Spelljammer Spelljammer in 5e

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

So, I was wondering. How many of you have played Spelljammer in 5e? Please post below explaining how your experience doing so was. Any funny stories? Anyone seduced by a neogi, or obliterated by a Star Spawn? What changes have you made to your Spelljammer that the original setting didn't have? I'm interested on seeing what your experiences, opinions, and hopes for Spelljammer in 5e are. Would you buy a Spelljammer book if there was one released?

I personally have run Spelljammer in 5e, and had a great time doing so. The campaign is currently on pause because of the pandemic, but I hope we can continue to do it again once things die down. I had to take information from many 5e books to get working rules for Spelljammer. Dungeon of the Mad Mage, Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Descent into Avernus, Volo's Guide to Monsters, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, Dungeon Master's Guide, and quite a few other books have rules useful for Spelljammer. How did you run Spelljammer and what books did you use? (I personally don't need advice on this, but would like a place to point people to in the future if they need help running Spelljammer in 5e.)

I hope to hear opinions and experiences soon!

 

[Sadras]

Barely touched on it indirectly.
1. In the DMsGuild adventure the Lich Queen's Beloved has a +Gargantuan head which uses phlogiston within its propulsion unit.
2. The PCs accessed a Way-Point (multi-dock teleportation tower) within the Bleed (an area between Astral Planes). While investigating the Way-Point, a flying vessel full of Githyanki approached it.

I plan to introduce more elements and eventually have a few Spelljammer sessions later in our campaign. Still busy with ToD/SKT mashup.

 

[jgsugden]

My modified version of it is a huge part of my setting.

We don't have phlogiston or crystal spheres. Instead, Spelljammers travel the Astral Sea. Ports in the Astral sea connect via gates to places in the Prime Material Plane, outer planes, etc... It is the method by which the nonmagical can visit another plane, travel between worlds in my PMP (as in from Earth to Mars), or sometimes just travel more quickly across the Primary Campaign world (you can travel between major cities across my world via gates that pass through the Astral plane). There are ways to travel between the three major cities on my primary world in less than a day - ways that are heavily guarded.

My version of Sigil is located on the Astral Plane. It is a place where thousands of Gates connect to different realms - all within the same city. It is the 4th largest city of trade (behind the Cities of Iron in Dis, Brass in the Elemental Plane (just 1 plane for the 4 elements) and Gold in the Heavens), but is primarily a place people pass through as my Lady of Pain is a … bit … temperamental. People do not want to set up many shops there, but merchants and their wares pass through so often that you can find almost anything if you're quick enough or schedule a delivery.

Dwarves sail the Astral Sea to get to gates to the Elemental Plane so that they can mine the rich mineral deposits there. Elves consider the space sacred and patrol it to enforce the laws they claim apply across the entire Astral Sea. Giff mercenaries, Githyanki marauders and Wererats (Pi Rats) are three other common sailors of the Astral Sea.

The largest dungeon in my campaign setting (my Dungeon of the Mad Mage) is located in the corpse of a God that floats in the Astral Sea. Due to several contrivances reasons, it can only be approached via Spelljamming.

At this point, everything I use to run Spelljamming is Homebrew due to the evolution of it, but it all started decades ago with the boxed set rules modified to fit into my existing campaign.

The weaponry of my Spelljammers tends to be canons, catapults and other 'mundane' materials. This is because there are a lot of pockets of Anti-magic in the Astral plane that these things sometimes coast through. They can coast through some of these things for days with the only way to correct course being the recoil from a cannon.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

My modified version of it is a huge part of my setting.

Wow, reading yours, it is heavily modified. That must've taken a lot of time. Great job!

We don't have phlogiston or crystal spheres.

I still have both of these in my campaign. I am currently playing it fairly by-the-book on the count of how the world systems work. (Just because I hadn't ever played it before, and wanted to see how it was before changing things.)

