The Absurd History of Spelljammer

[@docnecrotic]

Jeff Grubb was the true victim of all of this. The management of Wizbro even promised him a dinner and discussion if they planned on rebooting Spelljammer. And just like how they tossed out the prior setting, they conveniently forgot that promise.

[@exitsexamined]

Where did you see that note about wizards promising grubbs dinner / discussion on a reboot of it? I saw some interviews of Grubbs after 5e launched and even before it and he didn't seem so upset just bemused really haha

[@docnecrotic]

@@exitsexamined Ray Winneger, the prior management. After he got the boot, all of that magically vanished. Likewise, any notion of contacting Grubb went away too.

[@unservant]

Wotc is just horrible now. It’s horrible to work there and their products show it. The best thing that could happen would be for it to get into dire shape and has to to sell it off. That’s how Peter Atkinson and co came in after 2nd edition and revamped it for 3rd. New people, with outside experience, who are part of the community and love the game. The race to the bottom quarter by quarter planning with correspondingly half-written products with 0 play testing and shoddy rules is just horrible to watch. Hasbro could also outsource to paizo. That’s probably the winning move. You get the most balanced f20 system in the market with the best org play.

[@jonw8694]

I feel Spelljammer was a result of someone who really liked '80s movies like Time Bandits, Ice Pirates, and Big Trouble in Little China.

[@thatlittlevoice6354]

And cocaine

[@thepandemicson]

Don't forget 80's cartoons like Pirates of Darkwater and He-Man

[@aaronbecker5617]

SpellJammer is a blast, it really cemented the Mind Flayers as the big bad they are today

[@exitsexamined]

It's kind of crazy to think that the plot and possibly success of BG3 wouldn't have been possible without Spelljammer haha

[@finster72]

My D&D group did an epic Spelljammer campaign back in the early '90s. Still one of our all-time favorite campaigns to this day.

[@exitsexamined]

Beer, pizza, friends, and Spelljammer campaign = really good night

[@finster72]

@@exitsexamined Agreed! Really digging your channel, lots of great stuff.

[@Sniggitysnail]

Sounds like nerds

[@finster72]

@@Sniggitysnail maybe, but we had a glorious time and nothing can take away from those great memories.

[@DOOMHAMMER-XIII]

And then we have "Dark Sun", I wish that like Spelljammer could survive to this day, it's literally Conan the Barbarian + Madmax

[@exitsexamined]

Yeah I covered it in detail in another video, such a great setting!

[@radyoung779]

They mention Dark Sun in the 2024 PHB. Maybe they're going to do something with it.

[@OzyWazza]

@@radyoung779 Holy Odin I hope NOT; they'll sodding RUIN it.

[@ChrisMoneymakerDHRG]

I am very grateful that WotC is afraid of the Dark Sun setting. They already have screwed it up, see 4e, and y would do an even worse job now. There is lots of fan created stuff out there if you want more content set on the world of Athas.

[@stevemarshall4822]

@@radyoung779 Not a chance: it features slavery as a societal norm and they prefer to pretend that would never exist, unless you were the evil UK or US.

[@temmy9]

the most fun I ever had in a setting. We privateered against the Vodoni Empire, fought the Scro in the second unhuman war sought out the last Witchlight Marauder and even went to the tarrasque planet to seek their help against the resurgent Mindflayer Imperium that was behind everything. It was crazy, batshit awesome.

[@claudiaborges8406]

Spelljammer asks: “remember when space fiction was wild stuff a few centuries ago?”

[@SilverScribe85]

I'm disappointed that the new updated Spelljammer left out the Drakon as a character race to select (or as I call them, Dragon Centaurs)

[@exitsexamined]

Can you just straight up not play them in 5e? I didn't even catch that in the 5e edition!

[@SilverScribe85]

@@exitsexamined What I meant was they weren't featured among the roster of creatures/races you could play. But...are you familiar with the Dracon I'm referring to?

[@geoffreycannon2197]

They had a Dracotaur in Monster Manual 3, for 3.5 edition. I know that doesn’t help you much… but it does exist somewhere. It’s an easier transition from 3.5 to 5, too…

[@docnecrotic]

It left out far too much from there. The cutting room floor got truly brutal with 5e, as with other books. Honestly, those often sub-par mini adventures should be gutted out first, especially if it means more widely usable content doesn't get slashed so quickly.

[@SilverScribe85]

@@geoffreycannon2197 Are they the same thing as the Dracon?

[@simonfernandes6809]

Ran a 1 and a half year long 5e Spelljamner campaign complete with time travel; militant hippo people (Giff) and multiple settings (Faerun; Dragonlance; Exandria). It was a wild ride and lots of fun!

[@peterhebenstreit451]

Appreciate the love for my favorite setting. Glad I could help.

