D20 Spelljammer

[Mojo]

I thought Spelljammer was a great setting. I ran a game using that setting for many years, and it is still to this day the best game I have ever run.

Sure, some of the concepts were a little strange, but that's why it was "fantasy space". Giant hampsters were never even mentioned in my game (never saw a need), but I did use the Giff. I never even considered them silly, as a lot of D&D monsters are some sort of animal/man combo.

I had no problems with the crystal spheres and phlogiston, a very unique idea in my opinion.

As for the spelljamming helms, I changed it right away so that any spellcaster of any level could power a ship equally, and had special helms that let psionic characters do it too.

Eventually in my game the secret of the helms was revealed, that the Arcane were using it to sap and store magical energy...for nefarious purposes.

I can never understand when people complain about "reality" when they are playing a game with giant dragons and magic casting wizards....

 

[herald]

I say, ditch the crystal spheres, ditch the tinker gnomes, and the spelljammer helms,.

But keep the Giff. If you have to change thier background fine. But the are certainly less goofy looking that what passes for an ogre these days.

And another thing I would like to see to the artist to stop using clothing ideas from periods later than the renniassance period. Victorian uniform clad characters are a no-no. Keep thoses for a victorian steam-punk game.

 

[Wolf72]

For all you Hamster Nay-sayers ...

GO FOR THE EYES BOO!!! GO FOR THE EYES!!!!!

 

[drnuncheon]

'course, with Dragonstar out, is there really a need for Spelljammer to be re-released?

Well, yeah, if you want magic starships instead of putting technology into your fantasy.

I always thought Spelljammer was a cool concept, and the people trying to bing 'real' physics and gravitiation and stuff to it were kind of missing the point. In that light, crystal spheres and phlogiston and all that kind of stuff were just fine.

Unfortunately, it had some huge problems - "OK, wizard, you power the ship and be completely useless for anything else for the rest of the day" for instance.

J

 

[IvesOpomba]

Spelljammer

I for one have to say I am terribbly disapointed with tone of the teaser for an attempt to update Spelljammer to 3E.

For all the bitching about the physics it was said up front "Throw your concepts of how the world works out the window" and you got launched into the funkiest and coolest D&D setting ever.

While the setting suffered from some awful supplments and novels, it also featured some the most creative and innovative writing for D&D ever.

THe Rock of Bral remains the best city for D&D, and finds few that compare to it in all roleplaying supplements.

So to all you giff and hamster haters out there, I thumb my nose at you while sending Scro to terroize and destroy your computer and just to doubly make sure you're removed from the net, I'm sending it to Tinker Gnome techs to 'upgrade' (hey they've got to be than Microsoft)

 

[Urbanmech]

Ok well now you have all done it. I just went and got a subscription to Dungeon because I want the Spelljammer stuff. Never mind the fact that I get other good stuff to go with it too but I love Spelljammer. So sad that I sold most of my boxed sets while I was in college. (Stupid, Stupid Urbanmech)

Sure it was wacky and kind of off the wall at times but some of the ideas that came from it were great. Ancient pyramid ships floating in the void filled with undead, the whole Unhuman wars were pretty good too. I just hope they bring back the scro (stupid name I know but cool concept.) and that the negoi and their umberhulk slaves are still there. Even if Giff and Giant Space Hamsters are not there you can always add them back. Spelljammer was all about inclusion and all out weirdness. Don't fell limited by what the magazine leaves out.

 

[Mojo]

The Rock of Bral

Yes, the Rock of Bral was a great city. I ran my campaign from there (and had it orbit Toril to add a little FR into the game).

As for the wizard being useless after 'jamming, I later added a new type of helm that stores magical energy, and that anyone can use to steer the ship. It opened more possibilities for the players and let the wizard (or an npc) charge the helm on off-days, and still have spells when combat broke out.

I may revisit Spelljammer soon, using a combo of the old stuff and whatever new stuff appeals to me. I'll probably keep the crystal spheres and phlogiston (cause I like that concept), but we'll see what they come up....

 

[olethros]

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

A friend of mine was an animal keeper at busch gardens tampa and worked with the hippos. One day he let me help feed them. Lemme tell you, those teeth are scary. That and you'd toss a honeydew melon in their mouth and they'd slam theri mouth shut with such force that melon juice would go flying in a 5 foot arc of spray.

They're also covered with a mucus called "bloodsweat" which is like a pinkish, milkish coating to keep them moist. That's the worst smelling stuff I've ever encountered...well, asides from butyric acid.

 

[Olive]

i never played spelljammer, and had some problems with the silliness of it all...

but i'm kinda interested to see what they do with it. the idea of magic powered ships isn't completely unappealing to me.

but what i am wondering is what they will do with the new planes stuff...i mean, if the only way to get from material plane to material plane is by going through the shadow, then whats the point of spelljammer?

 

[Tsyr]

Spelljammer has never really followed the normal cosmology, I fail to see why it should start now