Re: Spelljammer comics

On Fri, 1 Apr 2005 17:40:04 +0100, David Shepheard
<david_shepheard@???????.com> wrote:

>Ditto to that. I'll have my fingers, toes, tentacles and other appendages
crossed that
>this comes off.

LOL!  You know, people could take that the wrong way...


>If it does, can you let us have a bit of advance notice, as some of us
>might need to order these to get them.


If anything happens, I'll let you guys know.  I'm not holding my breath on
this one, but we'll see.

What I'm thinking of doing is proposing a 4-issue miniseries so that any
risk is minimal.  It would be a testing ground.  Then we could see how it
goes from there.

>I hope they sell enough of the other ones to get a SJ comic off the
drawing board. At
>least the good news is you have more time to do any research you want to
do.

Yes.  I think, also, you have the key thing in mind.  Let Devil's Due get
their feet wet with the other D&D properties.  Once they've got themselves
established, that would be a better time for this.


>Reinventing the wheel, as SotSM did was a mistake,
>in my opinion. Changing the ships (instead of adding new ships with
different names) was
>especially bad. (I can only imagine that someone wasn't happy about the
original ship
>designs being released under the conversion licence.) However, I don't
see why Spelljammer
>couldn't benefit from some of the better 3e changes or even some stuff
from Planescape.

I don't think the wheel needs to be reinvented.  Perhaps a little
redefinition here and there would help.  A total makeover - no.

Spelljammer could be seen as "swashbuckling fantasy adventures in space".
The swashbuckling part could prove handy, but there would definitely be
elements such as spellcasters and fantasy monsters.

I would like to see Spelljammer have its own look, too.  I want to be able
to look at any page from a SJ comic and know instantly that it is
Spelljammer.


>And don't forget the "hook". You need a hook on every cover that makes
people need to pick
>it up and read the first page. Once you have people on your hook, you can
reel them in
>with your engaging story.

Definitely.  Plus cliffhangers to keep drawing people in.


>> Yeppers.  You know, the thought that came to my mind was to try to do
>> something with a bit of a Firefly feel, where the ship does quasi-legal
>> operations to survive, and flies another day.
>
>Quasi-legal? Do you mean a story about a group of privateers?

Think Shadowrun, but in space.  People hired to do jobs, usually under the
noses of the local authorities.


>A sorcerer or half-orc added to the story at some point would let
Spelljammer fans know
>that this *is* third edition stuff.

Maybe, but the focus here would be on setting, not so much the rules
aspect.  I'd want to look at a SJ comic as something that could be used in
any edition.

>Half-orcs are much
>easier to deal with. I'm sure that they will have been around since The
Unhuman War.

Half-orcs are easy as pie.  Just say that in SJ, they're "half-scro".
Same basic type of character, just viewed through a different lens.


>Joking aside, I think "red shirt" characters have become a bit of a
cliché in the Star
>Trek novels. I don't want the main characters in a story to die, but if I
know that *only*
>the background characters are at risk, I don't worry about what is going
to happen to the
>heroes. I think that a bit of worry is necessary in order to make
characters engaging.

Agreed.

Thanks for the suggestions, David.  I'll keep them in mind.

What I'm going to do for now is just see how the other D&D properties do.
If they do okay enough, then I'll put together a proposal.  It may be a
while before we hear anything, though.

Trampas