[@exitsexamined]

Thank you so much for the help! Couldn't have done it without you

[@xavierp7658]

You forgot to discuss the “Astereater” the most hilariously named monster in the setting

[@exitsexamined]

The monsters alone deserve a hour long video haha

[@jamesbarrow6223]

I feel sad that there was no mention of Shadow of the Spider Moon. Yes, it had drastically reduced content taking up only a single Dungeon magazine, and yes it only dealt with a single crystal sphere and totally ignored the phlogiston. But it was a really cool 3E setting.

[@Pyro_nPain]

I think it's also worth mentioning that when WoTC released 5e Spelljammer, they also released a music album called Spelljams with songs to accompany the Light of Xaryxis adventure, it's on youtube and spotify for those that are curious.

[@exitsexamined]

Oh that is 100% worth mentioning! Thanks for commenting that

[@linkandshiek5522]

I use Journey of the Sorcerer (HItchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy theme) as the theme song for my Spelljammer campaign

[@Jebbis]

Don't forget Reggie Watts

[@Beastlango]

Love spelljammer. It and Ravenloft (the domains of dread) are my two favorite settings. It’s been very inspiring for my writing. Giving me the idea to take the whale ships and turn them into fantasy submarines in the book I wrote last year. It also helped inspire a series I plan to do with airship Vikings.

[@tv9mpeti]

I've been running a spelljammer campaign for almost three years now, but I started planning it way before that. Since the official 5e version wasn't yet out when we started, we use a homebrew conversion of the original setting, so we have the phlogiston and crystal spheres, not the Astral Sea. I really love the setting and how crazy you can get with it, for example at our last session the rogue of the party just got a pair of gold plated TEC-9 SMGs because why not, or a few sessions back the monk has attuned to a giant armor-robot-thingy which is basically a fantasy version of the EVAs from NGE. So yeah, this is why I like it, because you can go crazy with your ideas and things that would be strange or even off putting in other settings, are totally normal here. And like you've said at the end, thematically it can also have a really wide range. There are some sessions that are more classical dungeon crawls, some are mysteries, and and sometimes it really is just a beach episode on a pretty planet. Also, as for the Spelljammer comics: I've got the first five issue digitally, but sadly only those. I've read them, and it is really strange that two of the main characters are clerics whose powers seem to work just fine both in the phlogiston and in different crystal spheres than their home one. Maybe there was some explanation for this later on, I sadly didn't had yet the chance to find out.

[@TheRoomforImprovement]

Spelljammer is basically playing a world set in Disney’s Treasure Planet. Underrated film.

[@exitsexamined]

I never actually watched it! What made it so good?

[@TheRoomforImprovement]

@ Apart from the unique aesthetic, it’s a solid adaptation of treasure island with an excellent dynamic between Jim Hawkins and long Jon silver.

[@raymondhemphill146]

I’ve been around since Spelljammer was new. I agree 100% that much of the appeal of the vastness of possibilities. Event Horizon in D&D - Spelljammer. Buckaroo Banzai in D&D - Spelljammer. The 5th Element in D&D - Spelljammer. The community has really kept the setting alive, and I hope WOTC gives a limited release of new material.

[@mdpenny42]

And you could probably get some kind of Stargate-esque material thrown in, too - OK, you'd have to either drop the gates themselves, or come up with some sort of "magical item" to replace them (and if Sigil is referred to as "the city of doors/portals" in Planescape, this ought to leave enough "wiggle room").

[@temmy9]

Babylon5 in dnd

[@Beryllahawk]

Fabulous setting. The trouble with Spelljammer is also its best feature. Just as you said: THERE ARE NO LIMITS. When you can do ANYTHING - it gets hard to focus down and get anything done!! Had the same trouble with Planescape honestly. Still love the totally unhinged ship designs though. Friend of mine decided to mash Doctor Who and Spelljammer together and lo! It worked. (Of course it worked!) I think some of what made it fall a little out of favor, too, was the rise of TV shows that had a similar feel - Lexx, Farscape, Firefly (sort of). All featuring awesome ships crewed by utter fools of the best sort. Might've been just me feeling that there was a saturation problem.

[@snvhill]

One thing I have to shout out for the setting, the emphasis on infinite potential. ESPECIALLY in characters. One of my favorite things about the Cloakmaster cycle was that it included both a good beholder and a good MIND FLAYER as characters (though, good might be slightly stretching it. Relatively friendly and neutral might be more accurate). They both noted they were exceptions for their races, those one in a thousand that were considered mad by the others, but they logically existed. And in a universe as big as Spelljammers, it's not too hard to run into those. Also: Giff love! Gotta appreciate the space hippos. Also also: I'm kind of surprised/curious this never made it to 80's Saturday morning cartoons in some sort of kiddified way. Seriously, can no one imagine the advert break? "Back to jammin' with the Spelljammers!"

[@BrianMason-sy5br]

I got all the Spelljammer Comics. What you heard is accurate. The story in the comics starts off strong with plenty of drama and mystery..but about mid run things do just stop and fizzle. One character, Jasmine, had wings (she is on most of the comic covers) that changed in each Crystal Sphere. Jas was also from Toril and was first in the Forgotten Realms Comic. She also has been in the novels too, one of the few characters to do so.

