Spelljammer: Light of Xaryxis

The idea of a level 5-8 campaign that can be wrapped up in 12 sessions is wonderful. So is the fact that they included distinct chapter breaks with milestones to really hammer home the episodic nature of the campaign. You can run it as-is for a casual group that meets like once a month or include it as part of a larger campaign for your more consistent tables. The problem with the small book and intended brief nature of the campaign is that it lacks important details. What if your party doesn't want to ally with an arms dealer? What if they decide they don't want to take part in the huge ship battle at the end and believe they were promise they could sneak by? These are common DM issues, of course, but there's even less guidance than other pre-written modules for how this quest can survive player shenanigans. Instead, Light of Xaryxis is an awesome backbone for a Spelljammer homebrew. It's got flavor, it's got fun, it just needs plenty of extra love from the DM.

With the right DM, this game is a blast. From what I have heard from multiple dungeon masters, there isn't much in the module. So if this is a module where you just want to run the module and not create too much, this is probably not the module for you. If you want to stretch your creativity and play D&D in space, then this is a lot of fun. I finished the entire campaign, and I really miss my character.

I've run portions of this adventure as part of other campaigns, and players definitely love spelljamming, the Rock of Bral, and other locations from this!

Spelljammer has SUCH a great premise and some amazingly unique creatures to interact with, but the story is mostly middling, the space combat (what little there is of it) discourages ship-to-ship combat, the lore isn't fully explored and the sense of freedom one could have with a truly gargantuan open 'world' are missing. So what does that leave us with? A typical "Help the princess, stop the bad guy" drama that plays out poorly in most sections. The score, however, is revised upward IF one can find a DM who has revamped a few things, such as ship-owning and combat, new worlds to explore, and a truly meaty hook to draw the players into. In that case, Spelljammer's weird, wild, unique, and engaging universe comes to life and is a fresh take on a familiar setting. Wizards, but in space! Knights on interstellar shark-back! Druids who talk to the literal living heart of their ship! Give me more!!! As it stands, at best it is a competent adventure in an under-utilized setting 2.5/5 "Mid. Completely mid."