Instead, Spelljammers travel the Astral Sea. Ports in the Astral sea connect via gates to places in the Prime Material Plane, outer planes, etc... It is the method by which the nonmagical can visit another plane, travel between worlds in my PMP (as in from Earth to Mars), or sometimes just travel more quickly across the Primary Campaign world (you can travel between major cities across my world via gates that pass through the Astral plane). There are ways to travel between the three major cities on my primary world in less than a day - ways that are heavily guarded.

Very creative. It makes sense, and Nautiloids did travel through the Astral Sea before. How are Scro and Neogi factored into this?

My version of Sigil is located on the Astral Plane. It is a place where thousands of Gates connect to different realms - all within the same city. It is the 4th largest city of trade (behind the Cities of Iron in Dis, Brass in the Elemental Plane (just 1 plane for the 4 elements) and Gold in the Heavens), but is primarily a place people pass through as my Lady of Pain is a … bit … temperamental. People do not want to set up many shops there, but merchants and their wares pass through so often that you can find almost anything if you're quick enough or schedule a delivery.

Also very creative and cool. Do the Outlands exist? Do Githyanki interact with Sigil in a hostile, neutral, or friendly manner?

Dwarves sail the Astral Sea to get to gates to the Elemental Plane so that they can mine the rich mineral deposits there. Elves consider the space sacred and patrol it to enforce the laws they claim apply across the entire Astral Sea. Giff mercenaries, Githyanki marauders and Wererats (Pi Rats) are three other common sailors of the Astral Sea.

So, this also seems cool. Simplified, certainly.

The largest dungeon in my campaign setting (my Dungeon of the Mad Mage) is located in the corpse of a God that floats in the Astral Sea. Due to several contrivances reasons, it can only be approached via Spelljamming.

Also seems cool. I've run DotMM, and have brainstormed different ways to use it in other worlds. This one is certainly unique.

At this point, everything I use to run Spelljamming is Homebrew due to the evolution of it, but it all started decades ago with the boxed set rules modified to fit into my existing campaign.

It seems cool. I mean, I'd probably never go the route you did if I were to make my own spelljamming system, but yours seems cool.

The weaponry of my Spelljammers tends to be canons, catapults and other 'mundane' materials. This is because there are a lot of pockets of Anti-magic in the Astral plane that these things sometimes coast through. They can coast through some of these things for days with the only way to correct course being the recoil from a cannon.

I have used mainly firearms for my special spelljamming weapons, but also Laser Pistols, Laser Rifles, and Antimatter Rifles exist, but are rare.

 

[DammitVictor]

I've only run one campaign in 5e. I'm currently running Spelljammer in its original system... and thinking future attempts will be in BECMI.

 

[Stormonu]

It's on my list to-do for 5E, but I have run both 2E and 3E games involving spelljamming. Main thing I've changed is that the helm doesn't make spellcasters worthless for casting spells.

Beyond that, Neogi are my favorite villians and I use a nuetral Empire of the Giff that is a mix of Victorian England/Germany and has colonies spread across various planets, moons and asteroid outposts. Beholders are robber barons, controlling rogue territories filled with charmed slaves that collect tolls and tariffs from space travellers. My space elves are a dying race, traveling in giant atriums and attempting to seed worlds with strange, fey-friendly semi-sentient plant life. Their longevity, magic and ability to breed is tied to these plants, but the plants tend to be invasive and inimical to other sentient races. Then there is the illithid, the boogey men that dwell in planetary shadows and have cities floating in storm-shrouded clouds of gas giants, scheming to put out the sun and hunting for prey to consume or enslave.

 

[Fenris-77]

I haven't run it yet, but my plan was to steal the Aether Crystal conceit from Jim Butcher's Aeronaut's Windlass. Both for powering ships and tech, much as in the book. I was going to layer on powerful Mining Guilds and factions who control crystal production in the few locations where the crystals can be mined. I'm now going to add in some of the great ideas from @Stormonu , who's obviously got his Spelljamming mojo dialed up to awesome.

