Fair Warning…
This has been somewhat of a pet project I’ve been working on the past six months and intended on created a book out of it but unfortunately life hasn’t given me much time with two kids and I’d rather start some other projects of mine rather than worrying about this one. So, I’m going to post them here!
Just to give you fair warning, these ideas are not all the way fleshed out. They are merely there to give you an idea of new planets, moons, locales etc., that you can use to entertain your Dnd players. If you’re looking for more details about a location, you’re gonna have to figure that out yourself.
If you have any ideas you wanna share for other Spelljammer players, let us know in the comments!
Enjoy!
1. A world where there is no magic. Even those who arrive to that planet find that their powers no longer work. Their ships, if powered by magic, come swiftly down to the ground. In the center of the planet is a magic absorbing god/creature that manages to block the weave from their domain.
The idea here is to challenge your party. How do they fair when magic no longer exists, especially those spellcasters? How do they get off the planet?Of course we don’t want this to be a permanent thing, those poor spellcasters! While having this idea, I was stuck between having an easier out for your Dnd party to escape, some magical portal that somehow exists in some shape or form from ancient times, or you could go murder that monster and free the world from banality? No idea what kind of minster but a mutated form of a Beholder might work? (The world wouldn’t have a civilization per say but is instead inhabited by those ALSO stuck on the planet)
2. World of waste. The world obviously went through some sort of catastrophe where all civilization has fallen. Now what remains are ruins rife for plunder…and roving warring bands of tribes taking what they can to survive.
This might be a fun one for groups who want those ancient magical items, and lover of long forgotten dungeons and lore. Definitely have them encounter a tribe while they are exploring, they shouldn’t be too powerful but more of a constant annoyance. Great for quests too!
3. Port/trade world. Where you can LITERALLY buy anything you want! It looks like one big bazaar with houses around them living In sections to somewhat organize everything. Each “neighborhood” has that distinct flavor for what they are selling: apothecaries, blacksmiths, gently used goods, food, fashion, etc. etc.
Had to think of a perfect place for a shopping trip that can still have quests or minor adventures in.
4. The “untouched” jungle planet with plants that can be used for any medicine or potion, but is also extremely dangerous with prehistoric monsters and plant life just as hungry as a T. rex.
Think man-eating jungle from the Jurassic period. Not really used for dungeons or ancient civilizations but for Druid like quests where finding plants with unique properties, or maybe just a tourist destination for dinosaur lovers…
5. A world that exists In the sky. The ground below is a barren wasteland where nothing lives for long…
You could picture this like Cloud City from Star Wars, but the main point is that there is a wasteland below the clouds where everything dies. What’s down there? Who WANTS to go down there? Possibly explorers who need protection, or perhaps some nobleman’s attempt at reclaiming ancient ancestral land? Originally thought about the undead or possibly demons, or abyssal creatures. Horror creatures that force wisdom sanity checks would be great.
6. Basically waterworld. An entire civilization drowned and what’s left are those who float across the waves, salvaging what’s left from an ancient people that hides potent magical items.
You want underwater adventures? Have some good old fashioned pirate battles over the water? Did you love that Waterworld movie from the 90’s? Well here you are! I would take a lot of inspiration from that Waterworld movie, it has great ideas ranging from pirates using modernish boats, floating communities, and creatures from under the sea while your players can explore the ruins of a civilization underwater!
7. The world of water that you cannot drink, for if you do, it can have catastrophic effects on your body.
This one is pretty barebones and more geared towards a quick side quest more than an actual adventure. The world, in my mind, can be anything: Waterworld, jungle, a natural world with several biomes, or even a desert planet with several oasis. The main thing is that the water is cursed. You can decide what it does in the end, whether it be poisoned, curses the character, etc. I would look at the magical curses or spells from the Dnd book or visit Dndspeak for MANY ideas.
