'Dungeons & Dragons' Players Now Have a Way to Travel Through Space

The newest Dungeons & Dragons adventure brings back a way for characters to travel through space.

In 1989, Dungeons & Dragons introduced the "Spelljammer" campaign setting, a space opera-esque world in which characters used magical ships to travel between planets. The key component to these ships was the spelljamming helm, a magical throne that allowed magic casters to create an artificial air and gravity field and propel their ships (which could look like large sailing ships).

"Spelljammer" is a fan-favorite setting and fans have clamored for its official return since it was discontinued prior to the release of the third edition ruleset of the game. We've seen teases of "Spelljammer" in recent months, with the inclusion of the giff (a race of spacefaring anthropomorphic hippos) and a tease that an actual spelljammer ship would appear in Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, which comes out in game stores today.

Sure enough, one of the magical items found in the new adventure is a spelljamming helm, which allows magic users to propel a ship through either the water, air, or space. The speed at which a spelljamming ship moves is totally dependent on the highest level of spell slot its user has available.

While this new spelljamming helm is definitely is a step in the right direction - there are a couple of major drawbacks. For one thing, the rules for the spelljamming helm don't include anything about spelljamming speed, the equivalent to warp speed in the Dungeons & Dragons universe. Without the ability to reach spelljamming speed, the quickest a ship can travel is 90 miles per hour...which is fast for travel over land but not very fast for space travel.

For instance, it would take a Level 20 wizard over 200 years to reach Venus from Earth using the current spelljamming rules...which isn't great for any humans or other non-long lived races aboard.

In addition, the only known spelljamming helm that exists within the Forgotten Realms is located deep in the bowels of Undermountain, the treacherous megadungeon created by Halaster Blackcloak. Halaster probably wouldn't take too kindly to any adventurers removing one of his prized possessions, so be ready for a major fight if you want to claim it from his home.

Still - this does seem to be a hint that more "Spelljammer" content is coming. Fans have wanted it for years, and D&D has confirmed that a new setting book will be released in 2019. We'll have to wait to see if its "Spelljammer" or another fantastic world.