[@ianmurdoch6247]

Once you dm a spelljammer campaign, all other campaigns you dm will incorporate at least am element of spelljammers. 10/10 love it!

[@TheDerpyMacGamer]

I got so excited when I saw this on my feed. I got introduced to Spelljammer in 5e and I fell in love. I’m currently running a DnD campaign in the setting and we’re all having a blast. Love your work!

[@gdhuertas07]

This was a great vid. And your short interlude at 12:55 got me thinking: Have you thought about covering Midnight? It's another D&D setting that's disconnected from the broader multiverse that asks a dark but fascinating question: what if Sauron won?

[@exitsexamined]

I'd love to cover midnight and hopefully eventually all the weird nooks of the DnD settings. I actually hadn't thought about midnight but I'll throw it on the list now. That kind of sounds like Dark Sun, how is it different?

[@gdhuertas07]

​@@exitsexamined It's different from Dark Sun in one key way: the free peoples of the world still believe in the fight against evil. Izrador (the Midnight universe's Sauron equivalent) has won. The fellowship of heroes who banded against him have fallen either in death or to his corruption. Those who have been folded into his corruption serve as his fearsome Night Kings (the Midnight universe's Ringwraith equivalents). Yet even as Izrador's shadow blights all that it touches (all of the campaign supplements have "Shadow" in the title), even as his bands of orcs and evil men pillage the countryside, even if your struggle may ultimately be futile, the game emphasizes that this is a setting where hope is something worth fighting for. When I hear the title Midnight, I hear the cry of J.R.R. Tolkien's Hurin as he made his final stand against Morgoth's orcs: 'Aurë entuluva! Day shall come again!' Hurin's fate was, to put it mildly, tragic. But he was right: Morgoth was eventually defeated. Day came again. And so, even if your party too meets a tragic fate in Midnight, it too will play a part in the undoing of Izrador's reign.

[@gdhuertas07]

I genuinely can't tell if KZbin is including my response here or not, but the basic difference between Dark Sun and Midnight is this: if Dark Sun is like Mad Max (the apocalypse has happened, the dark sorcerers are all powerful, etc.), then Midnight is more like Star Wars: Andor: the bad guys won the last war. But while their victories were overwhelming, they were not absolute. And players taking part in the resistance against evil do so in the hope that one day the dawn will break anew.

[@itsatraplol]

The Spelljammer novels were outstanding in the 'bad 80s way' that novels sometimes were. I enjoyed 'em.

[@exitsexamined]

Honestly the cover art alone on them just screams 80's haha good stuff

[@rubaiyat300]

I played a campaign set in the module Legend of the Spelljammer and basically an entire campaign set on a mobile city in space was a wild series of adventure. We threw in some characters from other settings as the D&D cosmology had advanced from then so Planescape, Ravenloft, and Dark Sun all got some representation. Mainly upping the threat of the catacombs that ran through the Spelljammer and the undead residing within. It's a glorious freeform setting that really deserves some dedicated love. But as an old Dragonlance fan I am well aware that just isn't what the current holders of the license are interested in.

[@Crasuk]

Dark Sun is also a very interesting DnD Setting. It's very dark but I like that it's asking the question what would a world look like where the evil has won.

[@andyenglish4303]

SPHERE... Crystal Spheres. Not Spears.

[@exitsexamined]

Pronunciation is by far the most annoying aspect of running a channel haha

[@jenslangheinrich402]

It is sad that Dark Sun never got a Spelljammer setting book, it would scream "Dune" crossover, where space raiders would pillage the ravaged worlds exotic resources.

[@WarhavenSC]

They'd have to change the canon to fit. Dark Sun exists in an inaccessible sphere, so you can't spelljam there. It's even difficult to get there via the planes, and portals (even in Sigil) are _extremely_ rare.

[@docnecrotic]

Night_Druid a la The Piazza forums has you covered. The Crimson Sphere looks at this. And best of all, none of it screws with either canon really.

[@danielmiller3596]

@@WarhavenSCfrom what I heard, Dark Sun as a sphere would eat the Weave more and more if it weren't excluded

[@nunyabidness7146]

A spelljammer open-world space-opera RPG with BG3 level of customization would seriously be one of the best games of all time if pulled off right.

[@Newnodrogbob]

Back in ‘92 there was a Spelljammer PC game. Pirates of Realmspace? Something like that. It was cool for the time.I would absolutely buy a new spelljammer video game Edit: yeah, I just got to 25:00 in the video. Sorry for the redundant info.