8. A planet of an entire somewhat futuristic city. Very corrupt. Classism. Rife with crime and serial killers.
I originally got this idea from Van Richtens Guide to Ravenloft in one of those extra Domains of Dread, specifically Zherisia. If you don’t know the lord of the place, it’s about the city of Paridon in Zherisia where each day it erupts in riots due to starvation taxation, and missing people that disappear during the night. Basically there is a Doppelgänger serial killer who has impersonated so many people that he is forced to kill every night because his skin fall off every night. Do with that what you will but a horror city for a side quest or being an urban bounty hunter for a few sessions in a grim setting seems like a cool change of pace.
9. Psychic animals where every creature is attached. You feel each others pain and joy.
Very Druid. Very hippy. Thought it would be a nice change from any serious campaigning for your players. You can talk to animals, and everyone is bonded so if you kill a rabbit, that player would FEEL the fear and pain it felt before death. didn’t have a specific idea for this one, just thought it would be a neat little detour that could make an interesting side quest.
10. 2 moons of a planet are at war with each other. Travel between the two is extremely hazardous.
You could make the cause of the war to anything you want. Personally I love the idea of them fighting for so long that they have no idea what they are fighting about. I also really like the idea of Star Wars type battles in space between the two owners. The setting could also include a lot of political intrigue to help maybe end the violence if you players are into that sort of thing.
11. An asteroid with a pirate town attached to it.
Love this location as a place for your players to enjoy some downtime, get rowdy, get information from unscrupulous sources etc.. The Vision was for it to be a no rules/unwritten rules location with no of official law affecting it, leaving your players the choice to do whatever they want, good or bad.
12. Vampires control the planet and harvest the civilian population for their blood. It has become a part of life and people are generally happy despite the monthly donations.
I wanted this to be a gray area sort of quest/visit for your players. The people knowingly give there blood every month as a sort of tax for the vampires who rule just like any other body of government. Sometimes corrupt but mostly looking out for the people. After all, why upset a situation that seems to be working out for everyone? Would be a good opportunity to show the situation in a bad light but is revealed later that it’s all actually okay and not that big a deal.
13. Undead have taken over a once vibrant moon, and no one knows about it yet. Like a ghost town of a planet.
I like to think that it’s fairly recent that everyone on the moon has either escaped or turned into the undead. Think LOTS of zombies! Go HAM on classic zombie vibes: loud noises attract them, they come in hordes, very easy to kill but make up for it with quantity, bites cause disease(you might have to homebrew this one. Like 1d6 Damage per hour until death/healed by magic) etc. what causes all this? Wizards. Those goddamn wizards and their experiments!
14. A world full of lush nature. The people there believe in peace, harmony, and love above all else. Very magic heavy. People live in the trees.
The idea was to have a place for the party’s Druid to relate to. There’s nothing evil about this place at all, it’s basically paradise. Would be a nice place to introduce some terrible evil that corrupts nature right? A Sybriex sounds pretty good.
15. Fear the night. Day time it’s safe to go out. Night, we hide to survive.
The idea is vague but I think it could be a fun one that would bring a fun challenge for your party. You could start with a civilized area (town or a city) that’s been seemingly abandoned or in near ruins. Sprinkle some survivors in there to tell the tale of the downfall of civilization. Best to make sure all this happens during the day so they can look forward to the night. So what happens out there at night? You could go several directions: Slaad infestation, The Core Spawn are destroying the world but are sensitive to light, Mindflayers are using the people as hosts to make more abominations, Neogi come from underground to conquer and enslave, Arasta the Spider Queen is sending her spider broods to kidnap and eat the population, an opening into the negative plane has opened and a nightwalker is destroying all life every night and retreats during the day.
16. Dragons rule the world and all the people in it fear them. Something about dragon wars, and ancient dragons being basically godkings.
Imagine being a normal peasant in a world of dragons, loving day by day not knowing when it will all collapse around you because of highly intelligent dragons in a war for who rules the planet. I like to think this of this as a very simple good vs evil type situation. Normal people are getting stuck in the middle and dragons are everywhere.
17. A world of ever-encroaching sand and desert eating its way into the last bastions of civilization left.
This ancient world is finally reaching its end. A world once filled with lush nature and giant oceans are now just a giant graveyard of dust and sand, with the exception of one city that is fighting hard against the encroaching sands that threaten to swallow their last home. Magic users are constantly using spells to keep it at bay, but even their connection to the weave in this wasteland is starting to wane. Cool location, possible quests abut finding lost relics in the desert world, or perhaps something in the world is causing the world to die and can be destroyed stopping the sand?
