Spelljammer Spelljammer in D&D 5e Speculation: How Will the Setting Be Changed?

[Scars Unseen]

They did it in a really good way, though. In a way that expands the setting, rather than compacting it to fit in an existing box.

The Feywild is added as "Lands Within the Wind", isolated pockets of wonder and life, which have mostly been destroyed. Those that haven't have hidden away from the world, as the Sorcery-Kings would love to get their hands on all the life-force inside.

My problem isn't expanding on a setting: it's "expanding" it by forcing in elements from the core just because it's core. Especially when they do the same thing with every setting. It's not creative to fit the feywild into the setting when that's what you're also doing with Dragonlance and the Forgotten Realms, and so on. That's what I mean by homogenization. The settings introduced by TSR were good in part because they were each completely different from each other. Especially with some of the quirkier settings like Planescape, you could feel the creators' touch in the books. Now everything feels so designed by committee that I just don't see much point is spending money on the books.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

My problem isn't expanding on a setting: it's "expanding" it by forcing in elements from the core just because it's core. Especially when they do the same thing with every setting. It's not creative to fit the feywild into the setting when that's what you're also doing with Dragonlance and the Forgotten Realms, and so on. That's what I mean by homogenization. The settings introduced by TSR were good in part because they were each completely different from each other. Especially with some of the quirkier settings like Planescape, you could feel the creators' touch in the books. Now everything feels so designed by committee that I just don't see much point is spending money on the books.

But the Feywild on Dark Sun was completely different from the Feywild in the Forgotten Realms, which is completely different from Eberron's Thelanis. It absolutely would suck if the Feywild was completely identical between worlds, but it isn't. If they redesign the Feywild (and Shadowfell) for every single worlds they attach it to, that's the literal opposite of "not being creative". It is, by definition, "creative" to create new things and do new takes for existing concepts for every single world.

That's like saying that Eberron isn't creative because it uses Orcs, Goblinoids, and Dwarves, like most other D&D settings. Sharing common elements isn't "uncreative" so long as there are substantial differences in the different places they're used. In fact, I'd say that Eberron's takes on most fantasy races are more creative than those of the Forgotten Realms, because they differ substantially from Greyhawk's versions of them, while the Forgotten Realms' versions of them are basically carbon copies of Greyhawk's Orcs, Goblinoids, and Dwarves.

The same thing applies to Dark Sun's take on the Feywild. If it's substantially different from the Feywild in the Forgotten Realms, Exandria, and Eberron, it is inherently creative.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

* The fandom wiki says after the "sphere wars" the Vodoni empire wasn't the same, to say it softlier. We don't know if the metaplot will be rebooted, or they will play with the ambiguety. Maybe Vodoni empire was stopping other invader power, and now this is too near of the spheres we know.

* The thoon (Monster Manual V, 3.5 Ed) and the ethergaunts (Fiend Folio 3rd Ed) have got a great potential. They are very alien, and they set perfectly in Spelljammer.

* Why not a crossover betwen Spelljammer and a mash-up version of "Starjammer" by Marvel Comics? They are "serie B" characters, lesser known, and then we can allow higher risks. And later they could appear as skins in Fortnite thanks a new colaboration.

* WotC only sells the pieces and the blueprint, you are who have to create your own setting.

* Shouldn't be the Astral Sea a safer way to sail than the Wildspace? At least the cast wouldn't get old and you would need less supplies.

* Isn't the phlogiston a too boring place for adventures?

 

[Rogerd1]

If I was to combine Spelljammer ( there is a good homebrew to date in Wildjamner) with Sigil.

I would have Sigil as the centre of the Crystal spheres which rotate around it like planets.

Which might work...and maybe have sigil reach into the astral plane as a callback to 4e.

 

[TwoSix]

Fair enough on it getting support. I forgot about that since I mostly skipped out on 4E altogether. But looking at the changes listed in Wikipedia for the edition, I'll disagree with it being good. It looks like they did the same kind of homogenization they've been doing with everything lately.

Having read the material from both, the 4e material was better than the 2e material. 2e just has “more”.

 

[overgeeked]

Having read the material from both, the 4e material was better than the 2e material. 2e just has “more”.

One of the babies they threw out with the bath water was the idea that everything should be usable and gameable. If you can’t go there and do something, it’s wasted space. Which a whole lot of some setting books were.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Fair enough on it getting support. I forgot about that since I mostly skipped out on 4E altogether. But looking at the changes listed in Wikipedia for the edition, I'll disagree with it being good. It looks like they did the same kind of homogenization they've been doing with everything lately.

Nah. Adding pocket realms in the desert like life-force oasises that have defenders who will absolutely murder you for the least sign of sorcerer-king loyalty or defiling, was a creative stroke of brilliance, not any kind of homogenization. It literally has nothing in common with the core Feywild other than being bright and alive and Fey.

If that is homogenization, the setting was already homogenized by the inclusion of elves, dwarves, halflings, arcane spells, etc.

Well, we will see soon enough: I doubt most of thst will come to pass, based on how thr metasetting has been presented in the core book, supplements, and designer discussions the past 8 years.

That is exactly the information my perspective is based on, as well, so yeah we will definitely see soon.

One of the babies they threw out with the bath water was the idea that everything should be usable and gameable. If you can’t go there and do something, it’s wasted of space. Which a whole lot of some setting books were.

That was a very very very good decision that acted as one of the biggest creative stimuli for the whole edition. Angels, dragons, and all sorts of other things got reviewed under that premise and very excellent creative work resulted from it.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Actually, Jeff Grubb has stated that the clockwork horrors were based on the Daleks from Doctor Who, just changed in form enough as to not cause any copyright issues. It becomes fairly obvious once you dig into their hierarchy and origin story, as well as their weapons (one type uses jets of steam like the '60s movie Daleks did, while others use lightning and disintegration beams like the TV Daleks did)...

Circling back around to this, the 1983 Doctor Who story Enlightenment is very Spelljammer-y. It features spaceships designed as historical sailing ships involved in a race through space. I wonder if Grubb got some inspiration from that as well...

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

So for that crystal thing thread, I looked through an old 2e Planescape guide. I found this map interesting, since it clearly shows the Ethereal plane threaded throughout the Phlogiston:

 

[Yaarel]

So for that crystal thing thread, I looked through an old 2e Planescape guide. I found this map interesting, since it clearly shows the Ethereal plane threaded throughout the Phlogiston:

Huh.

In that 2e cosmology, the phlogiston is the threshold between ethereal force and material matter.

In other words:

Shallow Ethereal = phlogiston

In other words:

Phlogiston are the forces that interact with matter, including both gravity and ghosts.

In a 5e context, there is Fey phlogiston (ethereal forces infused by positivity) and Shadow phlogiston (ethereal forces dampened by negativity).