WotC What classic setting SHOULD WotC publish and why?

[Fenris-77]

Little known fact: In his home game, Elminster doesn't own a single pair of pants.

Wizards that wear pants are called Sorcerers. Pants is just the first step on the road to damnation...

 

[Paul Farquhar]

A lot of D&D is about good v. evil, so that should fit right in.

Generally, it's down to how you structure the adventure. If you are running Star Trek you are doing something story based: you are ordered by Starfleet to travel to this location at the speed of plot and try and resolve a specific problem. As opposed to Traveller, which is much more of a map based sandbox, where you haul cargoes between worlds, running into trouble as you go along.

Spelljammer is D&D with SF trappings. The stars are literally just lights paint on the inside of a crystal sphere--or flames carried around by giant creatures walking around on the inside of the sphere. It's pure fantasy. You can totally ignore all sorts of real physics there.

It's SF if SF had been written before the 19th century. I would really describe it as high fantasy.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Generally, it's down to how you structure the adventure. If you are running Star Trek you are doing something story based: you are ordered by Starfleet to travel to this location at the speed of plot and try and resolve a specific problem. As opposed to Traveller, which is much more of a map based sandbox, where you haul cargoes between worlds, running into trouble as you go along.

It's SF if SF had been written before the 19th century. I would really describe it as high fantasy.

traveller would not work as well given that it is a quicksand pit, spelljammer lacks faction that player just sort of want to join.

that is my point it is not sci-fi fantasy it is just hyper-scale high fantasy which is a niche market.

 

[hopeless]

The more this goes on the more i'm intrigued about a version of this Planejammer where Sigil meets Star Wars!

However given whose in charge of Sigil is it possible for her to have been imprisoned allowing another foe to assume control and begin turning the astral sea into their Galactic Empire?

Nautiloids come to mind I'm not sure who could possibly be a good enough nemesis to pull off something like this do any of you know of any possibilities if this is even possible?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

spelljammer lacks faction that player just sort of want to join

Which would be the point in merging it with Planescape.

Star Frontiers has it's various galactic empires that the players could align themselves with, and would be a better option for SF D&D IMO. Use Spelljammer to add cool ships to Planescape.

 

[Scribe]

Eberron is essentially already doing that.

While true, Eberron is out already, and is it's own thing.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

People keeping asking for Spelljammer and Planescape, but I'd rather get a 5E adaptation of the material from The Plane Above: Secrets of the Astral Sea from 4E.

View attachment 137029

It essentially reimagined the Astral Plane as a cross between Spelljammer and Planescape by having islands in the Astral Plane, some of which were divine realms and some of which were independent from the gods (or were remains of dead gods themselves), as well as various ships piloted by all manner of beings: githyanki, a new race called the quom who scoured the plane for the remains of their goddess, angels, devils, etc.

The gods also had their own Astral fleets of dominion ships that their followers used to enact their god's will through the Astral Sea. The gods of Celestia, for example, had dominion ships complete with dragon roosts meant to patrol the Astral Plane and search for those lost souls in need of aid, such as the souls of people who were supposed to end up in an Outer Plane but instead somehow got stranded on an island (with some islands having entire communities of lost souls who occasionally come under attack from githyanki, devils, servants of evil gods, or even wandering aberrations or demons).

View attachment 137030
Adventures in the Astral Sea include searching for lost islands and ships, fighting off pirates, dealing with the unusual locals of various Astral communities, and searching the remnants of former divine realms fallen into ruin (such as the White Desert of Shom, formerly under control of the goddess Ioun) for lost treasures and forgotten knowledge.

It also seems like it would be trivial to inject more aspects of Planescape and Spelljammer into this take on the Astral Plane. One could keep the Outer Planes separate, but have islands that have somehow "broken off" from various Outer Planes drifting throughout the Astral. 4E also had a similar locale in the Elemental Chaos (which technically is still mentioned in the 5E DMG but never brought-up elsewhere), so it wouldn't be hard to also incorporate locations from 4E's take on the Elemental Chaos as shards of the Elemental Planes that have ended up in the Astral somehow.

EDIT: I found a list of locations in the Astral Sea from official 4E publications. I thought I'd share some of the most interesting (IMO) ones:

• The Cloud Court: A stepped pyramid formed from solid clouds where the emperor of the couatl reigns.
• The Constellation of Eyes: This strange astral dominion, a sphere of reflective crystal orbited by countless massive, curved mirrors, is home of the nerras, a bizarre race that can see and move through mirrors.
• Kalandurren, the Darkened Pillars: Once a peaceful, well-ordered domain of shining castles and noble warriors, Kalandurren is now a ruined landscape where dark powers squabble over the choicest plunder. The Doomguard controls a stronghold here called Citadel Exalhus.
• Mutas: A free city inhabited by mortals. Its metal buildings ring the inside of a sunken structure that drops into the dim depths of the Astral Sea. According to legend, Mutas formed from a drinking goblet the god Moradin once tossed into the Astral Sea after hearing news that disgusted him.
• The Tower of Law: A bastion of the Mercykillers.
• The White Desert of Shom: A desert dominion of the mysterious race known as the Illumians who have passed into myth. Great sphinxes safeguard the domain, and the ruined City of Philosophers contains darkened vaults of lore lit only by the glowing runes that encircle the heads of Illumian mummies.
• Worldships: Pieces of a ruined divine dominion rebuilt into ships by a race known as the Quom. They search the Astral Sea for more pieces of their ancestral home so that it can one day be restored.

Seconded.

 

[Rikka66]

spelljammer lacks faction that player just sort of want to join.

Purely my own experience here, but my players, especially the new ones, are not interested in joining factions.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Purely my own experience here, but my players, especially the new ones, are not interested in joining factions.

The point was, having the players be part of a faction helps to give them direction. Without that, well, space is very very big and very very empty!

Traveller deals with this by having, in effect, a procedurally generated universe.

 

[Mind of tempest]

The point was, having the players be part of a faction helps to give them direction. Without that, well, space is very very big and very very empty!

Traveller deals with this by having, in effect, a procedurally generated universe.

or you can just make it smaller.

Purely my own experience here, but my players, especially the new ones, are not interested in joining factions.

player love factions but mostly to beat them up for things as beating up people who want to take things away from you is enjoyable.
and sci-fi lets you have a lot more easy to code ideological enemies.