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

[Parmandur]

Whether they are separate books or combined I imagine they will be watered down. That is "The Way," for 5e. I just think you could get some interesting cross pollination with one book that you are unlikely with two.

Not watered down, but rather focused: Ravnica was focused on providing weird urban fantasy genre material, Eberron was focused on providing pulp adventure material in a post-WWI like environment, Theros was focused on Hellenic Myth genre material, Ravenloft was focused on Gothic Horror genre material, and Strixhaven was hyperfocused on magical school genre material.

Spelljammer and Planescape represent completely different genres: space opera and weird fiction. I am down to mix them in general terms, but they belong in different books to allow for genre focus.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

Sure, but why couldn't one book talk about both? I personally think both could existing and interact, but I am not sure how you would do that in one book. I would personally like a planejammer book (in fact that is basically what I will do regardless of what we get), but the closer we get to the book / product I have the feeling it will be a solely (at least mostly) Spelljammer book.

I can't speak to Spelljammer, as I'm only passingly familiar with it, but any would-be Planescape book would need cover Sigil and the Factions, and then also serve as a Manual of the Planes for the Great Wheel cosmology, on top of all of the other standard setting book bells and whistles (character options, monsters, etc.). That's more than enough for a standard 5e hardcover on its own.

Trying to then cram Spelljammer, which I can only assume has a comparable amount of "necessary" material, into the same book would result in either an enormous, 500+ page tome (not necessarily against it, but I don't see WotC going so far outside their typical page count range when they could simply split it into two books) or in a standard sized one that doesn't have enough room to do either setting justice.

I can definitely see some thematic crossover between Spelljammer and some of the denizens of the Astral Plane (Githyanki pirates, etc.), which is probably why the "Astral Sea" was a thing in 4e's World Axis cosmology, and I wouldn't be averse to allowing some transit between the two, by any means.

But Planescape proper is rooted in Sigil and the Great Wheel, and while travel via the Astral is one possible route of traversing the planes, it is far from the only one - the Rivers Styx and Oceanus, the World Ash Yggdrasil, the Infinite Staircase, the Gate-Towns of the Outlands, any and every kind of portal, etc. "Spelljammers in the Astral Sea" can be a part of that, but I don't think it should be turned into the primary focus from the Planescape side of things.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

What will change? Well, it's 5e ... so ....

Moar spells ...
Less jammin'.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The rock of Bral may the deffault city where to start adventures in Spelljammer, but maybe it is now a demiplaned, a rebuild of the original after this was evacuated by fault of an plague of alien monsters (and everybody suspects about the Vodoni empire, but enough proofs weren't found).

Space opera mixed with pirates&swashbucklers. Why not any short animated video to promote the franchise?

 

[Parmandur]

I can't speak to Spelljammer, as I'm only passingly familiar with it, but any would-be Planescape book would need cover Sigil and the Factions, and then also serve as a Manual of the Planes for the Great Wheel cosmology, on top of all of the other standard setting book bells and whistles (character options, monsters, etc.). That's more than enough for a standard 5e hardcover on its own.

Trying to then cram Spelljammer, which I can only assume has a comparable amount of "necessary" material, into the same book would result in either an enormous, 500+ page tome (not necessarily against it, but I don't see WotC going so far outside their typical page count range when they could simply split it into two books) or in a standard sized one that doesn't have enough room to do either setting justice.

I can definitely see some thematic crossover between Spelljammer and some of the denizens of the Astral Plane (Githyanki pirates, etc.), which is probably why the "Astral Sea" was a thing in 4e's World Axis cosmology, and I wouldn't be averse to allowing some transit between the two, by any means.

But Planescape proper is rooted in Sigil and the Great Wheel, and while travel via the Astral is one possible route of traversing the planes, it is far from the only one - the Rivers Styx and Oceanus, the World Ash Yggdrasil, the Infinite Staircase, the Gate-Towns of the Outlands, any and every kind of portal, etc. "Spelljammers in the Astral Sea" can be a part of that, but I don't think it should be turned into the primary focus from the Planescape side of things.

Yeah, Spelljammer has as much going on Plaescape on that front...and none of it has any overlap, other than the basic "you can visit another world through a porta or on a ship." Other than that, easily two product worth of completely different material.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

In the original Spelljammer, there were a ton of different ships, and they were powered in a ton of different ways, so at least adding a subtype that has something to do with Fey (if there is a Feywild in the Wildspace) wouldn't really be out of the question. From the classic "consumes your spell slots", to the "powered by psionics", to "powered by devoured souls", to "powered by Beholder lasers", "powered by space plants" and so on, "powered by fey magic" isn't really any weirder.

As a sidenote, I'm currently using some descent Spelljammer 5e stuff from DM's guild. My players never did Spelljammer back in the days, their lvl 10 party has just left Toril after getting hold of a standard jamming helm, and they are currently exploring Bral.

