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Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space
D&D Campaign Collection - Adventure, Setting, Monster Book, Map, and DM Screen
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2022
22 people are currently reading
185 people want to read
About the author
Wizards of the Coast
429 books429 followersWizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC /ˈwɒtˌsiː/ or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. Originally a basement-run role-playing game publisher, the company popularized the collectible card game genre with Magic: The Gathering in the mid-1990s, acquired the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game by purchasing the failing company TSR, and experienced tremendous success by publishing the licensed Pokémon Trading Card Game. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Renton, Washington in the United States.[1]
Wizards of the Coast publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received numerous awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999. All Wizards of the Coast stores were closed in 2004.
Wizards of the Coast publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received numerous awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999. All Wizards of the Coast stores were closed in 2004.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
December 23, 2022
So my favorite AD&D 2e setting was Spelljammer. I eventually picked this up but had to get the 5e core books first.
In keeping with the 5e philosophy of keeping it simple, this greatly simplifies the Spelljammer setting. Gone are the Crystal Spheres and the Phlogiston in between, replaced by Wildspace regions floating in the Astral Sea. Gone are the Xixtchil, replaced by their Thri-Kreen cousins. Gone are the Gromamm, although I don't think a ton of people played those anyway.
What we're left with still captures the Spelljammer spirit in my opinion. We still have the Rock of Bral, the Giff, and ships powered by Spelljamming helms. And Giant Fucking Space Hamsters! On the plus side, Plasmoids, Astral Elves, Hadozee, Autognomes, Thri-Kreen, and Giff are added as player character races, some of which were never playable in AD&D 2e.
I passed on reading the included adventure, hoping against hope that I'll get to play it one day instead of getting railroaded into being the Dungeon Master. The monster book was pretty cool, a mix of old favorites with some new monsters.
So does it feel like classic Spelljammer? Good enough me, I'll say. Sure, the absence of the Phlogiston and Crystal Spheres kills the idea of a woman giving birth to an entire planetary system that I had but other than that, I'm cool with the changes.
Four out of five stars.
In keeping with the 5e philosophy of keeping it simple, this greatly simplifies the Spelljammer setting. Gone are the Crystal Spheres and the Phlogiston in between, replaced by Wildspace regions floating in the Astral Sea. Gone are the Xixtchil, replaced by their Thri-Kreen cousins. Gone are the Gromamm, although I don't think a ton of people played those anyway.
What we're left with still captures the Spelljammer spirit in my opinion. We still have the Rock of Bral, the Giff, and ships powered by Spelljamming helms. And Giant Fucking Space Hamsters! On the plus side, Plasmoids, Astral Elves, Hadozee, Autognomes, Thri-Kreen, and Giff are added as player character races, some of which were never playable in AD&D 2e.
I passed on reading the included adventure, hoping against hope that I'll get to play it one day instead of getting railroaded into being the Dungeon Master. The monster book was pretty cool, a mix of old favorites with some new monsters.
So does it feel like classic Spelljammer? Good enough me, I'll say. Sure, the absence of the Phlogiston and Crystal Spheres kills the idea of a woman giving birth to an entire planetary system that I had but other than that, I'm cool with the changes.
Four out of five stars.
August 24, 2022
They massacred my boy.
Okay, that's a bit harsh. Let's break it all down.
The Good: This slip case represents a high water mark for 5e art. Ships in space is already a concept that lends itself to gorgeous illustration and Spelljammer 5e delivers. Vistas of ships on star fields, space whales crossing a nebula. It's got some breath-taking pieces here. The art direction team should be proud of what they've produced. There are a couple examples of re-using art but even that is at least re-touched rather than simply copy-and-pasted. The monster manual is nice. Each of the new ancestry options is given more background in the monster manual as well as 3 variations of varying strength. There's a good smattering of beasties to choose from though most are low-to-mid level challenges. This is ultimately fine as 5e rather falls apart at high level play which is something endemic to class-based games.
I like splitting the release into 3 distinct books. This limits annoying page flipping and gives a bit more gravitas to the release.
The Bad: Ho boy. Wizards of the Coast is already pretty slothful when it comes to their products and this wasn't a labor of love so much as it was pushed out the door as quickly and efficiently as possible to placate fans who have been wanting Spelljammer back for 30 years. There's a lot of names listed in designer roles in the credits but this product may as well have been made by an AI RPG generating program. The ancestry descriptions are largely unchanged from the playtest including wasting a full 1/4 of the Giff's blurb on a lame joke referencing the debate over how to pronounce the .gif file extension. Someone got paid for that and got to see it published in a release for the game that goes around calling itself "The World's Greatest Roleplaying Game." God is dead in the publishing world.
Let's go book-by-book. Most of the setting book is spent on the ships. You get a bunch of ship write ups (Though a full half of most write-ups is spent describing whether it will fall over if it lands on dry land) with deck plans. There is a smattering of new character options. The ancestries are ok. The backgrounds show some pretty severe power creep in that backgrounds now give out feats which I do not recall seeing before (in any case, it's certainly more powerful than any of the core backgrounds). There's a couple of new spells and items. So few that the space they take up feels excessive and padded. There's precious little actual fluff and there are virtually no mechanics for ship-to-ship battles. What is there is the barest of bones. Your ships are basically on a line. You can go closer or you can move further away. All of your weapons can fire at any time which conjures images of your ships pin wheeling and corkscrewing as they move to bring all the weapons to bear but the module already told us they move like age-of-sail ships so that doesn't make sense. If you're making a game about swashbuckling tropes in space the first and most obvious problem is having ship battle rules and what WotC delivered is less interesting than what they have published before and yet this is the release that most desperately needed them. The Rock of Bral is given a brief write-up but with no in-depth NPC profiles, just an attempt to cram as many brief location descriptions as they can into it with one being as short as a single sentence. The Astral map is half-finished with a systems dropped in but keeping the placeholder name "Wildspace System." Even giving them nothing more than a name would have helped to jog someone's imagination to fill in this monumental blank. Now it looks like the inhabitants of the Astral Sea just can't be bothered to look at what's there. It's a half-baked product suffering from a severe lack of interest. It doesn't look like anybody's heart was in this, just an attempt to put out the barest minimum that could be called Spelljammer so they don't have to work on it anymore.
The adventure path, Light of Xaryxis, is bad. It's a 12-part campaign meant to get groundling characters in to space. Why it needs to be so long for such a basic goal I couldn't say. It begins with your party, who are 4th level adventurers, being told by an NPC they do not know "Come with me if you want to live." Something just fell on the city they live in and the plot wants them to ignore the screams of people they presumably know and care about to follow Captain No Name (She doesn't introduce herself til the second session) to their ship. If the PCs resist this nonsensical idea and try to, I dunno, save their city or escape into the area outside the city walls, she flies by the pick them up later. Why is she so invested in the PCs? Who knows because she gets to the Rock of Bral later and unceremoniously exits the adventure path.
