It had everything needed to run a Spelljammer campaign. The fact you want more doesn’t make it incomplete.
It has Everything? Really? Can you point to the rules for Star system generation?
Christ I'd be happy if there were rules for anything in space; how big are systems, how long does it take to travel between them, what kind of stellar phenomenon exist in space, why does anyone want to go into space when it seems to be filled with nothing but things that are determined to murder you?
How big are systems? As big as you the DM need them to be. Realmspace has (according to 2e lore) 6 or 7 habitable planets (and a sun and multiple moons)
How long does it take to travel between them? Speed of plot (We did this back in 2e days as well... the designers were not astrophysicists; they just slapped down numbers that sounded astronomically large to them; so the speeds and distances didnt match up very well).
What kind of stellar phenomenon exist in space? All the ones we currently know about IRL plus any of the made up ones from those SciFi shows on TV. Also a whole host of weird Astral, Ethereal, and other extra-planar nonsense a DMs fevered mind can dream up.
Why does anyone want to go into space when it seems to be filled with nothing but things that are determined to murder you? One could ask that of us Earthlings IRL... But with them tossing the Phlogiston siilyness out and just going with sailing the "astral sea" weirdness. I have a question of my own... what happens to the things stored in a bag of holding when it gets damaged? That's right it ends up dumped into the astral void... so ... why brave the dangerous Astral Sea? Salvage and Trade. So basically? Same motivations as any other D&D setting.
Yeah see here's the problem bud: I spent $90 for the set of books. I shouldn't have to put in a but load of effort to homebrew stuff for a setting that is inherently about space travel and thus should have the extra rules to cover it, even if they were just porting the ship section from salt marsh.
And by comparison Sword Coast adventurers guide cost me $40 dollars less and was loaded with far more content for me to mine for ideas not just from the actual coast but also from the rest of the realms told largely from the perspective of the people who live there.
And by comparison Sword Coast adventurers guide cost me $40 dollars less and was loaded with far more content for me to mine for ideas not just from the actual coast but also from the rest of the realms told largely from the perspective of the people who live there.
It had everything needed to run a Spelljammer campaign. The fact you want more doesn’t make it incomplete.
It has Everything? Really? Can you point to the rules for Star system generation?
Christ I'd be happy if there were rules for anything in space; how big are systems, how long does it take to travel between them, what kind of stellar phenomenon exist in space, why does anyone want to go into space when it seems to be filled with nothing but things that are determined to murder you?
How big are systems? As big as you the DM need them to be. Realmspace has (according to 2e lore) 6 or 7 habitable planets (and a sun and multiple moons)
How long does it take to travel between them? Speed of plot (We did this back in 2e days as well... the designers were not astrophysicists; they just slapped down numbers that sounded astronomically large to them; so the speeds and distances didnt match up very well).
What kind of stellar phenomenon exist in space? All the ones we currently know about IRL plus any of the made up ones from those SciFi shows on TV. Also a whole host of weird Astral, Ethereal, and other extra-planar nonsense a DMs fevered mind can dream up.
Why does anyone want to go into space when it seems to be filled with nothing but things that are determined to murder you? One could ask that of us Earthlings IRL... But with them tossing the Phlogiston siilyness out and just going with sailing the "astral sea" weirdness. I have a question of my own... what happens to the things stored in a bag of holding when it gets damaged? That's right it ends up dumped into the astral void... so ... why brave the dangerous Astral Sea? Salvage and Trade. So basically? Same motivations as any other D&D setting.
Yeah see here's the problem bud: I spent $90 for the set of books. I shouldn't have to put in a but load of effort to homebrew stuff for a setting that is inherently about space travel and thus should have the extra rules to cover it, even if they were just porting the ship section from salt marsh.
And by comparison Sword Coast adventurers guide cost me $40 dollars less and was loaded with far more content for me to mine for ideas not just from the actual coast but also from the rest of the realms told largely from the perspective of the people who live there.
