The Light of Xarxyis campaign for Flash Gordon franchise, giving players a pulp sci-fi adventure in wildspace. Spelljammer is the new D&D campaign setting that combines fantasy and sci-fi elements together, which means groups can abandon the A Song of Ice and Fire and The Lord of the Rings references, in exchange for a whole new genre of storytelling. D&D groups can now relive the stories of Aliens, Star Wars, and Guardians of the Galaxy in their campaigns.
There are lots of potential sci-fi stories that can be told in the Spelljammer campaign setting and Spelljammer: Adventures in Space gives DMs the tools they need to build them. There are even Spelljammer races inspired by Star Trek characters, for the players who wish to build their own version of Data, Odo, or Spock. In of classes, the players who wish to play a Jedi Knight could easily rejigger the paladin class, while many of the psionic subclasses that were introduced in later sourcebooks can act as substitutes for telepathic/telekinetic heroes.
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space is now available, and it comes with three books; the Astral Adventurer's Guide, which contains new class options & rules for the spelljammer ships; Boo's Astral Menagerie, which is the book with all the Spelljammer monster stats; and Light of Xaryxis, which is a short campaign set in the Spelljammer setting. Light of Xaryxis is short when compared to other D&D campaigns, like the recent The Wild Beyond the Witchlight D&D campaign. This is because it's meant to act as an introduction to the Spelljammer campaign setting and the book advises DMs to look for a particular franchise for inspiration: Flash Gordon.
The Light Of Xaryxis Is A Pulp Sci-Fi Campaign Inspired By Flash Gordon
The opening pages of Light of Xaryxis ask the DM to go watch the 1980 movie Flash Gordon, as well as read the Flash Gordon serialized comics if they're available. The intention is for Light of Xaryxis to be run as a camp sci-fi story, with over-the-top characters, bizarre plot twists, and with each session ending on a cliffhanger, like a sci-fi TV show from back in the day. The intention is to treat each session like an episode in a serialized format, rather than a continuous story that can end at different points.
Of course, the DM can decide to ignore this advice and run Light of Xaryxis as if it were completely serious. DMs can also just mine it for ideas and stick them into their own homebrew campaign, in the same way that they can with adventure anthologies like Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel. Spelljammer is known for its wacky comedy that fits alongside the darker elements, with Boo's Astral Menagerie featuring both Giant Space Hamsters and Cosmic Horrors in the same book. The '80s Flash Gordon movie is awesome and not just because of the Queen soundtrack, and DMs should consider checking it out if they want to run the Light of Xaryxis campaign for Dungeons & Dragons