18. A hotel in hell/abyss.
A nice change in location. Find a portal to a location in the nine hells or in the abyss where instead of horror and evil, there is an inn that services those in need of a well deserved rest. It works in mysterious ways and seems to open portals all over the universe to help those in need. Make the inn whatever you want but something more relaxing and fun like a casino, a giant beach, drinking games, etc.
19. A massive arctic planet with various small communities. They were created by adventurers and scavengers trying to find the lost treasure of a massive starship that’s buried somewhere in the icy wasteland.
There is a massive pirate ship that sank into the ocean long, long ago. Since then, the planet froze over and now the ice is near impenetrable but absolutely clear like glass. Many have attempted to break through, all have failed. A few small communities surround the sight, basically surviving off of scavengers trying to take the legendary treasure for themselves. What is in the ship is up to you, but some super powerful quest item or a mountain gold and magical items would be totally worth it. How to get through the ice? Might have to let your players get creative with it and wing it. Personally I love the idea of letting your players come up with ideas because this is a moment that the characters use those abilities more creatively. Hopefully… I mean, these are heroes that have trouble opening normal unlocked doors so who knows?
20. A massive collection of ships and parts of ships into one giant makeshift outlaw community. It floats between worlds.
I made this idea as a sort of taxi service for when my players lost there ship either through battle or if someone seized the ship causing them to be stuck on a planet/moon or drifting in space with no power to guide them. Similar to the pirate town on a asteroid idea, the community has a lot of “unwritten” rules and is governed by the community as a whole rather than any bureaucracy. Think frontier justice.
21. A world at high tide and low tide. Inhabitants must build on very high ground or at seemingly random intervals, a massive flood engulfs the planet that last several days and then recedes. How long low tide lasts is a mystery. It could last a day or even several weeks. Vegetation grows insanely fast as the water is very nutritious for plants and covers the area quickly.
Just a quick and dirty side quest location. The idea was to force urgency in finding a plant or item that will be covered when the tide comes in potentially drowning the group. If the group does too well in water, I find adding a few underwater predators serve as a good challenge.
22. Entire world is dense vegetation. Like an untouched world from far away from any sort of civilization. Turns out, the world turns anything non-organic into organic matter. Like a permanent polymorphism. If someone casts talk to animals or plants, they are actually talking to people who have been trapped onto the planet. Their minds begin to deteriorate to a more bestial mindset the longer they are on the planet/as that form. They will warn the players to leave ASAP. (Distress beacons call for help. Lots of salvage but very limited time until they change into the nature around them. Even if they keep coming back the time gets quicker an quicker. Slight changes show that they are changing. Like growing a tail, random animals sounds, leaves growing etc. )
This may have been one of my favorite ideas. Have the players respond to a distress call of some kind or as a quest from someone looking for their friends/family that went to the planet and never came back. As they investigate, they should encounter dense foliage and several bestial creatures following them. It’s tough to figure out how much time they have until changes start happening but I like the idea of subtle changes happening after every long rest. Set out a set creature for each character and after every long rest, each character will have a subtle transformation: hairier body, loss of speech into growls/squeaks/animal sounds, getting shorter, etc.
23. A town on a moon is famously known for their toys, specifically dolls and marionettes. It’s great fun, unless you break the law and then you become the animated toys and possibly sold.
24. A planet that has the greatest museum in the universe. VERY VALUABLE STUFF.
This was meant to be the heist idea. You can replace any museum to whatever would suit your needs for a specific magical or legendary item, and it can technically be located anywhere that’s fits your narrative. Museums with maximum security can be fun for your players because it forces them to be very creative so it works best to work around what they are doing rather than attempting to be too realistic with it all. I find that adding a surprise creature like a Nothic acting as the curator of the collection, a Morkoth acting as the owner of the collection and has been willing to share their collection with visitors but is merciless to thieves, or perhaps a Spectator who has been summoned to protect the specific item the players are trying to steal but has turned insane due to loneliness and boredom.
