D&D General Is Spelljammer really that bad?

[LordEntrails]

I see two ways to evaluate setting books. 1) is it well constructed and have lots of "setting" information? And 2) does it have a theme or feel that interests me.

The first one is clearly debatable, but compared to previous editions, content is certainly scarce. But maybe that is ok for die-hards since they have all the previous edition material to draw from (and this seems to be the 5E approach to everything, just cover it enough that folks can be interested can draw more content from elsewhere).

The second one should clearly be personal. And gung-ho giant hamsters and space pirates on naval ships has never appealed to me. Nothing wrong if it does for others, but its not for me.

 

[Hussar]

I remain baffled why the deckplans are black and white. Spelljammer is retro, sure, but you don't need to be THAT retro!

I have a theory about this. All of the WotC source books have been using black and white maps for quite a while now. Dyson Logos if memory serves is the go-to artist here. Fantastic stuff. Clean and easy to use.

And very, very easy to draw on a dry erase mat or whiteboard.

That's why they went with the black and white maps. As a HUGE map nerd, I don't like it. I want my beautiful art piece maps to drool over. But, the practical side of me realizes that the majority of players out there don't play online, and there is zero point in having some gorgeous, full color map of a ship that only the DM will ever see.

This keeps costs down while making the map really accessible - heck, take a picture with your phone and print it on a home printer and it will look fine if you want to go that far. Anyone with D&D Beyond access can certainly do that. Cheap and disposable.

It makes me cry a little inside, but, I do get the reasoning for it.

 

[Hussar]

I've taken the plunge into Spelljammer. Now, I am not a fan from the past. I paid no attention to Spelljammer at the time when it was out and largely ignored it since. But, I've got the right group for it and I'm itching for a HUGE dose of weird in my gaming.

I totally get the criticism that this isn't really much of a setting book. It really isn't. It's very, very thin on the ground. But, OTOH, the module is really easy to port from - which makes it totally worth it for me. I can lift entire sections of the module for use in my own game which makes prep time simpler. Since I'm going mostly home-brew with my Spelljammer, the actual Spelljammer lore is just a resource for mining - not something I really care about and I've been up front with my players that I'm likely not going to adhere too much to the setting stuff as is.

I've got some trepidation going into this - but, I think there's enough there to get my gears going. And, as the OP says, Spelljammer is a setting that's INCREDIBLY easy to port into. Heck, my first adventure is going to be a 5e revamp of Into the Lightless Depths from the 3e Savage Tide campaign. Total planet stories adventure to start off with. I've reworked the original modules initial Dragon Turtle encounter into a Lunar Dragon just to start off with a real Spelljammer feel.

And holy crap is there a TON of home-brew stuff out there for mining. Wow.

 

[jasper]

The adventure is a kiddie roller coaster ride of Pirates of Multiverse, just enough monsters to advertise the product. More later. Work calls.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

The Spelljammer case has some interesting points of interest, Clownspace, Astral Dominions, Hazdoo homeworld, Rock of Bral, etc..., the problem is none of that is going any depth at all, a brief mention, say a paragraph or two at most and then forgotten. Why is a Nerath Astral Dominion near Realmspace all of a sudden?

I mean their map of the Wildspace, Dead Gods, and Astral Dominions near Toril don't even get named, except Doomspace.

No explanation for how established material plane settings interact with Spelljammer.

The Spelljamming mechanics don't even work properly, there are youtubers who can explain this far better then I.

There should have been a fouth book, Wildspace & Astral Dominions exploring those sorts of locations.

Some of the coolest Spelljamming Monsters got dumped online for free because they ran out space because they blew the price budget of the product on aesthetics and a fancy slipcase, no room for more actual, useful content.

The product is all sizzle and no steak, all style and no substance.

Making it a slipcase, which is supposed to be reserved for collectors at a later point or as gift sets of multiple products, not breaking one product into parts to make it look impressive while causing the price to explode, squeezing out actual content to keep the price from Ballooning farther.

