Spelljammer is full of cool things like that. Elven ships are big, butterfly-shaped things that grow and have to be trimmed and groomed frequently to keep them (literally) ship-shape.

And beholder ships are just scary. O.O

I think a good computer RPG in a Spelljammer setting would end up focusing on the various ports and ships and discoveries, with the space travel part a question of having food and air enough to survive the time and any chance encounters.