[@ChrisMoneymakerDHRG]

Good video. It’s is good that you mostly stuck to the 2e Spelljammer stuff, even though you did go easy on the 5e version of it. I haven’t looked at the 5e version but aside from all the normal complaints you get when WotC lutes the corpse of TSR for content, most everyone who had a problem with it said there were no ship to ship combat rules. Not that they were were too simple. Maybe a whole slew of reviewers just missed them, I don’t know, because like I said I have never looked at the 5e spelljammer content. One thing that surprised me about this video is, with all the time you mentioned the giant space hamsters, as an example of how gonzo the setting is, that you didn’t mention the fire breathing variety. Over all this video is a good primer for someone who knows nothing about the setting. Keep them coming.

[@exitsexamined]

Hey thanks so much for the kind words and watching! Actually my first draft was much harsher on 5e but after talking to some DM's who've run 5e I realized there is a portion of the community that enjoys 5e so I eased off a bit, I do just think there are two audiences for the two versions

[@docnecrotic]

@@exitsexamined I'd love to know your harsher thoughts ;)

[@gerihuginn2143]

The 1st dnd campaign also features sci-fi fantasy elements . The Temple of the Frog , is at 1st glance a classic fantasy story , but at the end you realize that the temple is filled with high tech devices and that the baddies are outworlders .

[@jaysw9585]

Btw, 3e had a Spelljammer release too. It was published in Polyhedron magazine #92 in may 2002. It lacked a lot of the lore, but it had the bare minimum rules for converting it to the 3e system.

[@Gillemear]

I loved Spelljammer, still do. I DMed a fantastic few years of campaigning in Wildspsce and the Phogosten flow as my players and I battled the Werewolf Vodoni, the vile Scros and finally trying to wrestle command of the Spelljammer itself! Was amazing and still enjoy running one off adventures in it today.

[@exitsexamined]

Sounds like a rad campaign haha, where do I sign up?

[@r4z0rv1n3]

Wizards can take my Phlogiston when they pry it from my cold dead hands... I do like the evil space clowns though.

[@docnecrotic]

Hear hear. Space clowns aren't a bad idea, but they could use something. I split them into seelie (star fools) and unseelie (starlequins) fey though. It feels better for me, plus it's an excuse to do something with Faeriespace (which only exists in a subpar module).

[@ianmurdoch6247]

Have you ever watched killer clowns from outer space? It's so ridiculous it may be master piece!

[@FlintlockFreddy]

Spelljammer was an awesome Idea bought the box back in the 90s as well as the cloakmaster cycle. I love it's over the top everything goes mentality and of couse Sailing ships in space! I was definitely delighted to see the good old Nautiloid getting so much Spotlight in Baldurs Gate 3.

[@cnkclark]

My longest-running D&D character is a Radiant Dragon swashbuckler from a Spelljammer/Planescape campaign back in the 90s.

[@ibanix2]

Nice coverage of Spelljammer, which I remember fondly from my teens. Spelljammer also shows up in other D&D properties- there are a number of SJ connections in Baldur's Gate 2. (Not 3, 2).

[@EldenJohn75]

Words cannot describe how much I adore the minsc artwork at 0:14

[@Darkhunter-he1tv]

I really loved your video i wish some more people used spelljammer in dnd campaign as it literally in space the amount creativity we could do is amazing like on my dnd campaign our main antagoinst is just going to end the universe because he thought god are dictator and we used time travel as a excused to go to different era of other dnd campaign and its really fun

[@exitsexamined]

Sounds like a blast of a campaign! Where do I sign up haha

[@rodrigobueno8652]

Great video, a complement I don't think my self a purist, but i think the change of putting the phlegium on the astra sea or equivaleting both has some repercusion that many don't think about. Basically what i'm saying is that the astral sea is a different plan, making the astral sea=phelegium blurss the divisions between planes and overlap a lot of spelljammer and planescape as settings. What stop an spelljamming from going to a portal and going to heaven or hell if the phlegion is the astral sea, etc

[@docnecrotic]

That's very valid. Honestly, it gets worse from there. The Phlog/Flow was a control mechanic. Keep 1E style gods in their respective worlds, not easily spilling out into others. A potential omni-sphere apocalypse scenario has been created. WotC probably didn't consider this though. Now, they could have kept it in tact, but just eased on some restrictions (like fire), but... yeah.

[@rodrigobueno8652]

@@docnecrotic Yeah, mot fans didn't cosiderated it too. A brazilian setting remake their cosmology as a copy iof spelljammer some years ago and that problemss tarted to show, thats why it was the frist thing i though when i saw this change

[@ianmurdoch6247]

Believe it or not. The original plan was the way ancient man saw the world. The astral sea is connected to all things but the plog is a different thing. It's more like the ether.

