6

My 3 players of 18,19 and 20 level might explore the moon and other uninhabited planets of their solar system as a part of an ending act in my campaign. I couldn'f find any rules for differing gravity, space radiation or vacuum, which in my opinion are crucial when anything comes to space exploration. In the universe in which we are playing, it's more like the regular space, than the Spelljammer-ish one.

Because we are playing 3.5 Edition of Dungeons & Dragons I am exactly interested in its materials, along with Dragon Magazine and Dungeon Adventures, however if there are no such rules or they are quite poorly made, materials from other compatible systems may be used.

I am interested in the rules themselves. Please include summaries to give an idea of what they are like.

doppelgreener
  • 36,482
  • 16
  • 161
  • 253
Momonga-sama
  • 9,963
  • 2
  • 43
  • 103

3 Answers3

10

You could check out Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Distant Worlds

It includes

Easy new rules for adventuring on other planets, including discussions on gravity, temperature, time, vacuum, and traveling between worlds.

  • 2
    Can you [edit] this answer to comment on where these rules fall on the Realism—Spelljammer spectrum, now that the question has been updated to indicate what kind of treatment of space is being considered? – SevenSidedDie Nov 02 '16 at 16:38
6

Consider d20 Future

The Dungeon Master's Guide says, "The d20 Modern Roleplaying Game, a D&D-compatible role-playing game for present-day adventures, contains a much more extensive treatment of firearms and other high-tech gear" (146), so it's not that much of a stretch also to employ an expansion of Wizards of the Coast's D&D 3.5-compatible d20 Modern rules, d20 Future, for those times when PCs venture beyond their sphere and into a space. While I've not had the opportunity to use these rules in any D&D 3.5 campaigns, I wouldn't hesitate to take them out if my PCs were foolish enough to, on a clear night, greater teleport to the campaign's equivalent of Mars or wherever. The d20 Future rules appear both playable and suitably lethal for the unprepared.

Be aware that you'll likely be at a bit of a loss if relying exclusively on Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 material. The Dungeon Master's Guide has rules for gravity (147-8), but for space radiation and vacuum, you're on your own. The DMG seems to assume a bottle of air (250) makes the user safe in a vacuum, for instance, and in a vacuum—because this is everyone's first question—blindsight doesn't work (290), but that's almost all you'll get. But Elder Evils provides rules for the effects of an ersatz black hole (142-3), so, at least, there's that.

Chemus
  • 12,001
  • 3
  • 33
  • 74
Hey I Can Chan
  • 191,258
  • 18
  • 357
  • 866
3

Dragonstar.

As d20 has already been covered, and Spelljammer ruled out; if you are willing to go with 3rd party, Dragonstar is an interesting treatment for D&D in space.

nijineko
  • 11,615
  • 24
  • 55
  • "Above" is subjective -- there's no set sorting order on Stack Exchange; even sorting by votes if your answer heads to the top you'll have nothing "above" it at all. You may want to rephrase, link to the answers directly (via the share link), and preferably answer the question independently. If you have experience with any of these products, please discuss it so we understand its suitability. – doppelgreener Oct 31 '16 at 20:55
  • It's been a while since I've used any of these, as my players haven't managed to get into outer space (with one exception, but they were in a protected environment, so it didn't come up), so I'll have to review my books before expanding on my answer. – nijineko Oct 31 '16 at 20:59
  • The question has been edited to rule out Spelljammer and other not-real-space types of treatments. Can you edit this to accommodate? – SevenSidedDie Nov 02 '16 at 16:36
  • Sure, I would be happy to. – nijineko Nov 02 '16 at 21:22
  • 1
    Can you summarize a bit why someone might take the time to look at these rules? – SevenSidedDie Nov 03 '16 at 00:45