Adding on to what Ashla said, a lot of the solutions you mentioned come from looking at 2e lore. No one should have to buy a 2e book to understand or use the content of a bundle they paid $50+ for.
It had everything needed to run a Spelljammer campaign. The fact you want more doesn’t make it incomplete.
It has Everything? Really? Can you point to the rules for Star system generation?
Christ I'd be happy if there were rules for anything in space; how big are systems, how long does it take to travel between them, what kind of stellar phenomenon exist in space, why does anyone want to go into space when it seems to be filled with nothing but things that are determined to murder you?
How big are systems? As big as you the DM need them to be. Realmspace has (according to 2e lore) 6 or 7 habitable planets (and a sun and multiple moons)
How long does it take to travel between them? Speed of plot (We did this back in 2e days as well... the designers were not astrophysicists; they just slapped down numbers that sounded astronomically large to them; so the speeds and distances didnt match up very well).
What kind of stellar phenomenon exist in space? All the ones we currently know about IRL plus any of the made up ones from those SciFi shows on TV. Also a whole host of weird Astral, Ethereal, and other extra-planar nonsense a DMs fevered mind can dream up.
Why does anyone want to go into space when it seems to be filled with nothing but things that are determined to murder you? One could ask that of us Earthlings IRL... But with them tossing the Phlogiston siilyness out and just going with sailing the "astral sea" weirdness. I have a question of my own... what happens to the things stored in a bag of holding when it gets damaged? That's right it ends up dumped into the astral void... so ... why brave the dangerous Astral Sea? Salvage and Trade. So basically? Same motivations as any other D&D setting.
Yeah see here's the problem bud: I spent $90 for the set of books. I shouldn't have to put in a but load of effort to homebrew stuff for a setting that is inherently about space travel and thus should have the extra rules to cover it, even if they were just porting the ship section from salt marsh.
And by comparison Sword Coast adventurers guide cost me $40 dollars less and was loaded with far more content for me to mine for ideas not just from the actual coast but also from the rest of the realms told largely from the perspective of the people who live there.
Adding on to what Ashla said, a lot of the solutions you mentioned come from looking at 2e lore. No one should have to buy a 2e book to understand or use the content of a bundle they paid $50+ for.
Like that's the critical part of all of this; we're paying far more for far less with Spelljammer and as consumers we can not and must not make excuses for this; Like for $90 we should have gotten more complete rules and/or a more well constructed module then this.
Frankly it's appalling that people are making excuses for the lack of content and the go to excuse of "Homebrew it" to cover the massive gaps in content leaves me questioning why I should be paying anything if I'm going to be stuck having to do this much work on their setting.
It had everything needed to run a Spelljammer campaign. The fact you want more doesn’t make it incomplete.
It has Everything? Really? Can you point to the rules for Star system generation?
Christ I'd be happy if there were rules for anything in space; how big are systems, how long does it take to travel between them, what kind of stellar phenomenon exist in space, why does anyone want to go into space when it seems to be filled with nothing but things that are determined to murder you?
How big are systems? As big as you the DM need them to be. Realmspace has (according to 2e lore) 6 or 7 habitable planets (and a sun and multiple moons)
How long does it take to travel between them? Speed of plot (We did this back in 2e days as well... the designers were not astrophysicists; they just slapped down numbers that sounded astronomically large to them; so the speeds and distances didnt match up very well).
What kind of stellar phenomenon exist in space? All the ones we currently know about IRL plus any of the made up ones from those SciFi shows on TV. Also a whole host of weird Astral, Ethereal, and other extra-planar nonsense a DMs fevered mind can dream up.
Why does anyone want to go into space when it seems to be filled with nothing but things that are determined to murder you? One could ask that of us Earthlings IRL... But with them tossing the Phlogiston siilyness out and just going with sailing the "astral sea" weirdness. I have a question of my own... what happens to the things stored in a bag of holding when it gets damaged? That's right it ends up dumped into the astral void... so ... why brave the dangerous Astral Sea? Salvage and Trade. So basically? Same motivations as any other D&D setting.
