The RPG Study

The Light of Xaryxis is a sprawling, exciting, adventure in the Spelljammer setting. An adventure for levels 5-8, the adventure is told in a series of short episodes requiring about 2-3 hours to play each. Each episode ends on a dramatic cliffhanger for the next episode to follow. What follows is an account of my groups experience with the first two episodes, and my thoughts on certain parts of the adventure: Chapter 1: Astral Rain The party is supposed to begin this adventure in a coastal city. I choose Neverwinter since our party consists of three characters from the world of Ravnica who have traveled the branches of Yggdrasil to arrive in the Forgotten Realms (a long story which perhaps I will recount another time). The other three characters are brand new to the campaign, though their players are not. Notably, one of the character is a giff from the Astral Adventurers Guide.  Neverwinter works just fine for this start. Right away we encountered one of the major criticisms leve...

Shameless plug time: My latest supplement for the DM's Guild is now live! Spelljamming Vessel Log  provides a vital resource for managing a spelljammer! This log  enables a party of space farers to easily and quickly reference all of the important details for their spelljamming vessel including ship stats like HP, AC, Speed, etc. as well as the specific details of the weapons mounted on their ship. There is a roster for crew members and cargo alike, as well, so all pertinent details of the ship are in easy reach. The supplement contains a full color single page (front and back) tracking sheet as well as a printer friendly black and white option. It also includes two example logs for the  Moondancer  and the  Second Wind  from the  Light of Xaryxis  adventure.

 Spelljammer: Adventures in Space just released and with it comes a whole host of new mechanics for the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Most notable of these is probably the titular spelljamming  which allows a spellcaster to control a space-faring vessel and control its movement. Ship-to-ship combat gets a good section explaining the mechanics of such combat and as far as I can tell it is similar to the ship rules in Ghosts of Saltmarsh, but as I was reading these rules, something jumped out at me that I thought could use some attention. When onboard a spelljamming craft, one player must necessarily be the  spelljammer for the vessel, guiding it through Wildspace and the Astral Sea. Other characters can man the variety of weapons that may be fixed to their ship, a vital task since operation of a single weapon requires multiple actions. The last required role onboard the ship is that of Captain. Now, you might think that someone designated as captain would have a...