Spelljammer...just wow

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The backdrop of the other campaigns should have been kept as a secondary focus, the way Planescape did; as it is, I think PS learned from a lot of SJ's mistakes. Sigil was a lot more cohesive than the Rock of Bral (particularly since the Rock could only be in one sphere, and you were constantly journeying to new ones), the monsters were more alien and less weird, and the setting just had its own feel. SJ didn't have those things...and that was a loss that it never truly overcame.

If they were to release a single standalone Spelljammer book that worked this way for 3E, I'd buy it.

 

[RedFox]

A paragraph of "how to use this material in Campaign Setting X" isn't really comparable to "surprise! The lich's treasure is ... THIS SHINY NEW SPELLJAMMER!"

I don't think TSR understood how much their customer base was uninterested in having their peas and carrots mixed together. I get the distinct impression that they were trying to sell a complete, holistic game setting where everything was interconnected... Witness stuff like this, Ravenloft's intrusive mists, Planescape, and the Monstrous Compendiums binder dealie.

A more aware TSR probably would have put in some "normal" Greyhawk finale, and had a "Hey, if you're using Spelljammer and interested in taking your game to the stars, consider throwing a spelljammer ship here as the players' ultimate prize," sidebar.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

Reading this thread, I can't help but wonder if any of those who disliked Spelljammer for reasons aside from it being "D&D in space" happened to like Dragonstar - I haven't seen that 3E setting mentioned here yet...

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/dragonstar.html

I thought the premise of Dragons ruling the galaxy was actually pretty cool;and perhaps more more plausable than bipedal Hippos and other such fluffiness that I could never take seriously enough to let myself get pulled into.

 

[GreatLemur]

Bizarre and innovative new settings were by far the coolest thing about Second Edition: Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Planescape, and (most of all!) Spelljammer filled me with an enthusiasm for the game, and for the profoundly awesome possibilities in fantasy settings that veer far away from Tolkien and company. The goofy bits of Spelljammer never really loomed very large for me: I could very easily forget about the giant space hamsters and the giff while reading about giant, biological space ships (before the Tyranids!) and giant undead insects with living pilots inside. I wouldn't really call it the perfect canon meta-setting--that's definitely got to be Planescape--but I'd really, really love to get to actually play it some day.

 

[Glyfair]

Get your damn Spelljammer outta my Greyhawk/FR!

I'd like to say this is why I disliked Spelljammer. I really dislike the "let's force all the settings to interact" paradigm that Spelljammer and Planescape put into the group consciousness about the same time. Now a group of fans feel every official campaign setting has to be tied to these meta-settings.

I'd like to say that, but it wouldn't be true. I disliked Spelljammer before this started to be pushed. I don't know what I was hoping for when I picked up the campaign setting*, but it wasn't what I got. Everything seemed forced to me, especially the helms that really felt forced to me. I got goofy from the setting and not cool.

* I think I was hoping for a more pulpish Space 1889 type setting (odd that I never picked up Space 1889). Maybe I was hoping to see how TSR made it work, and was disappointed that they didn't (at least for me).

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Spelljammer had some neat ideas, but did a few things I didn't quite like too.

I didn't really like the flammable phlogiston and how every solar system was inside a crystal sphere. If they made all these efforts to have earth, water, fire and air worlds that could be spherical or cube-shaped or flat or other things that violated modern day physics, than they should have gave variety to how different solar systems were arranged. They should have had it so that some regions of space functioned differently from others. Crystal spheres and the phlogiston in some places, open space in others, seas and rivers of 'dark matter' in some places, and other ideas.

I didn't like the Rock of Bral being the "drop in Greyspace, Krynnspace or Realmspace". Yes I would have actually liked more of a disconnect from those settings. I think they eventually came up with another solar system for Bral.

Now on the other hand I liked many of the monsters from SJ, old and new. The Illithid Empire, Neogi, Beholder Nations were all neat ideas. And I even liked other things like the K'rrr, the backstory on the mysterious Juna (I thought they were so neat I wrote an article linking them to the Tiraphegs and Synads), the arcanes/mercanes, and even the Ziggy Stardust (or whatever)-inspired Reigar. Now I think that Giff are sort of goofy being hippo-men, but hippos are very dangerous animals.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I loved SJ. I loved the Giff. I loved all the varieties of GSH (I had an un-named Gnome Ranger who rode one named Mithril...).

However, I fully understand how it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.

Ditto DarkSun, Planescape, Maztica, Dragonlance, Oriental Adventures and Ravenloft. All of which sit upon my shelves.

Were they to announce a full hardcover 3.x version of SJ was to be published, I'd put it on my wish list.

Ditto DarkSun, Planescape & Maztica.

 

[Infernal Teddy]

I liked the Cool Stuff in Spelljammer. The chance to travel form one world to the next, the classical cosmology, the hint of the unhuman empires, the fact that Orcs got to be dangerous for a change. Heck, I've taken the Rock of Bral and placed it in the astral for more than one Planescape game...

 

[Shemeska]

I really dislike the "let's force all the settings to interact" paradigm that Spelljammer and Planescape put into the group consciousness about the same time. Now a group of fans feel every official campaign setting has to be tied to these meta-settings.

There certainly seems to be a group of folks that disliked SJ (and PS to a degree) as metasettings, and I'm not saying that they don't have reasons for their opinions based on play style and campaign focus, but neither SJ nor PS originated the notion of the various TSR worlds being linked, they just formalized and further developed the notion in their own particular ways. Greyhawk, DL, FR etc all shared a common cosmology even starting back in 1e, well before SJ came up with its notions, and before PS expanded upon and fleshed out the planes.

 

[Baby Samurai]

For the record, I totally dig Spelljammer.

It really breathed a lot of flavour into certain creatures, notably Elves, Gnomes, Beholders, Illithids and Umberhulks.

And that hammerhead ship was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen.

And for people that don't want to mix it with their campaign world of choice, you could always say that the world was in a closed crystal sphere (ala Athas - Dark Sun).

I still use the 2nd edition Planescape/Spelljammer cosmology fro my D&D campaigns.