Like many others, I was disappointed by the Spelljammer: Adventures in Space. Rather than an open-ended gazetteer, the Astral Adventurer’s Guide is a constrained 64 pages that is barely able to provide rules for being in Wildspace and the Astral Sea. Despite the extremely limited page count, project lead Chris Perkins prioritized spending pages on the (admittedly gorgeous) ship art as well as the battle maps by CoupleofKooks and Dyson Logos.

When looking at any new setting, two basic questions arise — what are some things to do and where are some places to go. Infamously, this was the entirety the book had to say about creating a Wildspace system.

A typical Wildspace system has a sun plus a number of planets and moons orbiting it. Two examples of Wildspace systems, Doomspace and Xaryxispace, are described in the accompanying adventure, Light of Xaryxis. Use them as models when creating your own Wildspace system.

While criticism of the lightweight nature of WotC books existed before the release of Spelljammer, the gaps in chapter 2: Astral Adventuring poured gasoline on the fire. My goal here is to fill in the gaps by providing places to go by converting the planes of Magic the Gathering into Wildspace systems.

But first, a word from our sponsors: Me!

Also looking for things to do in Wildspace or the Astral Sea? Inspired by real world phenomena, Spelljamming Hazards introduces over a dozen non-combat challenges. Navigate asteroid fields, delve into astral whirlpools, and explore shards of the First World! There’s even system-specific details for unique phenomena found near Arcavios (Strixhaven), Eberron, and Theros!

Spelljamming Between Planes

Spelljammer is only one of many ways D&D has tried to stitch together a multiverse. Its successor, Planescape, was such a success it became the core assumption presented in both the 3e and 5e Dungeon Masters Guides. Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything introduced dream of the blue veil as a spell-based way to travel between worlds; Fizban’s Tome of Dragons instead experimented with dragonsight. No matter the edition, designers and storytellers have been attracted to the idea of mixing all the settings together. Other writers have certainly covered the history of multiverse stories in science fiction and fantasy in far more depth than would be appropriate to cover here, but in short there is a rich history of crossover and multiverse stories that have inspired all of these various takes.

The key difference between Spelljammer and these other multiverse models is that it rejects portals and other forms of instantaneous travel between worlds in favor of using physical space and emphasizing the journey itself. Even if the instantaneous travel is difficult to access - it’s a single fixed crossing point (e.g. the Dark Portal from Warcraft), only some people can do it (you have to be a powerful spellcaster to cast plane shift), or it requires a specific item (the subtle knife from the His Dark Materials series) - the focus is on the interaction between worlds. What Spelljammer draws upon is something older - the age of sail - where travel is not only hard but takes a long time. Unique cultures spring up simply around the process of going from place to place, especially when you get the confluence of slow, poorly-defended ships laden with valuable treasure that defined the golden age of piracy. Media like the animated classic Treasure Planet show that while the context of the worlds matters to define who goes on these journeys, the focus is on the life that exists between ports of call.

Magic 101

For those who aren’t already aware, Magic: The Gathering is a trading card game owned by Wizards of the Coast that makes up somewhere around 80-90% of the WotC’s revenue. They’re the largest single commissioner of fantasy art, producing thousands of illustrations each year.

Lore-wise, the magic story is admittedly fairly tropey. There are many different planes, each with their own theme; some characters, known as planeswalkers, have the ability to go from plane to plane and form the connective tissue of the story. In the most recent set, March of the Machines, WotC concluded a years-long story arc and “de-sparked” many of the planeswalkers while opening up “omenpaths” that acted as direct portals for anyone to use.

Why Magic

The tropey shallowness of Magic the Gathering is an asset, rather than a flaw, for Spelljammer. Each plane digs a little bit deeper than just being a pastiche - Innistrad is a gothic horror world with a clear vision for how all the monsters relate to each other. Kamigawa balances cyberpunk against feudal Japanese inspirations. Theros is a beloved spin on mythic Greece. Unlike traditional D&D settings like Dragonlance, Eberron, or the Forgotten Realms, they aren’t too deep, where you either feel like you’re not properly using the setting or get overwhelmed by the incredible amount of lore you have to juggle across the different campaign settings. From a DM perspective, you can try to go deep, but the multi-world focus of Spelljammer means you don’t have to. You can visit a world for as little as a single session, hit the highlights, and move on without the regret that comes from knowing there’s so much more to explore.'

