My PCs are going to wrap up Spelljammer Academy in the next few sessions. We're having a good time, and I think after Academy I'll give them the choice of 1) going on to Spelljammer proper, or 2) start a new campaign in a more conventional DnD setting. The latter might actually be easier than the former, but they've invested in their characters and I want to keep that door open. I dunno if folks can make a lvl 20 spelljammer campaign happen, and Light of Xaryxis is supposed to go to what, lvl 8? I think a goal for a campaign that can go to level 10-12 like Strahd would be a solid story for them.

Trouble is, without spoiling Spelljammer for myself let alone them, I'm seeing mixed reviews online from folks who've run the campaign. Comments about being pretty unhelpful to DMs seems to prevail, along with needing to find ways to fill in the story with added side hustles and missions. I could see that being pretty fun, so long as the main narrative didn't totally fall by the wayside either so my PCs still feel like they're advancing.

My own experience being limited to Academy, I can say that ship-to-ship and ship mechanics overall do seem a bit lacking. Like, a lot of what we just did was "one of you is the captain, the rest crew. Figure out what you do, and I'll give you random checks to see how well you do". None of us are sailors; we don't know what people's jobs are really on a boat! I can look this up but I also imagine some folks might have found ideas that work well for them. Running the module felt like a lot of "make a dex save....make another dex save...." and piloting the ship seemed a little too easy. I suppose with some time and thinking I can concoct ways to make this more challenging – requiring a navigator who has to do some kinda check to plot a course, a boatswain to manage NPC crew (but not sure what the checks/consequences would be for that!).

I also wonder how much of Academy carries forward, since it's supposed to be a warmup for Spelljammer proper. But, like, the Spelljammer Corps doesn't seem to make any more of a presence after Academy; that seems like a big drop for how much the PCs might be invested.

I get a feeling like this version of spelljammer isn’t a setting as much as a way to go between settings. With what’s published, at least officially, a spelljammer campaign will be lackluster at best. But you could start in the FR, and need to get some macguffin from eberron and another from theros, wildemount, etc. Between them all, you could put together something more interesting. You get some fish out of water moments trying to explain why the dragon marked halfling is different from the FR halfling. And you get a taste of multiple settings. And in between, maybe you run a ship combat or two. 
But ship to ship combat makes so many character and class abilities useless that it can get really annoying and un-fun. The barbarian just ends up standing there until they can throw a javelin, and even then they’re a bit bored. It can be cool once as a change of pace, but before long, it’s tiresome to just be shooting a ballista, or helping load a mangonel or whatever.
So, I guess my advice is, treat it more like Star Trek, where the more interesting parts are the worlds they visit, not getting from one to another. 

Quote from Xalthu >>

But you could start in the FR, and need to get some macguffin from eberron and another from theros, wildemount, etc. Between them all, you could put together something more interesting. 

 This is actually exactly what I am setting up as a possible avenue for my players in my current campaign, lol. They haven't gotten to another world yet, but it was the best approach to incorporating spelljammer that I could come up with.

Quote from Xalthu >>
So, I guess my advice is, treat it more like Star Trek, where the more interesting parts are the worlds they visit, not getting from one to another. 

 

 This is a pretty good idea. We've already kinda set up Spelljammer Corps as something kinda like Starfleet (and just about as effectual in combat). Given enough time and Googling I can probably put together actual roles for people to play on ships and some people have done that already for Saltmarsh and Spelljammer. Something between Firefly, Star Trek, and games like Freelancer would be ideal for ship-based interactions, but directing the campaign towards more conventional character activity may also be the way to go. 

Shame how much of Spelljammer seems a bit half-baked/let's just put it on DMs to figure it out. That's the name of the game of course, but it's also really helpful to give some ideas. Like all the ships listed in Spelljammer have cargo holds – any number of reasons to use those, but if your PCs are like "can we make some money in the buy-sell trade" it's up to you as the DM to figure out tonnage and commodities markets :P 

Often if players want to play spell jammer they want to engage with things like getting better ships and ship weapons.  That leads to missions like;

• Exploring derelict ships or asteroid bases 
• fighting pirates
• Sneaking into a lab to steal schematics 

Unfortunately actual spell jammer combat is kind of terrible so I would avoid it unless you have some better rules.  Have enemies or the players board the enemy ship instead. Give the players a stealth drive which makes the ship invisible until they fire or a ram ability for the ship. Something that makes boarding easier for them. That can be the upgrade they unlock for the ship.

As for how to organise an adventure around the spell jammer academy, it may be a good idea to run it like the anthology adventures. Many of the anthologies have a structure of a central organisation that sends the players to different worlds for quests. For example  journeys through the radiant citadel which is all about different human cultures. You could even look to things like van richten's guide and dms guild domains of delight to create worlds but they can be pretty scant on details even if they have some decent ideas. 

Quote from Solarsyphon >>

Often if players want to play spell jammer they want to engage with things like getting better ships and ship weapons.  That leads to missions like;

• Exploring derelict ships or asteroid bases 
• fighting pirates
• Sneaking into a lab to steal schematics 

Unfortunately actual spell jammer combat is kind of terrible so I would avoid it unless you have some better rules.  Have enemies or the players board the enemy ship instead. Give the players a steal drive which makes the ship invisible until they fire or a a ram ability for the ship. Something that makes boarding easier for them. That can be the upgrade they unlock for the ship.

 

As for how to organise an adventure around the spell jammer academy, it may be a good idea to run it like the anthology adventures. Many of the anthologies have a structure of a central organisation that sends the players to different worlds for quests. For example  journeys through the radiant citadel which is all about different human cultures. You could even look to things like van richten's guide and dms guild domains of delight to create worlds but they can be pretty scant on details even if they have some decent ideas. 

 

 

 These are good ideas. Running it a bit more like "you have a ship, and I'll throw at you some missions, and there's a larger narrative going on". DMsguild has some content I can probably yoink for that; it'd be nice if there were some 2e-5e conversions from the old spelljammer I could turn into hustles.

I am running a spelljammeresque mini-campaign which saw a wizard fly the party to the moon. I am planning on making it more like Zathura (excellent movie) where random encounters happen everywhere.