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]

And the Phlogiston really wasn't that important to the setting before. There were barely any creatures native to it (mostly just those undead that were people who died in the Phlo), most combat and adventuring happened inside of the Crystal Spheres, and it really only served as a boring "hyperspace" to connect the worlds together. The Astral Sea has more creatures native to it, is more open to having adventures and combat encounters take place there, and can also serve as a hyperspace connecting the worlds together. Also, taking a Spelljamming ship to the petrified corpse of a dead god is just awesome.

So the writers should just port in the astral rather than go to the work of making the phlogiston (or deep ethereal or whatever) more interesting?

My issue with this is that the astral plane has different planar properties to the inner planes. For example, the timelessness. Has that been retconned too?

Actually, now that I think about it, replacing phlogiston with the astral plane (as opposed to the deep ethereal, which is still an inner plane) fundamentally changes the nature of the prime material plane (or whatever it's called in the latest edition). Now the prime isn't a single contiguous plane, but a bunch of wildspace spheres floating disconnected within the astral plane. D&D's cosmology retcons gave me a headache before, but this is ridiculous. What is even the difference between a wildspace sphere and an outer plane now? Without a larger cosmological distinction, it now feels utterly arbitrary.

Changing a few fairly minor parts of the setting doesn't make it not be that setting anymore.

Getting rid of an entire continent in the demiplane of dread sounds like making a completely different setting.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Sure, I can agree with removing the term "phlogiston." The original term meant the substance released by combustion, whereas in SJ it was a highly combustible substance.

I recall at least one fan suggestion that it could have been folded into the deep ethereal, since that shared the most similarity. At least compared to the astral plane anyway. "Etherspace" sounds neat, I guess.


If you're removing key aspects of the cosmology then it doesn't make much sense to call it Spelljammer. They could've just called it Astraljammer or something else more accurate.

This also raises the question of where the inner planes are located relative to wildspace and makes the already convoluted and retconned great wheel cosmology more confusing.

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

 

[Micah Sweet]

I mean . . . it wasn't named "Phlogistonjammer" or "Phlojammer". It was named "Spelljammer" after the types of ships that were the main mode of transportation in the setting. A "spelljammer" is a play on a windjammer. Windjammers could move because of its sails and a Spelljammer could move because it consumes spells. So changing the name to "Astraljammer," "Starjammer," or "Planejammer" really wouldn't make much sense.

And the Phlogiston really wasn't that important to the setting before. There were barely any creatures native to it (mostly just those undead that were people who died in the Phlo), most combat and adventuring happened inside of the Crystal Spheres, and it really only served as a boring "hyperspace" to connect the worlds together. The Astral Sea has more creatures native to it, is more open to having adventures and combat encounters take place there, and can also serve as a hyperspace connecting the worlds together. And, yes, getting rid of the Phlo does simplify D&D's already overcomplicated cosmology a bit, which is probably a good thing (depends on who you ask). Also, taking a Spelljamming ship to the petrified corpse of a dead god is just awesome.

So, the ships still run on spells, you can still travel to other settings using magical hyperspace, it still serves the purpose of being a combination of nautical and space adventures, and has most of the same creatures (from what we've seen so far). It's still Spelljammer, just like Ravenloft is still Ravenloft after getting rid of the Core, and Eberron is still Eberron after changing how Dragonmarks worked. Changing a few fairly minor parts of the setting doesn't make it not be that setting anymore.

YMMV. Seriously.

 

[Faolyn]

I recall at least one fan suggestion that it could have been folded into the deep ethereal, since that shared the most similarity. At least compared to the astral plane anyway. "Etherspace" sounds neat, I guess.

Maybe change it so that you go from Wildspace (the solar system) into the Deep Ethereal, and from the Deep Ethereal, you eventually go into the Astral.

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.

 

[Demetrios1453]

So the writers should just port in the astral rather than go to the work of making the phlogiston (or deep ethereal or whatever) more interesting?

My issue with this is that the astral plane has different planar properties to the inner planes. For example, the timelessness. Has that been retconned too?

Actually, now that I think about it, replacing phlogiston with the astral plane (as opposed to the deep ethereal, which is still an inner plane) fundamentally changes the nature of the prime material plane (or whatever it's called in the latest edition). Now the prime isn't a single contiguous plane, but a bunch of wildspace spheres floating disconnected within the astral plane. D&D's cosmology retcons gave me a headache before, but this is ridiculous. What is even the difference between a wildspace sphere and an outer plane now? Without a larger cosmological distinction, it now feels utterly arbitrary.


Getting rid of an entire continent in the demiplane of dread sounds like making a completely different setting.

They haven't made it clear whether 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...

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

So the writers should just port in the astral rather than go to the work of making the phlogiston (or deep ethereal or whatever) more interesting?