Now, I have a player with encyclopedic dwarf-lore knowledge and love for everything dwarven, and of course he is playing a dwarven wizard in this campaign. You know the type. And I thought he was going to have an excitement induced heart attack last Friday when he spoke to the asteroid mining companies in the dwarven district, and learned that forge helms exist and are a legit power source for jammers. This will probably sidetrack the campaign for quite a while, but hey, at least I don't have to invent a serious gold sink for the wizard player ;-)

Edit: I will simply refuse to have fey Kender on fey powered jammers invade Realmspace, no matter what's in a WotC 5e Spelljammer book!1!!

 

[Dire Bare]

Not watered down, but rather focused: Ravnica was focused on providing weird urban fantasy genre material, Eberron was focused on providing pulp adventure material in a post-WWI like environment, Theros was focused on Hellenic Myth genre material, Ravenloft was focused on Gothic Horror genre material, and Strixhaven was hyperfocused on magical school genre material.

Spelljammer and Planescape represent completely different genres: space opera and weird fiction. I am down to mix them in general terms, but they belong in different books to allow for genre focus.

I agree with your genre breakdown of Spelljammer and Planescape 99%!

But . . . blending Spelljammer "fantasy space" adventure with planar adventure is still a great idea. It just wouldn't really be Planescape. Planescape was just as much the weird planar locales as it was the weird planar factions and weird tone. We had planar adventure in D&D before Planescape, we can have it again without Planescape. And there is plenty of inspiration from fiction for the ship that travels between worlds . . . .

That said, I really do want WotC to do a true Planescape release for 5E at some point. Focused on Sigil, the factions, and all that weird fantasy goodness. I think I might go boot up "Torment" tonight, and revel in some weird fantasy nostalgia . . . .

 

[dave2008]

I can't speak to Spelljammer, as I'm only passingly familiar with it, but any would-be Planescape book would need cover Sigil and the Factions, and then also serve as a Manual of the Planes for the Great Wheel cosmology, on top of all of the other standard setting book bells and whistles (character options, monsters, etc.). That's more than enough for a standard 5e hardcover on its own.

Trying to then cram Spelljammer, which I can only assume has a comparable amount of "necessary" material, into the same book would result in either an enormous, 500+ page tome (not necessarily against it, but I don't see WotC going so far outside their typical page count range when they could simply split it into two books) or in a standard sized one that doesn't have enough room to do either setting justice.

I can definitely see some thematic crossover between Spelljammer and some of the denizens of the Astral Plane (Githyanki pirates, etc.), which is probably why the "Astral Sea" was a thing in 4e's World Axis cosmology, and I wouldn't be averse to allowing some transit between the two, by any means.

But Planescape proper is rooted in Sigil and the Great Wheel, and while travel via the Astral is one possible route of traversing the planes, it is far from the only one - the Rivers Styx and Oceanus, the World Ash Yggdrasil, the Infinite Staircase, the Gate-Towns of the Outlands, any and every kind of portal, etc. "Spelljammers in the Astral Sea" can be a part of that, but I don't think it should be turned into the primary focus from the Planescape side of things.

I guess I disagree with this viewpoint. For instance I think you could do Planescape without the great wheel (of course that is a 5e thing already) or Spelljammer without Crystal Spheres. Not to mention that there are sections to could work with both settings (like "factions). An issue is that both have a starting point and I don't see a book from WotC having two starting points. Of course, this is supposed to be one of those new formats isn't it?

 

[dave2008]

Not watered down, but rather focused: Ravnica was focused on providing weird urban fantasy genre material, Eberron was focused on providing pulp adventure material in a post-WWI like environment, Theros was focused on Hellenic Myth genre material, Ravenloft was focused on Gothic Horror genre material, and Strixhaven was hyperfocused on magical school genre material.

Spelljammer and Planescape represent completely different genres: space opera and weird fiction. I am down to mix them in general terms, but they belong in different books to allow for genre focus.

Ya, I don't get that "hyoerfocused" feel from WotC material. So I guess we will just disagree on this perspective.

 

[Dire Bare]

I guess I disagree with this viewpoint. For instance I think you could do Planescape without the great wheel (of course that is a 5e thing already) or Spelljammer without Crystal Spheres. Not to mention that there sections to could work with both sections (like "factions). The real issue is that both a starting point and I don't see a book from WotC having two starting points. Of course, this is supposed to be one of those new formats isn't it?

WotC has shown a willingness to tweak existing canon, but not more fully reimagine it. Well, not since 4E anyways. If we get Spelljammer or Planescape, I would anticipate changes on the same level as Ravenloft enjoyed.

And . . . that's what I prefer. I'm not against reimagining a classic story or franchise (love me some nu-Battlestar Galactica), but I would prefer WotC to tweak those classic settings as needed, but to not reinvent them. We'll see how things go.