Spelljammer 5e, are you going to try it?

[Mister Negative]

I want to. I want to real bad. But the Giff are my jam, and there's approximately 0% chance that 5e handles them appropriately.

They have to be 'suitable' player character races, so 9' tall hippo mercenaries turn into "+2 STR, +1 CON, carrying capacity as one size larger." or some flavor of that and the gun wielding hippo isn't any tougher than the halfling who decided to take the same stats.

Plus, despite my intense love of and nostalgia for D&D, I am so over 'start as dweebs' systems.

[sjard]

Originally Posted by Mister Negative

I want to. I want to real bad. But the Giff are my jam, and there's approximately 0% chance that 5e handles them appropriately.

The only bit about them I saw was a side box talking about the hostility between groups arguing about how to pronounce their name, Giff with a hard G or Giff with a J sound.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by sjard

The only bit about them I saw was a side box talking about the hostility between groups arguing about how to pronounce their name, Giff with a hard G or Giff with a J sound.

"The Sacred Smokepowder must be denied to the Peanutbutterians!".

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Mister Negative

I want to. I want to real bad. But the Giff are my jam, and there's approximately 0% chance that 5e handles them appropriately.

They have to be 'suitable' player character races, so 9' tall hippo mercenaries turn into "+2 STR, +1 CON, carrying capacity as one size larger." or some flavor of that and the gun wielding hippo isn't any tougher than the halfling who decided to take the same stats.

Plus, despite my intense love of and nostalgia for D&D, I am so over 'start as dweebs' systems.

I'm afraid from my point of view Giff join Kender and schizo-tech Gnomes (with or without hamsters) as things that cannot go down the memory hole fast enough, but your point about the "balancing problem" is well made. The D&D power curve, like the class and level system, is one of the things that both define the system and put me off it. Yes, you can suppress the power curve with enough fiddling ... you can also make a Volvo fly if you throw it hard enough. Doesn't make it a good aircraft.

[Astromancer]

Part of the problem with D&D is that it was always meant to use wargaming mechanics to simulate "Conan the Barbarian" type sword and sorcery and no one ever uses it for that.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Part of the problem with D&D is that it was always meant to use wargaming mechanics to simulate "Conan the Barbarian" type sword and sorcery and no one ever uses it for that.

To a certain extent you can't. Conan and most other traditional adventure stories have a single protagonist with maybe one or two sidekicks. The clearest influence of Tolkien is the multiracial ensemble band of adventurers.

After that comes the monster-fillled wildernesses and underground complexes.

Then we get te powerful artifacts that must be kept out of the hands of evil or destroyed.

Tolkien's influence might stop shortly thereafter. You don't see much in the way of his themes and mood. Just structures and tropes.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

To a certain extent you can't. Conan and most other traditional adventure stories have a single protagonist with maybe one or two sidekicks. The clearest influence of Tolkien is the multiracial ensemble band of adventurers.

After that comes the monster-fillled wildernesses and underground complexes.

Then we get te powerful artifacts that must be kept out of the hands of evil or destroyed.

Tolkien's influence might stop shortly thereafter. You don't see much in the way of his themes and mood. Just structures and tropes.

Gygax liked Howard, and the customers wanted Tolkien. The game fell between two stools from the start.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Gygax liked Howard, and the customers wanted Tolkien. The game fell between two stools from the start.

_I_ like Howard. That doesn't mean I can run him as a group activity. I need something that works for 4 to 6 people and there's only one Conan.

[Fred Brackin]

I now have my copy ahead of the original schedule. Others who have ordered might want to check and see if their shipping has moved up.

It's a slip cover for 3 skiny handcover books and a DM's screen. There's a map of the Rock of Bral bound in to the Adventurer's Guide on perforated paper. not my favorite way of doing things. It could have just been put all folded up into the DM's screen but I guess the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing.

Any firther commentary will have to wait until I've digested all this.

[Astromancer]

My copy came today. I've far less than skimmed it. It seems a bit skimpy.

More news later.