D&D 5E 5e isn't a Golden Age of D&D Lorewise, it's Silver at best.

[delericho]

The marketing of (original) Spelljammer was mishandled, and it wasn't as successful as it could have been...

I'm not even sure I agree entirely with that - Spelljammer is, by quite some distance, the weirdest of all the TSR settings. Even Planescape, the closest competitor, is built on a foundation of planes drawn mostly from real-world myths. So I think it was always destined to be very much a niche interest.

I agree, though, about the cult following. And when considering a revival, that may prove to be a significant strength. Provided, of course, they don't change the setting in ways that alienate those passionate, vocal fans...

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

those passionate, vocal fans...

All 7 of them? I don't think they're going to be a problem. Whether or not the older fans complain about the Phlogiston being absorbed by the Astral Sea, I think that 5e Spelljammer will succeed on its own merits, not based on the feelings of the very few people that actually have been fans of it since it came out.

I think if it comes down to "Oh, in 5e spelljammer's lore, you can take a Squid Ship to a mining colony built on the petrified remains of a dead god" versus "oh, in 2e spelljammer's lore, if you tried to shoot a ship in the Phlogiston with a cannon, everyone on both ships would die" . . . the rule of cool would win out 9 times out of 10. I don't have anything inherently against the idea of the Phlogiston, I just think that being able to go to the Astral Sea and find the petrified bodies of dead gods is 100 times cooler than anything you could do in 2e's Phlogiston. And I think the bigger segment of 5e's newer players would agree with that, too.

In my opinion, whether 5e Spelljammer succeeds or fails will probably come down to the price, the new format of 3 small books, and the fact that it might be too wacky for some people (but, looking at Gen Z's sense of humor, I really don't think Spelljammer is going to be too wacky for younger D&D players).

 

[Older Beholder]

Just on the popularity/stats of old box sets, I‘m not sure that tells the whole story.

There‘s also the rest of the product line for each setting. I bought the Spelljammer box set and loved it but only ever picked up an adventure and the realmspace book, finding the quality of much that came out after a setting box set to not be that great.
Planescape on the other hand I picked up anything that came out, although the quality varied a lot, I found more good than bad.

 

[delericho]

All 7 of them?

You'll note that my comment about alienating the vocal fans came in the context of there being a cult following big enough to be a strength. If there are 7 such fans, their opinions are irrelevant either way.

 

[JEB]

You'll note that my comment about alienating the vocal fans came in the context of there being a cult following big enough to be a strength. If there are 7 such fans, their opinions are irrelevant either way.

r/spelljammer had 1961 members as of June 2021, before Spelljammer 5E was announced. (They have 4290 now, but it's hard to tell how many are reinvigorated veteran fans and how many are brand-new.) There are still active Spelljammer forums as well.

I'm sure some folks still consider those numbers insignificant... but it is rather more than "7".

 

[Micah Sweet]

All 7 of them? I don't think they're going to be a problem. Whether or not the older fans complain about the Phlogiston being absorbed by the Astral Sea, I think that 5e Spelljammer will succeed on its own merits, not based on the feelings of the very few people that actually have been fans of it since it came out.

I think if it comes down to "Oh, in 5e spelljammer's lore, you can take a Squid Ship to a mining colony built on the petrified remains of a dead god" versus "oh, in 2e spelljammer's lore, if you tried to shoot a ship in the Phlogiston with a cannon, everyone on both ships would die" . . . the rule of cool would win out 9 times out of 10. I don't have anything inherently against the idea of the Phlogiston, I just think that being able to go to the Astral Sea and find the petrified bodies of dead gods is 100 times cooler than anything you could do in 2e's Phlogiston. And I think the bigger segment of 5e's newer players would agree with that, too.

In my opinion, whether 5e Spelljammer succeeds or fails will probably come down to the price, the new format of 3 small books, and the fact that it might be too wacky for some people (but, looking at Gen Z's sense of humor, I really don't think Spelljammer is going to be too wacky for younger D&D players).

I've been toying with the idea of phloguston nebulae, drifting through the Astral Sea and/or Wildspace, that have the old phlogiston effect and effectively act as navigational hazards.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I'm not even sure I agree entirely with that - Spelljammer is, by quite some distance, the weirdest of all the TSR settings.

Nothing wrong with weird. The reason it had trouble finding its market was the po-faced seriousness with which the marketing treated it. So people who liked their D&D serious bought it and were turned off by the dumb jokes, whilst the people who like dumb jokes were put off by the serious marketing. Spelljammer didn't really start to take off until after TSR stopped trying to sell it.

Even Planescape, the closest competitor, is built on a foundation of planes drawn mostly from real-world myths.

Spelljammer has its foundation in "what if 18th century science was right?", so plenty of real world there. Whereas Planescape largely ignored the planes in favour of "what if people took philosophy literally?", and thus has nothing to do with the real world.

 

[delericho]

Nothing wrong with weird.

Of course not! But weird does mean it was never going to be for everyone.

Spelljammer has its foundation in "what if 18th century science was right?", so plenty of real world there.

I'm reasonably sure a great many people were more familiar with Heaven, Hell, Elysium, and other planes than with the esoterica of long discredited 'science'.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

You'll note that my comment about alienating the vocal fans came in the context of there being a cult following big enough to be a strength. If there are 7 such fans, their opinions are irrelevant either way.

I'm sure some folks still consider those numbers insignificant... but it is rather more than "7".

I was using hyperbole. There are obviously more than 7 passionate spelljammer fans that have been around since it was first published (I thought I made that clear through the tone of my post, but I guess not).

Spelljammer has always had a smaller fanbase than most of the other popular settings. And if the Ravenloft fanbase wasn't big enough to impact the 5e release of the setting in any major way, I doubt the Spelljammer fanbase won't be able to do the same with the upcoming spelljammer release.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

many people were more familiar with Heaven, Hell, Elysium,

Which barely feature in Planescape, which is almost entirely confined to Sigil, AKA "The Cage". Where familiarity with Nietzsche, Kant and Sartre will stand you in better stead.

But weird does mean it was never going to be for anyone.

If a setting was "for anyone" you wouldn't need any more. The whole point of having multiple settings is to appeal to different tastes.