Spelljammer Spelljammer in D&D 5e Speculation: How Will the Setting Be Changed?

[HaroldTheHobbit]

I'll say what I always say, "Spelljamming in space, asteroids, planets, star systems. Then use the Atral as Hyperspace, with 'rivers', 'currents', etc for plane to plane (substitute world for plane) travel.

Done.

Thats not bad if you want a more modern sci-fi spin. I personally prefer the traditional 'jammer way with crystal spheres, phlogiston etc - it got a more archaic and magic feel that better match D&D in general, imho.

 

[overgeeked]

And there's the adventure when, after running a grim & gritty infiltration of a orc/goblinoid space startion to investigate their new planet killer weapon - you immediately follow it up with a trip to a triangular planet where you have to convince the local rainbow pegasus ponies that the purple fruits are ok to eat after all, and then steal a tentacle planet's favourite toy to give it back to the fish-constellation whose eye it is. Holy thematic whiplash, Batman!

Yeah. It’s amazing. “In space, the weirder the better.”

I imagine WotC would love to get Spelljammer up and running again as it is a perfect multimedia property. From Star Trek to Doctor Who to Rick & Morty to Adventure Time. It’s a universal adapter.

 

[overgeeked]

Because it is nonsensical on its face.

_
glass.

You say that like it’s a bad thing. Hint: it’s not a bad thing.

 

[TwoSix]

Because it is nonsensical on its face.

When you think that some coherent principles should be able to be extracted from the design of a fantasy world multiverse, you've internalized too much fantasy.

 

[glass]

You say that like it’s a bad thing. Hint: it’s not a bad thing.

It's not a good thing or a bad thing; is not (cannot be) a thing at all because it is nonsense. A contradiction. Gibberish.

_
glass.

 

[Steampunkette]

It's not a good thing or a bad thing; is not (cannot be) a thing at all because it is nonsense. A contradiction. Gibberish.

_
glass.

First things first: Magic.

Second things second: There are more dimensions to reality than we can perceive, and at this time we've gotten to a point of relative certainty that it is absolutely so. The idea that a self-contained reality would be incapable of nesting other realities because it exists within a separate outer reality is nonsensical, at best.

If planes of existence are a material reality and a segment of a plane of reality can be contained within a given structure then any number of alternate planes of existence can also be contained within the same structure so long as they can be contained at all.

Plus, like, C'mon. It's fiction with magic in it. Even if it seems contradictory it still works because that's how it's written and designed to work. suspend that disbelief!

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Because it is nonsensical on its face.

_
glass.

But it isn’t. You need to defend your claim for it to be taken seriously by anyone.

The prime material already has planes that exist inside other planes.

 

[Vaalingrade]

If I get a single sniff of 'making sense' or 'having dignity' in the Spelljammef release, I'm walking.

British hippos firing giant minitaure space hamsters at the dumbest of Lovecraft castoffs and literal ghost ships. That's what I want.

And I know that's not what the hamsters are for. That's what they're going to be for.

 

[see]

I certainly never suggested that, nor anything like that. If I had, I’d understand the reaction to my posts.

Whether you specifically suggested it, it is a common item among advocates of the "Planejammer" mash-up, much mentioned in this thread, that the phlogiston be replaced by the Astral or Ethereal -- which is to say, "every spelljammer having to engage in interplanar travel to go between systems."

 

[overgeeked]

Spelljammer is the goofy, absurd, nonsensical D&D setting. That’s what it’s for. That’s why it exists. Any less nonsense and it would be just another generic kitchen sink blandscape of a setting.

“In space, the weirder the better.”

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I have got other theory, the cristal spheres are like a barrier to keep the "sacred timeline" against the alteration of the space-time continium caused by chronomancers and time-travelers from alien worlds. Do you rebember the teleserie "Loki" in Disney+? (If it happens in the begining of the first episode it is not a spoiler) the timecop/AVT had got a special gadget, the reset charge to "fix" the alterations of the timline. Sometimes in timelines where things go really wrong, the crystal sphere is totally locked to avoid the happenings could cause troubles to other places.

 

[glass]

First things first: Magic.

Magic in D&D can do almost anything. It can even do things are in some senses inpossible. But it definitially cannot be do things that are impossible because thing in question is not actually a thing.

But it isn’t. You need to defend your claim for it to be taken seriously by anyone.

No, mutually-contradictory things not being true is the default position. If you want to say otherwise, that's on you to defend it.

