Spelljammer...just wow

[Razz]

So I've been going through some Spelljammer books I bought as PDFs and bought through Ebay and been going through them and I just wondered to myself this:

This setting is pure awesome. Why didn't it do well?!

I have to say one thing about Spelljammer. There're many reasons I think it's such a great setting, but one of the things I must point out is its myriad of creatures.

I'm reading through the Spelljammer Monstrous Compendium and the creatures in other Spelljammer books and I say to myself "Wow!" It's absolutely stellar! (no pun intended) The creatures in this book are just inspiring. Sure, some of it was goofy (giant space hamster anyone?) but you'll always have a goof monster in any book. And that's actually just fine.

Again, why didn't it do so well? I'd really like to run a 3E Spelljammer setting but all I got is that Polyhedron issue which has a bare minimum conversion to 3E Spelljammer. I also don't believe I can do the campaign any justice without conversions of those Spelljammer monsters, either.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Just speaking for myself, I disliked having Spelljammer forced down my throat as a gamer -- look at the secret toy surprise at the bottom of the Ruins of Greyhawk -- and rejected it out of resentment.

If some of the goofiness was gone (I'm not impressed by having a common race's name spelled backwards and pretending it's not the case), I'd be interested in it. I was pretty interested in the (somewhat reviled, I gather) Spelljammer Polyhedron setting as a result.

 

[MerricB]

It had Giant Space Hamsters. They're the only thing I like about the setting, because the demonstrate how stupid it was.

More to the point, Spelljammer really had a problem of a Grand Unified Theory to get all of the D&D worlds together... and they really shouldn't be.

Cheers!

 

[Doug McCrae]

Maybe it was too far removed from Tolkienesque D&D.

 

[Razz]

I always thought it was awesome to have a Fantasy/Star Trek/Star Wars mix for D&D. It's new and creative. I never got a chance to get into it back in 2E, but I just have to give my opinion on it and I think it could've done very well.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

A lot of folks found to goof to be too much for them to handle, which caused me to point and laugh at them... Others found the mixing of settings to rub them the wrong way (a similar complaint was sometimes levelled at Planescape). Still others disliked the ship to ship combat mechanics.

I have to admit, that I was pretty thrilled with all of the above, and just adore Spelljammer. Of course, the setting glut that helped to kill TSR was brought about partly by Spelljammer, which makes me sad... Sometimes you just can't win for losing.

If you go to The official spelljammer website You can find all kinds of goodies, including (probably, its been a while since I've been there) links to 3e conversions to greap heaping piles of the Spelljammer critters.

Later
silver

 

[MojoGM]

I was always a huge fan of Spelljammer. Hell, my longest running campaign was a SJ game with 2 core players (and occasional "guest stars") that lasted something like 5 years of almost weekly play.

And as far as the elements that I deemed "silly", I just ignored them. No space hamsters in my game. I never understood the hatred of the Giff though, british bipedal hippos are no more silly than any other anthropomorphic animals D&D has.

That is one setting I really hope they revisit in this DI that they're working on...

 

[Erik Mona]

Spelljammer's biggest problem was that it was presented as a way to tie together the "Big Three" (Greyhawk, Dragonlance, and the Forgotten Realms) rather than as a setting in its own right. Some of this was ameliorated later on, but the damage was done.

If an ounce of the art direction and flavor they later gave Planescape had been applied to Spelljammer, it probably would have done a lot better. There is a LOT to like there, and some of the critters from those MC appendices are great.

But fans of the Big Three saw it as a goofy imposition on their worlds (which it was), and they rebelled.

--Erik

 

[DragonBelow]

it was awesome, it's like Pirates of the Caribbean but in space, plus Mind Flayers, Drow, Beholders, Neogi, and firearms!

If you didn't like SpellJammer it was very easy to ignore, since "core" setting material seldom included any SJ references.

Regarding the Unifying theory, that's baloney, some Crystal Spheres, such as Krynnspace, were isolated for all practical purposes, however, if you as a DM wanted to open it, then so be it.

 

[Pants]

Spelljammer's biggest problem was that it was presented as a way to tie together the "Big Three" (Greyhawk, Dragonlance, and the Forgotten Realms) rather than as a setting in its own right. Some of this was ameliorated later on, but the damage was done.

QFT

Get your damn Spelljammer outta my Greyhawk/FR!

I, at least, would've been much more receptive to the SJ concept if SJ stuff wasn't constantly popping up in GH or FR source material. I know that I can change it and ignore it if I want to, but I'm being irrational and the way the SJ stuff was just thrown willy nilly into different settings annoyed the hell out of me.

If I wanna play in a wacky space-D&D with anthropomorphic british hippos, flying trees, and giant space hamsters, I'll decide that when I start up a new campaign.