Produced By: Wizards of the Coast
System: Dungeons and Dragons, 5th edition
Genre(s): Fantasy, Age of Sail, Space fantasy
Yeah, we’re doing this… Before we dig in, I haven’t played any editions of D&D since 3.5. As you know, in the last few years, D&D has really taken off. And, every once in a while, I get asked by a friend “Do you want to learn how to play D&D again? This new edition is really good.” I got tired of saying that I really wasn’t interested, or I’d think about it, and get excited, but then get weird because of the bullshit I dealt with the last few times I played. When a friend of mine said that they might be doing a new version of SpellJammer, I said “Okay, you know what? If they actually make it, I’ll start playing D&D again.”
So. Here we are. Having core books cost $50 is a real dick move, Wizards. I hope you choke on my money.
The new edition of SpellJammer is here and I pre-ordered it as soon as I could. I literally didn’t even have any of the books for 5th edition, and I still ordered it. That’s how much I’ve been looking forward to this. And how is it?
It’s… Passable. But let me explain.
The first thing is that the whole idea of crystal spheres and the Phlogiston is gone. Completely gone. Instead, the whole thing about SpellJammer is that it takes place in the Astral Sea, which is part of the Astral Plane. Or is the Astral Plane? I’m not exactly sure. Even after picking up the core books for 5e, I’m still a little lost on how things work in this edition. Another thing is that the Elven Navy is completely gone. And the Unhuman War never happened, so none of that fun. This version of the setting is much more relaxed and more about exploring than war and conflict. However, they did keep the Mercane (originally the Arcane) in the setting. They were introduecd in the original boxed set as traders and merchants that plied the Phlogiston, and they re-introduced in 3.5 as traders and merchants that dealt with buying and selling things across the Planes. I also think that they changed from Arcane to Mercane because the latter is able to be trademarked. As much as they dropped the older, more wargame-y stuff, they did retain some fun and spirit of adventure. Okay, now we talk about the boxed set.
Book one, the Astral Adventurer’s Guide gives us a brief history of the setting, how things work, and the new races we can play, like the Giff, Astral Elves, Hadozees, and Plasmoids. After this, it goes on to explain how gravity planes and air pockets work, but with far less rules and detail than in the original edition. They also talk about Helms. Unlike the original version, which had both Major and Minor helms that would effect how fast the ship could move, we just get the one. Also, they’ve gotten rid of the various other Helms, like Life Jammers, and so on. We also get a very short section on how space combat works, but they really just wanted players to be involved in boarding actions, and not using the two types of weapons they give us (Ballistas and Mangonels). I have to say, these rules are bad. Really bad. There’s nothing really there. While you could use the rules from the original version (it’s on DriveThru RPG for $10), there’s too much of a difference between the two, as one is super simple and the other is overly complex, to really just switch it out. Once this section is down, there’s a bunch of ships, most of which were in the original boxed set, now just updated. Honestly, I really wish they had just updated to old ship sheets and had them in the box rather than the DM screen. The last part of this book is an updated version of the Rock of Bral, which is neat to have around, because they give you a map.
Book two is Boo’s Astral Menagerie, which re-introduces some classic monsters, like the Neogi and Kindori, as well as introduces some new ones like Space Clowns. The book has a good mix of the old classics and new creatures that reflect the setting. It’s nice to see this, and redeems some of the flaws we get in the first book. I do wish there was some more stuff in here, but what we got is fun and makes it clear what kind of game this can be. There’s some very horrible monsters born from Elder God nightmares, which means that you can very easily turn this into horror game. Or, what I’m probably going to do, is make it kind of Mythos Horror Comedy…
The third and final book is The Light of Xaryxis, a great epic adventure. Of all the books in the set, this the best one. It’s a true epic, with the life of a whole planet on the line, and the future of an empire on the line. I don’t want to give any details about the adventures, but I do want to say how much I appreciate the adventure taking into account that the players might fail to win a conflict and how to handle the adventure even after that. The adventure has a really good cast of fun and interesting characters, some of which are begging to be brought back if you continue your voyages in the Astral Sea. If you did pick up the boxed set, I strongly suggest giving the adventure a try. It’s a real “amazing voyage.”
There’s also a DM screen, which is neat but the encounter tables aren’t going to useful if you use it too much. It does have some pretty art on it.
In the end, this boxed set is a mixed bag. There’s so much here, but at the same time, there isn’t. Since I’m familiar with the original setting, I was filling in the gaps as I was reading, but you wouldn’t be able to do that if you hadn’t. And these gaps make no real sense. Why force your players into doing boarding actions when people might not want to be space pirates? The only mention of space pirates is the Githyanki, which tracks with the Astral setting, but we could have so much more. For some, the gaps will make this a product they won’t spend money on. For others, the chance to fix the problems with energize them. Personally, I’ve been wanting to play SpellJammer for 20 years, so I’m going to give it a chance. However, I’m also ready to do a lot of work to get a working system for space combat and the like.
In the end, if you are going to pick this up, go and get the PDFs of the original setting. You’re going to need them to fill any gaps in the system and the setting, as well as giving you a few more ships you can use. But that’s another $10 on top of $70 for the boxed set.
In the end, I have to say that this boxed set was a bitter disappointment for me, but it isn’t complete trash. But I can’t really recommend it to people as it is. Which sucks.
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