25. A city famously known for its cuisine. The city is beautiful, Very Fantasy Paris. Best food in the galaxy. They have cooking competitions for best chef of regions. Some even have more illegal type experimental foods…
If you your players need a lighthearted break, try a city known for its food. Great for players who are super into being a chef, or into drinking or creating their own ale. Cooking competitions, drinking competitions, battle of the bands type events, the list is endless!
26. A planet of Kuo-Toa. The world is rampant with random gods and semi-gods that defy reason. More and more gods seem to be created and could turn into a problem…however they are very innocent and kind people.
Kuo-Toa are a very interesting creature. “If enough Kuo-Toa believe that a god is real, the energy of their collective subconscious can cause that god to manifest as a physical entity,” according to their description in the Monster Manual on page 199. Have fun with this! Gods of any shape and size can be a hilarious danger to the group. A giant chicken, a talking ship, a fifty eyed spider that breathes spiders rather than fire like a dragon.
27. Planet of the children. Only those who haven’t reached puberty still exist on this planet. Those who do reach that age are instantly attracted by shadows that rip the life and soul of that adult. There are ruins that are lived in, but not much destruction.
I thought this could be a stealthy and somewhat creepy atmosphere for a group of adults. You could have been sent to investigate about what happens to the planet/moon to find out what happened since they’ve essentially gone “radio silent.” Essentially, the place was was infected by shadow creatures that drain the life out of its victims, however they only attack adults. I would use the creature Shadow from the Basic Rules book on page 344. Essentially keep the same stats but for the attack, drain their wisdom score rather than their strength. They appear weak but throw several at the party and it can do some serious damage so be careful using them.
28. The half-way planet. It’s a planet of souls stuck in a limbo type state. Allips? Before they move onto to their destination. Reincarnation?
The idea here was to create an location that players would need to contact someone that was essentially dead. A good place for a main quest location when they need to talk to someone dead in a sort of halfway place to the next stage of the afterlife. The area would be very similar to the shadowfell; colorless, depressing, wasteland with dead trees, etc. You really could go two routes with this: 1. Use the area with crowds of the dead waiting in line towards what seems to be a giant courthouse in the distance. The line is seemingly endless but the line continues on. 2. Have the entire area filled with Allips. Allips are cool creatures that are created when there is a powerful secret, like a demon lord true name or hidden truths from the cosmic order, or maybe extremely secret information that is pivotal for the main quest…
29. War of the moons. Two moons surrounding a large planet shrouded by intense fog and cloud cover. It has no land that is stable or survivable. The moons are constantly at war and no peace seems to be possible. No one knows the cause or why they are really fighting since it’s been going on for so long. Moon 1 is very science heavy/artificers, all about might. Moon 2 is very magic and nature based. Kind of like might vs. magic.
I’ve always loved the idea of two moons at war with one another, like an intense Star Wars type battle. My original lore idea was that these two peoples destroyed their original planet through war which caused the remaining people to flee to the planet’s two moons. Even though they’ve basically forgotten their original complaint with one another (your choice of course. I like to lead to one extreme: either it really was one big misunderstanding at a dinner party about passing the cheese as an insult rather than an act, or a Romeo/Juliet thing, or maybe it was just two kings really wanting to dominate the other so there really is no “good guy.”) and have forever wanted destruction for the other as a purpose for loving now.
I also love the idea of have one moon based around “might,” where magic is looked down on as “unmanly.” Think Roman gladiators
The other moon would be the exact opposite: Magic, Wisdom, one with the planet, more intelligent based society which can really lead to its own problems as being a snooty or snobby kind of people.
30. 4 moons surround one planet that is in the midst of being created; swirling lava, intense rain and storms etc. each moon houses a certain element. Air is full of aarakocra and air genasi etc. where the moon has swirling winds and floating terrain etc.
Yes. I made elemental moons. Everyone needs to fight crazy ass elements sometimes right? Just imagine your ship fighting through a maelstrom like a hurricane/typhoons/volcanoes etc.