Yeah see here's the problem bud: I spent $90 for the set of books. I shouldn't have to put in a but load of effort to homebrew stuff for a setting that is inherently about space travel and thus should have the extra rules to cover it, even if they were just porting the ship section from salt marsh.
And by comparison Sword Coast adventurers guide cost me $40 dollars less and was loaded with far more content for me to mine for ideas not just from the actual coast but also from the rest of the realms told largely from the perspective of the people who live there.
Adding on to what Ashla said, a lot of the solutions you mentioned come from looking at 2e lore. No one should have to buy a 2e book to understand or use the content of a bundle they paid $50+ for.
Like that's the critical part of all of this; we're paying far more for far less with Spelljammer and as consumers we can not and must not make excuses for this; Like for $90 we should have gotten more complete rules and/or a more well constructed module then this.
Frankly it's appalling that people are making excuses for the lack of content and the go to excuse of "Homebrew it" to cover the massive gaps in content leaves me questioning why I should be paying anything if I'm going to be stuck having to do this much work on their setting.
Very much agreed. If you have to go out of your way and buy other homebrew products to make the Spelljammer bundle work, then by no means is it worth the massive price tag.
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BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explainHERE.
It had everything needed to run a Spelljammer campaign. The fact you want more doesn’t make it incomplete.
It has Everything? Really? Can you point to the rules for Star system generation?
Christ I'd be happy if there were rules for anything in space; how big are systems, how long does it take to travel between them, what kind of stellar phenomenon exist in space, why does anyone want to go into space when it seems to be filled with nothing but things that are determined to murder you?
How big are systems? As big as you the DM need them to be. Realmspace has (according to 2e lore) 6 or 7 habitable planets (and a sun and multiple moons)
How long does it take to travel between them? Speed of plot (We did this back in 2e days as well... the designers were not astrophysicists; they just slapped down numbers that sounded astronomically large to them; so the speeds and distances didnt match up very well).
What kind of stellar phenomenon exist in space? All the ones we currently know about IRL plus any of the made up ones from those SciFi shows on TV. Also a whole host of weird Astral, Ethereal, and other extra-planar nonsense a DMs fevered mind can dream up.
Why does anyone want to go into space when it seems to be filled with nothing but things that are determined to murder you? One could ask that of us Earthlings IRL... But with them tossing the Phlogiston siilyness out and just going with sailing the "astral sea" weirdness. I have a question of my own... what happens to the things stored in a bag of holding when it gets damaged? That's right it ends up dumped into the astral void... so ... why brave the dangerous Astral Sea? Salvage and Trade. So basically? Same motivations as any other D&D setting.
Yeah see here's the problem bud: I spent $90 for the set of books. I shouldn't have to put in a but load of effort to homebrew stuff for a setting that is inherently about space travel and thus should have the extra rules to cover it, even if they were just porting the ship section from salt marsh.
And by comparison Sword Coast adventurers guide cost me $40 dollars less and was loaded with far more content for me to mine for ideas not just from the actual coast but also from the rest of the realms told largely from the perspective of the people who live there.
Adding on to what Ashla said, a lot of the solutions you mentioned come from looking at 2e lore. No one should have to buy a 2e book to understand or use the content of a bundle they paid $50+ for.
Like that's the critical part of all of this; we're paying far more for far less with Spelljammer and as consumers we can not and must not make excuses for this; Like for $90 we should have gotten more complete rules and/or a more well constructed module then this.
Frankly it's appalling that people are making excuses for the lack of content and the go to excuse of "Homebrew it" to cover the massive gaps in content leaves me questioning why I should be paying anything if I'm going to be stuck having to do this much work on their setting.
I really hate when people yell "Homebrew it". Dudes IF I wanted to "HOMEBREW IT " I wouldn't have placed my money down. For this book I paid Over $60 for something which was worth $10.
Like that's the critical part of all of this; we're paying far more for far less with Spelljammer and as consumers we can not and must not make excuses for this; Like for $90 we should have gotten more complete rules and/or a more well constructed module then this.
