Spring's D&D Release Will Be Ship-Themed

So they talked about it a little bit on today's Fireside Chat. They mentioned that the full reveal are coming at a later date, but it will be a ship based product. It's almost done, but cover and title are not yet finalized.

Not much else was mentioned except some joke titles!

Not too surprising, given the UA, the upcoming seafaring comic book, the ship mini set, etc.

 

[guachi]

I'm all for a better focused rules supplement.

I realized a few days ago I rated two D&D supplements lower because they seemed like a grab bag of ideas.

Give me a book with a tight focus.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I don't agree, Samurai and Ninja shouldn't be subclasses but base classes, and better with ki maneuvers as the martial adepts from Tome of Battle: Book of nine Swords. And there are other names like bushi or shinobi as options. Or they could be archetypes like in Pathfinder, showing an optional list of class features.

* If there are pirates with guns and gunpowder... then we will see a fight about balance of power between armors, magic, guns and savages. Guns can be fun if only be can be used by PCs, but if the PCs are ewoks or na'vis living in a primitive culture then the arrival of pirates or conquerers with firearms may be a true nightmare. Somebody could create low level spells to water gunpowder or create ectoplasm to block canons, or hand-to-hand fight classes would look for some bulletproof defense, for example lycantrophy curse.

 

[Demetrios1453]

The more I think about it, the statement that there won't be Spelljammer this year seems to be, if not meant to be purposely misleading, then a real missed opportunity with this product (if it what we are all assuming it will be, of course). If you're going to publish a book that details ship statistics and how to run ship-to-ship combat, sparing a few pages for a chapter on how to run ships in the air and ships in space would seem to be a logical next step, especially since it's known that there's some interest for it - probably not enough interest for a whole book, but enough for at least part of a book? I, for one, would have zero issues with using space in this sort of book to give us some coverage for airships and Spelljammer vessels (and a basic run-down of associated lore). It wouldn't need to take up too much room (maybe 20 pages in a likely 200+ page book?), and would make for a much more varied bestiary at the very least! Does anyone know the exact quote concerning Spelljammer? Was it that there would be no Spelljammer material at all this year, or that there wouldn't be a dedicated Spelljammer product this year?

And I'm guessing that the non-European flavored coverage will be East Asian inspired, as it's a perennial favorite in pretty much every edition.

 

[Ash Mantle]

The more I think about it, the statement that there won't be Spelljammer this year seems to be, if not meant to be purposely misleading, then a real missed opportunity with this product (if it what we are all assuming it will be, of course). If you're going to publish a book that details ship statistics and how to run ship-to-ship combat, sparing a few pages for a chapter on how to run ships in the air and ships in space would seem to be a logical next step, especially since it's known that there's some interest for it - probably not enough interest for a whole book, but enough for at least part of a book? I, for one, would have zero issues with using space in this sort of book to give us some coverage for airships and Spelljammer vessels (and a basic run-down of associated lore). It wouldn't need to take up too much room, and would make for a much more varied bestiary at the very least! Does anyone know the exact quote concerning Spelljammer? Was it that there would be no Spelljammer material at all this year, or that there wouldn't be a dedicated Spelljammer product this year?

To my mind, this book could be a testing ground for a new product further down the track, sorta like how I feel the mechanics in Guildmasters' Guide for Ravnica (especially the guild mechanics) is a test for an eventual Planescape or Eberron supplement.
If they keep Spelljammer to a different product, they could keep to a tighter and more focused theme with this product.

 

[Demetrios1453]

To my mind, this book could be a testing ground for a new product further down the track, sorta like how I feel the mechanics in Guildmasters' Guide for Ravnica (especially the guild mechanics) is a test for an eventual Planescape or Eberron supplement.
If they keep Spelljammer to a different product, they could keep to a tighter and more focused theme with this product.

True - and I definitely agree that the base chassis of Ravnica's Guilds would port to Planescape's Factions with very little change necessary - but then again having a dedicated Spelljammer product would mean either forcing players and DMs to refer back to this upcoming book for ship-related information such as stats and combat (and a tenet of 5e is not to force people to reference anything out side the core three rulebooks), or reprinting a whole bunch of that sort of material in the Spelljammer book (which would waste a bunch of space and annoy people who dislike reprints). It's all speculation at the moment - we really need to see what all will be covered in this upcoming book. If it is a lot and it merits not releasing some space for Spelljammer, then sure, no problem; but if we get some obvious filler, then I might complain the space could have been better utilized...

 

[Parmandur]

I think the Spelljammer thing is a long game by Stewart: generate buzz for Selljammer by talking about it, so that a case can be made to bring it eventually.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

As a big Jack Aubrey fan, I hope they give ample attention to the actual nuts and bolts of running a ship.

This is perhaps an overlooked point. "Ships" doesn't have to mean "Pirates". Their is a whole sub-genre of navel adventure stories set during the age of sail which can serve as inspiration for a more serious* nautical campaign.


*Pirates, although the reality was grim, have long been associated with light-hearted adventure, since long before Jack Sparrow came along. See Treasure Island (1883) and Peter Pan (1904).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Pulp pastiche, genres were never disputed or introduced in my original thread nor does it influence my original opinion. It still doesn't feel D&D to me which is all I was trying to say. It feels more like its own genre to me.

Then you are playing D&D in a way that diverts significantly from much of the literature that inspired it. This is provable: Look at the original appendix N in the 1st edition DMG.

That's fine, you can play D&D any way you like.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

This next book screams supplement, not adventure, to me. It'll probably have ALL (tm) of the nautical rules. What exactly that will involve...I don't know. Will there be new races, backgrounds, subclasses, or feats? Maybe? If this were an older edition, it would definitely include all of these things. There will probably be monsters though, that will fill half a book!

Why can't it be both, like they did with Dragon Heist? Half the book or so about the ships and combat and sea monsters and half low-level adventures aboard ship.

 

[Ash Mantle]

True - and I definitely agree that the base chassis of Ravnica's Guilds would port to Planescape's Factions with very little change necessary - but then again having a dedicated Spelljammer product would mean either forcing players and DMs to refer back to this upcoming book for ship-related information such as stats and combat (and a tenet of 5e is not to force people to reference anything out side the core three rulebooks), or reprinting a whole bunch of that sort of material in the Spelljammer book (which would waste a bunch of space and annoy people who dislike reprints). It's all speculation at the moment - we really need to see what all will be covered in this upcoming book. If it is a lot and it merits not releasing some space for Spelljammer, then sure, no problem; but if we get some obvious filler, then I might complain the space could have been better utilized...

Yeah, though unfortunately WotC does have a habit of reprinting prior material, especially in supplementation to their core rule books +1 rule. But you're definitely right, it's all currently speculation, hopefully we're get a ToC soon to get an idea of what'll be included; WotC has succeeded in generating talk about their upcoming products at least.

And no pun intended?

Why can't it be both, like they did with Dragon Heist? Half the book or so about the ships and combat and sea monsters and half low-level adventures aboard ship.

In Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica they included a short 1st level adventure called Krenko's Way. They could probably do something similar with the upcoming "Are You On a Boat" book.