Publication:Practical Planetology

SJR4 Practical Planetology is an accessory for the Spelljammer Campaign Setting.

It provides setting information about fifteen planets. The product consists of one 96 page book and one poster. It was published by TSR Inc. in 1991.

Practical Planetology

The Practical Planetology book provides fifteen example worlds that can be incorporated into a Spelljammer game. It also introduces the idea of The Geonomicon, a large and expensive book that contains detailed information about approximately 80 worlds.

Contents

• Chapter 1: Introduction - This chapter mentions: Trevis Pelor, captain of the squidship the Far Star and the book known as The Geonomicon. It also explains the layout of the following chapters.
• Chapter 2: Earth Bodies - This chapter covers: basic information about earth bodies and has subsections about five earth worlds.
  • Comporellon - This section of the Earth Bodies chapter covers: basic information about Comporellon, climate, apperance from space, continents (including Zilber, Veraine and Panaga), local flora (including unusual blue and violet plants and plants that gain energy from temperature change) local fauna (mostly reptiles), local inhabitants (the ai'ir), other issues (Comporellon's acidic atmosphere), and four adventure ideas.
  • Falx - This section of the Earth Bodies chapter covers: basic information about Falx, climate, appearance from space, continents (of which there is technically only one), surface flora (including mobile plants), surface fauna (exclusively reptile), subterranean life (including myconids and aboleths), local inhabitants (including illithids and their two cities Brain-in-the-Skull and Tenticles-Grip-Tightly, orcs, goblins, dwarves and drow, other issues (Falx's high CO₂ atmosphere) and five adventure ideas.
  • Armistice - This section of the Earth Bodies chapter covers: basic information about Armistice (and basic information about its three large moons: Vesta, Lacerne and Vardig), climate, apperance from space, continents (including Ugrek, Taliak, Grishnakh, Toborg and Rakhar), local flora (including lichens, mosses, large plants and poisonous seaweed), local fauna (including creatures similar to remorhaz and tunnel worms and giant fish), local inhabitants (including decendents of the Combined Goblin Fleet forces who surrendered to Aldyn Leafblower during the Unhuman War), other issues (Armistice's high gravity) and five adventure ideas.
  • Radole - This section of the Earth Bodies chapter covers: basic information about Radole, climate (on the Sunside, Darkside and The Ribbon), appearance from space, continents (of which there is technically only one), Sunside fauna (including steelback beetles and mithril dragons), Darkside fauna (including shadows and a sub-species of white pudding), flora and fauna of The Ribbon, local inhabitants (including humans, elves, dwaves and halflings), civilisation (including The Imperial Radole Navy, the Radole Planetary Defense Force and the PDF's Judiciary Committee), other issues (including the deadly heat on Sunside, the deadly cold on Darkside and the skeletons scattered in orbit by necromancers) and four adventure ideas.
  • Bodi - This section of the Earth Bodies chapter covers: basic information about Bodi (and basic information about Bodi's ring), climate, appearance from space, continents (of which there is only one), flora (mostly forest plants), fauna (including gyres and giant fish), local inhabitants (including green dragons, tasloi and high elves), other issues (lack of open landing areas) and four adventure ideas.
• Chapter 3: Fire Bodies - This chapter covers: basic information about fire bodies and has subsections about two fire worlds.
  • Ignia - This section of the Fire Bodies chapter covers: basic information about Ignia, climate, appearance from space, continents (one floating island called Salome), fauna (including fire bats and flame swallows), local inhabitants (including efreet and salamanders) and four adventure ideas.
  • Garrash - This section of the Fire Bodies chapter covers: basic information about Garrash (and basic information about Garrash's ring, its single sunspot: the Great Storm and its moon: Taran), climate (including the 'fire-rain' that falls from the ring), apperance from space, continents (including Greendale, Zaberie and countless uncharted continents), planetary fauna (including salamanders, fire bats, flame swallows, efreet and other creatures native to the Elemental Plane of Fire), atmospheric fauna (including fire bats and flame swallows), Taran's fauna (including salamanders and fire snakes, fauna and flora of Zaberie (including fire snakes, salamanders, azer and fire-resistant trees and shrubs with metallic bark or leaves), fauna of Garrash's ring (including zats, local inhabitants (only the azer of Zaberie are covered), and five adventure ideas.
• Chapter 4: Water Bodies - This chapter covers: basic information about water bodies and has subsections about three water worlds.
  • Thalassa - This section of the Water Bodies chapter covers: basic information about Thalassa (and basic information about its lack of atmosphere, its skin and the mile deep layer of 'oxywater' found just below Thalassa's skin membrane), climate (which consists of mild currents in the water and oxywater and no climate in the void above the membrane), appearance from space, continents (of which there are none), fauna of the water (including giant sharks, like the megalodon, giant squids and other giant creatures, like the kraken), fauna of the oxywater (including smaller, less dangerous creatures including large numbers of fish), flora of the Layer (a 50 inch layer of plankton that separates the oxywater from the water below it), local inhabitants (including sahuagin living in the water and mermen and nixies living in the oxywater), a section on how oxywater can be breathed by both air and water breathing creatures and five adventure ideas.
  • Charon - This section of the Water Bodies chapter covers: basic information about Charon (a former moon of the destroyed planet Nex), climate (which is calm, cloudy, foggy and very cold), apperance from space, contients (of which there are six unnamed fragments of Nex), fauna of the oceans (mostly small blind fish with carnivorous fish similar to quippers on the surface), flora of the oceans (plankton), fauna of the continets (undead from Nex), local inhabitants (six nations of undead humans ruled by six warring undead lich kings), a section on the powerful magic possesed by the lich kings who destroyed Nex and three adventure ideas.
  • Barbuda - This section of the Water Bodies chapter covers: basic information about Barbuda, climate, apperance from space, continents (of which there are almost one hundred floating and sunken islands including Dormina), fauna and flora of the oceans (various sizes of brightly coloured fish and shark, plankton and sea weeds that grow on the water covered parts of the continents), fauna and flora of the floating islands (including birds and small mammals on small islands and larger animals like the banderdog on larger islands), local inhabitants (including sahuagin, sea sprites in the oceans and couatl living on the island Dormina), and five adventure ideas.
• Chapter 5: Air Bodies - This chapter covers: basic information about air bodies and has subsections about two air worlds.
• Chapter 6: Unusual or 'Non-Standard' Worlds - This chapter covers: basic information about unsual worlds and has subsections about three 'non-standard' worlds.
• Appendix: New Monsters - This chapter has ten new monsters (Mithril Dragon, Azer, Flame Swallow, Gyre, Imbul, Holbag, Sky Scavver, Steelback Beetle, Strangler and Zat).

References

• Spelljammer reference: SJR4
• TSR reference: TSR 9328
• ISBN: 1-56076-134-2

External links

• Purchase 'SJR4 Practical Planetology' PDF from DriveThruRPG
• Purchase 'SJR4 Practical Planetology' PDF from Paizo
• Purchase 'SJR4 Practical Planetology' PDF from RPGNow