This is the sort of attitude taken to the entire campaign. The players are locked on to the rails and you'll do it the writer's way or no way. There is a possibility of failure (and indeed failure is the forced result for a few plot points) but there's a deus ex machina waiting in the wings to keep things going. For example, your ship is going to get disabled after a run-in with a Reigar but don't worry. A pod of space whales is planned to get you of trouble next session. You get to a wizard's tower floating in space and the Wizard is going to make you take a tour of it. Does this tower matter? Not even a little bit. But the text of the adventure makes sure you know that she's going to give you the tour whether you like it or not. The climax of the adventure is on the rails. It doesn't matter whether you support the corrupt prince or his rival sister. Both are going to order you executed if they take the throne. Worst of all, this climax comes with a shoehorned in laughable moral dilemma. You can end the threat to your planet but one of the party (or an NPC) has to sacrifice themselves and it'll destroy the bad guy's star and probably kill most people in the system. The text makes it clear that you can't just tell the defeated bad guys to beat it while you do your business, they won't move without orders and the emperor/empress won't give them. But also, who cares? Every astral elf you've met in the adventure has been a massive dick and sparing them means consigning your own planet to destruction. If they won't save themselves, that's on them at this point. One whole session is devoted to building a coalition to go fight the space elves. Does any of it matter? Nope! You are destined to lose no matter if you convince none of them or all of them. You still go through the same doomed battle plan even if you're the only ship showing up to fight an entire fleet. One of your NPCs has tried this maneuver before and lost badly. You would think he, if nothing else, would know the strength needed to carry the day and refuse to go along with a doomed attack. And because of the lack of mechanical backing to the ship-to-ship fighting, there is no room for clever strategy. The adventure path's only ship-to-ship fight ends in hopeless ridiculous defeat. Did I say, "Only?" Yep. The adventure path seems to realize that the ship-to-ship rules are bad and as such it is positively allergic to ship-to-ship fighting. At every turn the encounter is an immediate boarding action or an NPC tries to stop you from using shipboard weapons. And when you finally get to the promised Space Trafalgar, you have no chance at anything but ignoble failure.
There are several encounters that must be cameos of some sort but I don't recognize the reference. Right before the climactic fleet battle, a Githyanki appears from nowhere and gives the PCs an oil of sharpness, and then leaves. That's it. They never come back. They do nothing of pertinence to the plot. The Oil of Sharpness is not essential to the conclusion. They've appeared for no reason and then leave for no reason. Wizards of the Coast has discovered that cliffhangers are exciting ways to end a serialized piece of fiction. But their favorite way of doing a cliffhanger is to have an enemy appear and then have someone grumble the name of that enemy. Over and over and over. It happens again and again.
WotC's antipathy to editing rears its head again here. We have spells referenced in the text that do not appear in the setting book. We have unhelpful crossbook or inter-book citations. Paizo and Chaosium will give you a book name and a page number. Your lucky if the WotC editors give you a chapter to look through. It's just jaw-droppingly lazy and reinforces the idea that WotC minimizes effort to maximize profit. They just couldn't afford one final sweep to change placeholder citations to permanent ones after layout was set. That cuts in to the profit margin I guess.
Almost every time WotC puts out a book they get Polygon to write a fluff piece on how they've finally fixed insensitive material in D&D. This book has a stunning example of how disingenuous that is. There is a Reigar in the adventure path. Reigar are androgynous and this character especially seems to be leaning into a non-binary interpretation. But WotC is mum on the subject (even the monster manual entry has nothing to say on the subject except to note their androgyny and they certainly haven't made them playable). The text contorts itself to avoid ever having to refer to the character with a pronoun in ways that no other character in the book is subjected to. The monster is referred to as "The Reigar" in place of pronouns in a manner that makes it seem like an unintelligent beast rather than a thinking, reasoning person who happens to be aligned against the PC's aims. It reeks of closed room corporate decision making to avoid pissing off the grognards who'd get enraged at the 'woke' invading their fantasy game but leaving enough room for plausible deniability that yes, of course they intended that character to be non-binary, they just didn't put it in writing. In the biz this is known as 'A Dumbledore.' This at a time where Paizo prints every NPC with a gender identity and pronouns. This at a time when Chaosium rubber stamped a third party sourcebook for Runequest exploring the complexity of sex and gender identity in Glorantha. When Wizards of the Coast can be arsed to do something inclusive it is always a day late and a dollar short.
Ultimately, the adventure path has high aims of saving the world but it's so clunky and badly conceived that it beggars belief that they would devote 1/3 of the entire set to this.
The Monster Manual is fine. It does what it needs to. The only complaint is theming it after Boo is a bit odd. Boo isn't a Spelljammer character. Not really. Baldur's Gate leaves it implied that Boo is a miniature giant space hamster but that's the extent of it. Minsc and Charname never go to the Phlogiston. Minsc didn't even get him from space. He got him from a trader who, it is implied, is taking advantage of Minsc's recent head injury and resulting disorientation. It's an in-joke. So, why is this themed after Boo? It feels a lot like a decision made by marketing execs who have droves of data explaining that Boo is the most recognizable character even related to Spelljammer even if that relation is entirely tangential. And the current staff for D&D have had no problem digging up obscure old characters for these things before so it's quite odd that they went with some so pedestrian and out of place.
The GM Screen included in the set is just insulting. Almost 3/4 of the GM-side is devoted to random tables for travel. Not ship mechanics but just random tables. It would seem that the designers of 5e don't really understand what a GM screen is supposed to do. Or they just don't care. Granted, there's virtually no ship rules to actually put back there but this doesn't help the appearance that the release is threadbare. The tables themselves are a bit stunningly sparse being D100 tables with only 20-ish items each.
All in all Spelljammer's triumphant return is a whimper. There is no care or love here. It looks like a sneer at the people who've been asking for it for 30 years. "We brought Spelljammer back. Are you happy now?!" It looks like it was cobbled together by a skeleton crew while most people concentrated on the D&D live service just announced.
Luckily, almost immediately fans of Spelljammer have done what they've always done: keep the setting alive through their own blood sweat and tears. There are multiple third party 5e releases trying to fix the mess, especially with regards to ship combat. And most aren't even asking money for it.
Okay, that's a bit harsh. Let's break it all down.
The Good: This slip case represents a high water mark for 5e art. Ships in space is already a concept that lends itself to gorgeous illustration and Spelljammer 5e delivers. Vistas of ships on star fields, space whales crossing a nebula. It's got some breath-taking pieces here. The art direction team should be proud of what they've produced. There are a couple examples of re-using art but even that is at least re-touched rather than simply copy-and-pasted. The monster manual is nice. Each of the new ancestry options is given more background in the monster manual as well as 3 variations of varying strength. There's a good smattering of beasties to choose from though most are low-to-mid level challenges. This is ultimately fine as 5e rather falls apart at high level play which is something endemic to class-based games.
I like splitting the release into 3 distinct books. This limits annoying page flipping and gives a bit more gravitas to the release.
The Bad: Ho boy. Wizards of the Coast is already pretty slothful when it comes to their products and this wasn't a labor of love so much as it was pushed out the door as quickly and efficiently as possible to placate fans who have been wanting Spelljammer back for 30 years. There's a lot of names listed in designer roles in the credits but this product may as well have been made by an AI RPG generating program. The ancestry descriptions are largely unchanged from the playtest including wasting a full 1/4 of the Giff's blurb on a lame joke referencing the debate over how to pronounce the .gif file extension. Someone got paid for that and got to see it published in a release for the game that goes around calling itself "The World's Greatest Roleplaying Game." God is dead in the publishing world.
Let's go book-by-book. Most of the setting book is spent on the ships. You get a bunch of ship write ups (Though a full half of most write-ups is spent describing whether it will fall over if it lands on dry land) with deck plans. There is a smattering of new character options. The ancestries are ok. The backgrounds show some pretty severe power creep in that backgrounds now give out feats which I do not recall seeing before (in any case, it's certainly more powerful than any of the core backgrounds). There's a couple of new spells and items. So few that the space they take up feels excessive and padded. There's precious little actual fluff and there are virtually no mechanics for ship-to-ship battles. What is there is the barest of bones. Your ships are basically on a line. You can go closer or you can move further away. All of your weapons can fire at any time which conjures images of your ships pin wheeling and corkscrewing as they move to bring all the weapons to bear but the module already told us they move like age-of-sail ships so that doesn't make sense. If you're making a game about swashbuckling tropes in space the first and most obvious problem is having ship battle rules and what WotC delivered is less interesting than what they have published before and yet this is the release that most desperately needed them. The Rock of Bral is given a brief write-up but with no in-depth NPC profiles, just an attempt to cram as many brief location descriptions as they can into it with one being as short as a single sentence. The Astral map is half-finished with a systems dropped in but keeping the placeholder name "Wildspace System." Even giving them nothing more than a name would have helped to jog someone's imagination to fill in this monumental blank. Now it looks like the inhabitants of the Astral Sea just can't be bothered to look at what's there. It's a half-baked product suffering from a severe lack of interest. It doesn't look like anybody's heart was in this, just an attempt to put out the barest minimum that could be called Spelljammer so they don't have to work on it anymore.
