Spelljammer Coming to 5e

GeekyBugle · April 23, 2022, 09:29:59 PM

Quote from: thomden on April 23, 2022, 03:25:24 PM
Quote from: GeekyBugle on April 23, 2022, 01:51:43 PM
Buy the original books and if you want to play 5e (why would you anyway?) just adapt them yourself.

I like quite a few things in 5e that I've imported into my regular OSR style game, like Advantage/Disadvantage.

Spelljammer always seemed like a better idea than the execution, and I really didn't like 2e.

I won't likely be getting these new books because they will be woke as hell, no doubt.

That's fair, I ALSO like Advantage/Disadvantage.

Disagree on 2e. But you can always take what good is in Spelljamer and import it to whatever game you most like.

David Johansen · April 23, 2022, 11:10:35 PM

Spelljammer's problem is that it never quite conveyed a specific tone. Was it cartoonish, light, swashbuckling, epic, wild and crazy? It was hard to say and a bit all over the place. I think it could have been better. I think ships in the astral plane with Gith civil wars and the like would have been more interesting.

Ruprecht · April 24, 2022, 12:50:06 AM

I don't particularly like spell jammer but I like the way they plan to bundle the setting in three books in a slipcover. I wish they did more of a multiverse connected by gates but we'll see. Maybe space hamsters will work better this go around.

Omega · April 24, 2022, 03:56:43 AM

I think Spelljammer worked best as its own setting. Which is what most of the modules were set in and any multiverse elements were mostly on the lower end. Mostly. A setting where you never quite knew what to expect from anything. Militant elves, friendly mind flayers, crazy beholders, etc.

Pat · April 24, 2022, 04:24:37 AM

Quote from: David Johansen on April 23, 2022, 11:10:35 PM
Spelljammer's problem is that it never quite conveyed a specific tone. Was it cartoonish, light, swashbuckling, epic, wild and crazy? It was hard to say and a bit all over the place. I think it could have been better. I think ships in the astral plane with Gith civil wars and the like would have been more interesting.

I don't think anything in your list is inherently contradictory, though I do agree Spelljammer had an issue with tone. It might be interesting to try to distill Spelljammer to a list of essential components. And to help hone that list, another list of what detracts from the setting, i.e. what to avoid or minimize.

I suspect the detracts list would include a lot of traditional D&D elements.

Omega · April 24, 2022, 08:15:19 AM

I think Spelljammer was alot like Planescape. It could have whatever tone you wanted. Humor? Can do. Horror? Can do. Swashbuckliing in space? Can do.

And like Planescape it really shines best when disconnected from the established worlds and used to explore the ones created for Spelljammer specifically.

THE_Leopold · April 24, 2022, 12:06:21 PM

I'll use it for the rules if they are any good for spacefaring ships and combat since my Co-DM is getting it through DNDBeyond anyway.

I'll give it a whirl but I cannot wait for the fanfic's for planets full of <MODERN DAY POLITICS> to be blasted out on DMsGuild or Itch.io to use in spelljammer.

Shrieking Banshee · April 24, 2022, 01:18:49 PM

I personally like spelljammer, even if its unfocused and all over the place.

Don't care about any planned 5e-ifications.

I wonder if they will keep racist beholders.

Mistwell · April 24, 2022, 02:27:39 PM

Quote from: Thornhammer on April 23, 2022, 02:12:48 PM
Spelljammer never clicked for me. Damn shame because I really wanted to like it.

$70 for the box set isn't too bad though.

Already showing up for pre-order on Canadian Amazon for 40% off.

Palleon · April 24, 2022, 02:49:26 PM

It's probably the perfect setting for the 40 some playable races that in no way mesh together. I skipped this in the 2E days, since I was a broke college student and would have preferred WEG's Star Wars for space fantasy. As such I'll probably pick it up this go around even though the putting it in the Astral Sea bugs me a bit.

Eric Diaz · April 24, 2022, 03:07:35 PM

I like the fact that they are doing booklets. Seems like a great idea.

I barely buy 5e stuff nowadays, and these settings are not my favorites, so I'll pass unless I read some great reviews.

$70 does seem pricey to me for three 64-pages books and maybe a map and DM screen (which I don't use). Especially when compared to, say, this:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17169/Dark-Sun-Boxed-Set-2e

Timothe · April 24, 2022, 07:46:47 PM

ASTRAL Elves? Wouldn't they be all mummy-looking and creepified like the Githyanki and Githzerai?

Opaopajr · April 25, 2022, 08:05:17 AM

I just want them to take chances again. This is a setting where you can really go wild and you don't have to justify a damn thing. No grand unified theory of coherence. No safe space drum circle of harmony. Nada. It's in-your-face persistent weirdness, take it or leave it, stay home in your comfortable home crystal sphere.

Oh well, one can dream, no? D&D under Lorraine Williams made better settings -- more reckless abandon.

BoxCrayonTales · April 25, 2022, 09:44:45 AM

The great wheel is already a huge mess. Why start condensing it now after you already threw out the vastly more sensible world axis cosmology in the transition from 4e to 5e?

EDIT: I actually prefer what the DMG calls the "omniverse" cosmology, as that's slightly more compatible with the assumptions of prior editions than the world axis cosmology while still heavily simplifying the needless complexities.

migo · April 25, 2022, 10:23:33 AM

Quote from: Timothe on April 24, 2022, 07:46:47 PM
ASTRAL Elves? Wouldn't they be all mummy-looking and creepified like the Githyanki and Githzerai?

Githzerai are in Limbo though, not the Astral plane, and Gith pirates were on the prime, and they all had the same gaunt look. So that's a Gith* characteristic, not an astral characteristic.