Spelljammer Is it just me or does Radiant Citadel seem more like a fleshed out Setting, then Spelljammer?

[Paul Farquhar]

To be fair it was a setting composed of multiple infinite spaces. It does present challenges in how to present the material

So they largely ignored the multiple infinite spaces and focused on a single city.

It worked, but it didn't do what is said on the box.

 

[Ath-kethin]

That's explicitly not the case with the current edition according to SJ's designers.

Well, that's weird. How is space a setting?

But I guess I'll find out in a few months.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Planescape.

I guess that's proof that deviating from the subject matter doesn't always end badly, but Planescape had a real challenge as @Malmuria says, because it needed to find a way to make the Planes "game-able", which required establishing a "safe zone" or "base area" in some detail. It's just that because that was new and interesting, it was more interesting than the Planes themselves, which, even by 1994, were pretty dull for the most part (PS did what it could for them, but 3E went back to making them an utter snooze).

 

[Ruin Explorer]

How is space a setting?

Is this question facetious lol?

Space has been a setting for over a hundred years now. Space is unarguably a setting, given how many movies, TV shows, and books are set there.

 

[Weiley31]

Also: Radiant Citadel is like, new new, in dnd lore. We've had the Ethereal Plane for a long while already, we just didn't know it had one heck of a tourist destination pit stop within it until now. The other well-known tourist destination pit stop was Sigil. And it has about, what, 15 different regions within it or something?
Fully describing Spelljammer would end up turning the box set into a $169.99 product probably. Then everybody would be complaining about that. Which is already happening with its $69.99 price tag. (I mean, part of me is actually surprised it didn't get that kind of price tag. But that's what Beadle and Grimm is all for probably in one of their fancier editions.*

 

[Lyxen]

To be fair it was a setting composed of multiple infinite spaces. It does present challenges in how to present the material

Exactly. It's as infinite as Planescape (uncountable infinite universes), and the choice of having Sigil as a "manageable hub" makes exactly the same sense as the Radiant Citadel for the Ethereal (although it has admittedly a smaller scope) and as the Rock of Bral for Spelljammer.

After that, some people (and our groups in particular) absolutely love a good city-based adventure, no wonder that we spent half of ToA in Port Nyanzaru or the same in Baldur's Gate (and the same with Sigil years ago in Planescape).

So I think it's a good choice, one that makes sense.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Fully describing Spelljammer would end up turning the box set into a $169.99 product probably.

Why would it?

Currently they're devoting, what, 64 pages minus however much it takes to introduce new races, mechanics, etc. to the setting? Eberron: Rising from the Last War, in 2019, cost $50 and was 320 pages, so minus 64x2 = minus 128 for the bestiary and adventure would leave you with 192 pages to describe the setting and mechanics.

Inflation since 2019 is below 10% (even though it's been wild), so at most you'd expect to pay $55.

Instead we're supposed to pay $70 for a fraction as much material.

Again though, the price is something of a red herring - albeit $169.99 is a particularly ludicrous red herring, how many pages is that for, 1000? It don't know if even in 2E there were 1000 pages of setting material for Spelljammer. I doubt there were 400 even (setting material, not adventures).

The point is trying to cram an entire setting into "less than 64 pages" (esp. as it might be a lot less) is tough, and totally unnecessary, given that they're charging more than a 320-page book for 192 pages, and devoting only 1/3rd of them to a mix of setting and mechanics. Again, if, as in 2E, 64 minus pages was "only the beginning" of support for the setting, it wouldn't be a huge deal - but more likely this is the end of actual significant setting support for this setting for 10-20 years. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a more thorough treatment when a setting is covered that rarely.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Well, that's weird. How is space a setting?

 

[Vaalingrade]

Well, that's weird. How is space a setting?

But I guess I'll find out in a few months.

Because it's the Final Frontier, where no one can hear you scream, where only a few flimsy artificial defenses protect you from the void of existence, the vastness that both contained everything, but is also infinitely empty, forcing us to question out place in creation and the oneness of all living things against the hostility of our home.

 

[Nikosandros]

Is it just me or does it make more sense to compare things after they've released and we've read them?

Nope. We don't do facts here on the Internet.