I mean . . . yeah. The Phlo really didn't have much going on originally. Changing it to be interesting would basically require changing the whole thing. Just using 4e's the Astral Sea (which quite a few people liked) is much simpler than adding another transitive plane to 5e's cosmology and requires less work than changing the Phlo into something actually interesting to adventure in.

My issue with this is that the astral plane has different planar properties to the inner planes. For example, the timelessness. Has that been retconned too?

The timelessness is staying, from what we've seen in the UA.

Actually, now that I think about it, replacing phlogiston with the astral plane (as opposed to the deep ethereal, which is still an inner plane) fundamentally changes the nature of the prime material plane (or whatever it's called in the latest edition). Now the prime isn't a single contiguous plane, but a bunch of wildspace spheres floating disconnected within the astral plane. D&D's cosmology retcons gave me a headache before, but this is ridiculous.

The Phlo was always basically just another plane of existence. It shared basically no similarities with the space inside of Crystal Spheres, so it was functionally a different plane of existence from Wildspace even if it wasn't listed as one. There were always a bunch of wildspace spheres floating disconnected within the Phlogiston. Changing that to a different plane of existence really doesn't change that, even if it is explicitly a different plane of existence.

What is even the difference between a wildspace sphere and an outer plane now? Without a larger cosmological distinction, it now feels utterly arbitrary.

It was always arbitrary. Why are the Feywild and Shadowfell Inner Planes instead of Outer Planes? Why is the Ethereal an Inner Plane if you can go ethereal in the Outer Planes? What makes the Outer Planes more "outer" than the Elemental Planes other than being connected to an alignment? Why isn't the Ethereal Plane called the Astral Plane when the concept of "Astral Projection" is better represented by D&D's Ethereal Plane? Why did the Phlogiston count as part of the Material Plane when it basically functioned as an entire other plane of existence? Why Hades the True Neutral Evil plane of existence and not Gehenna, the homeland of the True Neutral Evil fiends?

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

Getting rid of an entire continent in the demiplane of dread sounds like making a completely different setting.

They didn't "get rid of a continent." They got rid of the physical unification of the domains of dread. Most of main domains that made up the continent are still there. They're just not connected physically and are instead split up as island pocket dimensions in the Mists. The mini-settings you can go to are more or less the same and the base concept of the setting is the same. Ravenloft is still Ravenloft without the Core.

 

[Malmuria]

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.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

As it stands, the only thing of interest to me is WotC explaining how putting everything in the Astral Sea/Plane doesn't lead to various pantheons simply wiping each other out. The phlo kept the crystal spheres separated and prevented gods from nuking other planets. Now that the phlo is gone, and it's all ported into the Astral Sea, a logical consequence would be a divine free-for-all.

Thanks. So maybe deities are limited to their "wildspace" instead?

Honestly, I don't think it's all that big of a deal. For the most part, gods keep their domains in the Outer Planes anyway, and it's not a problem for Planescape. As powerful as any particular pantheon of gods may be, they have to remember that there are other gods out there, as well as non-divine entities of similar power levels (archdevils, demon lords, etc.), so some grand crusade to unite the multiverse under the banner of the Olympean pantheon is only going to last as long as it takes their peers to start putting up a united front. That isn't to say it can't/doesn't happen (the orc and goblinoid pantheons on Archeron have been at war with each other for eons), but one particular pantheon just steamrolling its way across the multiverse isn't going to happen without a heavy-duty pushback.

As to crystal spheres in Spelljammer (which, I will caveat, I am not an expert in), there are already multi-sphere deities - the core elven and dwarven pantheons, for example - and some spheres have an "over-deity", like Ao of the Forgotten Realms, that has the ability to shut out any interloping deities that don't agree to play by their rules. There are plenty of reasons the gods may need to take a measured approach toward spreading their cults to distant spheres. Ultimately, it's only an issue if you want it to be a plot point for your campaign.

 

[Greg Benage]

That said, a godwar in the Astral Sea sounds pretty dang cool, and it might explain all those corpses of dead gods floating around.

 

[Faolyn]

As it stands, the only thing of interest to me is WotC explaining how putting everything in the Astral Sea/Plane doesn't lead to various pantheons simply wiping each other out. The phlo kept the crystal spheres separated and prevented gods from nuking other planets. Now that the phlo is gone, and it's all ported into the Astral Sea, a logical consequence would be a divine free-for-all.

They don't need the spheres to exist to wipe each other out. They could go after each other on their home planes. Considering the gods from the same worlds don't regularly enter into "divine free-for-alls," I can't see why they would even care about going after gods on other planets. Plus, sending your followers to another world via ship is probably just as resource-consuming as sending your worshipers to another world via planar portals, and that doesn't happen a lot either.