NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hatmatter" data-source="post: 8421319" data-attributes="member: 75077">Wow, that would be a real shame. The 5th edition era interviews with designers on DragonTalk from say about 2012 on have evinced a respect for the legacy of D&D worlds, monsters, and lore. To attempt to do Spelljammer but "cut and" replace "the phlogiston and crystal sphere business" would not only be a shame to me personally, but inconsistent with what I have heard from how the game's designers attempt to walk the line of iterating in ways that make improvements for a new generation and yet remain respectful for the legacy of the game. I have heard this from Mike Mearls and Crawford and Rodney Thompson once they switched from 4th edition world building to a the D&D Next approach around 2012, and I hear it from Chris Perkins and James Wyatt right up to today. For example, one can listen to how Wyatt geeks out about the AD&D 1st edition dragon turtle in the most recent DragonTalk. Hearing Jeremy Crawford's excitement as he discussed with Keith Baker how to make the 5th edition of Eberron more consistent with D&D cosmology -- complete with crystal sphere -- back in 2019 is another example.Certainly the D&D team changes or alters some core elements frequently. The Ravenloft book not only altered most of the Dark Lords, but effectively made all of the Domains of Dread islands in the Mists, whereas my 2nd edition box set has a map showing how most (but not all) have a geography linking them. But, I understand the reason they made this change and it enables them to focus on a particular theme and style of role-play that the original Ravenloft campaign was also going for. Frankly, I think the new book did it better. It is a fantastic example of keeping the spirit and yet making changes that amount to improvements.Now, I have observed how "Planejammer" has become a thing here in the last few years, but to me it is unnecessary to eliminate the Spelljammer cosmology of the Material Plane. I could understand a single anthology-style adventure collection that is multiverse-themed and includes both spelljamming through the Material Plane, crossing into different crystal spheres, and yet also includes plane traveling with Planescape factions, but to rewrite the cosmology itself to combine the two seems both unnecessary and inconsistent with how the current designers approach the game, which is to be innovative while balancing a sort of shepherding approach to legacy.I like the "phlogiston and crystal sphere business" quite a bit. I have run many a game in that cosmology and from the day the first box set came out, I found Spelljammer to be a refreshing and innovative addition to D&D.</blockquote>

Verification