[@rodrigobueno8652]

@@ianmurdoch6247 Yeah,but no one told that to the 5e team lol

[@zigorously]

Oh to be a giant miniature space hamster drifting through the void 🥺 Fantastic work as always! On the topic of future ideas, I'd love to see you do one on the Myst video game series! Cyan Worlds is the longest running indie studio in the US, and at one point Myst was the best-selling computer game of all time (to the point they almost got a whole Myst Island at Disneyland). They had a short-lived comic, three books, and a Myst movie/show had been in the works for decades. There's a ton of really neat stories over their history as well, like one of the sound engineers on Riven (Martin O'Donnell) being the future composer of Halo and Destiny, or Brad Dourif (aka Grima Wormtongue from the LOTR films) playing a villain for one game. More recently, Riven just had an Unreal remake, they've got a free MMO kept alive by the fans, and are currently working on their next game in that universe!

[@exitsexamined]

Hey thanks for watching and enjoying! I've thought about Myst and other video games, but I'm not sure....there's already SO much video game content on KZbin and Myst in particular has been covered by some really incredible creators. I'm probably going to stick to printed works for the time being because they don't get covered as much on youtube

[@zigorously]

@exitsexamined Totally fair! I'm definitely happy to see more coverage for great books that might have gotten overlooked/forgotten! I'd say 60% of playing the Myst games IS reading, what with all the found journals and notes, but I take your point. Hmmm. . .maybe Artemis Fowl then? It's only ever had one (albeit poorly received) adaptation, but in its heyday was up there with the boy wizard books as far as young fantasy goes. Same with Le Guin's Earthsea books, fantastic stories that beat JKR to the "boy wizard goes to magic school and fights dark shadowy evil that scarred him" schtick by about 2 decades AND was one of the first true YA series (also featuring a POC protagonist, which was wild for the 60s) The adaptations haven't been great for that one either, but those alone would make an interesting story!

[@jennyahumanowl]

Love this series! Spelljammer is such a wild concept, would love to play a game in it someday

[@exitsexamined]

Hey if you do let me know what you think! I think if you throw in some pizza, beer(other drinks of your choice) some good friends and a Spelljammer campaign and you'll have an awesome night!

[@tanjredshirt]

Great review of my favorite D&D setting, thank you!

[@andyeaton1736]

Thanks for this review. Spelljammer was my favorite 2e setting. So much weird, awesome stuff.

[@exitsexamined]

Happy to do it, Spelljammer is awesome and always deserves more love

[@marcusdarrington6534]

Never played spelljammer but the concept always intrigued me

[@dfailsthemost]

I knew little of Spelljammer beyond what I gathered from the novel covers. But I always pictured Pirates of Dark Water with D&D classes, and instead of the ocean, it's space.

[@jamesragsdale3069]

Had books for this weirdness but never got anyone to play. It's a wild setting, full of crazy.

[@xvimlar]

Golden Age of cool settings, Spelljammer, Ravenloft, Al Qadim, I ran a campaign for most of college that combined them all including Planescape and Darksun. Good times.

[@underthepale]

8:24 Large Luigi has a fairly interesting backstory. He was on a planet where the Beholders had a ritual of climbing this sacred mountain and communing with the cosmos for its secrets. Luigi completed this trial, and whatever fell truths he learned, they changed him forever. He became peaceful, friendly, abandoned the hatred Beholders usually have for other species, and now runs one of the most popular bars in all of Wildspace. I've seen it speculated that he came to realize he's a character in a tabletop RPG and the entire world is imaginary, created by Dungeon Masters and their players, and if these people ever lost interest, the world would cease to exist. So, he does what he can to keep this from happening, which is why he loves adventurers, as they are most commonly created by players. It's wild stuff. Meta before "meta" was really a thing.

[@marcinagy6468]

A fun tidbit: TSR must've had pretty high hopes for the settings once. Remember Dragonstrike? For those, who don't, it was an introductionary version of D&D released in '93 - more akin to Heroquest really, trying to grab the attention of kids who liked boardgames, but were unfamiliar with TTRPGs. What makes it memorable ven today is a shockingly surreal VHS tape that came in the package. It not only explained the concept of the game (badly), but also had a short fantasy film created specifically for the game (a hilariously bad one). Supposedly, that VHS and its contents made the product a financial burned on the company... Which is a shame, because the were planning to make a Spelljammer themed Dragonstrike game right after. It was to be called Wildspace, and only a couple of graphical assets (a map, a cover, AND PARTS OF THE FILM, etc) has survived, as it got canned early in its development.

Time for Spelljammer 40,000!

[@aestevalis0]

I think a lot of people forget that you can still use all the old stuff with the new editions. Just takes a little adapting.

[@ZlothZloth]

Monte (not Zeb) Cook made a product called Dark Space over in the Rolemaster system. In it, a small space empire of about a dozen planets had an anti-technology revolution that outlawed (with some notable exceptions) anything powered by non-living things. That would be horrible for us, but they had some serious bio-tech to make up for some of the losses as well as the Rolemaster magic system. The end result was a society of swords, sorcery, cyberpunk'ish implants made from lab-grown creatures, and space ships. Oh, and throw in a lovecraftian set of monsters, too. It's really great stuff - and almost completely forgotten. It came out in 1990. It's weird that the two Cooks both came out with space magic so close together! Monte's might be living space ships using psychic energy instead of spelljamming, but you better believe it will have mages on it to blast other ships.

