Spelljammer D&D Direct Live Report: 9am PDT (5pm BST) SPELLJAMMER CONFIRMED! DRAGONLANCE!

D&D Direct, WotC's new video-format announcement show launches today at 9am PDT (5pm BST). If you aren't able to watch it, I'll be updating this article live. Feel free to comment below! Once it launches, you will need to refresh this page when you want to see new updates. The video is expected to last about 30 minutes.

If you CAN watch it, you'll find it on YouTube or Twitch at the above times. Otherwise, follow along below!

• 45 mins to go. Live updates incoming!
• 30 mins to go!
• 5 minutes to go!
• Here we go! Opens with a sea shanty.
• Forgive typos. They talk fast and I can't type.

• Spelljammer is confirmed!
• They talk REALLY FAST!
• Spelljammer Adventures in Space, project lead Chris Perkins, Trystan Falcone graphic designer
• Cities built on asteroids, dead gods floating in the ether
• 6 races---astral elves, autognomes, hedozi(?), gif, plasmoids, thri-kreen
• 3 hardcovers in a slipcase: Astral Adventurers Guide, Boo's Astral Menagerie, Light of Xaryxis adventure
• Prequel adventure in July
• Wizkids miniatures

Other stuff also discussed!

• Baldur's Gate 3 CRPG preview video (game is in 2023)
• Journeys Through Radiant Citadel intro video -- 3 of the adventures are: Wages of Vice (5th level), Caribbean; Orchids of the Invisible Mountain (14th level), feywild, far realm, Whistler new monster; Fiend of Hollow Mind (4th level), skeletons and spirits

• "Campaign Cases" -- Creature tokens! Terrain tiles! July!

D&D Movie directors now onscreen. The movie in March 2023 is called HONOR AMONG THIEVES.

• New D&D starter set. Comes with 'digital onboarding'. Dragons of Stormwreck Isle. We knew about that one.
• D&D digital monstrous compendium. Available to those with WoTC or D&D Beyond Accounts. Volume 1 has an eldritch lich and the 10 legged asteroid spider. And the starlancer. Might have misheard some of that!

• MMO Neverwinter video. Dragonslayer begins June 2022. (I wonder if they'll need a dragonance for that?)
• New D&D actual play video, Legends of the Multiverse. Lots of 80s cartoon style soft rock music. Boo is in it.

WIzKids skirmish game D&D Onslaught. October

Finally -- DRAGONLANCE WARRIORS OF KRYNN! SHADOW OF THE DRAGON QUEEN!

 

[VelvetViolet]

WotC has of late been quite fond of removing key aspects of a setting but still calling it by the same name.

I can understand rebooting a setting or addressing genuine structural flaws with extensive rewrites, but this I don't agree with. At the very least they should add subtitles indicating that this is a very new take on the brand rather than a continuation of the original IP.

Like, Spelljammer: Shadow of the Spider Moon is a spin-off/reimagining that uses real world-style outer space rules. The subtitle helps to distinguish it, indicating that it has inherited some aspects of its predecessor while still being distinct.

Actually, I don't find that very convincing either. Brand recognition is so frustrating.

Although now I'm wondering how they're doing stars, seeing as how they're no longer lights on the inside of the crystal sphere and aren't likely to actually be real stars that possibly have their own solar systems.

I actually forgot about that. Yeah, replacing interstellar space with the astral plane is gonna cause issues with things as basic as the night sky.

They haven't made it clear if you leave a system's Wildspace, you automatically go to the Astral, or whether it's just an option if you have a Spelljamming helm. Wildspace might just continue on like real outer space does, meaning you could still go directly to other systems, but it would take a really long time compared to the shortcut of using the Astral...

I actually prefer the setups from either Dark Dungeons or Aether & Flux.

DD uses celestial spheres separated by ether, with each sphere having its own elemental and outer planes.

A&F uses realistic outer space rules (star systems, galaxies, etc), with the additional wrinkle of "aether" being a substance that allows space travel through interaction with "flux" (basically electricity). The aether has different densities affecting speeds, with interstellar aether basically allowing FTL travel. Incidentally, it is readily compatible with Spelljammer: Shadow of the Spider Moon.

D&D's cosmology has never been logical. Replacing the Phlo with the Astral doesn't make it any more nonsensical.

Certainly doesn't make it any less so, but that line of discussion is neither here nor there. I have a great many words to say about the great wheel, but still I acknowledge that it's an inextricable part of the IP. I think Planescape is convoluted af and could use some serious paring down, but I'm not gonna insult the fans by rewriting the setting to be simpler just because that's my personal desire. The convolution is part of the charm now.

