Unique Ships: Buccaneers and Adventurers amid the Stellar Main

Paul Westermeyer (aka GMWestermeyer) has given us permission to bring you a Spelljammer netbook he has been working on called Unique Ships: Buccaneers and Adventurers amid the Stellar Main.

Paul told us this about his netbook:

Here is my latest work, Unique Ships: Buccaneers and Adventurers amid the Stellar Main. It’s roughly 82 pages long and includes descriptions of 18 ships, some drawn from my Beyond the Moons entries and inspired by my old Unique Ship challenges on the SJML mailing list. All with 2e stats but should be easy to convert for anyone using newer rules.

The ships in the netbook are:

  • Albaithorquduump (‘Devouring Doom of the Elves’): a Scro Navy Mantis ship,
  • Ar’theren (‘Golden Autumn Sky’): an Imperial Elven Navy Man-o-War,
  • Black Deliverance: a former Zhentarim river galley,
  • Dragazhar: a House Cartan Shrikeship,
  • Elentári (‘Star-Queen’): an Imperial Elven Navy Man-o-War,
  • Fisher King: a Company of the Chalice Squidship,
  • Flowfish: a House Moune Tradesman,
  • Flow Ghost: a small Galleon,
  • Hanali’s Sword: a modified small Galleon,
  • Ilidthrokata (‘Elfeater’): a Scro Navy Vipership,
  • Lacanha (‘Spirit Flyer’): a unique ship,
  • Night Prowler: a pirate Great Galley,
  • Nucharnut (‘Sky Bug’): a Scro Navy Scorpion ship,
  • Rebuttal: a Wasp ship,
  • Resplendent: a Dragonfly ship,
  • Oathtaker: a Carrack
  • Silent Star I: an Eelship and
  • Windsong: a Waterdahvian Galleon.

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 Unique Ships: Buccaneers and Adventurers amid the Stellar Main with other fans and the author himself.

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Adventures in Arcane Space back Saturday – catch up now

Earlier this week we ran a story called Adventures in Arcane Space Spelljammer show launches on Twitch TV and posted a link to the a YouTube video.

But there is a second YouTube video, as episode 1 of the show was split into two parts. So here are both parts so that you can catch up.

Spelljammer: Adventures in Arcane Space: Episode 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spelljammer: Adventures in Arcane Space: Episode 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


You can watch the next show live on Saturday from 12 noon to 4pm EST.

Adventures in Arcane Space Spelljammer show launches on Twitch TV

Adventures In Arcane Space - AD&D 2nd Edition Spelljammer Campaign - Part 1Auld Dragon is one of the regulars over at the Spelljammer forum at The Piazza. He also has a YouTube channel, where he has been uploading Lets Play videos of D&D games for some time.

Last Saturday, at 12.00 noon EST, he broadcast the first episode of a new a live-streamed 2nd Edition AD&D Spelljammer game on his Twitch TV channel.

Called, Adventures in Arcane Space, the show features some of the viewers of Auld Dragon’s channel testing out Roll 20 for the first time.

Catch up on You Tube

The game stars oSpelljammer: Adventures in Arcane Space: Episode 1ff on The Rock of Bral, with the player characters being summoned to a drinking establishment, called The Rampant Lion, to meet with a mysterious stranger who is looking for some people to help him carry out a mission for The Seekers.

Adventures In Arcane Space – AD&D 2nd Edition Spelljammer Campaign – Part 1

Here is Auld Dragon’s description from YouTube:

 

Published on 6 Mar 2017

Welcome to Adventures in Arcane Space campaign, an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition Spelljammer campaign played on Roll20 with viewers from my channel!

Session 1, streamed live at 12pm EST/5pm UTC on March 4th, 2017 over at Twitch.tv:
http://www.twitch.tv/aulddragon


The Party consists of:
Cadet Higgimus, a giff fighter.
Braxon, a human fighter.
Yeldin, an elf ranger.
Lafdul, an elf mischiefmaker/thief.
Xanfyr, a half-elf invoker.
Levalithana, an elf wild mage.

