Spelljammer Academy: Realmspace Sortie! - A Guide to Running the Adventure

I'm running Spelljammer Academy for my two DnD groups, and I am posting my prep notes for others to re-use, and updating the posts with learnings from running the game. I'm using the template from SlyFlourish's notion.so post. 

Part 1: Orientation

Part 2: Trial By Fire

Part 4: Behold H'Catha

Scenes

• Tyrant Trap!
  • Boatswain Tarto wakes the characters and tells them they need to retrieve an adamantine meteor from a place called H’Catha.
  • H’Catha is filthy with beholders, so characters will take a tryant ship to sneak in.
  • Petty Officer Winston Ryeback will lead the mission. Miken Haverstance, Krik’lit, and Pffred will act as shiphands.
  • The Tyrant Ship
  • Note gravity flips depending on which side of the gravity plane you are on.
  • Make a handout of the equipment. 
  • Make sure you give the characters the ship handout, it explains a lot about getting around.
  • Characters have to work together to get the spelljamming helm up to the command deck and installed.
  • When characters get to the command deck, a trap activates that makes ship spin end over end.
  • Roll initiative.
  • On 20, DC 15 Dex save or 7 damage and knocked prone. Half damage and no prone on a success.
  • On character turn, they can take countermeasures:
  • Brace: DC 15 strength (Athletics) check for advantage on next Dex save
  • Deactivate Trap: 10% chance to randomly deactivate by mashing buttons, or DC 20 Intelligence (Arcana).
  • Magic: Can mitigate with feather fall, levitate
  • Roll: DC 15 dexterity (Acrobatics) for advantage on next Dex save.
  • Ryeback uses featherfall on himself and NPCs.
• Like Clockwork - deal with clockwork horrors and help an injured autognome
  • Characters with passive Wisdom (Perception) score hear clank of metal on stone from closed hatch
  • On hollow deck, 3 clockwork horrors are building another from autognome corpses
  • Horrors taunt character in thri-kreen, saying the characters brought a helm to their ship
  • After horrors are defeated, DC 11 Wisdom (Perception) check to find an autognome named
  • After horrors are defeated, DC 11 Wisdom (Perception) check to find an autognome with defective vocal cords named Wizpop. DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check to repair his vocal cords.
  • 5 100 gp pearls and a spell scroll of rope trick
• Fire in the Galley!
• Miken Haverstance shows up disheveled, says there is a fire in the galley
• Characters have to deal with smoke - DC 10 Constitution save at start of turn or gain exhaustion
• Miken set the fire with a glyph of warding
• Characters find Ryeback’s dead body, get attacked by magma mephits. Area is lightly obscured.
• Krik’lit and Pffred help put out the fire.
• Following supplies are destroyed:
  • Portable cooking surface
  • 2 barrels of water
  • 5 flasks of cooking oil
  • 2 chests containing fresh foodstuffs
  • 1/2 cord of precut firewood
• DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) to know:
  • The fire started near Ryeback’s cooking station, but station itself couldn't make a fire that big.
  • Likely explosion started at mephits summoned by a spell.
• Miken did it. detect thoughts or DC 13 Charisma (Persuasion) check to get him to admit it.
• Miken was hired by mercane whose name he doesnt know. Offered life changing gold to sabotage the mission. He didnt think anyone would get hurt. Surrenders to characters.
• If characters contact Tarto, she tells them to wait for backup, and she arrives the next day.

Secrets and Clues

Check off when revealed.

• “Keep an eye out for some of these new cadets - they think the can cut it by studying all day, but it takes more than book learning to survive in Wildspace!” - a reference to Miken Haverstance in chapter 2.
• “There have been a bunch of thefts around the academy here lately…Mirt and the bridge are letting any vagrant in the place!”
• “Have you been to the Rock of Bral yet? Let me tell you, its the place to be in Wildspace!”
• “I’ve heard tale of world inhabited by elves whose star is dying! Hate to be them!” - A reference to the Xaryxian Empire.
• “It seems like Miken is nervous about something besides the academy, like something he is hiding.”
• “Vocath is a Mercane, some kind of space giant, who has a grudge against Mirt. I hear it has something to do with an astral elf lady.“

NPCs

• Boatswain Tarto
• Saerthe Abizjn
• Miken Haverstance
• Petty Officer Winston Ryeback
• Wizpop
• Pffred
• Krik’lit

Monsters

• Apprentice Wizard (Miken Haverstance)
• Clockwork Horror
• Magma Mephit

Treasure

• 5 100 gp pearls
• spell scroll of rope trick