QUOTE (Byron @ Apr 14 2009, 10:08 PM)
2. I'm somewhat uneducated but why is spelljammer so horrible? I've never really known much except it's a d20 sci-fi/fantasy esque system and thats about it. I didn't get the joke there, can someone explain?
Basically it was "
(a)n Advanced Dungeons And Dragons setting that adds up to
D&D in SPACE", relying a little too much on the
Rule of Cool (largely related to being
Space Pirates...and of course
hippo men with guns).
The background and ideas had
potential, especially when you're 14 or so like I was when I first came across the setting, and it was an original way of shifting whole campaigns around if you were switching DMs like our group would tend to do after a while, but a lot of the actual rules weren't that great. Some of this tended to be the result of the bad ideas that did exist in the fluff. For instance, the three main "alien/monster" enemy races in the game were:
- The Illithid - you know, the fun little squid guys who, if you failed a saving throw against their psionic attacks (which wasn't hard to do depending on class, and no spells or whatnot for defense) could kill you in a combat round by eating your brain? No rolls for damage, just *schlurp*...dead? Yeah, they were fun to face in large numbers...they did have some of the coolest looking ships though.
- The Neogi - who wouldn't be much of a problem themselves, as they were roughly halfling sized spider-things with no arms and a fairly weak bite. But they were the main "Evil Slaver" race, and that somehow meant that they were able to keep Umber Hulks(!?) as personal bodyguards, mounts and shock troops. Needless to say, your average crew of (meta)human schlubs didn't fare to well what with the constant confusion and being rent limb from limb going on.
- Beholders - not just "a beholder", a whole frakkin' ship of them! All pretty much bent on disintegrating or otherwise vaporising you pretty much for not being a beholder. Theoretically they had sort of an Ur-Quanish genetically based Doctrinal Conflict thing that was supposed to act as a limiter on them running amuck, but that was of little consolation to players who ran afoul of them.
I personally have fond feelings for the setting, but I fully recognize that a lot of that is nostalgia, and that the actual rules as presented were...not so good. Heck, I'm still working on taking the core of SR4 rules and making a Spelljammer campaign out of it, which has the benefit of allowing me to pick and choose what elements to keep, and which to jettison to deep Wildspace (along with seperating the setting from the 2E AD&D rules).