The adventure path, Light of Xaryxis, is bad. It's a 12-part campaign meant to get groundling characters in to space. Why it needs to be so long for such a basic goal I couldn't say. It begins with your party, who are 4th level adventurers, being told by an NPC they do not know "Come with me if you want to live." Something just fell on the city they live in and the plot wants them to ignore the screams of people they presumably know and care about to follow Captain No Name (She doesn't introduce herself til the second session) to their ship. If the PCs resist this nonsensical idea and try to, I dunno, save their city or escape into the area outside the city walls, she flies by the pick them up later. Why is she so invested in the PCs? Who knows because she gets to the Rock of Bral later and unceremoniously exits the adventure path.
This is the sort of attitude taken to the entire campaign. The players are locked on to the rails and you'll do it the writer's way or no way. There is a possibility of failure (and indeed failure is the forced result for a few plot points) but there's a deus ex machina waiting in the wings to keep things going. For example, your ship is going to get disabled after a run-in with a Reigar but don't worry. A pod of space whales is planned to get you of trouble next session. You get to a wizard's tower floating in space and the Wizard is going to make you take a tour of it. Does this tower matter? Not even a little bit. But the text of the adventure makes sure you know that she's going to give you the tour whether you like it or not. The climax of the adventure is on the rails. It doesn't matter whether you support the corrupt prince or his rival sister. Both are going to order you executed if they take the throne. Worst of all, this climax comes with a shoehorned in laughable moral dilemma. You can end the threat to your planet but one of the party (or an NPC) has to sacrifice themselves and it'll destroy the bad guy's star and probably kill most people in the system. The text makes it clear that you can't just tell the defeated bad guys to beat it while you do your business, they won't move without orders and the emperor/empress won't give them. But also, who cares? Every astral elf you've met in the adventure has been a massive dick and sparing them means consigning your own planet to destruction. If they won't save themselves, that's on them at this point. One whole session is devoted to building a coalition to go fight the space elves. Does any of it matter? Nope! You are destined to lose no matter if you convince none of them or all of them. You still go through the same doomed battle plan even if you're the only ship showing up to fight an entire fleet. One of your NPCs has tried this maneuver before and lost badly. You would think he, if nothing else, would know the strength needed to carry the day and refuse to go along with a doomed attack. And because of the lack of mechanical backing to the ship-to-ship fighting, there is no room for clever strategy. The adventure path's only ship-to-ship fight ends in hopeless ridiculous defeat. Did I say, "Only?" Yep. The adventure path seems to realize that the ship-to-ship rules are bad and as such it is positively allergic to ship-to-ship fighting. At every turn the encounter is an immediate boarding action or an NPC tries to stop you from using shipboard weapons. And when you finally get to the promised Space Trafalgar, you have no chance at anything but ignoble failure.
There are several encounters that must be cameos of some sort but I don't recognize the reference. Right before the climactic fleet battle, a Githyanki appears from nowhere and gives the PCs an oil of sharpness, and then leaves. That's it. They never come back. They do nothing of pertinence to the plot. The Oil of Sharpness is not essential to the conclusion. They've appeared for no reason and then leave for no reason. Wizards of the Coast has discovered that cliffhangers are exciting ways to end a serialized piece of fiction. But their favorite way of doing a cliffhanger is to have an enemy appear and then have someone grumble the name of that enemy. Over and over and over. It happens again and again.
WotC's antipathy to editing rears its head again here. We have spells referenced in the text that do not appear in the setting book. We have unhelpful crossbook or inter-book citations. Paizo and Chaosium will give you a book name and a page number. Your lucky if the WotC editors give you a chapter to look through. It's just jaw-droppingly lazy and reinforces the idea that WotC minimizes effort to maximize profit. They just couldn't afford one final sweep to change placeholder citations to permanent ones after layout was set. That cuts in to the profit margin I guess.
Almost every time WotC puts out a book they get Polygon to write a fluff piece on how they've finally fixed insensitive material in D&D. This book has a stunning example of how disingenuous that is. There is a Reigar in the adventure path. Reigar are androgynous and this character especially seems to be leaning into a non-binary interpretation. But WotC is mum on the subject (even the monster manual entry has nothing to say on the subject except to note their androgyny and they certainly haven't made them playable). The text contorts itself to avoid ever having to refer to the character with a pronoun in ways that no other character in the book is subjected to. The monster is referred to as "The Reigar" in place of pronouns in a manner that makes it seem like an unintelligent beast rather than a thinking, reasoning person who happens to be aligned against the PC's aims. It reeks of closed room corporate decision making to avoid pissing off the grognards who'd get enraged at the 'woke' invading their fantasy game but leaving enough room for plausible deniability that yes, of course they intended that character to be non-binary, they just didn't put it in writing. In the biz this is known as 'A Dumbledore.' This at a time where Paizo prints every NPC with a gender identity and pronouns. This at a time when Chaosium rubber stamped a third party sourcebook for Runequest exploring the complexity of sex and gender identity in Glorantha. When Wizards of the Coast can be arsed to do something inclusive it is always a day late and a dollar short.
Ultimately, the adventure path has high aims of saving the world but it's so clunky and badly conceived that it beggars belief that they would devote 1/3 of the entire set to this.
The Monster Manual is fine. It does what it needs to. The only complaint is theming it after Boo is a bit odd. Boo isn't a Spelljammer character. Not really. Baldur's Gate leaves it implied that Boo is a miniature giant space hamster but that's the extent of it. Minsc and Charname never go to the Phlogiston. Minsc didn't even get him from space. He got him from a trader who, it is implied, is taking advantage of Minsc's recent head injury and resulting disorientation. It's an in-joke. So, why is this themed after Boo? It feels a lot like a decision made by marketing execs who have droves of data explaining that Boo is the most recognizable character even related to Spelljammer even if that relation is entirely tangential. And the current staff for D&D have had no problem digging up obscure old characters for these things before so it's quite odd that they went with some so pedestrian and out of place.
The GM Screen included in the set is just insulting. Almost 3/4 of the GM-side is devoted to random tables for travel. Not ship mechanics but just random tables. It would seem that the designers of 5e don't really understand what a GM screen is supposed to do. Or they just don't care. Granted, there's virtually no ship rules to actually put back there but this doesn't help the appearance that the release is threadbare. The tables themselves are a bit stunningly sparse being D100 tables with only 20-ish items each.
All in all Spelljammer's triumphant return is a whimper. There is no care or love here. It looks like a sneer at the people who've been asking for it for 30 years. "We brought Spelljammer back. Are you happy now?!" It looks like it was cobbled together by a skeleton crew while most people concentrated on the D&D live service just announced.
Luckily, almost immediately fans of Spelljammer have done what they've always done: keep the setting alive through their own blood sweat and tears. There are multiple third party 5e releases trying to fix the mess, especially with regards to ship combat. And most aren't even asking money for it.
January 4, 2025
Nu ik het spel speel en het adventure gelezen heb. Zijn al mijn klachten die ik in mijn vorige review hier opgesomd had, volledig onterecht.
