Big Rich’s Take On: Light of Xaryxis (Part One)

Ok, so let’s be honest. Spelljammer 5e is a hot mess. It feels like overall it was just a rush job for whatever reason and Adventures In Space was the lowest priority. Why would WotC just disregard rules for ship to ship combat since so many previous editions including Saltmarsh 5e included useable rules?!

The Monster Manual (Boo’s Menagerie) is fine. However, the Player’s Handbook (Adventures in Space) starts off all right by presenting Spelljammer Species (Races) although it lacks my beloved Dracons! But then discussion of the ships and ship-to-ship combat is lackluster at best. No apparent effort was made to polish this section at all. The very least they could have done was refer the reader to the “Of Ships and Sea” section of Ghosts of Saltmarsh and made an attempt to match Saltmarsh Ship Stat Blocks with Spelljammer Ship Summaries. But alas, for whatever godforsaken reason, Chris Perkins dropped the ball on that part of that book. Blame goes to the leader, and Chris that’s you, man!

But that’s not what we’re discussing today. Today we’re talking about the adventure book: Light of Xaryxis.

And we’re only focusing on the Introduction through Chapter 3 for now.

I’m not sure these changes will work for you or your group, but it seems to be working for mine.

So God love Chris Perkins and Dan Dillan who developed with the adventure. And nothing against the writers (Justice Ramin Arman, Sadie Lowry, and Jeffery Ludwig) but the adventure needs a little tweaking.

This was the case with other adventure books, namely Tyranny of Dragons and Hoard of the Dragon Queen. Both presented a muddy narrative and needed a DM to clean it all up with some thought and preparation.

So if anyone cares at all, here I am shouting into the void of the internet, explaining what changes I have made to Light of Xaryxis for it to “perform better” for play by my player group.

So first of all, I read through the entire book. I already posted about this here on the blog so I won’t rehash the preparation phase.

Starting Characters (page 6)

So since the majority of my players don’t have a deep knowledge of Spelljammer, I started them as “Groundlings.” I told them they could use any non-Spelljammer species (races) available on D&D Beyond using Homebrew, Eberron, and Non-Core settings turned on in the Sources area. This established that their characters have very limited information about Spelljammers and Spelljamming. The players will learn about the setting as their characters do. Characters started at Level 1 with Bonus Feats. As they level up, they gain a new Feat with each level. Yes, we are abusing Feats in this campaign.

Also, knowing that Planescape 5e was releasing I made it clear that players could change characters in and out of the campaign if they chose to do so with ease without losing levels. They could even make it that the characters knew each other and shared magic items if they liked. Once we got into space, especially at the Rock of Bral, a character could switch out tag team style because at that point Spelljammer Species (races) would become available. Character switching and character trees were common in previous editions, especially in BECMI where characters might be spread out throughout the Known World.

And better yet, now that we know about Planescape glitching and character incarnations, this works even better because the multiple character ideas has already been presented.

And so, the next problem dealt with where to start off the campaign. I didn’t set the campaign in Forgotten Realms, instead I told them that the setting was in a non-campaign book fantasy world similar to Forgotten Realms. I called the world “Athas” which I thought might ring bells from some of my more experienced players, but apparently not.

If you’re not aware this adventure is a world killer. Essentially the characters are propelled into space because of an evil tyrant (based on Ming the Merciless) destroys their home planet by leeching off the energy from their planet to give life to a dying star.

Therefore, I decided to make their planet Athas from Dark Sun, before it’s fall. It was once a thriving, green world that experienced an apocalyptic event resulting in the desert world of Dark Sun. So since Dark Sun hasn’t been introduced in 5e (and apparently won’t be because WotC is fearful of the specter of human trafficking and slavery presented in Dark Sun) it serves to introduce that campaign world to our D&D Multiverse with dramatic flare.

And with the “Source Materials” and “Planet Killer” issues addressed, it was time to tune up the actual narrative. The story itself, I mean the BARE BONES STORY, about a dying Elven galaxy ruled by a King with two heirs to the throne who are at odds is good. I like it. So I tried to focus on that BARE BONES STORY to start altering the rest of the narrative.

Where to Begin? (Page 7)

The adventure is supposed to start in a port city where the Playing Characters have been hanging out for awhile. The action is supposed to start RIGHT AWAY as Astral Seeds start falling from the sky and Blights begin marauding through the city. I decided that I didn’t want to start that way. I wanted to ease the characters into this situation.

So I started thinking again about the BARE BONES of the story. Dying Sun. Artifact. Sister and Brother. Ming the Merciless. I decided all of this needed to be introduced with a little bit of logic rather than just dropping it like a ton of bricks on the players.

The adventure as written is FINE in the same way that a smooshed, greasy burger from McDonalds is FINE. But I wasn’t happy with FINE in this case. I wanted more. I wanted a gourmet burger on fancy bread with fresh topping. And so, changes were made.

I sat down with the players beforehand and we brainstormed a starting city that became “Bleak Hollow.” I asked questions about the city and they gave answers. Their ideas were incorporated into my story design, and we had a functioning starting city for the Playing Characters.

