Spelljammer confirmed with a new D&D campaign book due out this August

Spelljammer, a setting that blends high fantasy and space travel, is coming back to Dungeons & Dragons. Wizards of the Coast announced the setting’s return Thursday during the D&D Direct streaming presentation. It consists of three volumes. Spelljammer – Adventures in Space, comes packaged in its own slipcase, and includes a double-sided map and a Dungeon Master’s Screen. Amazon is now accepting pre-orders for the item at a price of $69.99. August 16th is the release date.

Spelljammer first appeared in 1989 as part of a boxed set called “Spelljammer”. Spelljammer – Adventures in SpaceWritten by Jeff Grubb. Published originally by TSR, it’s still in print with physical copies available via a partnership with OneBookShelf.

This setting got its name because of its starships. These are massive, flying ships controlled by strong wizards. The teaser trailer below shows one of these in action. Spelljammers can be described as elegant, open-decked boats with distinctive, winglike sails. These are used for travel across space, between the different planes and air on terrestrial planets. In this way they’ve been used to connect the many disparate settings of the D&D multiverse, including The Forgotten Realms, Eberron, and Dragonlance’s Krynn.

This is the first volume of three. Spelljammer – Adventures in Space It is called Astral Adventurer’s Guide. Wizards says it contains everything DMs need to run a campaign as well as six new options for playable characters — specifically all six of the races included in recently released playtest materials. This includes an industrious self-governance, a bipedal, hippo-like, giff, a primate-like, hadozee and the oozy, plasmoids, astral, and insectile thri kreen.

Title the second book Boo’s Astral MenagerieThe original miniature giant space-hamster, the original named it eponymously. Baldur’s Gatevideogame. Here’s where things get particularly odd: Among the new monsters being introduced to the setting are evil space clowns, vampirates, sentient comets, and, of course, space dragons.

The last book in the series is an adventure called Light of Xaryxis. It is set in Wildspace, the Astral Sea. Each episode ends in a cliffhanger. It’s not known at this time what levels characters will start or finish the adventure at.

This isn’t the first time that Wizards has unveiled these kinds of slipcase-packed collections. Mordenkainen’s Monsters of the Multiverse The book appeared in a trio of volumes released earlier this year. Books included Spelljammer – Adventures in SpaceThey are however much smaller at 64 pages. Previously released hardcover materials for 5th edition D&D are generally well in excess of 250 pages each.