By Silverblade the Enchanter: Used by permission.
Thanks for joining us for our Rock of Bral theme month! We’ll leave you now with this image of the Rock from above. See you in the stars!
Starting tomorrow: It Came from Deep Space – the Weirdness of Spelljammer
There are a number of places where you could start a Spelljammer campaign, but the most obvious options from the original AD&D Adventures in Space boxed set is to start with one of the three campaign worlds that the Adventures in Space boxed set was built around (Krynn, Oerth or Toril) or to start from The Rock of Bral.
There are pros and cons to starting on The Rock of Bral:
I think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, because starting your game on The Rock of Bral means that you can tie your PCs in with various NPCs on The Rock. (But if you don’t agree, wait a month or two and there may well be a follow-up article telling you how to Start Your Spelljammer Game on Krynn, Oerth, Toril or somewhere else.)
Mp3 for FREE streaming or download in pretty much every imaginable format at the above link! (Donations gratefully accepted.)
The elven wine came in three different varieties; a green elven summer wine, an Evereskan red, and a dry white that seemed to have come from somewhere in Greyspace. Of the three, the summer wine was his personal favourite. He brought those up first. “I recommend this one,” he said to Luigi. “We used to drink it back home.” He coughed and cleared his throat. Then he went back down and hauled up the ale.
“Set it in the empty spot,” Luigi instructed him. In the meantime, the beholder had tossed some trash into the empty cask and he asked Shaundar to carry the full barrel that preceded it into the alley; which he did.
Shaundar saw the movement out of the corner of his eye at about the same time that the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He put the stack of waste barrels between him and the intruders. A small troupe of brightly-dressed street performers came into the alley; except that these so-called performers were armed with slings and belaying-pins. There were two humans, a mustachioed man and a hatchet-faced woman; a gnome with a respectably tall red hat, a scowling halfling, and a half-elven youth with a pencil-thin mustache. He resembled the human male somewhat.
“Good evening, Mr. Sunfall,” the man with the curly mustachios greeted him with a bow and a flourish. “The Juggler, on behalf of her friend young Mr. Kullek, sends her regards.” He grinned and they began to spread out, tapping their pins against their hands.
Kullek? Who in the Demonweb was Kullek? But the Juggler was a name he knew. She was one of the four legendary Underbarons of Bral; a leader of a criminal syndicate that often included swindlers and con men, according to rumour. He supposed that explained the performers’ outfits. “Don’t do this to yourselves,” Shaundar sighed. He had no urge to fight anyone; he was weary of death and bloodshed. “If you’re here for the little punk I threw out of the bar last night, he’s not worth the effort.”
The mustachioed man’s grin widened. “The Juggler takes the needs of her clients very seriously.” Shaundar saw with an inward wince that he had mistaken Shaundar’s reluctance for fear. They started moving towards him.
“To the Hells with this,” Shaundar said in disgust, waving a hand dismissively, and he turned to head out the other end of the alley.
“Please, one moment,” another voice chimed in, this one slightly accented. Everyone was equally surprised to find the other way blocked by a pack of five Shou men with rolled-up shirt sleeves and tattoos completely coating the visible parts of their arms to the wrist. Three were apparently unarmed and two had twin weapons that looked like some kind of billy clubs with handles so that they could be clutched against the long bones of the forearms. One of the unarmed ones clasped his hands before him and made a perfunctory bow. “Nai hao, konnichiwa, Mr. Sunfall. We represent Mr. Ozamata, who offers protection services for the inhabitants of the Low City. I understand you reneged on your agreement with your landlord?” He was crisp and polite.
Shaundar groaned. Mr. Ozamata was the head of the Shou Town criminal syndicate, the Yakuza. They were a dangerous bunch. The other guys probably just wanted to rough him up, but they might actually kill him.
“We were here first,” snapped the hatchet-faced woman to the tattooed Shous.
The Yakuza man smiled a bit more. “I am sorry to disappoint the Juggler and to deprive you of your fee, but Mr. Ozamata has an image to uphold. It would reflect very poorly on his business if he were to fail to provide the services he is paid for.” Now the two groups began to keep watch on each other as well as Shaundar.
