Spelljammer Boo Book: Spelljammer, Space, and Speculation!

[Ath'kethin]

Slightly off-topic, but who came up with the concept of giant hamster as a space-fantasy themed creature in the first place?

Did someone’s real hamster escaped during a game, started to chew one the player’s miniature while they weren’t looking and went « ahhh! Giant hamster! » or something?

granted, D&D has plenty of giant « something », but mostly because they would look menacing at 10-foot tall. Silly has been in the game pretty much from inception too but still; giant hamster appears like an oddly specific choice of critter…

[edit] oh and yeah, to me this spells « spelljammer confirmed! »

According to the About This Product page of MC7 - Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix, the Giant Space Hamster was contributed by Roger Moore.

Which isn't a surprise, exactly, though there are a handful of other TSR staffers who would also have fit the bill.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Also, another thing I liked about Spelljammer (and it's a super small thing) is they had Hadozee, which sure felt like Yazirians from Star Frontiers.

The Vrusk and Dralasites also made a cameo in the form of Rastipedes and Plasmoids.

 

[CharlesWallace]

The Vrusk and Dralasites also made a cameo in the form of Rastipedes and Plasmoids.

Yeeeees!! As a kid I loved dralasites. I forgot they made it in too!

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

The WotC book I want most of all for 5e is Spelljammer full setting. But I could settle for a 1/3 setting, 2/3 adventure kind of book too with a focus on Realmspace - just to get it out of my system and not get disappointed after every book reveal.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I know it won't happen, but I'd love to see a Spelljammer more focused on the Giff and Gith vs the PC species and less Aberrations playing at Mad Max.

Weird Steampunk Space Age of Sailing adventures without these jerks showing up screaming 'REMEMBER LOVECRAFT? HE HAS TO BE EVERYWHERE!' every twenty minutes.

 

[Echohawk]

According to the About This Product page of MC7 - Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix, the Giant Space Hamster was contributed by Roger Moore.

While that's true, the hamsters weren't actually Moore's idea. In Dragon #171, he writes:

"I also like hamsters and guinea pigs, from which sprang my entry for giant space hamsters in the first Spelljammer appendix for the Monstrous Compendium. Unfortunately, I’ve had a hard time finding people who like giant space hamsters as much as I do (well, Jeff Grubb likes them, but he had the original idea for them, so he doesn’t count)."

So we can blame Grubb for the idea, and Moore for turning the idea into a D&D monster.

 

[embee]

Slightly off-topic, but who came up with the concept of giant hamster as a space-fantasy themed creature in the first place?

Did someone’s real hamster escaped during a game, started to chew one the player’s miniature while they weren’t looking and went « ahhh! Giant hamster! » or something?

granted, D&D has plenty of giant « something », but mostly because they would look menacing at 10-foot tall. Silly has been in the game pretty much from inception too but still; giant hamster appears like an oddly specific choice of critter…

[edit] oh and yeah, to me this spells « spelljammer confirmed! »

Let me tell you about the time that Han Solo got into a fist fight with a giant lady space otter....

 

[embee]

According to the About This Product page of MC7 - Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix, the Giant Space Hamster was contributed by Roger Moore.

Now I want to know what George Lazenby's contribution to SJ was.

 

[Maxperson]

According to the About This Product page of MC7 - Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix, the Giant Space Hamster was contributed by Roger Moore.

Hmmm.

Q: "007, we need you to come up with a D&D monster that nobody would suspect of being dangerous."

Roger Moore: "Hamsters!"

Q: "That's brilliant!"

 

[Echohawk]

I found a bit more on the origin of the giant space hamsters in the 30 Years of Adventure coffee table book:

---

The other iconic creature to emerge from Spelljammer was the dreaded giant space hamster. These beasts were written up in AD&D terms by Dragon magazine editor Roger Moore. For years, Jeff publicly denied any responsibility for their existence. The true story, however, is that Roger got his inspiration directly from Jeff.

"I had nothing to do with giant space hamsters. Well, very little. Okay, I started it. Jim [Holloway] came up with the Gnomish Sidewheeler ship which had these two, huge paddlewheels on the sides. There was nothing in space for the wheels to churn, so I said (a little too loudly), 'They must be giant hamster wheels.' Roger Moore heard that, inferred the giant space hamster, and things went downhill from there."