I'm certain that this has been done before (not thinking of Spelljammer, but something more like....)

Sky Pirates. A world where there are literal airships, tech level otherwise about that of the 1600 - 1700s. Spanish Main kinda stuff. Maybe throw in some magic or steampunk-style technology. Cannons. Fencing. Floating ports or forts or cities held up by huge balloons, or some kind of "liftwood". Hidden jungle kingdoms. Globe-straddling Empires patrolling the skies. Secret societies. Mythical treasures. Stuff like that. Earth, or not-Earth, or an analog.

Been done before? Does it need to be done? Thoughts? Suggestions?

Isn't Chad Underkoffler doing something along these lines right now?*

That said -- Gliders.  Not prop-driven planes, but gliders launched from airborne platforms.  Silent, spiraling dogfights on the updrafts high above the ground.

!i!

[*Edit: Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies]

Ah, dangit! Well, he has literal sky kingdoms, I wasn't going that far with it.
I think Space: 1889 might be a close-ish fit too, at least in feel if not in technology.

In fact, just jotted down this:

Liftwood:

Specially treated hardwood from the jungles of various equitorial islands. When a weak electrical current is passed through the wood, it lifts, hence its name. The amount of lift is based on the amount of current and the amount of wood: larger currents through more wood = greater lift. Small dry-cell bateries and about 5 lbs of wood is enough to lift a man, and the current can be varied to increase/decrease the lift. Keels and running boards of liftwood and larger banks of cells or generators will lift a ship. While liftwood will lift, it does not provide motive force. For that, sails are needed.

World:

Two larger continents, lots of scattered islands. Earth-analog, with the "England" of the world competing with the "Spain" of the world, and the "France" of the world working both sides of the coin. All three countries have liftwood technology, but there is one other large empire, a "China" analog, without liftwood but with other technologies/abilities that make up for it. Gold, silver, gems, etc. are greatly valued, but liftwood even moreso. The best liftwood comes from the oldest trees, so even though liftwood plantations can be justified, their wood is far inferior, and not suitable for shipbuilding. Exploration is driven by the search for ancient liftwood jungles and the fabled wealth of mythical lost empires.

How about this for liftwood.  The lift property is not an inherent quality of the species of tree itself, but of a peculiar mineral dissolved in the local water table.  Foreign discoverers haven't worked this out yet, but the "lift" effect is the result of a sufficient concentration of this mineral in the woody tissues of mature trees.  Other materials could potentially be imbued with lift properties as well, if only the mineral and a process could be discovered.  In the meantime, liftwood is a highly limited resource that requires fevered exploration and entrepreneurship to exploit.

Also, with an effective limit on the amount of liftwood, more conventional methods of flight (like gliders!) are vital for projecting power into the skies beyond a nation's liftwood platforms.

!i!

Hmm... yes. That would explain why mature trees are needed, quite nicely. Your shipboard doctor/naturalist could be tryingto figure out the properties of Liftwood as well as finding new species of bugs.

I added the "electrical current" idea to keep the trees from floating away on their own, although a lightning strike during a storm might prove interesting. A low-tech Traveller misjump.

And yes, gliders - how else are you going to board enemy ships? And if you can run silent on a moonless night and get close enough, you might be able to take a ship without a shot fired! Or raid a port town - swashbuckling commandos!

Every so often I feel like I must be mentally connected to some cosmic zietgeist generator or something.  About a month ago I was busy laying out the foundation for a 'sky pirates' setting that, sadly, failed to get off the ground.

Mine had more to do with a mad scientist being exiled from his 'home ground' taking to the air in a alchemical air galleon and a huge church organization declaring flight heretical... unless used by the church or with church approval. Thus you had holy fliers dogfighting against heretical pirates over resources the 'groundless' needed but could never get legally.

Quote from: WerekoalaAnd yes, gliders - how else are you going to board enemy ships?

Ornithopters ... with the big motor-driven wings flapping so fast that they're nothing but a rip-saw blur.  They hover, they bank, they loop ... they're everything a sky pirate needs.

Quote from: WerekoalaAnd yes, gliders - how else are you going to board enemy ships? And if you can run silent on a moonless night and get close enough, you might be able to take a ship without a shot fired! Or raid a port town - swashbuckling commandos!

I used gliders in Sweet Chariot, exactly as you described...

Also steam-powered fighter blimps.

-clash

Liftwood chariots with the traces filled by 6 geese, specially bred for size and strength? Possibly as cool/cooler than gliders?

Human powered air-screws, propelling specially outfitted boarding longboats?

skies of arcadia for the dreamcast has similar stuff going on.  tried to put that element into my 3.x game years ago but the players never went near that action.  i was able to bring a gnomish sky galleon into play, but they didn't get to explore that part of the campaign world.  

if i even get to run fantasy again, that sort of stuff is going right back in.  

weren't there sky corsairs or the like in earthdawn?

Quote from: TonyLBOrnithopters ... with the big motor-driven wings flapping so fast that they're nothing but a rip-saw blur.  They hover, they bank, they loop ... they're everything a sky pirate needs.

Holy cats, I completely forgot about Castle in the Sky!  That's a great movie.

!i!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_Pirates!

When I read the title of this thread. I automatically thought Crimson Skies. But this has proved very fun and interesting as well.

Quote from: WerekoalaSky Pirates. A world where there are literal airships, tech level otherwise about that of the 1600 - 1700s. Spanish Main kinda stuff. Maybe throw in some magic or steampunk-style technology. Cannons. Fencing. Floating ports or forts or cities held up by huge balloons, or some kind of "liftwood". Hidden jungle kingdoms. Globe-straddling Empires patrolling the skies. Secret societies. Mythical treasures. Stuff like that. Earth, or not-Earth, or an analog.

I am so down with this, I cannot put it into words.  Instead, I will express my enthusiasm through spastic, nonsensical gibberish:

GWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH, lubbalubbalubbalubba WOOPT-WOOPT-WOOPT ghaaark! ghaaark! ghaaark! GNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOHHHH, MOMMA!  (wipes chin)

Thank you.

Menschheit! Zum Himmel!  


Oooo...channeling some Doctor Zorbo there.  Sorry.