By Silverblade the Enchanter. Copyright (c) 2014. Used by permission.
An elven ship on a secret mission! Brand-new art by the one and only Silverblade the Enchanter!
I just want to extend a quick note on behalf of all of us here at Wildspace thanking you for such overwhelming support from the fan community! We’re delighted to have you aboard and we hope that all of you will continue your voyages with us. We welcome your submissions and your comments; please see our Submission Guidelines page. Next month: It Came from Deep Space: the Weirdness of Spelljammer is our theme. Spelljammer is fun and a little crazy, and sometimes a little campy, and we want all of that weirdness, from talking merchant penguins who were doing the Ferengi gig before Deep Space Nine, to talking mercenary hippos, to bugs who perform extreme surgery for pay, to squid-faced telepathic aliens who eat your brain! Basically, if you can imagine it in a bad 1950s sci-fi movie, and it fits in Arcane Space, we want it! Thanks again for your support!
Spacefarer’s Handbook
Out of the depths of wildspace come astonishing new ideas for SPELLJAMMER campaigns. Now you can create player characters from the nonhuman races of the giff, dracons, scro, grommams, and more. Equip you characters with kits like the Corsair, War Mage, and Aperusa. Then add some new space-oriented proficiencies and equipment, enlist your character in a spacefaring organization, and head off into the Void!
Heart of the Enemy
A little information is a very frightening thing.
Hundreds of years ago, the elves and the goblinkin fought for control of known space in the Unhuman War. Though the elves won that first campaign, they know the goblinkin are clamoring for a rematch. Recently the elves commissioned a few good adventurers to infiltrate the base of a new race of advanced orcs known as the scro. They were hoping to gain information on their enemies’ numbers and plans.
The news they found was far worse.
The scro have discovered a weapon of awesome destruction, one that can lay waste to entire worlds. But the key to unlock its power lies lost and forgotten.
Even now the scro are searching for it. When they find it, they will wreak destruction and revenge on the inhabited planets.
The elves are looking for an adventuring team who can win this desperate race, and find the key first. Your PCs may be the only thing that stands between known space and doom.
Unattributed art that I believe came from one of the original box sets.
by Paul Westermeyer
Low City
The Rockrat: One of the seediest and most dangerous dives on Bral. Theives and thugs frequent it, and it’s renowned for its ogre bouncer, Grinder.
Sign of the Black Bull: Known for mercenaries and assassins. It is a quiet place, few brawls here. The regulars are mostly retired veterans.
The Rampent Lion: Clean and cheap, but guests tend to disappear. Lots of new comers here, natives and sailors who dock often at Bral avoid it. Rumoured to sell guests to illithid slavers, but that’s never been proven.
The Crooked Square: Favored alehouse of the Shipwrights. A typical tavern, though weaponless brawls are common entertainment.
The Golden Brotherhood: A club that many Bralians consider simply a den of pirates. Members only allowed, and a member must sponsor you for membership (and then you must pass a brutal initiation). Rough, vicious sailors frequent this place for drink, sleep, and female company. Members of the Golden Brotherhood have a serpent twined dagger tatooed on their left forearm.
The Laughing Beholder: Run by Large Luigi, a beholder who sometimes sells information.
Middle City
The Raised Cup & The Broken Tankard: These taverns are relatively quiet, but each is known (by those who pay attention) to be favored by members of the Pragmatic Order of Thought.
The Edge: Known as the favored drinking hole of flamboyent space captains like Dirck of Wildspace, Pryessant, Elrohir Amroth, or even Lady Chaos herself (though she hasn’t been seen on Bral in quite a while). Because of this, the Edge is the fasionable place on Bral for the wealthy to come slumming (dangerous, colorful characters in a clean building with good wine 🙂 ). Con men, rogues, and professional duelists make their living here. It is perhaps the busiest tavern on Bral.
The White Galleon: Quiet, but has an Arcane who has rented the top floor for months and does his business here.
The Twisted Thumb: It is a dive that more properly belongs in the Low City.
Wildspace: The Spelljammer Fanzine 
