Spelljammer Reboot

It's been almost 30 years, but the D&D world is rebooting some it rule sets...again.  The one I want to focus on this time is Spelljammer.  That's right flying ships in space across realms set using the new D&D ruleset. They released the trailer for its release below:

Now, you might be wondering why I'm talking about this new RPG rule set.  Well, back in the day, I was a pretty avid RPG gamer.  I was a member for the Role Players Gaming Association, attended conventions, and competed in RPG events in D&D, Star Wars Role Playing, Earthdawn, Torg, Paranoia, Call of Cthulhu, Shadowrun, and several others.  One of things I got to do was participate as a play tester for a brand new source guide called the War Captain's Companion, used with the recently release Spelljammer sourcebook in the early 1990s.  Here is a quick look at the credits I found on another Wiki post.  I highlighted me in the group, just in case you couldn't find me.

Credits

Design: Dale "Slade" Henson

Editing (War Captain's Guide and Combat Among the Stars): Jon Pickens

Editing (Ship Reognition Manual): John D. Rateliff

Cover Painting: Eric Olson

Cartography (War Captain's Guide and Ship Recognition Manual): Diesel

Cartography and Diagrams (Combat Among the Stars: Diesel and Dennis Kauth

Internal Art (War Captain's Guide): Diesel, Jeff Easley, Newton Ewell, Mark Nelson, Eric Olson

Internal Art (Ship Recognition Manual): Mark Nelson, Diesel, Steven D Sullivan

Typography: Angelika Lokotz

Thanks To (War Captain's Guide): Anne Brown, Rich Baker, Timothy B. Brown, David "Zeb" Cook, Andria Hayday, Rob King, Colin McComb, Bruce Nesmith, John Rateliff, Thomas Reid, Steven Schend, Dori Watry, Steve "Old Man" Winter, David Wise

Thanks To: (Ship Recognition Manual): Anne Brown, Timothy B. Brown, David "Zeb" Cook, Andria Hayday, Colin McComb, Bruce Nesmith, Jon Pickens, Steven Schend, Dori "The Barbarian" Watry and Steve "Old Man" Winter

Thanks To: (Combat Among the Stars): Anne Brown, Timothy B. Brown, David "Zeb" Cook, Andria Hayday, Colin McComb, Bruce Nesmith, Jon Pickens, Steven Schend, James M. Ward, Dori Watry, Steve "Old Man" Winter

Very Special Thanks: Jeff Grubb, James M. Ward

Play Testers (Combat Among the Stars): Sam Adams, The Association of Roleplaying Gamers of Houston, Brian Baker, Rich Baker, Wolfgang Bauer, Bill Beggs, Tom Beggs, Dave Boddorf, Darin Brown, Timothy B. Brown, Paul Conaway, Troy Daniels, Charles Frederich, Alan Grimes, Scott Hala, Jerry Harper, Stirling Hershey, John Hinkle, Jeff Hornberger, Joseph C. Justice, Brian Knaak, Kelli McMillan, Mitchell McPherson, Mark Middleton, Brad Mongar, Brendan O'Brien, Sam Orlando, Mark R. Paxton, Robert Quillen II, John D. Rateliff, Jay Reese, Thomas M. Reid, Kip Romaine, Cameron Shellum, Lloyd Shellum, David Stowe, Michael Walter Sr., Mike Walter Jr., Heath Waugh, Mark Welch, Skip Williams, Todd Wilson, Tommy Wilson, Tracey Wilson, Dan Wood, Darrel Wood, Kim Wood, Kathryn Woods, Paul Yaeger

Our group spent so many hours developing new scenarios, testing them out, running larger groups in double blind type scenarios. Only the helm pilots could see the larger board, while the crews were only aware of the action on whatever ship they were currently on.  We got really creative.

During the next year at GenCon, the RPGA Team tournament was Living City/Spelljammer based, with the last session in space combat.  Our group put our honed skills to good use, wiped out the forces opposing us in the scenario and won the whole tournament.

So for me, seeing this new release was a real trip down memory lane.  If you have any questions about any of the role playing games, the now defunct RPGA (Living City was a create construct to allow players to create and grow characters to use in adventures), or what we did, please post a comment.  I may even get Jeff Grub, a former TSR alumn who helped create Spelljammer and other sourcebooks to do an interview.

The Last Kingdom

Season 5 and Beyond

For many of the fans of Netflix show, The Last Kingdom, hearing that Season 5, release in March 2022,  will be its last was disheartening.  However, Bernard Cromwell's Saxon Stories doesn't end there.  There are three books still not covered: War of the Wolf, Sword of Kings, and War Lord.  

However, a new standalone movie has finished filming and is in post production, Seven Kings Must Die.  This movie will cover the last chapters of Uhtred of Bebbanburg, following the reclamation of his home, Bebbanburg and tenuous peace with the Scots and with King Edward.

There is no trailer for the movie at this time, release will most likely be in 2023, but there is still hope for late 2022.

Season 5 claimed many characters from the show.  We saw the death of Aethelhem (I was cheering it), Haeston (a good death, a death of sacrifice), Aethelflaed (heartbreaking as it was), Sigtryggr (little choice, but his choice of executioner tore at me), Whitgar (Uhtred's cousin and a real jackwagon), and last, and perhaps the most grievous, Osferth, our favorite warrior baby monk.  I have to admit, that one shook me.  Losing characters we have invested in is difficult and some of these cut deep.

I purposely left one character out: Brida.  She has been with Uhtred since the beginning.  I had hoped she would make it to the final chapter, but her road ended here.  She and Uhtred reconciled, but only for a moment.  I knew Uhtred couldn't kill her, but it had to be someone of his blood to end her insane quest for revenge.

I hope you can share you own views of the show to date.  It has been a favorite of mine and anxiously await its final chapter.

 Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Trailer

The first official trailer for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been released.  I loved Pike's involvement in Star Trek: Discovery and have been waiting for this new pre-Captain Kirk series to emerge.  May 5th is just around the corner!