D&D 5E D&D Next playtest post mortem by Mike Mearls and Rodney Thompson. From seven years ago.

[JEB]

Well, that number is at least 1, because there is me. I have no way of knowing for sure whether there is anyone else, but I suspect there are more than one or two others.

r/spelljammer had 1961 members as of June 2021, before Spelljammer 5E was announced. There were also still active Spelljammer forums at that time. So a few thousand seems like a reasonable minimum estimate.

 

[Hussar]

r/spelljammer had 1961 members as of June 2021, before Spelljammer 5E was announced. There were also still active Spelljammer forums at that time. So a few thousand seems like a reasonable minimum estimate.

Which, frankly, is exactly what I said. A really tiny number that can largely be ignored frankly. Claims about how the new Spelljammer isn't following the old Spelljammer just doesn't really matter all that much considering so few people actually KNOW anything about old Spelljammer, other than the name and maybe space hippos.

When WotC is benchmarking book sales in the tens of thousands (and probably closer to over a hundred thousand) copies, pointing to a reddit with less than 2000 members isn't really countering my point.

This is a reimagining - just like it was with Ravenloft and will be with Dragonlance. It is NOT a reprint.

 

[Parmandur]

Which, frankly, is exactly what I said. A really tiny number that can largely be ignored frankly. Claims about how the new Spelljammer isn't following the old Spelljammer just doesn't really matter all that much considering so few people actually KNOW anything about old Spelljammer, other than the name and maybe space hippos.

When WotC is benchmarking book sales in the tens of thousands (and probably closer to over a hundred thousand) copies, pointing to a reddit with less than 2000 members isn't really countering my point.

This is a reimagining - just like it was with Ravenloft and will be with Dragonlance. It is NOT a reprint.

Though, hey, they sell the reprints, too.

 

[glass]

Which, frankly, is exactly what I said. A really tiny number that can largely be ignored frankly. Claims about how the new Spelljammer isn't following the old Spelljammer just doesn't really matter all that much considering so few people actually KNOW anything about old Spelljammer, other than the name and maybe space hippos.

If nobody cares, why reuse the name? Just give your new product a new name, and those few thousand people who care about actual Spelljammer (and anyone who cares about honesty) are happier, and nobody else cares, so it is a win all round.

This is not a "re-imagining" like Ravenloft was or Dragonlance might reasonably expected to be. They literally took a setting whose whole schtick and original tagline was "AD&D Adventures in Space" and ditched the "in Space" part. It would be like if the Dragonlance re-imagining no longer had any dragons, and I very much doubt that is actually going to be the case! EDIT: To be abundantly clear, this post is hyperbolic. Obviously, they did not excise space travel entirely, and I and (I presume) everyone else knew that. But whereas in 90s Spelljammer space travel was the whole thing, in the new 20s it has been demoted to a stepping stone to astral plane. I thought it was sufficiently obvious that this was hyperbole, but such things can be difficult to to divine over the Internet and several poster have responded as if it was literal, so maybe not.

 

[Hussar]

I’m confused. Spelljammer isn’t set in space? You don’t travel between planets? You don’t have connections between various settings?

As far as dumping the name, I already addressed that. The name has recognition. It’s a brand that people connect with DnD. So of course reuse it. Not doing so would be a bad idea.

 

[glass]

I’m confused. Spelljammer isn’t set in space?

Correct. The primary means of travel is the Astral Plane. EDIT: Sorry. "Astral Sea".

 

[darjr]

Correct. The primary means of travel is the Astral Plane. EDIT: Sorry. "Astral Sea".

No. It’s via Wild SPACE and the astral sea between them.

Did you even read the book?

 

[Umbran]

You folks are quibbling over terms as if they were the meaningful bit.

Changes in set dressing don't change the functional bit of being in a ship in a Big Wide Open between worlds.

 

[darjr]

So that Reddit group now has over 6 thousand members and looks to be far more active than ever. The members are arranging a new Spelljammer specific convention. Oh and a live stream event with quite a few guests.

This rendition is likely to be more Spelljammer to more people than anything from the 2e era.

And frankly I think they did really good job. Both my regular tables are Spelljamming next. Our next big local gaming convention is doing the Spelljammer epic, I’m partnering with an author on his custom Spelljammer DMsGuild adventure, and another, even our premier adventures were running at the con that are not Spelljammer are in a story line that has had Spelljammer in it. The Red Wizards AL story arc.

Finally isn’t most if not all the classic Spelljammer 2e products available on the DMsGuild?

 

[ShadoWWW]

Mike Mearls was to DnD/WotC what Steve Jobs was to Mac/Apple. A visionary. One in his generation.