Spelljammer...just wow

[Andor]

Because they're not, unless you want them to be.

The thing that makes people get upset when Spelljammer (and to some extent Planescape) are mentioned is that they explicitly say the settings are all linked.

Contrast to the now-normal 3E method of keeping all settings in their own separate unconnected cosmologies.

*Shrug* I fail to see the significance. There was no map of the crystal spheres that I can recall. If you wanted your greyhawk campaign to steer clear of the realms then it could be a thousand year trip from Greyhawk to the realms, or the route could be simply unknown. You had total control over where your players went.

Plus while Eberron has it's own setup, both Greyhawk and the Realms use the Great Wheel cosmology and so default to being linked.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Plus while Eberron has it's own setup, both Greyhawk and the Realms use the Great Wheel cosmology and so default to being linked.

via an explicitly long, difficult and uncertain journey through the darkest parts of the Plane of Shadow.

"Mr. Chekov, set course for Oerth," it is not.

 

[s.j. bagley]

'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.'
ayup.
i've always loved it, personally.

 

[Napftor]

The thing that makes people get upset when Spelljammer (and to some extent Planescape) are mentioned is that they explicitly say the settings are all linked...

*rolls eyes* Then those people (and some in this thread) need to remember that they can do whatever the frak they want with published resources. Don't want your FR in your Greyhawk? Then just don't use the phlogiston set-up (or Planescape for that matter).

I thought Spelljammer was fantastic for opening up campaigns. By having the option of taking your games into space (or bringing the SJ elements to your world), your campaign had even more possibilities. If D&D + space totally turns one off one's creativity, then I feel for them.

 

[Graf]

Spelljammer was/is awesome. As creative, really, as Dark Sun, but in a more deliberately "fun" direction.

It's confusing as to why it's got all the hate. Lots of people don't like Dragonlance but they rarely turn up to post about how it was dumb/stupid/etc.
I think there is still a drive among some gamers to insist that the hobby must be "serious". "We're saving the world!" "No fooling around!" etc. etc.
(the Spelljammer novels went this route, it was actually painful to read about this mopey protagonist wandering around)

It is, however, also one of the most challenging settings for a DM to run.

Why?
Because, usually, the players get a ship. And once they get a ship?
You can go anywhere, and do anything you want to.

So either the DM really works with the players or it gets 'rail-roady'.

As a setting it is fantastic, and you should definitely look at the Spider Moon Polyhedron. The author (Andy Collins IIRC) has more stuff on his website.

 

[Darkwolf445]

I love the setting, and have most of the hardcopy belonging to it. It was a good, swashbuckling/pirates setting where you could set up a campaign and have characters visit new worlds whenever you wanted them to. The idea of magic powering the ships (seen in other, 3.x edition book, Airships) was also really cool. It also reminded me a lot of the Space:1889 setting, what with using plants as a source for breathable air and travelling through the Ether in "normal" ships.

I also like Planescape, but find it to be a different beast. Planescape is more epic and more bizarre, at least for me.

 

[DragonBelow]

Having the ultimate reward in the Ruins of Greyhawk be a ticket to the stars was a pretty hard-to-ignore element in what was arguably TSR's flagship setting.

Was it difficult to replace such reward with something else more suited to your particular campaign?

 

[Contrarian]

Here's the thing: There are certain D&D settings that get their "hook" from totally smashing a time-honored convention of the game. (Spelljammer and Darksun are probably the most extreme examples.) When faced with a convention-smashing supplement, most people have one of two reactions: They're either inspired to the point of delirious love, or their brain shuts down completely from the shock.

That's what you're seeing here, and every other thread ever discussing Spelljammer in every forum, newsgroup, and mailing list until the end of time. The Inspired Gamers will insist Spelljammer is the greatest idea since funny-shaped dice, and the rest will insist it's the greatest crime in the history of roleplaying. There's almost never any inbetween.

(I love Spelljammer. I don't grok Darksun, but I don't waste time insulting it. For what it wanted to be, it seemed competent.)

For the record, I've talked to a few TSR guys through the years. I don't think they were putting Spelljammer references into mainstream modules because someone made them. I think a lot of them were actually fans of the lunacy.

 

[Pants]

Was it difficult to replace such reward with something else more suited to your particular campaign?

Why did it have to be there in the first place?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Was it difficult to replace such reward with something else more suited to your particular campaign?

Was it necessary for them to take the archetypal dungeon for Greyhawk and yell "PSYCHE!" at the end?