Frankly it's appalling that people are making excuses for the lack of content and the go to excuse of "Homebrew it" to cover the massive gaps in content leaves me questioning why I should be paying anything if I'm going to be stuck having to do this much work on their setting.
I really hate when people yell "Homebrew it". Dudes IF I wanted to "HOMEBREW IT " I wouldn't have placed my money down. For this book I paid Over $60 for something which was worth $10.
I could not agree with this any ore; holy crap I'm sick of seeing the argument "oh it's fine in WOTC's books are vapid and empty! Just fix it yourself!"
What's the bloody point of buying the books when If I'm going to have to homebrew 90 percent of it, why not just do the other 10 percent and save myself the money!? This isn't even a new thing; given I've recently been going back and reading through some of the modules I've bought and while there are good ones like Curse of Strahd, some of the others (Witchlight, Strixhaven, Hoard of the dragon queen for three) that are so baren of content save for certain locations, and just wave their hand and go "well you make it up!".
Like that's the critical part of all of this; we're paying far more for far less with Spelljammer and as consumers we can not and must not make excuses for this; Like for $90 we should have gotten more complete rules and/or a more well constructed module then this.
Frankly it's appalling that people are making excuses for the lack of content and the go to excuse of "Homebrew it" to cover the massive gaps in content leaves me questioning why I should be paying anything if I'm going to be stuck having to do this much work on their setting.
I really hate when people yell "Homebrew it". Dudes IF I wanted to "HOMEBREW IT " I wouldn't have placed my money down. For this book I paid Over $60 for something which was worth $10.
I could not agree with this any ore; holy crap I'm sick of seeing the argument "oh it's fine in WOTC's books are vapid and empty! Just fix it yourself!"
What's the bloody point of buying the books when If I'm going to have to homebrew 90 percent of it, why not just do the other 10 percent and save myself the money!? This isn't even a new thing; given I've recently been going back and reading through some of the modules I've bought and while there are good ones like Curse of Strahd, some of the others (Witchlight, Strixhaven, Hoard of the dragon queen for three) that are so baren of content save for certain locations, and just wave their hand and go "well you make it up!".
You do realize that this is how every other game company functions? They publish just enough to get your mind going and leave the rest to you. Calling "homebrew it" a cop out is a cop out of its own. Two problems here 1:we did not get the content we needed. 2: Odds are good we wont either. So what options are we left with besides complaining uselessly on the internet? really only 2; Adapt old 2,3,and 4e content or homebrew it. Don't know about the rest of you guys but I and my friends/players want to play in the SJ setting. So... Guess what I and my friends are doing.
The Problem here is Modules like CoS and Spelljammer is they have literal Years of content to pull from. Now obviously CoS had a better writer and editor compiling those years of content. Spelljammers biggest failing isnt its lack of Content. It is the Choice of the included content. It is very clear that the individuals in charge of SJ had no clue which content is needed for a space setting. It also does not help that all the latest settings are coming in on the tail end of the life of the current iteration of the rules so less effort is being put forward towards the settings. With the company banking on the D&D name to keep sales going until they reveal the new iteration of the rules.
Like that's the critical part of all of this; we're paying far more for far less with Spelljammer and as consumers we can not and must not make excuses for this; Like for $90 we should have gotten more complete rules and/or a more well constructed module then this.
Frankly it's appalling that people are making excuses for the lack of content and the go to excuse of "Homebrew it" to cover the massive gaps in content leaves me questioning why I should be paying anything if I'm going to be stuck having to do this much work on their setting.
I really hate when people yell "Homebrew it". Dudes IF I wanted to "HOMEBREW IT " I wouldn't have placed my money down. For this book I paid Over $60 for something which was worth $10.
I could not agree with this any ore; holy crap I'm sick of seeing the argument "oh it's fine in WOTC's books are vapid and empty! Just fix it yourself!"
