large size have gravity. This gravity usually (but not always) exerts a force equal to the standard gravitational attraction on the surface of an Earth-sized planetary body. Gravity in the universe is also an exceptionally convenient force, and almost always works such that "down" orients itself in a manner most humanoids would find sensible.
Home world: Each PC will have a home world, a world where they hail from. Most all PC’s don’t even know the name of their world since most were never even exposed to the concept of planets and worlds. Each PC will select features of the land and world they live in, based on their race.
PCs: (Player Characters) Our heroes, the characters crated by the players of the adventure.
The PCs were captured from their respective planets in the past year. Determining what they did their is part of their background development. Currently, they are gladiatorial slaves on the ship, the Drudge. You can choose to help out on the ship in any capacity (but will always be watched), be uncooperative (thus be confined), or something else you can think of. The captain has given you chance to return home if you help out on the ship and win 10 gladiatorial matches.
Phlogiston: The phlogiston (also known as "the Flow") is a bright, extremely combustible gas-like medium that exists between the Crystal Spheres. A signature property of the substance is that it does not exist within the boundaries of a crystal sphere, to the degree that it cannot be brought into a crystal sphere by any known means up to and including the direct will of deities. Every crystal sphere floats in the phlogiston, very slowly bobbing up and down over time. Travel between Crystal Spheres is facilitated by the formation of "Flow rivers" — sections of the phlogiston which have a current and greatly reduce travel time. Travel through the "slow flow" (i.e. off the Flow rivers) is possible, but very dangerous.
Race: Since various races are on every planet, race doesn’t necessarily dictate which planet you’re from. However, it might dictate how you might act though, and you can define that in your background if you feel it might be unique. For instance an elf from Krynn (Dragonlance) might be more of an isolationist, not even trusting other elves, whereas an elf from Westron would probably be more accepting of many other races.
Residuum Jammer: A type of Spelljammer Helm which runs on Residuum rather than being powered by an arcane or divine power.
Rock of Bral: A large asteroid city considered the hub for Spelljammer vessels.
Skiff: A small-sized boat made of wood with a small Spelljammer Helm and 8 oars. It has a capacity of eight medium passengers.
Spelljammer Helm: A magic item which converts energy to propulsion to the vehicle it is attached. It allows interplanetary and interstellar space travel for vessels which would otherwise not be space worthy.
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