Spelljammer What Would Your Ideal Spelljammer Book Be Like?

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

A chapter on Sigil
An adventure within the Gith war
A class or two. I would also settle for subclasses.
A playable race or two.
Altered spells of the Astral Plane, in particular movement and teleport spells.
Rituals that involve the planes.
Transportation through the planes.
Monsters - lots of monsters. Maybe an Astral purple worm.

That sounds more like planescape than spelljammer

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

I 100% share both your expectation and your sadness about it. Spelljammer and Planescape.were about two different ways to get from world to world. There's no reason or need to combine them.

What is the fear of combining them? I do t see why you couldn’t combine them and keep them independent. But as a real fan of neither, maybe I don’t see the issues with that approach. Is the fear that they will be combined, or that they will be combined poorly?

 

[Ath'kethin]

What is the fear of combining them? I do t see why you couldn’t combine them and keep them independent. But as a real fan of neither, maybe I don’t see the issues with that approach. Is the fear that they will be combined, or that they will be combined poorly?

Spelljammer provided a way to get from world to world without leaving the Material Plane. Planescape provided a way to get from world to world using different planes as a transfer medium.

There is no need to merge them into the same thing, because they already coexist and work together. Combining them, such as making the space between worlds the Astral plane instead of the Material plane, seems both reductionary and redundant. In fact, it eliminates Spelljammer completely and just makes it all Planescape with boats.

If that's what people want, fine. But it's not Spelljammer and it's not for me.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Spelljammer provided a way to get from world to world without leaving the Material Plane. Planescape provided a way to get from world to world using different planes as a transfer medium.

There is no need to merge them into the same thing, because they already coexist and work together. Combining them, such as making the space between worlds the Astral plane instead of the Material plane, seems both reductionary and redundant. In fact, it eliminates Spelljammer completely and just makes it all Planescape with boats.

If that's what people want, fine. But it's not Spelljammer and it's not for me.

But they could be combined into one product, without combine the mode of travel correct?

Couldn’t use planescape portals (Sigil) to get to different planes of reality, and spelljammers to navigate the Prime?

 

[Parmandur]

Okay, here's how I would do it. I would format it similarly to Eberron: Rising from the Last War. Let's call it "Minsc and Boo's Guide to Spelljammer".

Here's what I would do for the sections of the book.

• Welcome to Spelljammer - Introduction into the world, explanation on the basic premise for those that aren't familiar, description of Crystal Spheres, the Phlogiston, Wildspace, and Spelljamming.
• Chapter 1: Character Options - The races from the UA, reprinted Orcs (named Scro), possibly a few other reprinted races, some backgrounds (Pilot, Wildspace Marine, maybe reprints of the Far Traveler background from the SCAG). Maybe even a few subraces specific to space/spelljamming, like a Vehiculist Artificer, maybe a reprinted Graviturgy Wizard). New spells for creating air, finding portals on Crystal Spheres, finding your location in Wildspace/the Phlogiston, etc. Possibly even a section for Group Patrons that exist in Spelljammer, like the Elven Imperial Navy.
• Chapter 2: The Rock of Bral Gazetteer - Map and gazetteer for the Rock of Bral, explanation on how to use it in your campaigns, listed NPCs that the party can interact with, plot hooks for adventures and side quests (like how Explorer's Guide to Wildemount does).
• Chapter 3: Crystal Spheres and the Phlogiston - An explanation of how Crystal Spheres work, an example for inspiration/use (probably Realmspace), rules for creating your own solar systems, with tables to roll for creating planets and their moons, inhabitants, how to connect them with the different factions of the setting. and rules for how Wildspace and the Phlogiston work. Maybe a small section/sidebar about the First World.
• Chapter 4: Adventures in Spelljammer - Guidelines for how to create adventures and campaigns in Spelljammer, how to develop villains and rivals out of the different monsters and factions, and multiple starting adventures (like Explorer's Guide to Wildemount has 4). Examples could be hijacking/stealing a Spelljamming ship (or rescuing one that was being held hostage by space pirates), an adventure where you try to save a space station of humanoids from an invasion/infestation of aberrations, go bounty hunting for a wanted space-criminal, or steal the secrets of creating Spelljamming Helms from the Arcane Giants that are the sole individuals with the knowledge of how to make them.
• Chapter 5: Spelljamming Equipment - Stats for spelljamming ships of a variety of different types (Nautiloids, Squid Ships, Elven Plant Ships, Gnomish Clockwork Ships, Dwarven Forge-Strongholds, etc), magic items, space-siege weapons (Laser/Antimatter Cannons and similar concepts), Life Boats/Pods, etc.
• Chapter 6: Monsters of Spelljammer - A bestiary with monsters and NPCs commonly found in Spelljammer, like Scro Warriors, Giant Space Hamsters, Astereaters, Cosmic Dragons, The Arcane, and Dohwar.

That's about what I'd want.

 

[Parmandur]

But they could be combined into one product, without combine the mode of travel correct?

Couldn’t use planescape portals (Sigil) to get to different planes of reality, and spelljammers to navigate the Prime?

Not well, in my estimation.

 

[Tonguez]

But they could be combined into one product, without combine the mode of travel correct?

The Astromundi Clusterspace already allowed shifting from the Philostogon to the Ethereal Plane (it was an Elf secret), it also had a number of gates to the Outer Planes

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

But they could be combined into one product, without combine the mode of travel correct?

Not well, in my estimation.

Why is that?

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

The Astromundi Clusterspace already allowed shifting from the Philostogon to the Ethereal Plane (it was an Elven secret), it also had a number of gates to the Outer Planes

So you’re saying they are already combined - what is the big deal then?

 

[delericho]

But they could be combined into one product, without combine the mode of travel correct?

Couldn’t use planescape portals (Sigil) to get to different planes of reality, and spelljammers to navigate the Prime?

Spelljammer and Planescape both had very strong, and very different, flavours. Combining the two is possible, of course (since you can theoretically combine any two topics in any book, if you really want), but it's not a particularly good idea - the consequence is almost certainly that at least one loses its flavour to serve the needs of the other.