Spelljammers' regels zijn enorm speelbaar, en het avontuur is erg gemakkelijk om te masteren. Terwijl het relatief eenvoudig is om de spelers te leiden en te entertainen.
Wat me toevallig opviel is dat deze set ook volledig compatibel is met de 2nd edition advanced dungeons and dragons Spelljammer boxset. Alle inhoud van die boxset is overgezet naar 5th edition, waardoor alle fluff uit de oude boxset bruikbaar is.
Momenteel speel ik dit adventure, met attributen van uit de originele 1989 boxset. Wat enorm bijdraagt tot de entertainment value. De spelers zijn vaak verrast als ik weer een handout van 1989 tevoorschijn tover, of een kaart uit de originele boxset.
Spelljammers' regels zijn enorm speelbaar, en het avontuur is erg gemakkelijk om te masteren. Terwijl het relatief eenvoudig is om de spelers te leiden en te entertainen.
Wat me toevallig opviel is dat deze set ook volledig compatibel is met de 2nd edition advanced dungeons and dragons Spelljammer boxset. Alle inhoud van die boxset is overgezet naar 5th edition, waardoor alle fluff uit de oude boxset bruikbaar is.
Momenteel speel ik dit adventure, met attributen van uit de originele 1989 boxset. Wat enorm bijdraagt tot de entertainment value. De spelers zijn vaak verrast als ik weer een handout van 1989 tevoorschijn tover, of een kaart uit de originele boxset.
October 1, 2022
The art and the re-publishing of the layouts of the various ships gets this release up to a 3-star rating. What was disappointing though, was the lack of mechanics for space combat and the vagueness in general. Plenty more lore exists from back in the day that was left out of this "update" and that's also unfortunate since it means newer players/DMs/fans won't have access to that information. How are they going to make sense of things like the phlogiston and space crystals if they aren't given info about them?
January 12, 2023
The 5th Edition remake of Spelljammer poses nearly endless opportunities for DMs. I love Spelljammer, and D&D in space is a brilliant concept. I think all the monsters added are memorable, the ships look very cool, and the new rules for ship-to-ship combat are easy to pick up.
My complaints were enough to knock a star off my rating. What happens to ships when they reach 0 HP? Oh DM's discretion, so its up to me whether it explodes in a ball of fire or the atmosphere becomes deadly or what have you. Ships can travel 100 million miles in a day? How big are Wildspace regions? Oh, they're the size of the Milky Way? The Milky Way is roughly 58,000 light years in length from end to end, so traveling through that at 100 million miles per day would still take roughly 164 years to complete. I think what the writers meant was the length of our own solar system, which in length from the sun to Pluto is roughly 3.7 billion miles. That would only take about 37 days to traverse at 100 million miles per day, which seems more in line with what the rules describe.
The prewritten module, Light of Xaryxis, seems really fun, but feels very handholdy/railroady and is definitely more targeted towards brand new DMs. That wasn't a huge drawback for me. We were all new DMs once, and its helpful to learn from these scenarios even as an experienced DM.
I'd love to run a Spelljammer campaign before the end of the year, so I will definitely be returning to and expanding upon this material in the near future!
My complaints were enough to knock a star off my rating. What happens to ships when they reach 0 HP? Oh DM's discretion, so its up to me whether it explodes in a ball of fire or the atmosphere becomes deadly or what have you. Ships can travel 100 million miles in a day? How big are Wildspace regions? Oh, they're the size of the Milky Way? The Milky Way is roughly 58,000 light years in length from end to end, so traveling through that at 100 million miles per day would still take roughly 164 years to complete. I think what the writers meant was the length of our own solar system, which in length from the sun to Pluto is roughly 3.7 billion miles. That would only take about 37 days to traverse at 100 million miles per day, which seems more in line with what the rules describe.
The prewritten module, Light of Xaryxis, seems really fun, but feels very handholdy/railroady and is definitely more targeted towards brand new DMs. That wasn't a huge drawback for me. We were all new DMs once, and its helpful to learn from these scenarios even as an experienced DM.
I'd love to run a Spelljammer campaign before the end of the year, so I will definitely be returning to and expanding upon this material in the near future!
August 26, 2022
As the Astral Sea, this slipcase is a beautiful void, full of great art and infertile rocks as ideas. Poor rules, lack of pieces that kindle the imagination. Just a collection of ships, some monsters that are bad spinoffs, an adventure with an interesting premise that soon railroads. After great relaunches as Eberron and Ravenloft, this was an absolute, yet beautiful, letdown.
October 17, 2022
Unlike a number of DnD veterans I never had the original version of Spelljammer as my DnD days have been bookended by 1st and 5th edition. the concept of DnD in space was always a little jarring to me: I never liked the introduction of space-type tech into my games (like the famous Expedition to the Barrier Peaks), finding its inclusion in campaigns like Rime just uneasy.
Spelljammer felt different though. They've down played the sci-fi and rather given it a more swashbuckling bizarre vibe, perhaps with a more Georgian era tech of blunderbusses and pistols rather than loads of plasma rifles. And with that corniness the product still has a very fantasy vibe to it.
With regards this product, bringing Spelljammer into 5th, you get three slim books with a pullout map (always a pain in the arse not to tear), and a DM screen. Of the latter I'm not sure how much use it would be, but it looks pretty.
The total page count of around 192 seems rather sparse given the wealth of material they could have used, and the sheer size of previous books.
The Astral adventurers guide is the core of the product. It has some great material within, notably the backgrounds and races. Spells and magic items are scanty, as are the actual rules for Spelljammer. I like simplicity in general to allow individual DMs to flesh out, but the absence of any real ship to ship combat rules (essentially close and board quickly) seems ill considered. In terms of actual lore and setting, it runs light too. more advice on system and setting and encounter design would be welcome (although the adventure compensates for some of that). The vast number of deckplans are welcome but not at tge expense of other parts, and the Rock of Bral is a nice enough setting but again too sparse. Overall maybe 5/10.
Boo's Menagerie is excellent. great range of creatures, good range of CR, and some utterly bizarre creatures in here. Interesting that some that appeared on WotC site (well DnD beyond) didnt make it into the book, which adds to the range. I like some of the comedy creations, like Vampirates and Space Clowns, as well as some that i think were pulled from Dark Sun, and nods towards Star Frontiers RPG.
overall its the best part of the supplement. I'd say 8/10.
The Light of Xaryxis is the adventure provided. It runs level 5 to 9, probably the most played range of levels. I've got really mixed feelings on this part of the set. The core premise, of setting up an adventure divided into chapters with each being a 2-3 h session, and ending in a 'cliffhanger' is innovative; its done to emulate pulp sci-fi like Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers series. Does it work? the session idea yes, the cliff hanger not generally. many are contrived and built around NPCs saying 'oh, look, it's...'
the actual adventure is heavily story driven, with suitably high stakes, and inevitably extremely linear. The railroads are glaring, and even a skilled DM would do well to hide them. This lack of player agency will infuriate some groups and not bother others. Also the intro chapter is really wonky in its delivery; for me the point of the Astral Adv guide was cool new races (id have liked Spelljammer flavoured classes, perhaps subtype of Ranger and Artificer too, but there you go) which really don't sit with the normal adventure group inadvertently end up in Wild Space intro.
The NPCs are well done, if with sometimes odd motivation, and there's every pulp sci fi trope known in the encounters. Which is cool, but the passage from one to the next is really linear, and at times very contrived. The finale seems epic, with a rather blunt shift of tone that wont sit well with some groups.
