Part 1: Welcome to Wildspace
Spelljammer Academy’s newest recruits are brought to the Simulations Deck for a quick combat trial so that academy personnel can assess their skills and readiness. The magic of the Simulations Deck puts a unique spin on the training session, dropping player characters straight into the action.
Right into the Action
When everyone is ready to begin, roll for initiative. Then read or paraphrase the following aloud:
You stand on the deck of your spelljamming ship, Moonraider, even as explosions obliterate two of its masts and hurl a dozen of your fellow sailors into Wildspace! Distant stars and wheeling clouds of multicolored gas spin around you as the first pirate galleon slams into Moonraider’s starboard side, and a gust of foul wind washes over you as the galleon’s air envelope merges with your own. Seconds later, your vessel is boarded by astral reavers—humanoids possessed of strange features, waving cruel weapons, and unleashing blasts of magic.
Captain Sardax lies on the deck nearby, her body ruined by shrapnel. “Hold the top deck!” she snarls with her dying breath. “Grant them no quarter!”
This encounter starts in the thick of the action. The characters are in the midst of a magical illusion used to train Spelljammer Academy cadets. The shock of being plunged into the illusory simulation has left them disoriented and unable to sense that what they see is only in their minds. Both the characters and the players should believe that the simulation is real. When your players ask the inevitable questions about how they got here, use the following to guide your answers:
* The characters know that they are crew members on Moonraider, but they have no recollection of events prior to the reavers’ attack.
* The characters are new members of the crew, making their first journey into Wildspace.
* At a guess, it seems likely that the reavers have used some kind of magic to disorient Moonraider’s crew, hoping to make it easier to seize the ship.
* The characters know Captain Sardax and understand that her death leaves it up to them and the other surviving crew members to repel the reavers.
* The characters know and trust each other. Moonraider is their ship, and they are bound to defend it!
“Forecastle Map” shows the layout of the area that the characters are defending. They are the only sailors still alive in this section of the ship.
Fighting the Reavers
At the start of combat, place two astral reavers (bandits) at the edge of the forecastle area. Don’t roll initiative for these enemies. Instead, all reavers act at the end of the initiative order, after the characters have taken their turns. More reavers then appear during the round (see below).
At the start of each character’s turn, roll on the Battle Events table to determine a random event, which can include the appearance of new reavers. As each new enemy appears, roll on the Astral Reavers table to determine a special quality for them, and use these descriptions to help identify specific reavers in combat.
When you’ve played two full rounds of combat, proceed to the “End Simulation” section below.
Astral Reavers
The reavers are coal-hearted miscreants united only by the urge to raid and pillage. Each reaver has the statistics of a bandit but has a unique appearance determined by the Astral Reavers table.
End Simulation
After two full rounds of combat have been resolved, end the combat by reading or paraphrasing the following:
A thunderous explosion shakes the ship, filling the air with splinters of wood. Bodies are hurled into Wildspace—and then everything stops. Wreckage hangs motionless. Reavers freeze in the middle of their attacks. Even the stars stop twinkling.
The illusion of Wildspace melts away, and you find yourselves in one of the magical chambers of the Simulations Deck, your memories slowly fitting back into place. You recall being warned that your first experience of a Wildspace simulation would be disorienting—to test your ability to function under pressure.
A hulking figure emerges from the center of the explosion: a hadozee with a missing wing flap wearing a military uniform bristling with medals. The air around her smells like cigar smoke. “As you can see,” Boatswain Tarto growls, “the battle of H’Catha didn’t go so well for Captain Sardax and her crew. But her last battle makes a good testing ground for new recruits. End simulation!”
The characters remember meeting the hadozee training officer Boatswain Tarto (see the sidebar), and that the battle has been an illusory exercise conducted in one of the academy’s simulation chambers—large circular spaces whose rune-scribed walls channel potent magical power, and which contain training versions of spelljamming helms (akin to those used to propel real spelljamming ships). As the simulation ends, all characters regain any lost hit points, spell slots, or limited-use powers. Characters who died during the encounter discover that they were merely unconscious, and each gains one level of exhaustion from lingering psychic shock.
With the training exercise complete, the new recruits are ready for debriefing and orientation. Proceed to “Part 2: Academy Orientation.”
BOATSWAIN TARTO (SPELLJAMMER CORPS TRAINING OFFICER)
Hadozee Seasoned Boatswain
The scars that Boatswain Tarto (pronounced BOE-sun TAR-toe) bears are testament to her status as a battle-hardened veteran. Despite having one of her wing flaps torn away long ago, she remains as capable as ever while on board a ship. Spelljammer Academy has no better person to spearhead the training of raw recruits—and Tarto knows it. Never one to mince words (even when those words are directed toward those who outrank her), this old, grizzled hadozee has light-tan skin and ebon-black fur graying at the temples. She’s perpetually shrouded in a thick haze of cigar smoke, the smell of which often signals her imminent arrival.
