Aliens and Spaceships in D&D? (no spoilers)

[Hooligan]

Hey all, was Aliens and Spaceships always there in the D&D lore?

My impression was that the D&D lore was more LOTRO based with dwarfs, elfs, humans, trolls, orcs etc.

I was a bit supriced by the Alien spaceships and Aliens tbh.. Starting tutorial almost feel like a Xcom mission.

[Chaplain Kazimir]

Originally posted by Basketballin:

Hey all, was Aliens and Spaceships always there in the D&D lore?

My impression was that the D&D lore was more LOTRO based with dwarfs, elfs, humans, trolls, orcs etc.

I was a bit supriced by the Alien spaceships and Aliens tbh..

unless its somewhere else i havent reached yet, the Illithids and the Nautiloid ship arent aliens, but are a hive mind of psyonic beings who serve the Great Mind.

[oncepostal]

Spelljammer back in the day, Planescape a bit later I believe. Both had "alienish" qualities. Gamma World was pretty spacey but not sure if that used D&Dish ruleset? Been too long.

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by Basketballin:

Hey all, was Aliens and Spaceships always there in the D&D lore?

My impression was that the D&D lore was more LOTRO based with dwarfs, elfs, humans, trolls, orcs etc.

I was a bit supriced by the Alien spaceships and Aliens tbh..

It's always been there, there was a Spelljammer PC game all about flying around space in the 90's, and the Gith have a flying ship in Ust Natha in BG2. Not to mention the Illithids in BG2.

It's just normally higher level stuff to run into by default.

[Felix42]

Yes. They are not technically spaceships or aliens, but rather interdimensional races that travel between realms. But it is pretty much the same.

There are also proper spaceships and aliens in dnd, with 40 years+ of content, everything is in dnd somewhere.

[Piderman]

This was pretty much always a part of it. Google "Spelljammer" for example.

[jungle.james]

Originally posted by oncepostal:

Spelljammer back in the day, Planescape a bit later I believe. Both had "alienish" qualities. Gamma World was pretty spacey but not sure if that used D&Dish ruleset? Been too long.

Gamma World uses GURPS.

[Black Hammer]

Originally posted by Basketballin:

Hey all, was Aliens and Spaceships always there in the D&D lore?

Barrier Peaks, look it up.

[calabacina]

mindflyers have always existed, even BEFORE baldurs gate, they are part of the d&d monster set.

then yes, in bg2 you can literally find a spaceship, so no, no news.

[Alex]

So I'm guessing everyone saw the intro? Yeah that kind of a spaceship. What's more amusing is seeing it from the perspective of some Baldur's Gate peasant who gets abducted by the tentacle aliens, not only you get brought aboard an UFO, but then dragons attack it and then you go to hell. Dang.

[Myth Alric]

Yes there always has been, it is tied in with all the other traveling to other dimensions and stuff.

[Penitent Pilgrim]

People with a clue will know that Spelljammer, the magical outer space expansion for D&D, was released in 1989 and that there was a Spelljammer computer game from SSI released in 1992.

[Drake]

That's called space fantasy. And it was popular in the 70' and 80'.

[Hooligan]

Allright D&D for me always translated to Doungeons and Dragons to me and like an "LOTR" setting, so i was supriced by the Alien Spaceship tbh, but thanks for explanations dudes.

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by Basketballin:

Allright D&D for me always translated to Doungeons and Dragons to me and like an "LOTR" setting, so i was supriced by the Alien Spaceship tbh, but thanks for explanations dudes.

Yeah there's a lot of settings for D&D that are linked. Fantasy Europe/LOTR is pretty much the 'default' D&D but there's post apocalyptic, steampunk, space stuff, horror stuff, etc.

[Chaosolous]

More like magical technology based on a Lovecraftian horror. Without spoilers that’s the best I can do.