I think if I ran this id get a sense from my players whether they wanted Spelljammer adventurers or normal ones. Then I'd adjust the introduction and hooks, bring in some additional personal hooks (agreeably fate of world is solid); I'd expand the time on the Rock; I'd redesign to make it more nodal based, perhaps adding extra key locations for information/ways to challenge Empire/politics and espionage. Then at least the inevitable set pieces could feel more acceptable as how you got there was looser.
I like a lot of the classic material in Light, i like the attempt at sessional delivery, but even for an old school DM its too linear and rail-road; but itd be worth the extra effort to flesh it out, and 're-mix.' overall 5/10.
So is it worth the cash and time? on balance, yes; I feel that WotC missed a really good opportunity here. some of what they achieved is excellent, but some is lack lustre and going through the motions. Hope they listen to feedback and do better with Planescape.
Spelljammer felt different though. They've down played the sci-fi and rather given it a more swashbuckling bizarre vibe, perhaps with a more Georgian era tech of blunderbusses and pistols rather than loads of plasma rifles. And with that corniness the product still has a very fantasy vibe to it.
With regards this product, bringing Spelljammer into 5th, you get three slim books with a pullout map (always a pain in the arse not to tear), and a DM screen. Of the latter I'm not sure how much use it would be, but it looks pretty.
The total page count of around 192 seems rather sparse given the wealth of material they could have used, and the sheer size of previous books.
The Astral adventurers guide is the core of the product. It has some great material within, notably the backgrounds and races. Spells and magic items are scanty, as are the actual rules for Spelljammer. I like simplicity in general to allow individual DMs to flesh out, but the absence of any real ship to ship combat rules (essentially close and board quickly) seems ill considered. In terms of actual lore and setting, it runs light too. more advice on system and setting and encounter design would be welcome (although the adventure compensates for some of that). The vast number of deckplans are welcome but not at tge expense of other parts, and the Rock of Bral is a nice enough setting but again too sparse. Overall maybe 5/10.
Boo's Menagerie is excellent. great range of creatures, good range of CR, and some utterly bizarre creatures in here. Interesting that some that appeared on WotC site (well DnD beyond) didnt make it into the book, which adds to the range. I like some of the comedy creations, like Vampirates and Space Clowns, as well as some that i think were pulled from Dark Sun, and nods towards Star Frontiers RPG.
overall its the best part of the supplement. I'd say 8/10.
The Light of Xaryxis is the adventure provided. It runs level 5 to 9, probably the most played range of levels. I've got really mixed feelings on this part of the set. The core premise, of setting up an adventure divided into chapters with each being a 2-3 h session, and ending in a 'cliffhanger' is innovative; its done to emulate pulp sci-fi like Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers series. Does it work? the session idea yes, the cliff hanger not generally. many are contrived and built around NPCs saying 'oh, look, it's...'
the actual adventure is heavily story driven, with suitably high stakes, and inevitably extremely linear. The railroads are glaring, and even a skilled DM would do well to hide them. This lack of player agency will infuriate some groups and not bother others. Also the intro chapter is really wonky in its delivery; for me the point of the Astral Adv guide was cool new races (id have liked Spelljammer flavoured classes, perhaps subtype of Ranger and Artificer too, but there you go) which really don't sit with the normal adventure group inadvertently end up in Wild Space intro.
The NPCs are well done, if with sometimes odd motivation, and there's every pulp sci fi trope known in the encounters. Which is cool, but the passage from one to the next is really linear, and at times very contrived. The finale seems epic, with a rather blunt shift of tone that wont sit well with some groups.
I think if I ran this id get a sense from my players whether they wanted Spelljammer adventurers or normal ones. Then I'd adjust the introduction and hooks, bring in some additional personal hooks (agreeably fate of world is solid); I'd expand the time on the Rock; I'd redesign to make it more nodal based, perhaps adding extra key locations for information/ways to challenge Empire/politics and espionage. Then at least the inevitable set pieces could feel more acceptable as how you got there was looser.
I like a lot of the classic material in Light, i like the attempt at sessional delivery, but even for an old school DM its too linear and rail-road; but itd be worth the extra effort to flesh it out, and 're-mix.' overall 5/10.
So is it worth the cash and time? on balance, yes; I feel that WotC missed a really good opportunity here. some of what they achieved is excellent, but some is lack lustre and going through the motions. Hope they listen to feedback and do better with Planescape.
August 25, 2022
I've read through the three books in the boxed set now, and I think ultimately I'm coming down solidly in the "I guess this is okay" camp. I loved Spelljammer when I was younger, and in many ways this is more-or-less the same, but I don't necessarily mean that as a complete positive. The player's guide was the most interesting of the bunch, but even then it devoted a lot of space to ship deck plans that... Okay, look, the ship decks layouts looked like art quality and production from the 90s (I didn't go digging through my chest of old games to see if they were identical, but they certainly had that air)—I understand this was a nostalgia choice, but they kind of just landed on "cheap" rather than throwback. Also, a simple "Landing: water: yes/no, land: yes/no" would have been better than having a fully written paragraph detailing how each ship would fall over on land because of the shape of its keel. That was a paragraph that could have been used to flavour the ship up a notch, but it's repeated time after time.
The included adventure was an homage to Flash Gordon (complete with every chapter ending on a "dun-dun-dun" often alongside an NPC saying "Oh no, [insert enemy]!"), which is okay, I suppose, but if you're not going for that sort of tone, then... uh, well. I'm not sure I'll ever use the included adventure, and that's a 1/3 of the content right there. If I wanted to use it, I'd have to redesign it more-or-less from the ground up. (It even begins oddly, with the "correct" route being having the heroes run away from screaming endangered citizens who are being attacked. Um?)
The monster manual was decent enough.
Overall, it just felt light. There was nearly nothing here that felt particularly fresh or advanced the setting in any way, which felt like a lost opportunity. Even the Rock of Bral seems to be exactly as it was left—and barely visited in the adventure. The whole thing really sort of landed as missed opportunity.
The DMs screen is also... really not particularly useful. It has four panels, and the majority of said space is used for random encounter tables or the like. It could have been a general DMs screen with Spelljammer thematic aesthetic and been actually useful, but as is, it's just a duckblind, really.
So, overall? Two stars for "it was okay."
The included adventure was an homage to Flash Gordon (complete with every chapter ending on a "dun-dun-dun" often alongside an NPC saying "Oh no, [insert enemy]!"), which is okay, I suppose, but if you're not going for that sort of tone, then... uh, well. I'm not sure I'll ever use the included adventure, and that's a 1/3 of the content right there. If I wanted to use it, I'd have to redesign it more-or-less from the ground up. (It even begins oddly, with the "correct" route being having the heroes run away from screaming endangered citizens who are being attacked. Um?)
The monster manual was decent enough.
Overall, it just felt light. There was nearly nothing here that felt particularly fresh or advanced the setting in any way, which felt like a lost opportunity. Even the Rock of Bral seems to be exactly as it was left—and barely visited in the adventure. The whole thing really sort of landed as missed opportunity.
The DMs screen is also... really not particularly useful. It has four panels, and the majority of said space is used for random encounter tables or the like. It could have been a general DMs screen with Spelljammer thematic aesthetic and been actually useful, but as is, it's just a duckblind, really.
So, overall? Two stars for "it was okay."
August 27, 2022
This inordinately frustrating because largely it's good but feels so half baked and incomplete. This should have been at least two products, each of them 200+ pages each. Instead it's 3 underwhelming products that barely clears 180 pages. All the new material feels poorly executed.
September 1, 2022
A good resource for those wanting to start Spelljamming in their D&D 5e campaign.
It is lacking in Ship-to-Ship space combat (thus my rating penalized it one star), but using the rules from the Ghosts of Saltmarsh Adventure Module is a good option.
