D20 Spelljammer

[Kobold Avenger]

So they're coming out with Spelljammer in the next issue of Dragon..

There was many things I liked about SJ, and a bunch of things I hated about it. It seems that they're either removing or changing some of those elements I had a problem with. You can't really take humanoid hippos seriously and I never liked the phlogistan being flammable, since it was an excuse not to have many cannons around.

Anyone else have any other thoughts about this?

 

[byxbee]

i never really liked how the ships were powered. A ship powered by siphoning a mage/cleric's magical power is cool, but it took a seriously powerful mage just to move a ship around. A party of 6th level, for example, could hire a 18th level mage to be the power for the ship.

What 18th level mage has nothing better to do than sit comatose in a brain sucking machine all day?

Hopefully they require less to power the ships. Maybe a 6th level mage does the same thing.

 

[Dark Psion]

"Strip away all your preconceptions about what that word means. They don't apply, anymore. Next issue's Spelljammer: Shadow of the Spider Moon diverges in many, many ways from the campaign setting released by TSR more than a decade ago. Strange, alien ships still prowl the spacelanes. Mindflayer pirates still attack cargo caravans to harvest the brainstuff of their passengers. Gone are the goofy hippo men. Gone is the wonky cosmology. And best of all, there's nary a giant space hamster to be found."

But I liked Giant Space Hamsters! The thing I liked about Spelljammer WAS that you couldn't take it seriously. I like a Wild, Wild Wildspace. I agree that the Philogston and the Ship's Helm need work and I still think that The Manual of The Planes could be weaved into a spelljammer setting, maybe making the Philogston a transitional plane. The Neogi and the Arcane made their way into Sigil and the Gith and Illithid are in Spelljammer so that could be an interesting mix.

 

[NiTessine]

Bah. It won't be the same without giff and giant space hamsters.

 

[Gargoyle]

i never really liked how the ships were powered. A ship powered by siphoning a mage/cleric's magical power is cool, but it took a seriously powerful mage just to move a ship around. A party of 6th level, for example, could hire a 18th level mage to be the power for the ship.

What 18th level mage has nothing better to do than sit comatose in a brain sucking machine all day?

Hopefully they require less to power the ships. Maybe a 6th level mage does the same thing.

This was my biggest problem with the setting. It makes me wonder if it was ever playtested at all.

Gravity was also a pain.

The hippo-headed guys didn't bother me, just didn't use them. I wonder if psionics will get much treatment. In a setting featuring mind flayers, it probably should.

 

[JDeMobray]

Meh.

M.

E.

H.

Meh.

 

[Terraism]

You know, I've always loved Giff... though I never played in SpellJammer, just a look at them in the 2nd Edition MM tickled my fancy - they're just so darned cool! Lawful Neutral mercenaries for hire with a love for gunpowder... for those of you who've read the Fiest books, Boldar Blood - the mercenary in the Hall - has always been, to me, the epitome of what a Giff is like. (Yes, I know that he's 'human', but the whole attitude, demeanor, and appearance - a walking armory - has always just made me think of the Giff.) Now, I know I can always throw them back in, but I'm just sad that they're not going to be there... Goofy??? Seriously, c'mon. Gnolls are giant hyena-men, but they're fine. But the idea of a hippo-guy walking around in the infinite multiverse is GOOFY??? Grr....

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Well I don't really have a problem with Giant Space Hamsters, they were an invention of the gnomes after all. But trying to pass a giff off as a really good professional mercenary doesn't work at all based on their silly appearance, it doesn't make them intimidating at all.

 

[Wolf72]

I've never thought of hippos as goofy looking ... after watching Congo and the discovery channel they kinda scare me ...

they're more viscious than crocks! ...

I liked the hamsters, they were superb comic relief.

I kinda liked the Giff too.

 

[thundershot]

N... no GIFF?????

<moment of silence>

No... I can't accept that! Giff and Giant Space Hamsters are part of the FUN of Spelljammer... Purposefully stripping away stuff like that would be a major problem, alienating the people who DO like that aspect. It'd be SO much easier to just make a nice "D&D Adventures in Space" hardcover, and incorporate whatever new feel they want it to have, and let the DM decide which aspects he wants and doesn't want. By going out of your way to limit what I consider the "good parts"... it just sounds like a comic book writer completely changing a title to suit his own needs.

Granted, we haven't seen it yet... and at least the Giff is on the official Spelljammer page... <wink wink>


Chris