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A Rearranged Multiverse

Actually using the Magic multiverse for a Spelljammer game can be as simple as turning each plane into a single world in a Wildspace system, but this seems to miss out on an opportunity to experiment with the Spelljammer format. Worlds that share a Wildspace system are easy to get between, while those in separate Wildspace systems require journeying through the Astral Sea, allowing one to emphasize worlds that are close together or far apart.

Plane-by-Plane

Not all official planes have enough details to use as a springboard for a Spelljammer game (looking at you Xerex); the following list is a curation of the canonical MTG planes organized into Wildspace systems. Some creative liberties have been taken to remix the relationship between these worlds; this isn’t an authoritative take on how to organize this, but a starting point for others to build their own campaigns. Planes not included (such as Fiora or Gobakhan) might work better as a way to flesh out additional continents on worlds where the canon has focused on a single region.

If you’re looking for mechanical support, grzart has been creating 5e bestiaries for each plane, in addition to the official supplements for Arcavios (Strixhaven), Ravnica, and Theros as well as the “plane shift” supplements for Amonkhet, Dominaria, Innistrad, Ixalan, Kaladesh, and Zendikar.

Aetherspace

Raw magic flows through Aetherspace and has allowed for incredible magical developments for the people of Kaladesh. While innate magic is rare, artifice is an every day part of life. The people of Kaladesh have just developed their own spelljamming helms and are in a rush to discover the wonders of space.

Alaraspace

Five disparate worlds orbit the star known as Alara; Bant, Esper, Grixis, Jund, and Naya have remained separate for millennia, although a powerful space-faring dragon seeks to crash the worlds together and use the resulting energy to ascend to godhood.

While this Wildspace system uses the version of Alara from before the events of the block, the simple truth is Magic canon hasn’t revisited the plane since the conflux brought the worlds together; there’s more material and it’s more interesting to use a version from before the events of the block.

Capennaspace

Scarred by an ancient war, an artificial satellite known as New Capenna is the only bastion of life left in the system. New Capenna orbits a gas giant rather than the central star directly. The people appear to be unaware of the tragic history that befell their system or the original Capenna, but inquisitive explorers might be able to put together the pieces.

Desertspace

Binary stars dominate this harsh and barren Wildspace system, with a notable terrestrial planet known as Amonkhet. While this system used to be properly protected by gods, a power-hungry dragon invaded and took control of the planet to create the perfect army.

Dragonspace

In most systems, dragons have natural life cycles. Here, in the home system for Tarkir, dragons are born as adults from storms. Most of these storms are concentrated on the planet, but can be found elsewhere in the system spawning lunar and solar dragons.

Faeriespace

The whimsical magic of the Feywild is imbued in this system, which is home to two planets — Eldraine and Lorwyn. Eldraine is the more conventional planet, home to a classical medieval fantasy setting. Lorwyn is also a terrestrial planet but sits far closer to the central star and is tidally locked, with one side of the plane seared away while the other freezes in eternal darkness. A narrow band of eternal twilight rings the planet, where all sorts of nonhuman fey weave stories that can create tectonic shifts.

Ixalanspace

Ixalanspace consists of two primary terrestrial planets, Ixalan and Torrezon, alongside a collection of asteroid colonies known as Luneau. Torrezon was the first to develop spelljamming and began to colonize the rest of the system, but their failed attempt to capture the treasure of the golden city of Orazca was a potentially fatal blunder. Now the Sun Empire has reverse-engineered Torrezon’s space galleons and is planning a counterattack.

Manaspace

A particularly populous Wildspace system, Manaspace has two terrestrial planets - Dominaria and Arcavios - as well as a fully colonized moon known as Ravnica, which orbits Arcavios. Spelljamming is a well-established technology in Manaspace, with students from both Ravnica and Dominaria flocking to Strixhaven for magical education.

Monsterspace

Terrifying creatures lurk in Monsterspace, a system dominated by psionically resonant crystals. The world of Ikoria is the primary terrestrial body here, where humans struggle to survive against the ever-evolving creatures with magic that seems to always be one step behind the psionic power of the nonhuman residents. These crystals can also be found in the system’s asteroid belt, but strange and mutant space creatures jealously guard their territory against would-be miners.