It is lacking in Ship-to-Ship space combat (thus my rating penalized it one star), but using the rules from the Ghosts of Saltmarsh Adventure Module is a good option.
September 19, 2022
I don't usually write reviews for D&D guidebooks because, I mean, they're guidebooks, but this one was such a disappointment, and so lazy, I felt it needed to be said: if WotC doesn't step up their game, me and my group are done with 5e and any future editions. To be specific, I want rules. Stop making the DMs do all the work. If you can't be bothered to provide anything, what do I even need you for? The second, and for me, larger problem is them taking away lore, culture, and racial abilities from the new races. If I have to look up on fandom how to roeplay my race, you've failed. I fully expect none of this to change however as it seems they're making the game for casuals now, which is sad and disappointing.
Read
August 20, 2022I approached this with some caution, as I have no nostalgia for the Spelljammer setting, and indeed find the whole fantasy-in-space concept too goofy for my tastes. Nevertheless, there's always something to be taken and used for your own games, and onward I went. Three books here, so let's talk about them separately.
The Astral Adventurer's Guide is the meat of the setting information, mostly player-facing stuff. There are the usual couple of spells and backgrounds, but the real draw are the racial options. And they're a kooky bunch, though a surprising percentage of them are animal-based. We're in space, you could have gotten weirder than this. We've got bug people, monkey people, and hippo people, then some walking talking oozes, robot gnomes, and space elves. This last one is the least interesting, so it's particularly baffling that they occupy such a central role in the included adventure, but we'll get to that.
Then there's some explanations about how the setting functions. Basically, solar systems function like pockets of outer space, with the airless void and all that, but then when you go out further you transition into the Astral Sea, which you can then use to connect to other pockets with other systems in them. I quite liked the astral plane as it stood already, the backstage of the universe, so this change doesn't thrill me, but as ever with D&D, that means I can just ignore it without a fuss and carry on as I was.
More broadly, I don't understand why gravity on the ships and the air pockets and the orbits and all the physics stuff generally doesn't just function like it does in our real outer space. Instead they've invented a different, more complicated way for it to function. Some of this is a result of adding magic into the mix, but also they've not taken advantage of magic's key worldbuilding function: to just handwave the boring stuff. Instead they've used it to add more boring stuff. Now you've gotta explain to your players that oh, no, your totally reasonable instinct for how gravity functions is incorrect.
Things pick up a bit when we get to the example setting, the spaceport known as The Rock of Bral. It's pretty cool, scummy and chaotic. It has good factions and specific locations, loaded with plot hooks and secrets all over. My previous caveats stand, but this did endear me quite a bit to the general setting.
Then we've got Boo's Astral Menagerie, a sizeable collection of NPCs and monster statblocks for your Spelljammer adventures. A lot of them aren't anything to write home about, being just variations on the theme of "what if [regular monster] but in space", but there are some highlights.
There's the very gross Neh-thalggu, who has a near-fatal case of Fantasy Name Syndrome, but might be more terrifying than a mind flayer, its powers growing based on how many brains it's collected. There's also a picture of a ooze person holding a gun that is so goddamn funny. The eye monger is also great, a fake asteroid that eats people. But the clear winner is the zodar, an ancient set of armour, ominously looming. Nobody knows their true purpose or feelings, they speak only three times per lifetime, then they cash wish and turn to dust. Inexplicable, terrifying, very cool.
The adventure then is called Light of Xaryxis. It's not good. Some parts of the D&D community online talk about 'railroading' like it's the worst crime imaginable, but this really is railroaded all to bits. There's a series of linear encounters that always end up at the same next encounter, with no real player choices involved. The initial journey from your home planet into the stars contains a series of encounters that are literally just: you run into another ship, you run into another ship, you run into another ship.
And then when you arrive at The Rock of Bral there's no reason to explore, you're in and out. The same thing happens in Doomspace, a solar system whose days are numbered, spiralling into the abyss that was their sun, an extremely cool spot, but you spend five minutes on one of the planets and then you're on a space station dealing with the bloody space elves again, who are in this so much, the primary antagonists, despite being the least interesting part of the universe.
There are some other bits and pieces that are okay, there's a vampirate mutiny and a floating citadel shaped like a moth, but they're small and far between. The whole thing feels like a straight line to the end, which does have a potential interesting player choice and a heroic sacrifice, but an NPC just volunteers if none of the players do, rendering the whole thing pointless. Not recommended, and there's barely anything in the adventure worth stealing and using elsewhere either.
The Astral Adventurer's Guide is the meat of the setting information, mostly player-facing stuff. There are the usual couple of spells and backgrounds, but the real draw are the racial options. And they're a kooky bunch, though a surprising percentage of them are animal-based. We're in space, you could have gotten weirder than this. We've got bug people, monkey people, and hippo people, then some walking talking oozes, robot gnomes, and space elves. This last one is the least interesting, so it's particularly baffling that they occupy such a central role in the included adventure, but we'll get to that.
Then there's some explanations about how the setting functions. Basically, solar systems function like pockets of outer space, with the airless void and all that, but then when you go out further you transition into the Astral Sea, which you can then use to connect to other pockets with other systems in them. I quite liked the astral plane as it stood already, the backstage of the universe, so this change doesn't thrill me, but as ever with D&D, that means I can just ignore it without a fuss and carry on as I was.
More broadly, I don't understand why gravity on the ships and the air pockets and the orbits and all the physics stuff generally doesn't just function like it does in our real outer space. Instead they've invented a different, more complicated way for it to function. Some of this is a result of adding magic into the mix, but also they've not taken advantage of magic's key worldbuilding function: to just handwave the boring stuff. Instead they've used it to add more boring stuff. Now you've gotta explain to your players that oh, no, your totally reasonable instinct for how gravity functions is incorrect.
Things pick up a bit when we get to the example setting, the spaceport known as The Rock of Bral. It's pretty cool, scummy and chaotic. It has good factions and specific locations, loaded with plot hooks and secrets all over. My previous caveats stand, but this did endear me quite a bit to the general setting.
Then we've got Boo's Astral Menagerie, a sizeable collection of NPCs and monster statblocks for your Spelljammer adventures. A lot of them aren't anything to write home about, being just variations on the theme of "what if [regular monster] but in space", but there are some highlights.
There's the very gross Neh-thalggu, who has a near-fatal case of Fantasy Name Syndrome, but might be more terrifying than a mind flayer, its powers growing based on how many brains it's collected. There's also a picture of a ooze person holding a gun that is so goddamn funny. The eye monger is also great, a fake asteroid that eats people. But the clear winner is the zodar, an ancient set of armour, ominously looming. Nobody knows their true purpose or feelings, they speak only three times per lifetime, then they cash wish and turn to dust. Inexplicable, terrifying, very cool.
The adventure then is called Light of Xaryxis. It's not good. Some parts of the D&D community online talk about 'railroading' like it's the worst crime imaginable, but this really is railroaded all to bits. There's a series of linear encounters that always end up at the same next encounter, with no real player choices involved. The initial journey from your home planet into the stars contains a series of encounters that are literally just: you run into another ship, you run into another ship, you run into another ship.
And then when you arrive at The Rock of Bral there's no reason to explore, you're in and out. The same thing happens in Doomspace, a solar system whose days are numbered, spiralling into the abyss that was their sun, an extremely cool spot, but you spend five minutes on one of the planets and then you're on a space station dealing with the bloody space elves again, who are in this so much, the primary antagonists, despite being the least interesting part of the universe.
There are some other bits and pieces that are okay, there's a vampirate mutiny and a floating citadel shaped like a moth, but they're small and far between. The whole thing feels like a straight line to the end, which does have a potential interesting player choice and a heroic sacrifice, but an NPC just volunteers if none of the players do, rendering the whole thing pointless. Not recommended, and there's barely anything in the adventure worth stealing and using elsewhere either.