Next I introduced the mystery of Eldagast. Drawing on the references to “The Path and The Way” from Spelljammer 2E, I theorized there could be Elven clerics on different planets who were aware of Xaryxis and it’s practice of killing planets to fuel their dying star. I asked the idea of Heralds (a la Norrin Radd) seeking out ripe planets for harvesting. I figured a celestial alignment might be a cosmic signal for the Heralds and decided they would use the ethics of Star Trek in choosing worlds without intellectual life forms.

I dropped small hints in sessions 1 and 2 regarding the mystery of the Elves abandoning their village, but my players didn’t pursue it but rather just accepted it. They didn’t even do a dive into figuring out the “waterfall noises” coming from all around the village with no visible signs of water.

Then came the introduction of Princess Xendalli and the betrayal of Prince Xeleth right before the Playing Characters eyes.

I figured that Xendalli and Xeleth would be at odds about destroying Athas because the world was vibrant and thriving.

As the Elves are arguing about what should be done with Athas they are attacked by an Illithid Nautiloid. They shoot it down but it crashes on the surface.

When Xendalli has her ship descend to finish off the Illithids, Xeleth saw his chance to strike at his sister and rival. At best, he would kill her. At worst, he’d strand her on Athas and she’d die during the Astral Rain.

So in session 3, the characters are introduced to Princess Xendalli and her crew as allies. Also, Xeleth was introduced as a villain. Additionally, Phrred the Plasmoid First Mate provided information about the overall plot of the story.

Chapter 1: Astral Rain

I really disliked the casual “Hey, I’m a Spelljammer Captain and your world is dying. What to come with me into space?” idea presented in the adventure. It’s just kind of dumb. So I changed that too.

At the time I am writing this we have not yet played through this part. It will be session 4. But the plan is to run it pretty closely to how it is presented in the book.

The characters will be headed towards Bleak Hollow in the Vardo from Eldagast. The Astral Seeds are already falling and the characters are aware that they need to find a way off of Athas right away.

Last session, Phrred used Xendalli’s ring to send a distress signal to The Moon dance, a space Galleon captained by one of Xendalli’s allies. This sets the stage for Page 11’s “EMERGENCY AIRLIFT.”

The only other thing I’m going to add is that several NPCs who appear in Phandelver And Below will be citizens who are rescued from Bleak Hollow, setting up for the next phase of the campaign.

I’m not sure if it will occur at the end of this session or the beginning of the next but the Moondancer will hover in Wildspace with The Lucille (homebrew ship from a previous campaign) The Incorrigible (page 21) The Second Wind (page 23) and The Last Breath (page 31) which were all in port when the Seeds started to fall. Bleak Hollow is a popular Spelljammer port because it is isolated and a hub for smuggling thanks to the Black Network who ultimately controls the Crime Families.

So as the ships hover to observe what has happened to Athas (page 12?) the Captains gather on the Moondancer to discuss what to do next. This serves to introduce the NPCs to the playing characters and it allows the Players a chance to influence what the NPCs will do.

The PCs will also become aware of the drifting wreckage of a Nautiloid nearby. This

As of now, here are the plans of each Captain:

Elaina wants to take the donkeys and refugees to Phandalin (frontier planet) and then head to the Rock of Bral to gather the rest of her crew.
Solomon plans to transport Ambassador Jarnathan back to Toril and drop off the refugees in Neverwinter. He wants to report to the Lord’s Alliance regarding Athas.
Daar’Vik (Incorrigible) He wants to take his refugees to the Rock of Bral then head out to inform the Lich Queen about Athas.
Fel Arda (Second Wind) She needs to deliver the Healing Potions she’s smuggling from Athas to Topolah’s Tower (page 26) and claims she plans on dropping off refugees at the Rock of Bral but instead she is plotting to sell the refugees to the Neogi Slavers on the Ebonsnare (page 21)
Grimzod (Last Breath) He wants to drop the refugees on Phandalin as he needs to deliver provisions there anyway. Then he plans to head to Doomspace to speak with about Xeleth. (Page 42)

Chapter 2: Attack of the Star Moth

Since the Dark Moth had already appeared once in dramatic effect, I hoped that having it reappear would make the scene even more tense. Since prince Xeleth is not on the Dark Moth any longer, I resolved that he transferred to another ship and was on his way back to Xaryxispace, ordering the Dark Moth to remain and finish off any survivors who escape from Athas.

I’m going to wait to see how things go in this session, probably #5. But my plan right now is for Traevus (Traeyvus in our campaign) to start causing trouble then the “WHEN ELVES ATTACK” on Page 13 begins.

I plan to end the session with the ship jumping to “cruising speed” without introducing the Mind Flayer cliffhanger mainly because I’m not sure at this point which session the exploration of the Lucent Edict (page 16) will actually occur depending on the choices of the Players.

Chapter 3: Treacherous Salvage

So this part of the adventure is iffy. I mean, the Playing Characters are worried about their homeworld begin murdered by space seeds, but the wacky Captain decides to plunder a derelict Illithid vessel and bitches about it if the PCs get annoyed at the delay. (See the bottom of page 16 where you’re supposed to have the Captain get sarcastic with the Playing Characters.) So, that needed some altering too.

This section of the adventure may happen earlier if the PCs decide to explore the ship hovering in Wildspace near Athas. Otherwise, they will encounter the ship as presented in the adventure book. Either way, there is a chance for the PCs to salvage the Nautiloid to be towed to the Rock of Bral for repairs and retrofitting so the PCs can own and operate a captured Illithid Nautiloid.