The prime material already has planes that exist inside other planes.

Demiplanes are, in a sense, inside other planes. That is not the same as them being inside a crystal sphere, which was the bit of nonsense that started this whole stupid argument.

If I get a single sniff of 'making sense' or 'having dignity' in the Spelljammef release, I'm walking.

British hippos firing giant minitaure space hamsters at the dumbest of Lovecraft castoffs and literal ghost ships. That's what I want.

And I know that's not what the hamsters are for. That's what they're going to be for.

All of those make perfect sense.

_
glass.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Whether you specifically suggested it, it is a common item among advocates of the "Planejammer" mash-up, much mentioned in this thread, that the phlogiston be replaced by the Astral or Ethereal -- which is to say, "every spelljammer having to engage in interplanar travel to go between systems."

Two things.

Firstly, what other people say has nothing at all to do with me.

Second, I have seen 1 such suggestion, and it wasn't even in an argument for "planejammer", it was a reply to someone talking about whether you have to have crystal spheres and wildspace to have all the dnd worlds be on the material plane.

So, no.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Magic in D&D can do almost anything. It can even do things are in some senses inpossible. But it definitially cannot be do things that are impossible because thing in question is not actually a thing.

But it literally does things that are impossible, like creating matter from nothing.

No, mutually-contradictory things not being true is the default position. If you want to say otherwise, that's on you to defend it.

The default position is what is already established, which is that all worlds exist on the material plane, and their cosmologies are self-contained.

Demiplanes are, in a sense, inside other planes. That is not the same as them being inside a crystal sphere, which was the bit of nonsense that started this whole stupid argument.

Irrelevant. The material plane has planes inside it. Period. You're making a non-argument based on a false premise.

 

[see]

Two things.

Firstly, what other people say has nothing at all to do with me.

Second, I have seen 1 such suggestion, and it wasn't even in an argument for "planejammer", it was a reply to someone talking about whether you have to have crystal spheres and wildspace to have all the dnd worlds be on the material plane.

Your apparent failure to understand the difference between the phrase I actually used ("as has been suggested") and the phrase I did not use ("as you suggested") is noted.

Any remaining implication that posts I make in a public thread should not ever mention things said by other people elsewhere in this thread and in similar discussions on this board is vehemently rejected.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Your apparent failure to understand the difference between the phrase I actually used ("as has been suggested") and the phrase I did not use ("as you suggested") is noted.

Ironic. You seem to have no idea how a discussion works, and are trying to talk down to me about your pedantic failure to communicate. Fantastic.

Any remaining implication that posts I make in a public thread should not ever mention things said by other people elsewhere in this thread and in similar discussions on this board is vehemently rejected.

You don’t know the difference between “never mention anything anyone else said”, and “don’t try to act like everyone on a given ‘side’ of a debate have all the same views in detail”. Noted.

 

[glass]

But it literally does things that are impossible, like creating matter from nothing.

The point that continues to fly over you head, is that some things are impossible in the real world, and somethings are impossible everywhere by definition because of the meaning of the words. "Creating matter from nothing" is an example of the former. "Creating a square that is not a rectangle" is an example of the latter. Do you see the difference now?

The default position is what is already established, which is that all worlds exist on the material plane, and their cosmologies are self-contained.

That's a big [citation needed].

Irrelevant.

You don't get to tell me that the whole source and root of my objection is irrelevant.

_
glass.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Magic in D&D can do almost anything. It can even do things are in some senses inpossible. But it definitially cannot be do things that are impossible because thing in question is not actually a thing.

No, magic by definition can only do things that are impossible. If it's not impossible it's not magic.

No, mutually-contradictory things not being true is the default position.

Try telling that to the Red Queen.

Demiplanes are, in a sense, inside other planes.

I don't see any evidence for that. Demi- means "half" or "partial", not "inside". In the D&D sense I generally take it to mean "finite", whereas full planes are infinite. Bags of Holding do not break when you cast Plane Shift whilst carrying one. The space inside is not inside the Material Plane or it would stop working.

 

[Yaarel]

Crystal spheres might be what gravity looks like from the perspective of astral-or-ethereal space.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Crystal spheres might be what gravity looks like from the perspective of astral-or-ethereal space.

That fits in with the historical origin of the concept. Crystal spheres where originally imagined in order to keep heavenly bodies in place but still able to move, before anyone knew about gravity and orbits.