D&D 5E D&D Multiverse as setting - do you do it?

[Mercule]

Its easy to mock Spelljammer coming from a world where man has been on the moon, but much of Spelljammer's ideas are based on real belief.

It's easy to mock Spelljammer because it has things like giant space hamsters.

In truth, my issue with Spelljammer comes from the genre mash-up and the whole package. It's not just peanut butter in my chocolate. It's pickled beats in my chocolate. I don't like pickled beats and can't fathom them being considered edible on their own. Mixing them with chocolate is truly unholy and beyond my ability to grok.

 

[Umbran]

It's easy to mock Spelljammer because it has things like giant space hamsters.

Dude. Flumphs. There's always been some monsters that make no sense, no matter what setting you were in.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Its easy to mock Spelljammer coming from a world where man has been on the moon, but much of Spelljammer's ideas are based on real belief.

Celestial spheres full of air? That's pure medieval cosmology. Even the idea of the planes being "a ring around the world" is a very medieval concept of cosmology.

Wooden ships that travel through space? People believed that up to the 1890s.

Basically, Spelljammer is what the Medieval idea of "outer space" would look like if what they believed was true. Its only hokey to us who were raised on Star Trek and Star Wars, rather than ancient notions of beyond the world.

That's all well and good. I think, though, SJ fully embraces some other ridiculousness in the published material.

Like, it's very clear that among SJ's influences are schlocky 70's sci fi and new age-y weirdness. It is Logan's Run and Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green and Rollerball. It doesn't take itself very seriously, from deck ape to space gypsy to penguin-people to animate constellations to colorful seagulls.

Which, you know, don't get me wrong - lots of fun. And it's not like other settings get away from their own schlocky influences (Dark Sun is one pierced motorcycle-riding orc away from a Mad Max sequel), nor is that the whole of SJ (there's a great swashbuckling setting in there somewhere!). But it's not just the medieval cosmology that makes SJ sometimes seem like a mockery (personally, I think that's one of the setting's awesome elements). It's also things like the Great Dreamer, which is a 20-mile-long space whale with three eyes that travels in a sphere of airy water and can grant immortality. Which is about equal proportions WOAH and WTF.

I bet there's some amazing games in SJ, but you'd have to carefully curate the setting to polish the zeerust off the stuff the developers came up with after smoking peyote and watching Charlton Heston aggressively emote at them for four hours.

 

[Staffan]

equal proportions WOAH and WTF.

Spelljammer summarized in five words. Or seven, depending on how you count.

 

[DMZ2112]

Basically, Spelljammer is what the Medieval idea of "outer space" would look like if what they believed was true. Its only hokey to us who were raised on Star Trek and Star Wars, rather than ancient notions of beyond the world.

Well, sort of. All of the individual elements of the Spelljammer concept are inspired by medieval scientific theory, that's true. But no one in history ever proposed Spelljammer or even a close analogue as the framework by which all of those elements are held together, and it is a vastly and unnecessarily complicated beast, almost like the designers were struggling to incorporate as much medieval pseudoscience as they could.

Again, as has been said before, it's a gonzo setting.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TabletopGame/Spelljammer

If you like the idea of Spelljammer, but haven't spent a lot of time researching it (like I hadn't, until fairly recently), take a look at the "The setting contains examples of:" list on that TVTropes page. Sweet fancy Moses.

Anyway, getting to the point, when I do use Spelljammer I remove the crystal spheres and the phlogiston and use more contemporary science fiction tropes to separate or close off certain solar systems. For me, the spheres and the flow have never passed the "Is this relevant to the story I am telling or to the fun the players are having?" test.

Mystara doesn't have the same outer planes. Heck, it doesn't even have the same inner planes. The only defined planes for Mystara are the Prime, Astral, Etherial, Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. Outer planes in the Mystarran multiverse are bubbles in the astral.

My mistake, then. The premise still stands, given that many of the Mystaran astral bubbles have familiar names and concepts.

 

[Shasarak]

Well, sort of. All of the individual elements of the Spelljammer concept are inspired by medieval scientific theory, that's true. But no one in history ever proposed Spelljammer or even a close analogue as the framework by which all of those elements are held together, and it is a vastly and unnecessarily complicated beast, almost like the designers were struggling to incorporate as much medieval pseudoscience as they could.

No one in history except for Jeff Grubb.

 

[aramis erak]

My mistake, then. The premise still stands, given that many of the Mystaran astral bubbles have familiar names and concepts.

Not in any materials I've seen. (Admittedly, that does exclude any of the CM, M, or I modules.) The ones that do have familiar names aren't familiar from the Great Wheel cosmology.

In fact, it takes a very different approach from the Great Wheel. The Bifrost (rainbow bridge) and the World Tree are both outer planes themselves, and the tree connects a bunch only accessible by it... Svratalfheim, Hel, Muspelheim, Vanaheim, Alfheim, Niflheim, Jotunheim, Swergheim, Middenheim. And then there's the Spirit World. Each immortal can create one or more outer planes, and not all connect directly to the Astral. In fact, given the rules in Wrath of the Immortals, a dedicated group of players COULD replicate the great wheel a la manual of the planes, but the investment would be HUGE... since the outer planes defined don't match, and they'd have to kill a bunch of immortals on their home planes to pull it off.