Spelljammer Modules

[GlassJaw]

This also makes me want to dust off my SJ stuff - and of course run it with Trailblazer! (shameless plug )

And as FreeXenon mentioned, you can completely ignore the campy stuff. You can run Spelljammer with gnomes powering ships with giant space hamster wheels and talking hippos or with neogi and mind flayer slavers and ghost pirates. I definitely prefer Spelljammer with a darker, Firefly-esque tone.

I really liked the Rock of Bral. It's a great home base for a campaign and the poster map was awesome.

Skull & Bones and Lost Ships were also good as they provide a lot of short adventures and ideas.

 

[Wik]

Wik: Honestly man, in all seriousness... get new players! =)

If any D&D players refuse to play Spelljammer in a Fireflyesque campaign need their geek card revoked! That is full of awesome sauce!

Please tell me you are near Madison, Wisconsin! Please! Lie to me if you have too! =)

Yea, Spelljammer has some campy stuff in it, but you can completely ignore it.

Define "near".

I think one of these days I'll wear them down. I had the same complaints re: Gamma World, and it's become our #1 pickup game. So, yeah.

I think for my players, it's the science/fantasy aspect, and the space pirate ships that bug them the most. Yet they have absolutely no problem with my current campaign, which contains "otter folk", crazy gnomes, and giant bugs galore. Go fig.

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

I personally adore Spelljammer but the number one objection I get from players (especially my wife) is the altered physics. They just can't suspend disbelief for the air pockets and gravity planes and crystal spheres and generally non-science based way the universe works.

 

[Quantum]

Personally I've always enjoyed Spelljammer. My only gripe is the problem of taking the air with you. I can't remember the exact rules, but the air does not last long and you have to be carfeful to not let it run out.

 

[Krensky]

Personally I've always enjoyed Spelljammer. My only gripe is the problem of taking the air with you. I can't remember the exact rules, but the air does not last long and you have to be carfeful to not let it run out.

Four months with normal crew, and there were dozens of ways to extend it.

 

[Eridanis]

I adore Spelljammer, but I never got a chance to run it or play it. Probably my favorite 2nd edition setting. <ducks around the corner to avoid oncoming Planescape fans>

So many options, and you really can pick and choose what you want to use. You can go full-on space campaign, or flavor your ground-based campaign with the unknown.

 

[TheYeti1775]

I personally adore Spelljammer but the number one objection I get from players (especially my wife) is the altered physics. They just can't suspend disbelief for the air pockets and gravity planes and crystal spheres and generally non-science based way the universe works.

New magical effect of Helm - Anti Vacuum envelope. It simply holds via passable force walls the vacuum of space. While objects may pass through this, it's effect is much like a Mythril in that the one thing that can't pass through it is air (unless contained such as within a body).
This can explain why air grows stagnant over time and eventually bad.
Now two side effects of this could be a more deadly action if one were to 'fall overboard' and some enterprising young mage could figure a way to alter it further to prevent fires in the flow from blowing the ship to smithirens.

Personally I've always enjoyed Spelljammer. My only gripe is the problem of taking the air with you. I can't remember the exact rules, but the air does not last long and you have to be carfeful to not let it run out.

Four months with normal crew, and there were dozens of ways to extend it.

The original rules depended on ship tonage and with a full normal crew complement. I would have to look up the forumla tonight when I get home. But essentially it was something like Ship Tonnage / #crew & passengers = # of days or months
Yup there were many ways to extend the air within your ship's air envelope.
The most common was just dipping into a known plant's air and taking it in.
I know there were a few Wizard/Priest spells as well that effected it.
Along with a few magic items.

I adore Spelljammer, but I never got a chance to run it or play it. Probably my favorite 2nd edition setting. <ducks around the corner to avoid oncoming Planescape fans>

So many options, and you really can pick and choose what you want to use. You can go full-on space campaign, or flavor your ground-based campaign with the unknown.

The best part is you aren't limited to either. You can include as much of one as another.

 

[Krensky]

The original rules depended on ship tonage and with a full normal crew complement. I would have to look up the forumla tonight when I get home. But essentially it was something like Ship Tonnage / #crew & passengers = # of days or months

The original rules in the first box set were, with standard crew, four month fresh, four months fouled. There was an optional rule to re-figure time based on crew changes. The formula you're referencing was in the War Captain box set if I remember right. It might also have been in the Complete Spacefarer.

 

[David Howery]

I ran a short Spelljammer campaign (actually, more of a side trek for a group from the Realms), although I ignored most of the SJ official baddies and based my campaign around the monsters from the Predator and Alien movies. I found myself annoyed and baffled by the 'how long will your air last' rules, so the first thing I home brewed for the campaign was a magical band of metal (to fit around the mast of the ship) that had a small connection to the Elemental Plane of Air, and kept a continual low flow of air circulating in and out, thus insuring a constant supply of air and allowing me to focus on terrifying the PCs with Alien face huggers instead of worrying about how long their air would last...

 

[D'karr]

I ran a short Spelljammer campaign (actually, more of a side trek for a group from the Realms), although I ignored most of the SJ official baddies and based my campaign around the monsters from the Predator and Alien movies. I found myself annoyed and baffled by the 'how long will your air last' rules, so the first thing I home brewed for the campaign was a magical band of metal (to fit around the mast of the ship) that had a small connection to the Elemental Plane of Air, and kept a continual low flow of air circulating in and out, thus insuring a constant supply of air and allowing me to focus on terrifying the PCs with Alien face huggers instead of worrying about how long their air would last...

And when you do this, you can even have the threat of losing that "technology" be the threat for a specific adventure, and it does not become a chore. Think Apollo 13.