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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JustinA" data-source="post: 3509574" data-attributes="member: 51618">So people who like Spelljammer are creative geniuses and people who dislike Spelljammer are narrow-minded?Wow.Just... wow.Anyway, my thoughts on the subject:1. The core concept of Spelljammer was great. I can see how sailing the phlogiston seas between the crystal spheres wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, but it's a perfectly valid fantasy concept (and one I find pretty cool). I was always fascinated with the potential of the setting, although I was routinely frustrated by the execution.2. I had no problm with the Spelljamer setting saying, "And among these crystal spheres are Toril, Oerth, and Krynn." Heck, the whole point of the setting was that you could put just about anything you wanted to into a crystal sphere: You want Middle Earth? It's there. You want historical medieval England? Medieval earth can be in there. You want Ego the Planet? It can be in there.But I didn't like it when SJ material showed up in FR, GH, or DL material. (And contrary to some claims, it showed up a lot during the timeframe hat SJ was being meaningfully supported by TSR.)The difference is that, if I'm playing SJ, I'm intrinsically accepted the premise that the crystal spheres hold anything that I want them to hold. The idea of Toril, Oerth, and Krynn being in the crystal spheres is right in line with the premise of the setting. If I don't like it for some reason, I can always change it -- but the suggestion doesn't offend my sensibilities.On the other hand, if I'm playing FR, GH, or DL I haven't accepted the premise that these worlds are located inside of crystal spheres and are routinely visited by spelljamming craft. In fact, I may have a long-running campaign where this is intrinsically NOT the case. So having the SJ references crop up in those products feels like I'm getting something crammed down my throat.(Personally, I always considered the Toril, Oerth, and Krynn that could be found in SJ to be copies of the "true" Toril, Oerth, and Krynn. The "real" Toril and Oerth, for example, are pat of the Great Wheel -- always have been, always will be. Similarly I would consider an SJ-version of Middle Earth stuck in a crystal sphere to be nifty, but hardly the "true" Middle Earth.)3. The goofiness really kills the setting for me. It's not that I expect my D&D campaigns to be completely serious affairs -- but I do like to have a setting which at least allows me to suspend my disbelief. And the problem is that, if I were to start an SJ campaign with the goofiness stripped out of it, I would first have to overcome the expectation of other people coming to the game that the goofiness was not going to be part of it.This can be done, but it's not trivial. I have enough difficulty making new players understand that there are no halflings or gnomes in my campaign world (a change I made because I wanted to limit the number of humanoids running around). Major stylistic shifts are far more difficult.Justin Alexander<a href="http://www.thealexandrian.net" target="_blank">http://www.thealexandrian.net</a></blockquote>

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