SpellJammer Lamprey Ship

[xpian]

I DMed "Wildspace", the first published SJ module, and many more adventures of my own design. The quality level of those TSR Spelljammer accessories was so hit-or-miss in those days. For every excellent "Under the Dark Fist" there was an abysmal "Astromundi Cluster". I think Spelljammer was just a bridge too far for many players--it was hard enough for them to wrap their heads around magic and fantasy, let alone moving it into space. But I'd have to say that no other setting published by TSR captured my imagination quite as completely as Spelljammer did. Those ships that Holloway designed are just gorgeous.

[Big Mac]

I DMed "Wildspace", the first published SJ module, and many more adventures of my own design. The quality level of those TSR Spelljammer accessories was so hit-or-miss in those days. For every excellent "Under the Dark Fist" there was an abysmal "Astromundi Cluster".

I actually think that all of the Spelljammer products had some sort of potential, but they just didn't link up well with each other, I think that makes it a bit hard to work certain elements together. And I think it is the inability to link potentially awesome elements from one SJ product with another SJ product (one that you want to use as the main theme of a campaign) that makes it a lot harder to gain the full value out of the other SJ products.

I think it was necessary to do that when Spelljammer came out, because you can't expect gamers to buy every single product in a product line, but I think it would have helped to have had a second "core" Spelljammer boxed set (a revised version of Adventures in Space that expanded upon Jeff Grubb's "Known Spheres" setting concept). A Spelljammer: Known Spheres boxed set could have put all of the earlier SJ products onto a single map and a single timeline and provided plot hooks to get players to one product from any of the other products. If we had had that, it would have been a lot easier for GMs to work out the relative threat of the Vodoni Empire on the various other crystal spheres in the SJ product line.

I think it would have been great to have had some foreshadowing of the SJA4 plot, by sending the PCs to a world or sphere that later gets taken over by the Vodani Empire. The one thing I personally find a bit frustrating about the original AD&D Adventures in Space boxed set is the "put Bral anywhere" thing. The Cloakmaster Cycle novels, SJA2 Skull and Crossbows and Endless Quest: A Wild Ride give us more of a bespoke crystal sphere to go around Bral. And if you use that crystal sphere (Spiralspace/Bralspace) you can have the Vodoni Empire taking over some obscure celestial bodies (maybe even just asteroids) in preparation for an invasion of the rest of the sphere.

I think if you add that sort of structure to the original boxed set, then joining a multi-sphere attack on the Vodoni Empire would seem a lot more logical to players, because their own homeworlds would be at risk (or perhaps already under attack). I think that Bogie's mini-adventure really fits in really well with that sort of context. It does the sort of thing that SJA2's mini-adventures do, in a Bral/Vodoni context.

Having said that, I have always wanted to see the SJA adventures turned into a four-part superadventure. If I can sort that out, I would be starting off SJA1 Wildspace in Spiralspace, have the PCs take up pirate hunting for SJA2 Skull & Crossbows and send them out of Spiralspace to Greatspace for SJA3 Crystal Spheres. I have not quite decided on a natural transition from SJA3 to SJA4, but I guess that returning to Spiralspace and running into the Vodoni would be an option.

I think Spelljammer was just a bridge too far for many players--it was hard enough for them to wrap their heads around magic and fantasy, let alone moving it into space. But I'd have to say that no other setting published by TSR captured my imagination quite as completely as Spelljammer did. Those ships that Holloway designed are just gorgeous.

I've seen that too. For some reason people will buy into someone riding on a flying carpet (and not argue the toss over why they don't fall off of it) but people will ask a lot of questions about the fantasy laws of nature that Jeff Grubb created for the Spelljammer universe.

Personally, I think you just have to buy into it and go along with it, to enjoy the game. But I've seen quite a few people attempt to come up with a "better explanation" and it almost always ends up with someone tying themselves in knots and ending up with something that is no more "realistic" than what Jeff Grubb did.

I think that Jim Holloway's ships are the best thing about Spelljammer. Although my all time favourite official SJ picture is Last Descent, by Jennell Jaquays (the picture that was used on the front of Practical Planetology).