What's the bloody point of buying the books when If I'm going to have to homebrew 90 percent of it, why not just do the other 10 percent and save myself the money!? This isn't even a new thing; given I've recently been going back and reading through some of the modules I've bought and while there are good ones like Curse of Strahd, some of the others (Witchlight, Strixhaven, Hoard of the dragon queen for three) that are so baren of content save for certain locations, and just wave their hand and go "well you make it up!".
I think a lot of this is people talking past each other. There are two issues here:
You're mad that the book does have enough content to justify its price.
You can't run a spelljammer campaign because you're missing X, Y, and Z.
Some people are just trying to help with #2. They're not refuting #1 or defending WotC, they're just trying to help salvage the situation so you can play. Of course, this doesn't help if the primary motivator for posting was to vent about #1. But it may be helpful in the long run.
As for #1, I think a lot of people will pause before buying the next few books. The trajectory has not been good lately.
Like that's the critical part of all of this; we're paying far more for far less with Spelljammer and as consumers we can not and must not make excuses for this; Like for $90 we should have gotten more complete rules and/or a more well constructed module then this.
Frankly it's appalling that people are making excuses for the lack of content and the go to excuse of "Homebrew it" to cover the massive gaps in content leaves me questioning why I should be paying anything if I'm going to be stuck having to do this much work on their setting.
I really hate when people yell "Homebrew it". Dudes IF I wanted to "HOMEBREW IT " I wouldn't have placed my money down. For this book I paid Over $60 for something which was worth $10.
I could not agree with this any ore; holy crap I'm sick of seeing the argument "oh it's fine in WOTC's books are vapid and empty! Just fix it yourself!"
What's the bloody point of buying the books when If I'm going to have to homebrew 90 percent of it, why not just do the other 10 percent and save myself the money!? This isn't even a new thing; given I've recently been going back and reading through some of the modules I've bought and while there are good ones like Curse of Strahd, some of the others (Witchlight, Strixhaven, Hoard of the dragon queen for three) that are so baren of content save for certain locations, and just wave their hand and go "well you make it up!".
You do realize that this is how every other game company functions? They publish just enough to get your mind going and leave the rest to you. Calling "homebrew it" a cop out is a cop out of its own. Two problems here 1:we did not get the content we needed. 2: Odds are good we wont either. So what options are we left with besides complaining uselessly on the internet? really only 2; Adapt old 2,3,and 4e content or homebrew it. Don't know about the rest of you guys but I and my friends/players want to play in the SJ setting. So... Guess what I and my friends are doing.
The Problem here is Modules like CoS and Spelljammer is they have literal Years of content to pull from. Now obviously CoS had a better writer and editor compiling those years of content. Spelljammers biggest failing isnt its lack of Content. It is the Choice of the included content. It is very clear that the individuals in charge of SJ had no clue which content is needed for a space setting. It also does not help that all the latest settings are coming in on the tail end of the life of the current iteration of the rules so less effort is being put forward towards the settings. With the company banking on the D&D name to keep sales going until they reveal the new iteration of the rules.
Bud, there isn't enough to get anything going from an imagination standpoint.
Some people are just trying to help with #2. They're not refuting #1 or defending WotC, they're just trying to help salvage the situation so you can play. Of course, this doesn't help if the primary motivator for posting was to vent about #1. But it may be helpful in the long run.
To be fair, there are people not just trying to help with #2, but are instead trying to claim that because there is help available for it *somewhere*, that it justifies WotC doing (or perhaps rather, not doing) what it did. The thread has had at least two that I can remember off the top of my head, with one involved in a multipage debate over it.
That's not to say that there aren't people just trying to be helpful (without trying to justify why the help is necessary) like you said, and I appreciate them. There are others who aren't like that though, and seem to just be fighting WotC's corner over it.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
To be fair, there are people not just trying to help with #2, but are instead trying to claim that because there is help available for it *somewhere*, that it justifies WotC doing (or perhaps rather, not doing) what it did. The thread has had at least two that I can remember off the top of my head, with one involved in a multipage debate over it.
