Stripped Down Spelljammer

Ruminations of a Canadian Geek

I’m a bit late on this, but the excellent Blog of Holding has published stripped down rules for Spelljammer, trying to fit the essentials onto one page. I agree with his point that Spelljammer has a couple cool ideas, then bogs them down with a bunch of overly-complicated rules about Grubbian physics and extra rules for clerics. To quote: “I’ll break out my copy of Spelljammer. OH NO IT’S 200 PAGES! THIS BOOK IS TAKING TOO LONG TO READ! THE PCS HAVE ALREADY IMPLODED IN THE VACUUM”

The first blog post covers the basics of the setting and physics, boiling it down to a short paragraph (plus expositions explaining the decisions to help the DM understand why they have done, something useful for when you want to expand upon it for your game.

The second builds a 20 entry random encounter table that also helps explain the setting.

And finally

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Does the new SRD and Dungeon Masters Guild make Spelljammer open content?

Wizards of the Coast made two major announcements that both opened up 5th Edition yesterday.

Firstly there was the return of the SRD, in 5th Edition form.

Secondly there was something new. Something that is going to allow people to not just publish OGL content, but to publish content that uses the Dungeons & Dragons branding and even the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.

 

After seeing both stories and writing about Dungeon Masters Guild opening up Forgotten Realms over at the Forgotten Realms forum at The Piazza, I’ve been talking to a number of fans.

And it seems like there is a bit of confusion between the two stories.

If you just want an answer to the question, then, no. Wizards of the Coast did not just make Spelljammer into open content. But if you want to find out what the Systems Reference Document (SRD) announcement and the Dungeon Masters Guild announcement mean for Forgotten Realms – right now – and what they potentially might mean for open Spelljammer publishing at some point in the near future, read on.

Oriental Adventures and Spelljammer: A Guide

Paul Westermeyer (aka GMWestermeyer) has given us permission to bring you a Spelljammer netbook he has been working on called Oriental Adventures and Spelljammer: A Guide.

Here is what he told us about his guide:

This summarizes oriental cultures in each of the major D&D settings, as well as in Hackjammer, it also includes an OA only SJ timeline, and my Kara-tur timeline. It includes original material on many of the worlds, especially Forgotten Realms, and a reasonably complete bibliography.

I’ve only quickly skimmed through the 67 page netbook, but there are all sorts of useful information including:

• 8 sections giving you information on Asian content that can be used in Realmspace,
• 4 sections giving you information on Asian content that can be used in Greyspace,
• A section giving you information on Asian content that can be used in Mystaraspace,
• A section giving you information on Asian content that can be used in the Hackjammer crystal sphere,
• 3 sections giving you information on Asian content within the Spelljammer product line,
• A section about the Asian D&D content located on the Mythic Earth,
• A Spelljammer Oriental Adventures Timeline,
• A detailed bibliography, with details of 12 different types of sources that can improve your Oriental Adventures/Spelljammer crossover gaming experience and
• A timeline of Kara-Tur

Being a Paul Westermeyer document, the citations and bibliography are a major part of this, allowing you to follow his research back to all the original sources and formulate opinions based on his research, as well as his conclusions.

This is a must-have PDF for any Spelljammer campaign.

There is a discussion topic over at the Spelljammer forum at The Piazza, where you can discuss Oriental Adventures and Spelljammer: A Guide with other fans and the author himself.

2015 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 19,000 times in 2015. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Book Review: The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! What an intense book!

I started this book for the Science Fiction Masterworks book club I’ve organized, and I waited patiently until the very end of 2015 to start it, especially since I was also working on a reading challenge I wanted to finish by the end of 2015. But once I picked it up, I simply could not put it down. The writing is electric, even pyrotechnic. It starts out with awesome and it just keeps adding more awesome onto awesome.

The book starts with a prologue that explains that someone discovered that when threatened with imminent death people have the ability to “jaunte”; that is to say, to teleport over short distances. Eventually the trick of the ability becomes something that everyone can do and so culture and society must adapt.

Cue our opening scene, in which Gully Foyle, our protagonist, a common labourer, has survived in space for 170 days after his ship, the Nomad, has been blown to smithereens, existing in the one airtight space left — a storage locker the size of a coffin — which requires him to go out every few days to loot an oxygen tank, food and water; the catch being that he has only five minutes of air to breathe, since the attachments for air tanks on his duck-taped spacesuit are damaged.

Have I got your attention yet? Alfred Bester sure got mine! You can’t imagine where this story goes or how it ends from this starting point. The action never stops and all the while the protagonist, and every other significant character be it friend or foe, is realized in such exquisite detail that you never once doubt their motivations and you sympathize with all of them, no matter how cruel they get; and believe me, they can get Game-of-Thrones-cruel!

Bonus points: while I have noted many times that you often have to read 1950s science fiction with a grain of salt in that women generally seem to be present to be sex toys or, at best, love interests for the protagonist, this book does not suffer from that one whit. Bester’s female characters are complex and strong and vulnerable at turns. They are every bit as beautifully human as the men and I love them.

Extra bonus points: no jarring moments of obsolete technology to take you out of the illusion. Not a one.

Every science fiction fan needs to read this book, especially if you love space opera. I want to write like this when I grow up.

View all my reviews

Les grands courants philosophiques à travers les Sphères Connues

Si les peuples qui vécurent durant l’Âge des légendes semblent devoir posséder des motivations incompréhensibles pour les espèces plus jeunes, et que les Âges sombres ne soient finalement qu’une succession de conflits à une échelle sans précédent, c’est bien durant l’Âge spirituel que se développent et s’affirment de grands principes qui vont rapidement exalter les ancêtres des Syndarh, des Mordd et des primitifs Valoriens.

Le Point d’Equilibre, la pensée mystique

Sous la guidance des Sharood, les Voies de l’Esprit sont développées en opposition au règne de la magie Reigar. Bien des élus de pratiquement tous les peuples d’alors sont initiés aux pratiques psioniques, afin de pouvoir par la suite dresser les leurs contre une tyrannie mystique qui n’existe déjà plus. A travers ce conflit que souhaitent initier les Sharood apparaît cependant le fondement d’un mode de pensée qui amènera la région des Sphères Connues à s’affranchir régulièrement du joug d’un…

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