I suspect the Slipcase disaster and the upcoming one in Planescape, is why Ray Winninger is no longer working for WotC (either he was responsible for this bad idea and got fired or he objected to thid disaster of a product and left in protest).

I don't object to the setting changes, I get their purpose, I object to the lack of depth, details, and the type of product it was turned into instead of a 320+ page book it should have been.

 

[DEFCON 1]

The biggest disparity in comments about quality and/or usefulness I have to imagine is going to break along past ownership lines.

Anyone who bought/played Spelljammer in the past and owned/owns a lot of previously published stuff will of course feel the new project is severely lacking and thus reviewed as being pretty crap. That should not be a surprise to anyone. The bigger question would be the reviews of those people who have never played or even known about Spelljammer previously, and whether these was enough stuff in here to get their juices flowing and want to start up a campaign? They'd have a more balanced idea of whether this product was actually worthwhile as a standalone.

Obviously we will not know any real answer to that... especially not by reading anything here on EN World where most people are older players and/or more involved in the history of the game and its previous editions/material. Where one would go to hear more comments/reviews from people who were completely new to the setting to get a "newbie" opinion on the product... that I have no idea.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I keep seeing the same, that it was bad, not good enough. Every time I've flipped through a copy I think 'whats so bad here', but I have not actually sat down and digested it.

I keep THINKING it looks fine/good, and the over the top style and art design finally make sense to me.

It was the only book this year I really thought on getting, that was released this year that is.

I admit, I got it solely for the Plasmoid race option. That sold me instantly. But there are a lot of cool monsters in it as well.

I think the biggest problem is many people keep looking at each book individually, instead of realizing that it is sold as bundle because each book is fulfilling a different section of what is needed.

 

[OB1]

So, actually, at the end of the day, for someone who has no preconceptions? This is a REALLY GOOD source book. It gives tons of hooks, tons of unique things about the setting, and leaves out the encyclopedia aspect that can bog these things down with dates and wars and "who is the current leader of the yadda yadda". Which, might be bad for a different setting, but Spelljammer 5e is meant to evoke those sea-faring themes. Just because you encounter the Empire of Xaryxis doesn't mean it is the only Astral Elf empire, or even one anyone actually cares about. It is one, among the countless stars.

Just finished running the campaign from this with a group who new next to nothing about Spelljammer. I'd heard about it for decades but never played in the setting until now. The group had a blast with it, so much so, that they want to continue on with their characters in the setting, and like you mention, there are plenty of hooks in the monsters and the source book for me to come up with new adventures for a long time without needing any more detail. I may go on the DMs Guild or look up info in a Wiki if I need inspiration, but otherwise this set gave me exactly what I needed, a jumping off point to create gonzo D&D in space adventures.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

The biggest disparity in comments about quality and/or usefulness I have to imagine is going to break along past ownership lines.

Anyone who bought/played Spelljammer in the past and owned/owns a lot of previously published stuff will of course feel the new project is severely lacking and thus reviewed as being pretty crap. That should not be a surprise to anyone. The bigger question would be the reviews of those people who have never played or even known about Spelljammer previously, and whether these was enough stuff in here to get their juices flowing and want to start up a campaign? They'd have a more balanced idea of whether this product was actually worthwhile as a standalone.

Obviously we will not know any real answer to that... especially not by reading anything here on EN World where most people are older players and/or more involved in the history of the game and its previous editions/material. Where one would go to hear more comments/reviews from people who were completely new to the setting to get a "newbie" opinion on the product... that I have no idea.

I never owned Spelljammer previous to 5e, so your hypothesis is unfounded. Previous ownership might impact feelings about setting changes, not the depth and over all quality of the content of product.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I admit, I got it solely for the Plasmoid race option. That sold me instantly. But there are a lot of cool monsters in it as well.

I think the biggest problem is many people keep looking at each book individually, instead of realizing that it is sold as bundle because each book is fulfilling a different section of what is needed.

Yeah the playable races are a highlight for the book.