[@billcox8870]

I can just imagine lovecraftian monsters in a spelljammer setting. I think they would fit right in the far Realm

[@LostBong]

Haven't seen the physical comics in a long time, but there are e-versions of the comic available, but you have to navigate the Phlogiston like a space pirate.

[@andyenglish4303]

Yes, it's a quick jaunt to Lithuania Space.

[@FattyMcFox]

I had a player During 4th, who wanted to play as a Starfleet Officer. We reskinned a ranger and eventually the party was transported to a Starfleet vessel. The players had so much fun of the Magic Vs Technology hijinks that i started to try and convert SpellJammer to 4E. I never finished because we fell apart as a group before we got to go fully weird.

[@gnomevoyeur]

I had the original rule set from back around the 2e era but I think they disappeared into the blackhole of random things that evaporate during multiple young adult house moving scenarios. I still have the trilogy of novels in my bookshelf, though.

[@gnomevoyeur]

What? There are 6? Bah.

[@marchanix5752]

I love the concepts and mechanics of AD&D Spelljammer. It reminds me of A True History by Lucian of Samosata, if the various creatures fighting in space were spelljamming ships. Weird crystal spheres with worlds totally unlike anything outside of fantasy! A setting system that reminds you that most science fiction is just fantasy with different words anyway, so use and adapt as desired. If you're not a fan of the more goofy aspects or history of the published setting, ignore them. This is a fantasy game master's infinite sandbox!

[@ponyote]

Ooh, Spelljammer! It's such a lovely kitchen sink of a setting.

[@nuriochi]

YAY! It's here!!! Thanks for doing this one...

[@gimpytheimp]

For the 5E version the ships lacked the variety 2E gave us. The Space Galleon is the biggest ship but 2E had massive ships that ogres would use. Also smaller ships weren't there when 2E, again, had them and popular among goblins.

[@RealMuperSan]

2:39 fantasy in space sounds like what Sanderson is doing with cosmere.

[@Pandorization]

Neverwinter got an entire Spelljammer chapter. It's pretty well done for a tab target MMO

[@WrongParadox]

Witchlight Marauder - space, remote, primary, secondary and tertiary

[@ChrisMoneymakerDHRG]

I have used it in my Dark Sun game. Basically the ancient halfling nature masters fled Athas around 14,000 years in the past, to the next planet over. There they set up a society that covered that world. Far off in another crystal sphere, perhaps realmspace, the Scro had brought the witch light marauder to start a new war of extinction. The Scro had the marauder, a giant mother ship made from the shell of a gamriaroid, and the small fleet it carried. Agents them the Elves sent a fleet, and so did some of the human. One of the ships was the centipede looking ship, whose name escapes me at this time. In the battle when it becomes clear that the Scro are going to brake through, a powerful mage cast a spell that created a vast vortex in space. It sucked in the Scro, the marauder, and the centipede ship. They were spat out into Athas’ crystal sphere. The Scro used the turn of events to test the marauder. Before they did that they sent down parties to collect wildlife and people from the worlds their were near. This is how I got my cousin’s 20th level Gladiator involved. He was captured and brought onboard the Scro mothership. Because of him mutations they took him for a monster of some kind, and he was able to convince them to let him work for them, all the while looking for a way to escape. Eventually the marauder was used on the nature masters planet, while my cousins gladiator was stuck there. It took more than a year of him teaching them of war and them developing biological weapons before they finally wiped the scourge of the marauder from that planet. Almost two million Halflings died and 9 cities were lost. A large portion of a continent was Scoured by the marauder. But after many battles they finally killed the last of the colossal slugs. It’s an epic campaign, that by the end of my cousin’s gladiator had advanced to 23 level.

[@WreckedRover]

Spelljammer was my favorite DND setting. Other settings aren't even close.

[@AshenDruid]

Given the sheer amount of official content barfed up by WotC for 3.5 the lack of Spelljammer during that era is even more damning.

[@HeirofAzaran]

YES! I love your D&D videos!

[@exitsexamined]

Haha I love doing them! So many fun settings, any in particular you'd want me to cover in the future?

[@HeirofAzaran]

​@@exitsexaminedSpelljammer WAS the big one. Either Blackmoore, or the failed "Comic Modules" of TSR West.

[@funguseaterAI]

I had a Campaign that started as Dragonlance-ish went through a magic use catastrophe, Ships helms were powered by magic Item Furnaces and the Sphere ended up as Dark Sun-ish when enough magic had been burned up. It was a blast.

[@exitsexamined]

Sounds like a great time haha, when's the next game and how do I join?

[@roguerifter9724]

Spelljammer is either my favorite or second favorite D&D setting. Eberron is the other contender and I wish D&D PC game developers would make more games in them instead of dragging us to the Forgotten Realm over and over. I have the digital release of the 90s Spelljammer game and owned a physical copy long ago but I want more. Unfortunately I never got to try 5e Spelljammer tabletop.

