News — Spelljammer

Ah Spelljammer, or as my old DM Mark used to call it ‘Sefron in Space’ after my character who left the forgotten realms for a time to travel around the spheres. Whatever it is called in your own mind, Spelljammer always has carried a special place in my heart for what it was, what it could have been, and what it is today.During those days in my middle college years, I didn’t have much money, and so Mark had ended up buying the Spelljammer Boxed Set, and his little brother Curt chipped in for the accessory Rock of Bral....

Yes, sir, today is a Spelljammer day! Knowing how fun I think this game is [especially if you update it with a bit of Pathjammer like I do] it shouldn’t be a surprise that I enjoy talking about that art from the game.Unfortunately, this game, like several of the ‘B’ lines from TSR gets the great cover treatment and the blah interiors when it comes to art direction.That is the case with SJA1 Wildspace, which was produced in 1990. Written by Allen Varney, with ‘special thanks’ to Aaron Allston and Mike Nystul, this supplement’s content is incredibly well done and...

The cover piece of Dragon Magazine #159 is actually called ‘The Privateer’, but to me and my old DM Mark, it will always be known as ‘What’s a clever captain to do?’ which is the bio write-up of the cover design that appears on page 4. That tag line has been the inspiration for pretty much everything I’ve ever done in the AD&D Spelljammer setting because no matter what I encounter, I always first ask myself that question, and trust me it makes EVERYTHING more palpably fun! [Special Note: I played a version of Spelljammer last summer and the entire...

There are a number of reasons to hold Spelljammer as something ‘special’.  The primary of these should certainly be the originality of the setting, but for a lover of the history of RPGs, there is something much more fundamentally intriguing about this product to me. Produced by TSR in 1989 and written by Jeff Grubb, this is what I would consider the final product of TSR’s ‘Golden Era’.  Some might argue that moniker belongs to the Forgotten Realms, but that is a bit too early, and Dark Sun a bit too late. Spelljammer, however, falls perfectly in the wheelhouse of...