SJ Reviews: The Related Articles

In my quest to support the delusion that folks care what I think I've
produced a series of quick and dirty reviews of all the Spelljammer
products. I hope these will be useful to newcomers and those without all
of the products.

Rating System:
*= Mediocre, poorly written product with little usefulness.
**= A bad product for several reasons with one or two useful aspects.
***= An average product with some good and some bad points.
****= An above average product with few bad points.
*****= An excellent product with few if any bad points. An essential SJ product.

The Related Articles:

Dragon #150 "Sunset World" & "The Dragon's Bestiary"
by Stephen Inniss (c)1989
Rating:****

These articles detail the illithid controlled world of Ssirik Akuar.
Though conflicting in some details with later works on illithids, the
article is very useful.  "Sunset World" is really a short story
detailing an exploratory trip to the world through planar means, the
world could easily be set within a Crystal Sphere.  "The Dragon's
Bestiary" provides stats for some of the flora and fauna on the planet,
an excellent resource for GMs with jaded players, since some of the
creatures therein are found nowhere else.  Great stuff, very atmospheric
and very useful.

Dragon #159 "Voidjammers"
by Randal S. Doering (c)1990
Rating:***

This 1st edition article details a shipping company on the astral plane,
run by a 24th level mage with maximum psionic powers.  It is extremely
over powered, but with some adjustments the shipping company could
easily be transformed into a spelljamming shipping company.  Also, the
voidjammer illustration would be excellent inspiration for spelljamming
ship design.  Finally, the 'voidjammers' are powered by illithid brains,
the ship engine could be modified into a type of spelljammer helm.

Dragon #160 "Up, Away, and Beyond" & "The Voyage of the Princess Ark: part 7"
by Bruce A. Heard (c)1990
Rating:****

These articles deal extensively with space travel in the D&D universe.
Nearly all of this material was reproduced and expanded in the Champions
of Mystara boxed set.  Spelljammer is discussed, as well as the way that
Spelljammer and Mystara relate to each other.  Excellent stuff, the
rakasta are particularly interesting.  And the picture of the Princess
Ark sailing above the world is excellent.  I wish they had published
deckplans of the first version of that ship!

Dragon #174 "Bazaar of the Bizaare"
by Matthew P. Hargenrader (c)1991
Rating:**

The article deals primarily with Ioun stones, and includes the origins
of ioun stones in their original source (the writings of Jack Vance).
Presents a nice adventure hook and idea for Arcane, gnomes, and Elmarin.
Wildspace trade in Ioun stones would be an interesting addition to any
sphere.

Dragon #232 "Sorcerous Six-Shooters"
by Roger E. Moore (c)1996
Rating:*****

I love Moore's work, he footnotes! Great article on magical firearms
across the AD&D and D&D settings.  He covers Spelljammer, of course, but
he also covers the other settings, which is also extremely useful for
Spelljammer.  Along with the lore, he provides information for magical
guns, something badly needed in the Spelljammer universe!

Dragon Annual #2 "Rogue's Gallery: Finder's Bane"
by Kate Novak & Jeff Grubb (c)1997
Rating:***

This article has stats for Jasmine (Jas), the winged woman from the
Spelljammer comics.  She's described here as a fighter, though she
originally seemed more thief like.  But the article is by her original
creators, so it can be assumed to be authoritative.

Dungeon #34 "The Lady Rose"
By Steven Kurtz (c)1992
Rating:****
"A town destroyed, young elves kidnapped. Will your continent be the
next to fall to the superior firepower of Talangran?"

This excellent adventure actually would work better as a spelljamming
adventure.  Simply give the ship's of Talangran helms!  Otherwise, it's
excellent, with a well detailed, powerful ship that might, or might not,
be used as a foe of the PCs.

Dungeon #53 "Clarshh's Sepulchre"
By Willie Walsh (c)1995
Rating:**
"Someone or something still waits within the catacombs."

Basic dungeon crawl that contains an Arcane NPC, albeit in the magic
broker role, rather than as helm merchants.  There are a couple Arcane
specific spells, though neither is particularly interesting.

Dungeon #74 "The Scourge of Scalabar"
By Christopher Perkins (c)1999
Rating:***
"An undersea menace has the merchants of Scalabar up in arms."

A decent adventure with a gnomish device and some spelljamming
connections.  Scalabar makes a nice spelljamming port to place on an SJ-
aware groundling world.  There's lots of good ideas in this adventure
that can be expanded on well.