That's not to say that there aren't people just trying to be helpful (without trying to justify why the help is necessary) like you said, and I appreciate them. There are others who aren't like that though, and seem to just be fighting WotC's corner over it.
I agree with Linklite on this; while homebrew is a viable solution for #2, most of the people mentioning it as a "solution" haven't actually been trying to help solve that problem but have instead been using it to justify a lack of content in important areas. So can homebrew help with that? Yeah, but that doesn't mean an expensive product is good just because I can spend more money on third-party sites to make that expensive product something that I might be able to use.
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BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explainHERE.
The issue with homebrew for spelljammer, is that unlike say... Ebberon or Ravnica or Ravenloft or Forgotten realms their is a stunning lack of content to actually *build* off of; We have effectively one location outside of a rough draft of a campaign and that's it. There are no stellar organizations, nations, examples of wildspace phenomenon, interesting ship mechanics, or anything that could be described as compelling.
Like I don't need an anal retentive level of description but some sense of the setting needed to be here for anything other then their crummy module if the goal Was for this to be an actual real campaign setting as opposed to a third rate cash grab.
The issue with homebrew for spelljammer, is that unlike say... Ebberon or Ravnica or Ravenloft or Forgotten realms their is a stunning lack of content to actually *build* off of; We have effectively one location outside of a rough draft of a campaign and that's it. There are no stellar organizations, nations, examples of wildspace phenomenon, interesting ship mechanics, or anything that could be described as compelling.
Like I don't need an anal retentive level of description but some sense of the setting needed to be here for anything other then their crummy module if the goal Was for this to be an actual real campaign setting as opposed to a third rate cash grab.
And Yes that is a major shortcoming. And IMO an unforgivable shortcoming on the part of WotCs SJ development team.
That said it is possible to "salvage" the setting (this is in no way an endorsement of what was done by 5e) using books from previous iterations (All available on Drivethrurpg at a fair rate). I am looking for/at the adventure/modules as I already own a ton of physical books for factions and a handful of planetary systems. There are also several free for download homebrew PDFs from long time fans of the setting.
For anyone wanting to generate Systemes or Crystal Spheres in Spelljammer
http://peterstribe.com/crystal_sphere_generator2.html
Its a systeme generator based on 2nd Ed generation rules.
"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
Kain de Frostberg- Dark Knight - (Vengeance Pal3/ Hexblade 9), Port Mourn
Kain de Draakberg-Dark Knight lvl8-Avergreen(DitA)
Yeah see here's the problem bud: I spent $90 for the set of books. I shouldn't have to put in a but load of effort to homebrew stuff for a setting that is inherently about space travel and thus should have the extra rules to cover it, even if they were just porting the ship section from salt marsh.
And by comparison Sword Coast adventurers guide cost me $40 dollars less and was loaded with far more content for me to mine for ideas not just from the actual coast but also from the rest of the realms told largely from the perspective of the people who live there.
The exact problem with Spelljammer
Wizards of the Coast Feedback/Support
https://support.wizards.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
Adding on to what Ashla said, a lot of the solutions you mentioned come from looking at 2e lore. No one should have to buy a 2e book to understand or use the content of a bundle they paid $50+ for.
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.Like that's the critical part of all of this; we're paying far more for far less with Spelljammer and as consumers we can not and must not make excuses for this; Like for $90 we should have gotten more complete rules and/or a more well constructed module then this.
Frankly it's appalling that people are making excuses for the lack of content and the go to excuse of "Homebrew it" to cover the massive gaps in content leaves me questioning why I should be paying anything if I'm going to be stuck having to do this much work on their setting.
Very much agreed. If you have to go out of your way and buy other homebrew products to make the Spelljammer bundle work, then by no means is it worth the massive price tag.
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.I wish it was an editable PDF so I could fix it.
I really hate when people yell "Homebrew it". Dudes IF I wanted to "HOMEBREW IT " I wouldn't have placed my money down. For this book I paid Over $60 for something which was worth $10.
No Gaming is Better than Bad Gaming.