[@TheAkashachi]

Another relic of old TSR that is rarely covered is the Kingdom rulling setting, Birthright. Combining human tribes inspired by many human cultures (Franks, Bretons, Otomans, Vikings) with brutal man hunting elves, on a world where the Gods fell and the Divine right of kings is a literal thing (Rulers are both empowered and strengthen their lands by their lineage traits inherited by the fallen gods) it was both unique and very peculiar setting. The books had sprawling maps, and many rules for warfare, including sea warfare. It also had comprehensive SIM rules so you would swap between the players dealing with their Lands and taking part of other adventures to increase their riches and personal powers. It even had an old PC game that aged surprisingly well called Gorgon Alliance. Would love to see you check this one out and spread the word with your audience!

[@exitsexamined]

Seems interesting I 100% will check it out! Are you an expert in it? If so I might reach out to you if I decide to cover it!

[@TheAkashachi]

Not necessarily an expert, just a long time fan, used to have many of the AD&D books and was part of the community that tried to bring it back unnofficially for 3E many years ago. But I personally been away from the TTRPG scene for a while, mostly watching from the sidelines. But could at least help with some pointers.

[@Josh-r3q]

Spelljammer is one of the "Creatives". A setting that does what DnD does the best, take radical ideas and fully realize them in a way that even novels have a hard time doing. You look at Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms and they are what people expect from fantasy, they have their own quirks and detail, but by and large they are what people expect from a fantasy setting at this point "Middle Earth plus or minus a few points on a variety of metrics". But when you look at Spelljammer, it is such a total break that it makes people change what they consider "fantasy" or how "fantasy' should be defined. Eberron has pulp action, Dark Sun has Post Apocalypse, Ravenloft has Gothic Horror, these things are fantasy, there is magic and races and lost kingdoms, but the tone and feel is so different that they deserve to exist more than "Albion variation #12-b" which most players put together, and the sort of derivative material many people would keep putting out if weird shit like this didn't exist to push boundaries.

[@TheMimiSard]

I have to wonder how much Baldur's Gate helped keep Giant Space Hamsters a regular part of Spelljammer, due to Minsc and Boo, his Miniature Giant Space Hamster companion.

[@dandrive3249]

One of the biggest inspirations to Spelljammer is a “A True Story” by Lacian of Samosota which is considered one of the first Sci Fi stories. It’s a pretty funny read especially if you know why he wrote the story. Great read.

[@exitsexamined]

Was it an inspiration to Grubb or someone else on the team? If you have a source I'll throw it in the description!

[@dandrive3249]

@ I don’t have a source on hand. I remember I read about it in a Wikipedia or magazine article somewhere. So on its own it’s not that trustworthy, but If you read A True Story you can see the parallels like Lucian ship just flying in space and him fighting wacky alien creatures. The spiders in the story are a lot like the Neogi. Given how the setting is inspired by old world views of space it isn’t unlikely that Grubb read it. Especially with its legacy as the “first Sci-Fi”. So if it wasn’t an intentional inspiration it could have been a subconscious one.

[@Adam_First]

Great video

[@exitsexamined]

Just glad there are other people out there in the world into spelljammer!

[@ThePosrein]

When I played in the 80s when it came out, we called it ‘Sillyjammer.’ Tried it once and noped out.

[@juliankirby9880]

The story for Magic the gathering, is basically a spelljammer story, Atleast it was back in the 90s-mid 00s. The weatherlight is a space boat.

[@acidnine3692]

The best setting dnd has produced. Can have serious stories with apocalyptic consequences, or can have a silly guardians of the galaxy esque series.

[@dauchande]

No, that would be Planescape, since it includes Spelljammer

[@ramiromurga4832]

Very cool video! Just a heads up, regarding video games, there's a Neverwinter Spelljammer expansion that's pretty cool. Neverwinter as in the MMORPG

[@shallendor]

Spelljammer was a naval game with a lot craziness! The Spelljammer video game was a fun game, but on the lower end of D&D video games!

[@jaysw9585]

The problem with spelljammer is that it has no identity of its own. Most the appeal is just too dependent on self contained settings that are far more interesting. It connects other worlds, all of which are just as interesting as Spelljammer and more so. So what's the point of jumping from Krynn to Oerth, when the world by itself can take you to level 20. The Andromedor expansion did try to give the setting an identity, but by then its setting was too established to shift to its own thing. This is why TSR quickly abandoned it and favor of Planescape.

[@sparkjohnson5687]

Love your videos man especially your dnd videos. Please please cover the legend of drizzt sometime ❤❤

[@exitsexamined]

Haha I hear you, I think you've been asking for that for awhile right? I guess in my current video format I'd probably cover that as part of the Forgotten Realms DnD setting, which I guess I could cover but I'm a bit more interested in the weirder settings at the moment. I'll probably cover Forgotten Realms at some point but there's been SO much content in it, it would take me a long time to go through

[@nickster_xd8937]

I only know of this setting becuz of Dunegon Crawler Audio’s amazing soundscape videos. This is the first time I’ll be watching an in-depth video about this setting!