September 8, 2022
Ring Side Report-RPG Review of Spelljammer: Adventures in Space
Originally posted at www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea every day!
Product-Spelljammer: Adventures in Space
System- Dungeons and Dragons
Producer- Wizards of the Coast
TL; DR- Spaceships and Sorcerers! 76%
Basics- TO THE SKY! Spelljammer: Adventures in Space is the latest setting for DnD that really emcompasses all the other settings. Spelljammers are space ships that can travel between different systems and explore, so really the limits of this setting are the limits that you can steal and borrow from all the other DnD settings and your favorite fanfic of Star Trek. Let’s get into this one.
Mechanics or Crunch- This is a good book with some new mechanics, but not a ton of information. Overall space beyond a planet system is just empty and full of “air”, so you don’t need much. The spelljammers are fun ships, but the DnD isn’t really set up to do ship battles well. It's not bad, but it's simple and the system defaults to basic rules in the DMG for side combat for ship combat. There are new races, but not a ton beyond that. So if you want a lot of new crunch for your players, there isn’t that much here. Ships get a good rundown, which is needed, but don’t expect much as a player. There are monsters of the cosmos, which are absolutely needed, but for each system you need to grab that world's/setting's books and get monsters from there. This book adds decent materials for the GM, but not much for players. It doesn't really expand the rules beyond the basics we’ve seen. 4/5
Theme or Fluff- I don’t hate the story here, but I’m left wanting more in a bad way. This setting is all about space and boldly going to new worlds. You do get the basics of that, but you don’t get a ton of new worlds beyond "Go grab your favorite other books and go there!" Again, it's not bad, but it feels too loose to be helpful. I do think the adventure they give is awesome and will help GMs and players who are new to the setting get used to it. That "fish out of water" adventure that is included is going to be your best introduction to this setting. That said, after reading this book, I need more to really know what this setting is. 4/5
Execution- Can’t buy a PDF, but when there was an update it came out as a PDF. I can rent the book via DnD Beyond, but other than that, it's physical only. What is in the book is a solid ok. Good spacing and text size and all the things I look for in a book, but it's only in their proprietary app. I want to own my book, so you either buy a physical book or rent DnD beyond. And, while I love the adventure they give you, they don’t give you pregens at fifth level. Just include the pregens! I don’t want to make some for my players nor do some groups want to make some when the GM buys that book. I want to play ASAP and that would massively help those groups. It’s 2022 and you are behind the times. I am not pleased. 3.5/5
Summary- Spelljammer is a fun setting and book that just needs more. The mechanics here are ok, but there is not much for players and just enough for the GM to run a game beyond go to the DMG. The story is fun, but there isn’t much beyond go look at other stuff. The execution misses many marks that other companies are doing and it hurts my impression of the book. If you want some classic space and sorcery, this will be a fun book. If you don’t have an idea of what Spelljammer is then you still might not after reading this book. 76%
Read
September 23, 2023How? Same as Dragonlance -- I bought this a while ago, I'm working on something that might involve this, so I finally got around to reading it.
What? Spelljammer was a 2e campaign world where adventurers could cross empty space (full of phlogiston) in ships powered by magic; it was like a Great Age of Sails era, with pirates and empires; it also had living ships and flying dungeons. I'm not gonna go deep into it, because I didn't love it -- at least not enough to buy, though I did use my dad's office xerox machine to make some copies of a few books that crossed my path.
This is the 5e version, with three separate books and a DM screen:
1. a guide to adventuring in this setting, which
- simplifies the world a bit -- now you're just sailing across the Astral Sea;
- gives some player options that bring back some of the hits;
- gives a lot of ship info (and ship combat info);
- and covers (very quickly) the Rock of Bral, a haven for adventurers (also a 2e thing).
2. a monster book, which includes some of the 2e Spelljammer originals, some Dark Sun monsters (for some reason), and some monsters that are just incredibly goofy, like killer clowns from outer space and "vampirates".
3. and a big campaign book about saving the universe from some evil imperial elves who are draining other planets to fuel their sun (which is nicely broken into chapters, where each chapter ends with a big clanging cliffhanger that sometimes doesn't even matter; the explicit inspiration for this adventure is the 1980's camp Flash Gordon, but this doesn't have nearly enough camp, and also has a main sailor character named Flapjack, meh).
Yeah, so? I find this to be a little silly -- maybe a little too silly. That adventure really tried my patience with the 3rd time a monster appeared at the end of a chapter only to be immaterial to the plot, along with all the plot directions that were like "if the PCs don't do this, have an NPC point out what they should do."
Likewise, the monster book is confusing -- why so much Dark Sun? Why so silly in parts? (Why do they make the joke about how Giff argue about how to pronounce their names?)
But it was nice to look at and I've got some ideas for adventures in space, so, it was OK.
What? Spelljammer was a 2e campaign world where adventurers could cross empty space (full of phlogiston) in ships powered by magic; it was like a Great Age of Sails era, with pirates and empires; it also had living ships and flying dungeons. I'm not gonna go deep into it, because I didn't love it -- at least not enough to buy, though I did use my dad's office xerox machine to make some copies of a few books that crossed my path.
This is the 5e version, with three separate books and a DM screen:
1. a guide to adventuring in this setting, which
- simplifies the world a bit -- now you're just sailing across the Astral Sea;
- gives some player options that bring back some of the hits;
- gives a lot of ship info (and ship combat info);
- and covers (very quickly) the Rock of Bral, a haven for adventurers (also a 2e thing).
2. a monster book, which includes some of the 2e Spelljammer originals, some Dark Sun monsters (for some reason), and some monsters that are just incredibly goofy, like killer clowns from outer space and "vampirates".
3. and a big campaign book about saving the universe from some evil imperial elves who are draining other planets to fuel their sun (which is nicely broken into chapters, where each chapter ends with a big clanging cliffhanger that sometimes doesn't even matter; the explicit inspiration for this adventure is the 1980's camp Flash Gordon, but this doesn't have nearly enough camp, and also has a main sailor character named Flapjack, meh).
Yeah, so? I find this to be a little silly -- maybe a little too silly. That adventure really tried my patience with the 3rd time a monster appeared at the end of a chapter only to be immaterial to the plot, along with all the plot directions that were like "if the PCs don't do this, have an NPC point out what they should do."
Likewise, the monster book is confusing -- why so much Dark Sun? Why so silly in parts? (Why do they make the joke about how Giff argue about how to pronounce their names?)
But it was nice to look at and I've got some ideas for adventures in space, so, it was OK.
October 21, 2023
This box set has three books. The first is the setting, the second is a bestiary and the third book is an adventure. The adventure is perfectly fine. It explicitly claims that it is inspired by the 1980 Flash Gordon film and it very much has that feel. It has a few problems and I would not run it quite as written, but if you enjoy a very campy adventure (which is not for everyone) it's pretty good. The second book is a bestiary. It does the job in getting a good set of creatures specific to the setting, although their mechanics can be a bit bland.
The real problem is the setting book. It is overly concerned with having double spread layouts of the different spelljammer's (which, to be fair are often very nice), but it has shockingly little information. There is very little information on how spelljammer's are meant to work and to use them, I think you have to pay attention to the adventure to see how they are meant to work. There are no space combat rules, which is extraordinary. There is little on the culture and dynamics of wildspace and the Astral plane and very little to use to detail these planes. For instance, Ghosts of Saltmarsh's information on aquatic adventures and sailing ships is far far better, even though it is not the main point of that book. Overall, if we compare the Spelljammer boxset to say the Eberron book, which is much much cheaper, it is substantially worse.