 

[nomotog]

I always make a lot of tweaks mostly in requiring less magic to do things. Like ships don't need helms and can just use sails. One thing I kind of lean in on is the trippy gravity aspect of it, so you have villages on asteroid fields, double-sided buildings, and free-floating forests.

 

[Big Mac]

So, I was wondering. How many of you have played Spelljammer in 5e? Please post below explaining how your experience doing so was. Any funny stories? Anyone seduced by a neogi, or obliterated by a Star Spawn? What changes have you made to your Spelljammer that the original setting didn't have? I'm interested on seeing what your experiences, opinions, and hopes for Spelljammer in 5e are. Would you buy a Spelljammer book if there was one released?

5th Edition isn't my thing (I'd rather play 3rd Edition D&D) but I would definitely buy a 5e Spelljammer product. There are a lot of loose ends in the Spelljammmer universe and it would be good to see a Spelljammmer friendly designer expand upon some of those original concepts.

I personally have run Spelljammer in 5e, and had a great time doing so. The campaign is currently on pause because of the pandemic, but I hope we can continue to do it again once things die down.

You might want to consider temporarily moving to Roll 20. It's free to use and will allow you to carry on with your campaign (and keep all your friends involved in the game).

I've got a friend, called AuldDragon who runs a Spelljammer game on Roll 20, that he let me play in. It's not a 5e game (it isn't a 3e game either) as he is using the original rules. But there must be 5th Edition D&D character sheets on there. We use Discord to talk to each other. You will get the occasional glitch (or someone will occasionally overtalk someone else) but I was very against online gaming and changed my mind very quickly.

He live-streams his game, if you want to take a look and get an idea of how the tools work. I wrote this about his game.

I had to take information from many 5e books to get working rules for Spelljammer. Dungeon of the Mad Mage, Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Descent into Avernus, Volo's Guide to Monsters, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, Dungeon Master's Guide, and quite a few other books have rules useful for Spelljammer. How did you run Spelljammer and what books did you use? (I personally don't need advice on this, but would like a place to point people to in the future if they need help running Spelljammer in 5e.)

I hope to hear opinions and experiences soon!

I do have a couple of 5th Edition books already. And I bought Storm King's Thunder specifically because The Morkoth is a squidship from the Spelljammer setting. (It's been modified a bit and it actually sails backwards - with the ram at the back - but I can see that making it more seaworthy.)

I'm probably going to buy Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage because I've been told that it's got content expanding Stardock in it. Stardock dates back to a 2nd Edition Forgotten Realms/Spelljammer crossover product, called Undermountain: Stardock.

I was asking, a while ago, "could/should Realmspace have mythals?" and I got told that Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes has information for giving all elven civilisations mythals. I'm not sure I'd want to have them everywhere, but I think it would be good to be able to use that book for advise on how to make them work on elven settlemments within the same sphere as Toril.

Have you looked at a DMs Guild Adept product, called Invasion from the Planet of Tarrasques. It was written to follow up Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage but you could use it without those adventures too. The planet of Tarrasques is actually Falx, from the 2e Spelljammer product Practical Planetology. The rest of Falx is also fun, as the surface has been blasted and the few surviving pockets of humanity are blissfully ignorant that their community leaders are slavers breeding them to be sold. I think that someone could run a "points-of-light hold my beer" campaign on Falx, where the players have to create their own points of light, by overthrowing the monsters running the slave breeding camps, and slowly bringing freedom back to the surface.

 

[Nilbog]

Not yet and not 5e, my campaign is PF2 and the second half of the campaign should we ever get there will be a converted spelljamming campaign.
So I'm reading this thread with interest! I really do like @jgsugden idea, sounds fantastic!

It was absolutely my favourite DnD thing growing up, I spent hours not only playing it but designing ships. I'd absolutely love for someone to do an updated version.