Brand recognition is a double-edged sword.

Apparently when they revisit a setting they should just copy/paste everything from the original regardless of what makes sense for gameplay design or adventure writing.

Look, I understand rewriting settings to fix genuine structural issues, but removing Spelljammer's original space travel cosmology defeats the point of banking on nostalgia by recycling the brand name. It's basically: "We're too lazy to flesh out the phlogiston even though our cosmology is already convoluted af, so we're gonna cheat by replacing it with the astral plane."

 

[overgeeked]

D&D's cosmology has never been logical.

Amen. People just took the time to memorize it and object to any changes because they don't want to be hassled with having to memorize how things work now.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Apparently when they revisit a setting they should just copy/paste everything from the original regardless of what makes sense for gameplay design or adventure writing.

If they're not going to expand an existing setting and update the rules, I'd much rather they did nothing at all.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Look, I understand rewriting settings to fix genuine structural issues, but removing Spelljammer's original space travel cosmology defeats the point of banking on nostalgia by recycling the brand name. It's basically: "We're too lazy to flesh out the phlogiston even though our cosmology is already convoluted af, so we're gonna cheat by replacing it with the astral plane."

It's not WotC's fault for ditching the Phlogiston if TSR never bothered to make it interesting or give a way to have adventures in it. Replacing the Phlo with the Astral makes D&D's cosmology a little less convoluted and lets cooler new stuff happen than ever existed in the Phlo (corpses of dead gods that people build cities on, space battles between Githyanki Astral Skiffs and Mind Flayer Nautiloids, being swallowed by an Astral Dreadnought while trying to travel from one setting to another).

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

If they're not going to expand an existing setting and update the rules, I'd much rather they did nothing at all.

I'd consider replacing the Phlogiston with the Astral Sea "expanding the setting of Spelljammer." I'd say the same about what they did with a lot of 5e Ravenloft's Domains of Dread.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It's not WotC fault for ditching the Phlogiston if TSR never bothered to make it interesting or give it a way to have adventures in. Replacing the Phlo with the Astral makes D&D's cosmology a little less convoluted and lets cooler new stuff happen than ever existed in the Phlo (corpses of dead gods that people build cities on, space battles between Githyanki Astral Skiffs and Mind Flayer Nautiloids, being swallowed by an Astral Dreadnought while trying to travel from one setting to another).

They chose to sidestep a potential problem rather than do the work to fix it. Just like they always do.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'd consider replacing the Phlogiston with the Astral Sea "expanding the setting of Spelljammer." I'd say the same about what they did with a lot of 5e Ravenloft's Domains of Dread.

We fundamentally disagree on that, which is why this isn't going to go anywhere.

 

[Nikosandros]

IMO, phlogiston is conceptually a cool and atmospheric idea, but shutting down divine casters, fire users and firearms is quite a bit problematic and rather opposite to the design ethos of 5e. In any event, the original material is available in PDF, so it can be mined for ideas to import in the new version.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Amen. People just took the time to memorize it and object to any changes because they don't want to be hassled with having to memorize how things work now.

I'm going to amend my statement a bit. D&D has had fairly logical cosmologies before. 4e's World Axis cosmology made much more sense than the Great Wheel and Eberron's cosmology makes quite a bit of sense in the context of the setting.

The Great Wheel/Planescape has never been sensical. Spelljammer's cosmology has never been sensical. The D&D Multiverse and its rules have never been sensical or consistent.

 

[VelvetViolet]

They chose to sidestep a potential problem rather than do the work to fix it. Just like they always do.

We fundamentally disagree on that, which is why this isn't going to go anywhere.

Yup. The astral plane renders you effectively sterile and removes your need to eat or breathe. Congratulations, the writers have now removed any possibility of thriving ecologies or civilizations living there that aren't opportunistic parasites. The IP already has huge issues with making the planes actually interesting and this isn't a step in the right direction.

I'm going to amend my statement a bit. D&D has had fairly logical cosmologies before. 4e's World Axis cosmology made much more sense than the Great Wheel and Eberron's cosmology makes quite a bit of sense in the context of the setting.

The Great Wheel/Planescape has never been sensical. Spelljammer's cosmology has never been sensical. The D&D Multiverse and its rules have never been sensical or consistent.

Exactly. So why start pretending now after 5e reversed almost all of 4e's innovations?