With new novel reprints, will we see Dark Sun for 4e?

catsclaw227 · Jan 5, 2009

There's a third Dark Sun novel coming out this month in what I guess is a reprint of an old 5 book series called the Prism Pentad. I never read any of these books, though back in the day I really wanted to, so I know nothing about it.

Products or on Amazon at Amazon.com: prism pentad

Does this hint that there will be some Dark Sun support in 4e? Have they been reprinting Dark Sun books with new covers this whole time, even throughout 3.x?

I'd be interested to see how this setting is updated to the new ruleset.

GMforPowergamers · Jan 5, 2009

there have been a lot of hints of a 4e Darksun...I hae my fingers crossed

Wik · Jan 5, 2009

Yeah. In fact, in the manual of the planes, it mentions some of the worlds that you can visit: Eberron, Faerun, Krynn, and Athas. That seems like a pretty big clue that they haven't given up on Dark Sun.

Not to mention the Dark Sun hazards article they put up way back when... and a couple of other "official" name drops in 4e products.

arscott · Jan 5, 2009

Dark Sun seems like a shoe-in for 2010. While they've got unique features, both FR and Eberron are typical D&D campaign worlds, and WotC is probably going to go for something more exotic. Planescape and Ravenloft (and to a lesser extent, Spelljammer) are seeing some love as attachments to the core settings rather that settings of their own--And that leaves Dark Sun, Kara Tur, And Al-Qadim as the likely candidates for the 2010 setting.

Dark Sun seems to be the most popular of those three (at least on these boards)--And the PHB3 is likely to feature the psionic power source. In addition, we're likely to see a slight epic focus to the 2010 books, and of those settings, Dark Sun probably has the most epic potential, (In fact, the first published DS suplement, Dragon Kings, was a guide for making DS characters from 21st to 30th level)

Spatula · Jan 5, 2009

As a fan of the original box set, I certainly hope not.

arscott said:
While they've got unique features, both FR and Eberron are typical D&D campaign worlds, and WotC is probably going to go for something more exotic.

WotC doesn't want exotic. Exotic limits the ability to sell other books to people playing in that setting.

fba827 · Jan 5, 2009

there have been a little athas name dropping here and there -- so the fact that they are even thinking about it enough to put the DS name in current products makes me think that they are thinking (if not already planned) it's eventual 4e-version release.
Besides, if they are planning a setting a year, they'll need more than FR and Ebberon as soon as next year...and the year after and so on.

Aus_Snow · Jan 5, 2009

I would be very surprised if WotC doesn't choose Dark Sun as a setting for one of the next few years.

Personally, I would've liked a 3e version, and would still buy that, no questions asked. But anyway, when the 4e version comes out (assuming it does, of course) I hope it's fun for those that get into it.

arscott · Jan 5, 2009

Spatula said:
WotC doesn't want exotic. Exotic limits the ability to sell other books to people playing in that setting.

It's not that they want exotic, per se. It's that they need to make something different enough from their previous offerings that people will actually buy the book.

With the 'keep publishing until nobody buys anything' model from previous editions, exotic stuff was a bad choice. But with the 'publish 3 books and that's it' model, the effect is much more limited.

filthgrinder · Jan 5, 2009

Spatula said:
As a fan of the original box set, I certainly hope not.

I'd be more than happy if the 4e version was a bunch of hand waving away at everything after the initial box set, including the novels.

And a chapter apologizing for the second box set.

Verys Arkon · Jan 5, 2009

Count me as one who hopes for a 4e Dark Sun in 2010.

Psionics in PH3 (crosses fingers) and a tie-in with Athas would make nice synergy. Unfortunately, psionics seems to be either 'love it' / 'hate it' phenomenon. Would that much emphasis on psionics in one year be wise? I don't know. I like psionics in 2e and 3e, so I'm all for it. I'm unsure if I'm in the minority (time for yet another poll!).

Verys