Spelljammer Spelljammer, 5e, and the general angst against all things space

The problem is purist poo poo most things that don't come from classical fantasy, and spelljammer is a living example of defying that trope (see also the blackmoor, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, etc).

It also suffers from being connective tissue in 2e rather then it's own setting.


So here's what I would do. :)
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Personally I would have done it as a sort of babylon 5 setting.

Ultimately the Galaxy would split up into separate races that control different quadrants
- different crystal spheres floating through a philostein that mixes in different parts
- the flow is modified by ley lines (mana, divine, psionic) that causes different sphere to interact with each other.
- Starbeasts - used to block out routes between the crystal spheres


Key races include

illithid
- the oldest of the space races
- setup psionic conduits to get what they want
- surprisingly civilized, yet can be callous and ruthless
- very powerful and alien.
- in spite of their coolness hostility to the other races, they appear to be dealing with something that terrifies them (with the understanding that virtually nothing terrifies illithids).


Dwarf
- Their domains have wwII industrial feel. They have metal carriers and ironclads as well as strange magic to attract asteroids for resources.
- use press gangs/prisoners as labour but actually pay prisoners for quotas.
- They are also known for bottling outsiders and creating "demon missiles" to use on targets.

Elf-
- Like in the original, they are the British empire of the galaxy. Their butterfly ships are the most manoeuvrable in the known universe. They send out seeds that land and teraform sphere's to be more "elf-friendly" as well as use organic space mines to quarantine off their enemies. Their main Elfworld is embedded into a giant tree starbeast.

Orcs
-They are effectively Klingon- like and obsessed with honor and dueling. They are also somewhat obsessed with eugenics and are slowly, but surely pulling themselves out of being cannon fodder by use of magical breeding/genetic manipulation. They also have become amazing at breeding magical beasts and often throw them at their targets before engaging with their well equiped troops.


Humans

They have two major, but different factions:

1 - The Celestial Kingdom
- A Chinese space kingdom from which all others get the "mandate of heaven"
- One of the oldest human kingdoms
- They use Feng Shui lines to manipulate magic and their ships.


2. The Imperial kingdom
- This space kingdom is Byzantium-like and a comparative new comer. They are bold, impressive and daring and are really upsetting the status quo as they seek out new info and bring it back to their wizard academy's.


Kobold
- Space agrees with the little ankle biters. While not the biggest or the strongest, they have set themselves up as "honest brokers" and have become relentless in collecting stuff regarding their dragon legacy, and scavenging anything they can get. They often steal dragon eggs, raise the hatchling and then build their spelljammers around the dragon, acting as an outer shell, an environmental suit and weapons platform.

<feel free to add other stuff>
 
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Fedge123

First Post
I was never a big fan of D&D In Space, but not really opposed to it either. If it works for your players/campaign then go for it.

One of my favorite fantasy vs. modern scenarios was from a great battle write-up in TSR's old Strategic Review - "Sturmgeshutz and Sorcery, or How Effective Is A Panzerfaust Against A Troll, Heinz?"" an account of a German SS Patrol fighting in WWII on the Eastern Front coming up against a D&D evil high priest and his orc minions and other monsters. It's a fun article if you can find it somewhere.

" ... Near panic, the SS men blazed away with their weapons. Bullets smacked into the ghouls, and one dropped, but the other two clambered into the halftrack. The troll was also nearly into the vehicle when a desperate soldier fired point blank with his panzerfaust; the projectile took the creature full in the chest, exploded, and sent burning chunks of troll in all directions ..."
 
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hawkeyefan

Legend
I always liked Spelljammer too. Some of it was cheesy but that stuff can be dropped if it doesn't fit your players' style.

I see Spelljammer as a necessary component of any multiplanar campaign. I mean, otherwise you can travel to other dimensions...but not up? I would love to see crystal spheres and the phlogiston worked into the great wheel in a comprehensive manner. Also, I'd like to see the removal of the Feywild, Shadowfell, and Elemental Chaos and the return of the Shadow plane and Ravenloft.

See, the crystal spheres and phlogiston and all that pseudo-science type stuff was what made me not like the setting despite some of the other cool things about it that I enjoyed.

To me, most of that stuff was designed to explain how all the worlds fit together in a coherent way, and I always thought they made it far more murky.
 


I am having a personal dilemma in my long term ongoing gaming world and group of players. I freaking love Spelljammer. The moment it was introduced by TSR it became integral to almost every aspect of any campaign I DM'd, any adventure I wrote.

The issue is that no matter how hard I try and integrate it into any of the games since moving here to Jacksonville, it keeps getting met with resistance, if not outright hostility. So far I have painstakingly converted everything to 3.0/3.5. then to Pathfinder, and now to 5e. The issue is they are still Luke Warm as far as being receptive is concerned, at best.

Now, I admit, openly and freely - Spelljammer is my baby. It's my personal sweet spot. I absolutely love it, and can't see the game without it. As a player, or a DM I don't want the game without it. It is obviously, painfully so, just how geeked I am when it comes to Spelljamming as far as my players are concerned.

We have a great group, and play a great, fun, game and have a great time doing so. But for me, this one part is lacking. I need to figure out how to persuade them, to move them from ambivalence and opposition to acceptance and possibly even enjoyment. Does anyone have any suggestions? How can I light that Spelljammer FIRE!!!!!

One of the problems might be that people nowadays know a lot more about the actual properties of outerspace form science and science fiction.
To me spelljammer has always been more like magical space then real life space, maybe focus on the magical nature when pitching it.

Becouse if you mention space travel peoples mind instantly flood with pre conceptions thay have about it.
 


Gnashtooth

First Post
I just want to say here that my last Dragonlance game in 5e a few months ago ended at the conclusion of DLS3 Wild Elves, which had a ship full of spelljamming drow tormenting some kagonesti. It will be a Spelljammer campaign from that point on when we next play.
 


Dausuul

Legend
You can't make people love what you love. I would suggest giving them a chance to try it out without a big long-term commitment - run a short adventure or something. However, in all likelihood, they still won't like it, and your options will be:

  • Stick with the current group and accept that you're not going to be playing/running Spelljammer.
  • Leave your group and find a new group which likes Spelljammer.
  • Play non-Spelljammer D&D with the old group, and find a new group for Spelljammer.
 
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hawkeyefan

Legend
One of the problems might be that people nowadays know a lot more about the actual properties of outerspace form science and science fiction.
To me spelljammer has always been more like magical space then real life space, maybe focus on the magical nature when pitching it.

Becouse if you mention space travel peoples mind instantly flood with pre conceptions thay have about it.

That was my problem with it in a way. They seemed to devote a lot of time and effort to explaining how seeming inconsistencies from world to world could be....like how come Krynn's stars rearrange themselves at times, but Oerth's don't? To me, the answer was one word: magic. Simple solution to something that most players wouldn't have even cared about. Instead they had Crystal Spheres....and so forth.

And then the gravity flipping while above or below decks...never understood why. Just have gravity function on the magical spaceships instead of working in a wonky way.

I got rid of those elements entirely. I don't hesitate to do that but I know many DMs who do hesitate to make changes like that.

It's weird how fantasy has such a lead over sci-fi in RPGs.

I'm sure there are other factors, but I imagine a big one is that the whole RPG genre pretty much began with a fantasy setting.
 

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