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Looks like Spelljammer and/or Planescape is back on the menu!

 

[plisnithus8]

I had some octopus-like miniatures that I think were Star Frontiers. They had large laser cannons and had a flat/prone posture.

Can anyone help with the name of the species and/or minis?

Edit: I discovered these were Galacta 25 Octopoids, not Star Frontiers.

 

[Hatmatter]

I think there are two ways to make the destinations better. The first actually ties into the thing everyone seems to be for. Make the Phlogiston the Astral sea. That makes it a lot easier to go to things floating in "space", because with the environment being less hostile, you don't mind staying "on the seas".

Second, think about who else is living and moving through it. Morkoths, Gith, ect. You can make a lot from encountering other travelers and "floating debris" without needing to have a lot of different ports. Because I think the majority of ports are going to be samey. But you can do a lot with "islands" in the sea, instead of places like ports, and realities.

Thirdly, you could pull an element from Star Frontier, and have a more over-arching villainous group, but that is a bit hard considering the sheer number of "absolute evils" already present.

I won't comment on your other ideas, which are fine, Chaosmancer, but this replace-the-Phlogiston-with-the-Astral-Sea is a bit of a solution in search of a problem from my perspective. The "on the seas" experience is what occurs in wildspace in Spelljammer. The Phlogiston was designed to be dangerous and funnel characters into wildspace where most adventures take place. That being said, events can transpire in the Phlogiston, but it's an unusual, strange space with altered physics.

Yet, it is not a place of thought like how the Astral Plane is described. It is not a transitive plane to the Outer Realms, like the Astral Plane.

For the record, since some people are getting the impression that most people here are for replacing the Phlogiston with the Astral Plane, I would be against it. I said that about thirty pages ago, but this thread is getting long enough that there is a need for repeating some claims. The Phlogiston works just fine as it is. I am for keeping it as is.

Now that the 5th Edition Spelljammer: Adventures in Space has been out for four days and I spent the weekend reading all three books, I thought I would revisit my thoughts from above (and elsewhere over the years in these forums): I was wrong: the Astral Sea works brilliantly. As someone who purchased the 1989 box set the day it came out and ran adventures using Spelljammer for three years or so back in the day and who has occasionally gone back to it, I will say I really like the new set. I think the emphasis is in the right place, the use of the Astral Plane works much better than I thought it would, and any DM who was using the crystal sphere/Phlogiston cosmology could continue to use it with nary an interruption (e.g. that system is bounded by a Crystal sphere and has a Phlogiston barrier between it and other systems and, eventually, the Astral Sea).

I really appreciated how consistent Perkins and the other editors and writers were with the original set (examples: using the same speeds and layouts as the original ships with hardly a change, using the same history of the Rock of Bral with minor changes, keeping the spirit of the set, but streamlining some of the original mechanics all in the name of a better play experience, even using some of the same text as the original set in some places).

A few items I am missing from the new set are the alternative helms/power sources like the dwarven forges powering the Citadels and the orbus powering the beholder ships. I thought those were cool. I also miss the elvish Armada ships...they reminded me of huge star destroyers. Also, I am not sure why they did not offer the Crown of Stars as a magic item. I do not miss the Lizardmen in space. I do not understand why mind flayers are not part of the random encounter table in Boo's Astral Menagerie (and the DM's screen). But, really the set is great. I like the Astral Sea revision. I am happy to have been proven wrong and I am delighted that the new set is available as I always loved Jeff Grubb's approach to space fantasy (which is why I quote him from Concordance of Arcane Space in the quote under my avatar).

 

[Kobold Stew]

(Thank you for this generous second-thought. As someone who did not play Spelljammer, I really appreciate your perspective here.)

 

[Hatmatter]

(Thank you for this generous second-thought. As someone who did not play Spelljammer, I really appreciate your perspective here.)

Most welcome, Kobold Stew!!! Thank you for taking the time to write that.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Hmm, it is a little disappointing to hear that mind flayers aren't prominent even on the random encounters table. I might be playing in a Spelljammer campaign this fall and was considering being a githyanki bladedancer, but if the illithid aren't really prominent in the default setting, that makes the idea a little less fun. (I can always go astral elf instead and still get to be the villainous character exiled from his even more villainous society.)

 

[Hatmatter]

Hmm, it is a little disappointing to hear that mind flayers aren't prominent even on the random encounters table. I might be playing in a Spelljammer campaign this fall and was considering being a githyanki bladedancer, but if the illithid aren't really prominent in the default setting, that makes the idea a little less fun. (I can always go astral elf instead and still get to be the villainous character exiled from his even more villainous society.)

I am sorry to have misrepresented the prominence of mind flayers in the Spelljammer setting as a whole. Mind flayers are still up to their typical schemes. The differences that I noticed are twofold: 1) The aforementioned absence of mind flayers from the random encounter tables (two tables) for both Wildspace and the Astral Sea and 2) The fact that mind flayers are in the Monster Manual they are not in Boo's Astral Menagerie means that there is (naturally) a bit more of an emphasis on new creatures. But, mind flayers are still very much present in Spelljammer and my observations would have little impact on your decision to play a githyanki other than the two random encounter tables. To be fair, there are lots of potential Spelljammer encounters that are not in either of the random encounter tables and, remember, the original 1989 Spelljammer box set does not even include a random encounter table. For the record, githyanki are well represented in the Astral Sea, with three different kinds of githyanki (warrior, knight, or zerth) having a total 16% chance of being encountered from the d100 table.

 

[Parmandur]

Hmm, it is a little disappointing to hear that mind flayers aren't prominent even on the random encounters table. I might be playing in a Spelljammer campaign this fall and was considering being a githyanki bladedancer, but if the illithid aren't really prominent in the default setting, that makes the idea a little less fun. (I can always go astral elf instead and still get to be the villainous character exiled from his even more villainous society.)

There are Nautaloid stats in the Adventurer's Guide along with the other ships, but their aren't any Mindflayer expansions in the Bestiary. Plenty of Gith though.

 

[Malmuria]

There are Nautaloid stats in the Adventurer's Guide along with the other ships, but their aren't any Mindflayer expansions in the Bestiary. Plenty of Gith though.

It's crazy that there's never been an adventure dedicated to mindflayer and gith conflict, being that they are actual dnd IP.

 

[Parmandur]

It's crazy that there's never been an adventure dedicated to mindflayer and gith conflict, being that they are actual dnd IP.

Well, the "Phandelver Campaign" next year is supposed to be "tinged with cosmic horror." And Gith and Mindflayers, and their conflict, have been a recurring side motif across the 5E Adventures. Since Phandelver is the final 5E Adventure, expanding on the first 5E Adventure, maybe theynwillbbring it full circle and close with a bang. Nothing as exciting as a cosmic war for reality.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Well, the "Phandelver Campaign" next year is supposed to be "tinged with cosmic horror." And Gith and Mindflayers, and their conflict, have been a recurring side motif across the 5E Adventures. Since Phandelver is the final 5E Adventure, expanding on the first 5E Adventure, maybe theynwillbbring it full circle and close with a bang. Nothing as exciting as a cosmic war for reality.

I would not bet on it myself.