Nyxspace

In most systems there’s a clean delineation between the Astral Sea and Wildspace. Not so in Nyxspace - the world of Theros, which sits at the center of the system, is directly orbited by several divine domains. The mortal inhabitants would certainly be astonished to see a ship that can so easily fly into Nyx, the realm of their gods.

For mechanics on traveling through Nyxspace, check out Spelljamming Hazards on the Dungeon Masters Guild.

Roilspace

The entire system of Roilspace seems to be alive; elementals are common throughout the system and go beyond the classical four. The primary planet is Zendikar, a popular destination for interstellar treasure hunters seeking out the ruins of the planet’s ancient and lost civilizations.

Shadowspace

A single, lonely terrestrial planet flies through Shadowspace, a system tightly connected to the Shadowfell and the realms of Ravenloft. The people of Innistrad dread the dreadful creatures that lurk in the night. While they have little understanding of spelljamming, they do know that only horrors lurk beyond the stars after a recent invasion by an entity of fundamental cosmic horror. That entity has now been sealed away in Innistrad’s moon, although some question whether its perverse influence has truly disappeared.

Spiritspace

The barrier between the ethereal plane - the realm of spirits - and the material have begun to break down in Spiritspace, home of Kamigawa. The advanced civilization of this primary terrestrial planet has developed spelljamming helms, although the insular imperial court has thus far remained uninterested.

Treespace

Rather than orbiting a star, the realms of Kaldheim are literally part of an enormous tree. Rifts in space known as Doomskars can bring worlds together, while cosmos creatures inhabit the space between worlds. Ships traveling here would do well to avoid Koma, the Cosmos Serpent.

March of the Machines

The world of New Phyrexia launched a grand interplanar invasion that ended in failure with the most recent Magic set. The above write ups ignore this in favor of the pre-invasion status quo, in part due to the lack of information about the planes post-invasion. Under this model, New Phyrexia fits in as a world that is keenly aware of the greater multiverse and as a borg-like force has begun to amass a military large enough to launch an interstellar invasion.

Alternatively, one could set a campaign in the current canon - the immediate aftermath of the Phyrexian invasion, with worlds grappling with the left-behind spelljamming helms and the general awareness of the wider multiverse. While one would certainly need to diverge from canon at this point - the new omenpaths connect worlds very differently than ships would - post-war settings can be compelling with the social mobility and general political upheaval they necessarily bring, in addition to the more open state of canon that will certainly persist for a while while Wizards of the Coast revisits settings one at a time.

The Great Wheel

One obvious concern with using Magic the Gathering worlds is they’re completely unlinked from the Great Wheel, a background multiverse system that D&D’s very rules assume exists. The people of Theros especially highlight this difference, with their souls going to a completely different afterlife!

The answer is to take a page out of the fourth edition cosmology and embrace the Astral Sea as the primary connective tissue, . This is endorsed in the Astral Adventurer’s Guide but not expanded upon through the Divine Domains sidebar.

Many gods have dominions in the Astral Sea. These locations typically take the form of floating islands or cities of fantastic proportions. Astral travelers might visit these dominions as they would any other ports of call, though a dominion’s divine ruler always knows when visitors have arrived and what their intentions are. Because these dominions are part of the Astral Sea, they are timeless; nothing ages there, and creatures can survive there indefinitely without food or drink.

In The Plane Above: Secrets of the Astral Sea, areas historically known as “the outer planes” primarily exist as islands in the astral sea. These domains have strong connections to certain material planes, but are not universal metaphysical truths. Plane shift is effectively a highly specialized forms of teleport that uses the material component, an attuned metal rod, to travel directly to certain divine domains; in theory, you could introduce attuned rods that go to any given location, whether it’s the husk of a dead god or other Wildspace systems. The teleport spell would then function for travel within a domain or Wildspace system, but could not jump from system to system.

Tangentially, one could resolve the question of “outer planes” by further embracing the metaphor of the Astral Sea as deep space. Groups of related Wildspace systems would be “galaxies”, such as Realmspace and Krynnspace, which could be separated by vast distances in the Astral Sea from another galaxy that features the worlds of Magic. This distance is why you can easily access the Nine Hells from Toril but not from Theros.

Conclusion

The fifth edition launch of Spelljammer was frankly lackluster. Clocking in at only 192 pages, there’s a lot left for anyone hoping to run a spacefaring game of their own. Hopefully, between Spelljamming Hazards providing things to do and the worlds of Magic providing places to go, the work of running a Spelljammer game is a little more surmountable.