Hi all! I'm very excited about Spelljammer: Adventures in Space and plan on starting a Spelljammer campaign shortly after the book arrives. As a warning, I'm going to get into criticism of a free adventure, and some people might see as being ungrateful.

I like the broad strokes of Spelljammer Academy, but now that we have all four parts, I have some questions:

1) The thefts: In the first 2 parts the adventure it is mentioned that the Academy has been plagued by thefts. Petty Officer Ryeback is missing an antique pistol, and things have been going missing from the cargo hold. At the end of the four adventure I don't feel that we have an answer as to who was responsible. If it was supposed to be Miken, then how exactly? And where was he stashing the loot? 

2)Vocath: This character, the mercane, feels like he will be an important part of the Light of Xaryxis and so it makes sense that we don't get all of the details. It would be nice if this spelled out for us, however.

3)The Saboteur: Much like the thefts, I feel like we never find out who specifically tampered with the simulation chamber. It seems unlikely that it was Miken, though he certainly had the opportunity to do so. Is that idea that this mysterious Vocath has multiple spies in the Academy? 

While I quite like parts 1 & 2, parts 3 & 4 feel very rushed, if that makes sense. The desire to keep each chapter to 2 hours is probably part of the issue here. This is also likely personal preference - I'm not overly fond of sending the party on a ~30 day trip to the outer reaches of Realmspace and having it be so uneventful. I'm curious how others feel about it.

I'm planning on modifying the adventures in the following ways:

1) I'm starting the party at level 5 - they won't level, but I do plan on using the Academy as a time for the players to get familiar with their characters.

2) With the party starting at a higher level, I've also made some things more challenging (the obstacle course is more damaging on a failure, for example) and I've replaced the neogi hatchlings at the end of part 1 with a similar number of Vargouille.

3) I've taken aspects of parts 3 and 4 that I like and jettisoned the rest. Rather than sailing off for H'Catha on a stolen Tyrant Ship, I'm going to have the party be part of a team to recover a derelict vessel (likely a squid ship) that is in high orbit around Toril. 

I'm still working through some things: what to do with Miken (and figure out why it's so important for Vocath's people to recover him), figure out who else might be responsible for the thefts and other mishaps, and how much time to spend in the Academy altogether.

I think it was supposed to be miken, but you’re right it should have been spelled out better. 

I was also waiting for some other payoffs. Like the cadet who tries to bully them over a bunk in part 1, or the guy they can choose to turn in about the black market rum. I was expecting both of those to come up again in some capacity. Maybe they’ll be in that other adventure that’s coming out with the setting? Otherwise it really seems like some wasted story potential. 

I think I'm going to have Veena (the bully) appear again and again. I might even have her end up assigned to the ship the party ends up on. 

I had Veena and her two sisters become part of the rival Cadet squad in the obstacle course,  Holodeck simulation,  and am gonna throw them in during the H'catha run.  I gave the players a choice of choosing Miken or another npc as their pilot and they passed over Miken. Makes me have to work harder to throw hints at them.  

After the Holodeck explosion,  in feeling like the trip to Hcatha is just gonna be a mouse trap by the academy nstructors to flush out the spy. 

We shall see.