I could not agree with this any ore; holy crap I'm sick of seeing the argument "oh it's fine in WOTC's books are vapid and empty! Just fix it yourself!"
What's the bloody point of buying the books when If I'm going to have to homebrew 90 percent of it, why not just do the other 10 percent and save myself the money!? This isn't even a new thing; given I've recently been going back and reading through some of the modules I've bought and while there are good ones like Curse of Strahd, some of the others (Witchlight, Strixhaven, Hoard of the dragon queen for three) that are so baren of content save for certain locations, and just wave their hand and go "well you make it up!".
You do realize that this is how every other game company functions?
They publish just enough to get your mind going and leave the rest to you.
Calling "homebrew it" a cop out is a cop out of its own.
Two problems here 1:we did not get the content we needed. 2: Odds are good we wont either.
So what options are we left with besides complaining uselessly on the internet? really only 2; Adapt old 2,3,and 4e content or homebrew it.
Don't know about the rest of you guys but I and my friends/players want to play in the SJ setting. So... Guess what I and my friends are doing.
The Problem here is Modules like CoS and Spelljammer is they have literal Years of content to pull from.
Now obviously CoS had a better writer and editor compiling those years of content.
Spelljammers biggest failing isnt its lack of Content. It is the Choice of the included content.
It is very clear that the individuals in charge of SJ had no clue which content is needed for a space setting.
It also does not help that all the latest settings are coming in on the tail end of the life of the current iteration of the rules so less effort is being put forward towards the settings. With the company banking on the D&D name to keep sales going until they reveal the new iteration of the rules.
Well, that's simply not true.
I wish they had given more details on the actual Spelljammer setting. Like the different Wildspace systems and stuff.
I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft, Exandria and the Upside Down from Stranger Things. My pronouns are she/they (genderfae).
I think a lot of this is people talking past each other. There are two issues here:
Some people are just trying to help with #2. They're not refuting #1 or defending WotC, they're just trying to help salvage the situation so you can play. Of course, this doesn't help if the primary motivator for posting was to vent about #1. But it may be helpful in the long run.
As for #1, I think a lot of people will pause before buying the next few books. The trajectory has not been good lately.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Bud, there isn't enough to get anything going from an imagination standpoint.
To be fair, there are people not just trying to help with #2, but are instead trying to claim that because there is help available for it *somewhere*, that it justifies WotC doing (or perhaps rather, not doing) what it did. The thread has had at least two that I can remember off the top of my head, with one involved in a multipage debate over it.
That's not to say that there aren't people just trying to be helpful (without trying to justify why the help is necessary) like you said, and I appreciate them. There are others who aren't like that though, and seem to just be fighting WotC's corner over it.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
I agree with Linklite on this; while homebrew is a viable solution for #2, most of the people mentioning it as a "solution" haven't actually been trying to help solve that problem but have instead been using it to justify a lack of content in important areas. So can homebrew help with that? Yeah, but that doesn't mean an expensive product is good just because I can spend more money on third-party sites to make that expensive product something that I might be able to use.
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
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HERE.The issue with homebrew for spelljammer, is that unlike say... Ebberon or Ravnica or Ravenloft or Forgotten realms their is a stunning lack of content to actually *build* off of; We have effectively one location outside of a rough draft of a campaign and that's it. There are no stellar organizations, nations, examples of wildspace phenomenon, interesting ship mechanics, or anything that could be described as compelling.
Like I don't need an anal retentive level of description but some sense of the setting needed to be here for anything other then their crummy module if the goal Was for this to be an actual real campaign setting as opposed to a third rate cash grab.
And Yes that is a major shortcoming. And IMO an unforgivable shortcoming on the part of WotCs SJ development team.
That said it is possible to "salvage" the setting (this is in no way an endorsement of what was done by 5e) using books from previous iterations (All available on Drivethrurpg at a fair rate). I am looking for/at the adventure/modules as I already own a ton of physical books for factions and a handful of planetary systems.
There are also several free for download homebrew PDFs from long time fans of the setting.