Spelljammer Is Spelljammer Coming To D&D 5E?

Thanks to Stan Shinn over on Google+ for this scoop! WotC held a presentation at the GAMA trade show today, in which they covered both recent D&D performance (best year ever!), some previews of Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, and a small hint towards... Spelljammer?

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Here's Stan's report, direct from the trade show:

"Interesting Spelljammer and market news from the GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association) WOTC Seminar on March 13 in Reno (I’m there now).

Mark Price talked about D&D and showed some pictures from inside the upcoming Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes book. I have a few pictures (attached) prior to the Mordenkainen’s slides, but they asked us not to take or share pictures of the Mordenkainen’s book interior. They did show us a picture of a ‘Giff’ — a Spelljammer creature, which will be in the book. He looked like a steampunk hippo with a blunderbuss. Regarding why the creature was in the book, he said “I’ll let you speculate wildly about what that may mean.”

There was look of a wink in his eye so I’m pretty sure the hint was that Spelljammer is coming soon!

Other news from the seminar:

— 2017 was the best year for D&D ever in terms of sales
— Year 3 of D&D sales is stronger than their first year
— Actual play streaming is a key driver of D&D’s success, with 9 million users watching D&D on Twitch
— 8.6 million Americans have played D&D in the last 12 months (they did not give stats for overseas)"

It seems Xanathar's Guide was the fastest selling product in D&D history!

Wondering what Spelljammer is? Imagine D&D (2nd Edition) in space, except the ships are magic flying sailing galleons, and space is a "phlogiston" they can sail in with magical helms, and each world is in its own "crystal sphere", and all of D&D's settings exist in the same universe, and you can fly between them. Image above is of the AD&D 2E Spelljammer boxed set.

Of course, it might not be that. It might just be a monster entry Mordenkainen's Tome, and nothing more.

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[Paul Farquhar]

I'm sure they will, in the same very limited way in which they describe putting the other published adventures in other WotC D&D worlds. I'm running PotA right now, and it has limited advice for setting it in Eberron, etc. I assume this is a trend the adventures will continue, but that also means every adventure they make will probably take place in (or at least begin in) FR.

Given the nature of what WotC has already put out, I'm fairly confident in saying we won't get a Spelljammer setting book; it'll be an adventure instead, and it'll begin in FR. Given how large the Spelljamming universe is, I don't think any kind of setting map for it will be included. Also, I'm pretty certain that any Spelljammer product won't range very far beyond the planet it starts on, and the mooon(s) of that planet. At most, it'll detail the crystal sphere that contains FR, and I think that's a generous assumption.

As already pointed out there is no need for a Spelljammer adventure to begin anywhere specific. You seem to not understand the difference between "FR is the most popular setting" (which is true) and "the majority of players play in the FR" (which is very false). I agree that they won't include a map of the multiverse, but that doesn't mean the adventure needs to stay close to it's starting point. Star Trek OS travelled all round the galaxy (and beyond) without any sort of map. The party simply travel to the adventure location(s) at the speed of plot. If there is anything specific to the cosmology of FR (or any other campaign setting) it will be limited to a couple of paragraphs in a sidebox.

 

[MechaPilot]

As already pointed out there is no need for a Spelljammer adventure to begin anywhere specific. You seem to not understand the difference between "FR is the most popular setting" (which is true) and "the majority of players play in the FR" (which is very false).

I'm not misunderstanding anything. Here's a link to the enworld thread where WotC's data, via Chris Perkins, is stated. The survey information is about what people are playing.
Homebrew is something like 55%, FR is like 35%, Greyhawk is mentioned as being something like 5%, and everything else is at 1% or 2% each. FR is clearly the most played setting (according to that survey info) that WotC owns. That's why every adventure is set in or starts in FR, and that's why it's likely to continue to be so. A Spelljammer adventure won't be any different in that regard.

And look, I never said FR is the most played setting. FR is the most played setting that WotC owns, and the ownership part is key. WotC isn't going to make an adventure set in my homebrew world of Tenesia just because it's part of the 55% homebrew block. They're going to pick only settings they own all the rights to, and then decide which one based on how played it is (which would be FR, from the data linked to, above).

I agree that they won't include a map of the multiverse, but that doesn't mean the adventure needs to stay close to it's starting point. Star Trek OS travelled all round the galaxy (and beyond) without any sort of map. The party simply travel to the adventure location(s) at the speed of plot. If there is anything specific to the cosmology of FR (or any other campaign setting) it will be limited to a couple of paragraphs in a sidebox.