See Episode 2 on Saturday

Don’t forget that Episode 2 will be broadcasting live this forthcoming Saturday, from 12.00 noon to 4pm EST, on Twitch TV.

 

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

Systems Reference Document (SRD)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.

 

Dungeon Masters Guild Now OpenAfter 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.

Continue reading

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.

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Jamal Carlson made his own Giff

Spelljammer fan, Jamal Calrson, contacted Wildspace to show us this awesome Giff miniature he made:

Giff by Jamal Carlson

The Giff is a modified a “02597: Mzima, Stone Golem” minature, designed by Jason Wiebe for Reaper Miniatures.

Here is  how the mini looked before Jamal started on it:

Reaper Miniatures: Mzima, Stone Golem

Have you built any Spelljammer miniatures? If you have, we would love to hear from you…and see your pictures.

The Spelljammer Mailing List is to be shut down

The Spelljammer Mailing List (SJML) is going to be shut down, later this month.WotC will terminate SJML

Problems with the Spelljammer Mailing List server rejecting emails were reported back in December last year by Canageek.

A few days ago Michelle Brunes, the Operations Manager for the Wizards Community Team, posted bad news about the SJML (aka Spelljammer-L). The LISTSERV system, on their Oracle server is going to be turned off on the 15th of February.

This really is an end of an era. The Spelljammer Mailing List was set up back in September 1999. It has run for just over 14 years. Hundreds of Spelljammer fans (including myself) have hooked up with other fans on this mailing list, over that time. Continue reading

Review of SJA1 Wildspace

Here is a reprint of a review I wrote about SJA1 Wildspace.

WARNING – MAKE SURE YOU ARE GETTING ALL THE BITS OF SJA1 WILDSPACESJA1 Wildspace

Before I start with the review, a word of warning: SJA1 Wildspace, like many (but not all) TSR adventure modules, was sold with a poster. Once this module comes out of its original srinkwrap, it is very easy for it to get separated from the poster. Not all sellers are D&D experts, so some of them don’t even realise they are selling incomplete D&D products. Check the seller’s description to make sure they have the poster that came with this adventure. If a seller does not specifically mention the poster, I suggest you contact them before handing over any cash.

The poster is numbered 9273XXXX0701 and has the text “The Skyrunner” and “The Hive” on it.

THIS PRODUCT IS DESIGNED TO WORK WITH OTHER D&D BOOKS

SJA1 Wildspace is an adventure module for the Spelljammer Campaign Setting using 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons rules. You will need Spelljammer AD&D Adventures in Space (the boxed set containing the Spelljammer Campaign Setting) to tell you how wildspace and spelljamming is supposed to work in the game. Other Spelljammer products may also be helpful, especially if you want to continue the adventures in space after the end of this story.

To understand the 2nd edition AD&D rules you need the 2nd Edition Players Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide. (TSR produced a revised version of the 2nd edition rules, and you could use the revised versions of the Players Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide instead.)

If you don’t have all of these books, you may be able to get some limited use out of SJA1 Wildspace. The adventure starts on a normal “groundling” world, so it would be possible to use it as a one-shot trip into space, and bring the adventure back to the ground at the end of the story. This would allow you to work the adventure into any other D&D campaign setting…or any non-D&D campaign setting.

The same applies to the rules. While designed for 2nd edition D&D, it could be converted to other versions of D&D or even different fantasy RPG systems. 1st edition AD&D is fairly similar to 2nd edition, so that should be fairly easy to use. 3rd edition D&D is less similar, but fans have made conversions of some of the older D&D material and if you hunt around the Interwebs, you will find that much of the work is done for you.

WHAT YOU GET

When you get SJA1 Wildspace out of the shrinkwrap it actually splits into three parts:

  • The cover,
  • The poster and
  • The 64 page adventure book.

The cover has a fold out section at the back, with monster stats and has three pages of information about The Hive’s Mural’s.

The poster has deck plans for The Skyrunner and maps of The Hive.

The adventure booklet has everything else.

SJA1 Wildspace is designed to work for four to six players of levels 6 to 8. Continue reading