[@exitsexamined]

Hopefully it doesn't disappoint, it's a blast of a setting haha hopefully you're inspired to play the real thing!

[@marshalrather8008]

Great video! Love that Spelljammer is an example of a team taking a hard limiting framework (science fiction without proper science) and making an amazing world out of it! Keep up the great work, hope you are having a good one 👍

[@exitsexamined]

Hey thanks so much for the kind words and all the support! Totally agree Spelljammer really ran within it's framework and I think there's something to be said for the creativity that frameworks spawn. Anyway I'll be working on Ender's game in the next few weeks!

[@marshalrather8008]

@@exitsexamined Limits breed creativity! Looking forward to it!

[@jacobjett1893]

Honestly, this was a great setting that multiversed all of D&D's settings.

[@WarhavenSC]

0:27 -- I believe the phrase you're looking for is "awesomely bad."

[@therealshadow99]

I not only have read some of the Spelljammer comics, but I still own them. They are in sealed containers in their own plastic comic sleeves, so not easy to just get to, but I have them. xD

[@exitsexamined]

Cool! They might be worth some money! If you want to do the spelljammer community a favor scan some and put them online!

[@therealshadow99]

@@exitsexamined I may decide to scan them, but I need to unbury them... Stuff has been stored on top of them for a decade at least now. xD

[@yepisyeniturkiye]

He keeps saying "dude it's so weird and imagination is the limit maaan" for 30 minutes straight

[@Lightning_Toad]

I could not finish this video. It's nothing personal, but I can only hear "omg you guys Spelljammer is so wAcKy and randomlol everything's so crazy and did I mention GIANT SPACE HAMSTERS LOL" so many times before my eyes roll out of their sockets

[@26th_Primarch]

28:10 * "I'm still here" by John Rzeznik from Treasure Planet soundtrack starts *

[@astype3076]

I am still running a Spelljammer game that I started right as the 5e offering for the setting dropped. I've had to homebrew a LOT and have gotten to bring a ton of stuff in from AD&D to fill out where the modern interpretation was lacking. That said, it's by far my favorite setting and even though we're well through the pre-written mod, I fully intend to take the campaign all the way to lvl 20 and beyond.

[@grendel123]

I read the Spelljammer comics back in the day. I was buying that and all the other TSR/D&D comics that DC was putting out at the time. And they all suffered from the same issue: They started falling off in story quality at the end. I think that was because TSR at the time decided they wanted to launch their own line of comics which would include an adventure module and cut DC out. DC wasn't going to help push TSRs product AND compete with them so they didn't put the effort into any of them at the end. Which is too bad, as they were all very strong starters story wise.

[@ZatoichiBattousai]

Haven't read the Spelljammer comics in decades, but they are packed with all my other comics just below me in a half basement. I only have about 10 of the 15 but they were good and fun lore to add to your campaigns. I also have some of the Forgotten Realms comics they made. Think there was a crossover?! Love Spelljammer, my favourite setting ever, SciFi and High Fantasy in one!

[@fireflamingo4310]

I recently ran spelljammers and had a light cleric, so to get around the divine cutoff, she was an auto gnome with a star fusion core that provided her powers

[@exitsexamined]

Honestly that sounds like an amazing character haha, where do I sign up for one of your games

[@crazyquilt]

9:23 "He's Norbert the Autognome, because no job is too small!"

[@benruniko]

This never occurred to me, but yes I want a real Spelljammer open space game! Wow this is a flavor I didn’t know I was missing! Think a mix between X4, Sunless Sea, and whatever really detailed ship building and tweaking game is most popular, probably not as detailed as Space Engineers lol.

[@tridentgreen3346]

My first experience with Spelljammer (and D&D overall) has been 5e and I've been playing with some game shop refugees for about a year and a half now playing Spelljammer, supplemented by some old sourcebooks. God bless the good ol' Bad Decisions and her crew of complete lunatics. God bless my character Gulthean the Lizardfolk Aberrant Mind Sorcerer who can and will eat everything. Bro sacrificed almost all of his multiversal selves for a sandwich. God bless our DM and my fellow players.

[@joshbecka6110]

I love Spelljammer so much

[@aestevalis0]

But can we make a planet that makes other planets? Asking for a Galactic President.

[@NecromancyForKids]

There is no such thing as a baby beholder. Only a beholder that has just appeared.

[@jenslangheinrich402]

In my uncreative mind the Phlogiston was the Warp from Warhammer 40K, the Astral Sea is Hyperspace ala Star Wars and it depends on which stardrive your spelljamming helm runs. So you could run into a Space Hulk if you wanted to reuse your old boardgame or artefacts from a galaxy long time ago, far, away (read reuse old SW modules).