Spelljammer is not Star Trek. According to the spelljammer wikia, spelljamming speed is 100 million miles per day, or 4 million miles per hour, or 0.00596465972 times the speed of light (which is to say about 0.6% of the speed of light). By our current capabilities, that's impressive, certainly. However, warp one in Star Trek literally is the speed of light. Let's do some math. 1 divided by 0.00596465972 means warp one, the slowest possible warp speed in star trek, is 167.654 times faster than spelljamming speed.

The enterprise normally cruises around at warp 2, 3, or 4. According to the Star Trek TNG Enterprise tech manual (yes, I am that kind of nerd), each warp number increases warp speed by 10 times:
Warp two is 10 x lightspeed, or 1,676.54 times faster than spelljamming speed.
Warp three is 100 x lightspeed, or 16,765.4 times faster than spelljamming speed.
And warp 4 is 1,000 x lightspeed, or 167,654 times faster than spelljamming speed.

And never mind that when the TOS Enterprise really wanted to move it could get up to warp speeds somewhere in the 8 point something range and maintain it for several hours. Warp 8 is 10 million times lightspeed, or 1.676 billion times faster than spelljamming speed (1,676,541,574.78 times faster, to be more precise).

Now let's say WotC wanted to make the adventure take place away from FR, just for fun. How much provisions can a spelljammer ship carry? Let's say 3 months worth, enough to keep a 1700's era ship working to make the transatlantic crossing. 100 million miles a day, times 30 days a month, times 3 months. That's 9 billion miles, in three months. Pluto is 4.67 billion miles from Earth (at it's most distant). So, a spelljamming ship could almost make it to Pluto and back before running out of provisions. Sounds like the ship isn't going very far beyond FR's crystal spheres.

But let's say the ship is equipped with magical items that create food and water, refresh the air, and generate heat for the crew. Now, provisions aren't a problem. So sky's the limit, right? Well, the Oort cloud is about 2,000 to 5,000 AU from the sun (one AU, or Astronomical Unit, is the mean distance from the Earth to the sun). One AU is about 93 million miles (or 8 light minutes: at warp one, you pass one AU in about 8 minutes). 2,000 AU times 93 million = 186,000 million miles. Recall that a spelljamming ship can go 100 million miles a day. 186,000 million divided by 100 million = 1,860 days. 1,860 days divided by 365 = just over 5 years (10 years, if you assume a return trip, and you better, because the next published adventure will start or take place on that world you came from). 10 years is a big commitment. Maybe the adventure better be only for elves and dwarfs.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If you need a specific start location, then it makes sense to use the most popular setting. But if you don't need a detailed start location it makes sense to make the start as a generic as possible. Here is some maths: 65% is a lot bigger number than 35%. That's why the Sword Coast Guide is jammed full of "how to use this material in different settings".

As for your quoted speeds, they are meaningless fluff without a map. It took the USS Enterprise exactly one week to travel from the green planet to the orange planet (unless the journey was interrupted by a galaxy devouring amoeba). A Spelljammer adventure would be the same. It takes "period of time" to get from "where you where" to "adventure site one". That "period of time" is the same irrespective of if you started on Toril, Oerth, Krynn or anywhere else, and just depends on how much ship-board drama the adventure includes.

 

[Old One Eye]

Greyhawk is as popular as all other non-Realms compaign settings combined? Wow!

 

[Odunayo]

I think what is expected to be seen is a chapter on Spelljammer concepts in a book about the planes, and then a few Spelljammer races and creatures introduced in a few monster sections of a few different books - just enough to give rough guidance to a DM.

 

[TheSword]

It could be that Spelljammer would be the introduction to a product on other campaign settings. Kind of like the yawning portal was an into to a number of other adventures. The team do like the idea of a classic character narrating the details. Something along the lines of “I’m spelljammer character xxx, I’m going to take you to the world of xxx (Eberron, Greyhawk etc)

it does feel counterintuitive that the SpellJammer should be a setting in its own right. It more relies on other settings doesn’t it?

 

[Alex Newman]

Hope They Do!

I've already done one adventure where the PC's got to go into wildspace to prevent a mindflayer invasion from the far future. I have been getting ready to run a full Spelljammer campaign for 5e. Would be really really awesome if WoTC did this!