Quote: “Listen to what I tell you; it might just save your life.”
Right into the Action
When everyone is ready to begin, roll for initiative. Then read or paraphrase the following aloud:
You stand on the deck of your spelljamming ship, Moonraider, even as explosions obliterate two of its masts and hurl a dozen of your fellow sailors into Wildspace! Distant stars and wheeling clouds of multicolored gas spin around you as the first pirate galleon slams into Moonraider’s starboard side, and a gust of foul wind washes over you as the galleon’s air envelope merges with your own. Seconds later, your vessel is boarded by astral reavers—humanoids possessed of strange features, waving cruel weapons, and unleashing blasts of magic.
Captain Sardax lies on the deck nearby, her body ruined by shrapnel. “Hold the top deck!” she snarls with her dying breath. “Grant them no quarter!”
This encounter starts in the thick of the action. The characters are in the midst of a magical illusion used to train Spelljammer Academy cadets. The shock of being plunged into the illusory simulation has left them disoriented and unable to sense that what they see is only in their minds. Both the characters and the players should believe that the simulation is real. When your players ask the inevitable questions about how they got here, use the following to guide your answers:
* The characters know that they are crew members on Moonraider, but they have no recollection of events prior to the reavers’ attack.
* The characters are new members of the crew, making their first journey into Wildspace.
* At a guess, it seems likely that the reavers have used some kind of magic to disorient Moonraider’s crew, hoping to make it easier to seize the ship.
* The characters know Captain Sardax and understand that her death leaves it up to them and the other surviving crew members to repel the reavers.
* The characters know and trust each other. Moonraider is their ship, and they are bound to defend it!
“Forecastle Map” shows the layout of the area that the characters are defending. They are the only sailors still alive in this section of the ship.
Fighting the Reavers
At the start of combat, place two astral reavers (bandits) at the edge of the forecastle area. Don’t roll initiative for these enemies. Instead, all reavers act at the end of the initiative order, after the characters have taken their turns. More reavers then appear during the round (see below).
At the start of each character’s turn, roll on the Battle Events table to determine a random event, which can include the appearance of new reavers. As each new enemy appears, roll on the Astral Reavers table to determine a special quality for them, and use these descriptions to help identify specific reavers in combat.
When you’ve played two full rounds of combat, proceed to the “End Simulation” section below.
Astral Reavers
The reavers are coal-hearted miscreants united only by the urge to raid and pillage. Each reaver has the statistics of a bandit but has a unique appearance determined by the Astral Reavers table.
End Simulation
After two full rounds of combat have been resolved, end the combat by reading or paraphrasing the following:
A thunderous explosion shakes the ship, filling the air with splinters of wood. Bodies are hurled into Wildspace—and then everything stops. Wreckage hangs motionless. Reavers freeze in the middle of their attacks. Even the stars stop twinkling.
The illusion of Wildspace melts away, and you find yourselves in one of the magical chambers of the Simulations Deck, your memories slowly fitting back into place. You recall being warned that your first experience of a Wildspace simulation would be disorienting—to test your ability to function under pressure.
A hulking figure emerges from the center of the explosion: a hadozee with a missing wing flap wearing a military uniform bristling with medals. The air around her smells like cigar smoke. “As you can see,” Boatswain Tarto growls, “the battle of H’Catha didn’t go so well for Captain Sardax and her crew. But her last battle makes a good testing ground for new recruits. End simulation!”
The characters remember meeting the hadozee training officer Boatswain Tarto (see the sidebar), and that the battle has been an illusory exercise conducted in one of the academy’s simulation chambers—large circular spaces whose rune-scribed walls channel potent magical power, and which contain training versions of spelljamming helms (akin to those used to propel real spelljamming ships). As the simulation ends, all characters regain any lost hit points, spell slots, or limited-use powers. Characters who died during the encounter discover that they were merely unconscious, and each gains one level of exhaustion from lingering psychic shock.
With the training exercise complete, the new recruits are ready for debriefing and orientation. Proceed to “Part 2: Academy Orientation.”
BOATSWAIN TARTO (SPELLJAMMER CORPS TRAINING OFFICER)
Hadozee Seasoned Boatswain
The scars that Boatswain Tarto (pronounced BOE-sun TAR-toe) bears are testament to her status as a battle-hardened veteran. Despite having one of her wing flaps torn away long ago, she remains as capable as ever while on board a ship. Spelljammer Academy has no better person to spearhead the training of raw recruits—and Tarto knows it. Never one to mince words (even when those words are directed toward those who outrank her), this old, grizzled hadozee has light-tan skin and ebon-black fur graying at the temples. She’s perpetually shrouded in a thick haze of cigar smoke, the smell of which often signals her imminent arrival.
Quote: “Listen to what I tell you; it might just save your life.”
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