The primary problem with the spelljammer box set is that is a setting box set, that neglected to put the setting in it. I'm planning on running some spelljammer adventures, so if I had to buy it again, I would, but I would do it nashing my teeth. The DM should expect to fill in a lot of details. Clearly the worst of the 5e books that I have read.
The real problem is the setting book. It is overly concerned with having double spread layouts of the different spelljammer's (which, to be fair are often very nice), but it has shockingly little information. There is very little information on how spelljammer's are meant to work and to use them, I think you have to pay attention to the adventure to see how they are meant to work. There are no space combat rules, which is extraordinary. There is little on the culture and dynamics of wildspace and the Astral plane and very little to use to detail these planes. For instance, Ghosts of Saltmarsh's information on aquatic adventures and sailing ships is far far better, even though it is not the main point of that book. Overall, if we compare the Spelljammer boxset to say the Eberron book, which is much much cheaper, it is substantially worse.
The primary problem with the spelljammer box set is that is a setting box set, that neglected to put the setting in it. I'm planning on running some spelljammer adventures, so if I had to buy it again, I would, but I would do it nashing my teeth. The DM should expect to fill in a lot of details. Clearly the worst of the 5e books that I have read.
May 15, 2023
This has been a controversial release for a number of reasons, and I understand those reasons perfectly. It feels like there isn't enough here to make for a robust setting, particularly missing space-battle information and mechanics, there is a particularly insensitive new player race/NPC race, the Hadozee which have been accused of being racist stereotypes with some reason, in my opinion.
However, all in all it's still a fun box set. It does feel somewhat incomplete, but nothing a dedicated DM can't fill out and the adventure (Light of Xaryxis) included is pretty fun, though short, and somewhat rushed, again making it the DMs job to put some more meat in those bones.
The best part of this is the way it's broken up into three books and a truly beautiful DM screen, the different books are a boon for DMs who can have them all open at once, rather than leafing endlessly back and forth between enemies, the adventure and campaign setting details. Another great thing about this is the interior and exterior art, some really beautiful stuff here, and really not that expensive for the thick box set that it is. Is it perfect? Far from it, but is it worth the price of admission? Ultimately, sure, particularly if you can find it with a good discount somewhere.
However, all in all it's still a fun box set. It does feel somewhat incomplete, but nothing a dedicated DM can't fill out and the adventure (Light of Xaryxis) included is pretty fun, though short, and somewhat rushed, again making it the DMs job to put some more meat in those bones.
The best part of this is the way it's broken up into three books and a truly beautiful DM screen, the different books are a boon for DMs who can have them all open at once, rather than leafing endlessly back and forth between enemies, the adventure and campaign setting details. Another great thing about this is the interior and exterior art, some really beautiful stuff here, and really not that expensive for the thick box set that it is. Is it perfect? Far from it, but is it worth the price of admission? Ultimately, sure, particularly if you can find it with a good discount somewhere.
September 14, 2022
The good - the artwork is top notch. The player options like the giff and the plasmoid are cool. The special edition cover and boxsets are great. The Light of Xaryxis campaign seems flawed but decent. The monsters are going to be fun to kill my PCs with.
That said, I expected more actionable material. The ship-to-ship combat is not very in depth (Ghosts of Saltmarsh has better mechanics for it). There's only 2 new spells and 3 new magic items. Spelljammer helms are relatively cheap to make, so why isn't everyone flying around on spelljamming vessels? In 2e, the capabilities of the spelljammer mattered, but in this one a level 1 character with spell slots is just as capable as a level 20 with max spellcasting attributes.
I haven't dug too deeply into Light of Xaryxis yet, but if the PCs are playing Spelljammer they are going to want their own vessel, but instead they are hitchhiking around on other people's ships.
The hadozee stuff is weird and uncomfortable. I'm not going to get too deep into that discussion here, but Wizards of the Coast did edit the digital version and apologize for it at least.
That said, I expected more actionable material. The ship-to-ship combat is not very in depth (Ghosts of Saltmarsh has better mechanics for it). There's only 2 new spells and 3 new magic items. Spelljammer helms are relatively cheap to make, so why isn't everyone flying around on spelljamming vessels? In 2e, the capabilities of the spelljammer mattered, but in this one a level 1 character with spell slots is just as capable as a level 20 with max spellcasting attributes.
I haven't dug too deeply into Light of Xaryxis yet, but if the PCs are playing Spelljammer they are going to want their own vessel, but instead they are hitchhiking around on other people's ships.
The hadozee stuff is weird and uncomfortable. I'm not going to get too deep into that discussion here, but Wizards of the Coast did edit the digital version and apologize for it at least.
December 20, 2022
Not as great as it could have been. Even without the Hadozee background issue, parts of this setting have just been skimped or passed across the editorial desks when they needed a long weekend away. Space combat is virtually non-existent, hence needing unofficial third party expansions, while the campaign is playable but exhausting, especially if your players aren't keen on being railroaded through the story.
WOTC now have the opportunity to amend and expand, but I think they may just hope Spelljammer sails into a black hole and gets lost in the void of astral space.
WOTC now have the opportunity to amend and expand, but I think they may just hope Spelljammer sails into a black hole and gets lost in the void of astral space.
February 20, 2023
This was a tough one. I was excited to return to Spelljamer and loved the new format. The overall art and layout of this are unique, but the content is just not there. The adventure lacks gravitas, plot, and focus--it is a railroad and hard to follow (which is a trick). The monsters are too Dark Sun-y, lacking new creatures, and the historical threats are not revised or attractive. The rules are a mess--nothing "new," old stuff done poorly with too much retro-worship, and much of the material is completely lacking. Not the best at all.
August 26, 2022
This seems like a super fun setting, but the offering in this book is pretty slight. Loved some of the creatures, liked some of the new rules + suggested alternate rules to use when running a Spelljammer campaign, but there's not a ton in here to help a DM flesh things out or to help players feel like they can properly create a character suiting the lore of the setting. I liked what I read, but I wish there was more.
April 26, 2023
The weakness of the rules set has been written about a lot, but I think the strength of this three book set is the adventure. Light of Xaryxis is delightful, and since ship battles and such are not what I'm interested in (I own all the second edition rules still, and never used any of the 'missing' rules everyone wants) I'm good with what I got and am prepping this adventure now.
January 7, 2025
Concise information, even if I'm not a fan of some of the changes. It has basic information, but you'll need the other Spelljammer guides as well as the Players Handbook, and the Monster Manual in order to play effectively.
August 20, 2022
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, which includes Astral Adventurer Guide, Boo's Astral Menagerie, and Light of Xaryris
January 7, 2023
molt xuli xics, no sé si útil pq no explica MOLT però buf la història chef kiss
April 8, 2023
This is dog shit. Awful sci fi. It's not even sci fi it's dnd with air bubbles. Who wrote this shit? Instant buyers remorse. Everything is bland and they're was nothing I thougjt was interesting.
May 16, 2023
Waste of money
October 20, 2023
Fun sourcebook
January 9, 2024
Cool monsters, great intro adventure and phenomenal deck plans.
Not as much lore as I would have liked, and certainly not enough naval combat.
Not as much lore as I would have liked, and certainly not enough naval combat.
November 29, 2022
A fun and imaginative setting with solid character options and a robust list of ships and interesting monsters. Not enough in the way of rules for ship to ship interactions and very little lore and material for world building.
Update: I read half the adventure! It seems great so far :)
Update: I read half the adventure! It seems great so far :)
February 23, 2023
Great monsters, amazing art, okay rules, okay adventure. Not the best D&D supplement available, but definitely not the worst. Overall, I'd say 3.5 stars.
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