'Dungeons & Dragons' Is Teasing the Return of Its Strangest World

Dungeons & Dragons might be sending players into space for its next adventures.

Earlier this week, Dungeons & Dragons revealed that the giff, a large race of hippo-like aliens, would appear in their upcoming publication Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. Wizards of the Coast made the announcement during their presentation at the Game Manufacturers Association's annual Trade Show.

Giff are large creatures that stand on two legs and usually carry either broadswords or some sort of firearm. Giffs are known for their military mindset and often served as mercenary muscle in various adventures.

The giff come from the "Spelljammer" campaign setting of D&D, an outer space setting first introduced in 1989. Spellcaster players could use mysterious spelljamming helms to propel ships into outer space. Any vehicle outfitted with a spelljamming helm was capable of interstellar travel, which meant that most character's traveled via craft that resembled boats as opposed to traditional spacecraft.

Wizards of the Coast teased that the giff wouldn't be the only Spelljammer content to return to Dungeons & Dragons in the near future. It's unlikely that we'll get a full-fledged space adventure, but it could mean more alien monsters and even rules for campaigns that go into space.

While the "Spelljammer" campaign setting had a ton of sci-fi elements, it was still a fantasy world. For one thing, planetary systems were enclosed in giant crystal spheres that sat inside a giant gasy ocean known as the Phlogiston. The Phlogiston was highly combustible, which is why players used magic to travel between worlds instead of giant rocket ships.

Spelljammer was even popular enough to get its own comics spinoff, which was produced by DC Comics and was written by Barbara Kesel, the editor of the first Hellboy miniseries.

While it might seem strange that Dungeons & Dragons is heading back into space, the popular tabletop RPG's main competition comes from scifi adventures. According to the trade site ICv2, three of the top five bestselling RPGs are sci-fi games. Paizo, the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons' chief rival Pathfinder, even released a sci-fi spinoff called Starfinder last year that was well received by fans.

You can find out more about the giff in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, which will be released on May 29th and will cost $49.99.