31. A planet of goblinoids that is extremely peaceful. However they release their anger and pent up rage or settle long standing grudges in the coliseum once a year where they can settle their disputes to the death at the amusement of the crowd. Each participant must be a willing player. No one is forced to fight.
32. Yuan-ti are attempting to permanently blot out the sun and summon their snake god to help them in their conquest of other worlds.
Not going to lie. I got this idea from the second act of Diablo 2, “The Tainted Sun,” where claw vipers blocked the sun with an eclipse. By using more Dnd lore, I think you could make a pretty good quest event. Use the Yuan-To Anathema is the snake demigod that is created from the ritual as the boss.
33. A planet of knowledge and education. Their largest city is exclusively used for education purposes be it combat, experimentation, music theory, etc. the rest of the planet is largely normal but everything. Revolves around that city. Parents are often trying to get their child to be in that city to better their lives but sometimes there are standards they have to pass to enter.
34. Starship trooper vibes. A planet is infested with Kruthic and is endangering the populace from being overrun. The only way to stop them is by killling the queen.
Absolutely ham it up just like the movie. Overly dramatic action and using Kruthic I think is the closest thing to one of those bugs. I would move more towards a more mindless creature than the intelligent version of Dnd, but you do you. You know what’s fun for your party more than I do!
35. A planet of giants
That’s it. A planet of giants living life like it’s completely normal to be that size. There is no smaller races living on the planet so your party is going to stand out a little bit when on the planet. Not much of lore heavy setting I know, never really had time to flesh it out but I loved the overall idea of giant society that dominates their realm rather than be the general outsiders on other settings.
36. A planet of ooze controlled by the Fiend God Juiblex.
…”five bubbling slime-filled chasms erupt onto the surface of Shedaklah like pus from a broken scab. Ranging in color from olive, mustard, green, ochre, and gray, the pools lead deeper into the heart of the layer, where the Faceless One Juiblex holds sway. Legions of oozes and formless jellies serve Juiblex within the pits, moving at his orders and devouring what he tells them to devour.” – The Slime Pits of Juiblex
Just imagine the entire moon or planet just controlled by ooze and slime and their ooze like god Juiblex that is trapped there, and wants nothing but to eat and destroy everything. Mission: keep Juiblex from escaping.
37. A sibriex has taken over the moon and most of the humanoids has been horrifically transformed into mutant wreches. The few alive are begging for help to get off the moon.
38. Same thing but the Spawn of Kyuss. People begging for help, but how can you tell who is infected? Very zombie like scenario that everyone loves!
39. A planet/moon made of junk. Lots of hidden treasures can be found but also danger. Especially the likes of one Morkoth that found the junk island and attempted to fill their floating island with it but became so I smeared with greed that the island sank into the earth and the planet became its domain and controls cadaver collectors that tend to pick up trash AND creatures. The Morkoth is kind enough to not kill people or arrive on his moon but will go murderous if anything is taken from his moon without his permission or an equal trade has been made. Absolutely knows everything on the planet.
40. Planet of glimmer. Planet of fashion and looking good. Super fancy. Super judgey.
This is for your players who either have ZERO fashion sense or a player who is all-in with fashion. No In-between. I want you to think fashion show in Paris with the strangest looking clothes as a super bowl type event. There are LITERAL FASHION POLICE. Really just have fun with the tropes.
41. The Ghost Moon. Some catostrophe killed everyone and now everyone became ghosts, just going about there day like nothing happened in a very robotic way. The longer the characters stay, the more noticed they are from the ghosts. They will begin to try and take over their bodies so they can escape this hell.
42. A moon with a very pleasantville sort of vibe. Everyone is happy. Too happy. Even if you hurt somebody or steal something from them, they wince and smile it away and apologize like it was their fault. It’s happening all over the moon. What’s really been happening is a beholder has somehow managed to control/hypnotize/brainwash the entire population into living a happy and peaceful life away from any conflict. Why? Because it fears violence and conflict. It’s very shy and terrified of getting hurt.
Mighty Flail 
I love this. Would be really fun to play a dnd campaign in.
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Space Dnd. What’s not to love?
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