Who's Hype for Dark Sun???

Scribble · Jun 4, 2010

Mouseferatu said:
The sad thing about my history with Dark Sun (he said, trying desperately to undo his own hijack ) is that, while I love, love, love the setting, I never got to actually play in it.

(Well, I played the first DS computer game, Shattered Lands. But I never got to play in an actual D&D game of DS--or even play the computer sequel.)

The same's actually true of one of my other all-time favorites, Al-Qadim. Played the computer game--several times--but never got to actually play in the setting.

I never got to play in Al-Qadim either, but I did run it a few times. I loved the setting but my group just wasn't as into it.

I only ever actually played in a few games of Dark Sun... Back in the day it just wasn't my thing. I was more of an all things must be Tolkien guy, so Dark Sun just bugged me.

These days I'm not so much that anymore, and I'm really looking forward to seeing a 4e Dark Sun. (Plus I think the setting will work really well for the game concepts.)

Danzauker · Jun 4, 2010

doctorhook said:
Untrue. Colossal doesn't exist as a category anymore, sure, but creatures of that size definitely still exist. They're just called "Gargantuan" now. Gargantuan is anything bigger than Huge, with no upper limit.

That's exactly what I said. If a category has no game effect it's just fluff, so rules-wise it does not exist.

doctorhook said:
I don't buy it. Too much balance will have to be thrown out the window to include Large player races. (Hell, too much has to be thrown out to even just allow Large weapons.) As soon as Large PC race became available, you can bet your butt that nearly every melee build on the CharOp boards will have been updated to use the new Large race, because Large will almost certainly allow Large weapons and reach, which are extremely beneficial.

As far as I'm concerned, Goliaths will be a fine substitute for Half-Giants. What role does one play that the other doesn't? Goliaths are "the big race" now. These races would be redundant together. Just pretend your Goliath is 10' tall if that's what you need in order to be happy with him.

Given that line of reasoning, then I should be happy to play a Medium pixie, or a bipedal centaur, because Tiny and four legged creatures "throw balance out of the window"?

No, thanks, as long as I am concerned, sometimes fluff is not enough. Wnen it's needed I want to have mechanics to reflect the description. If it can't be done, I prefer to leave the thing in NPC world.

Scribble · Jun 4, 2010

Maybe Goliaths aren't "really" part giant, just people call them that because they're all big n stuff.

Kind of like Andre the giant. He wasn't really a giant, but people were like that dude is all big- he's like a giant. A giant named Andre. Go ye and make a name for yourself fighting Hulk Hogan Giant whose name be Andre.

So people in Dark Sun, most of whom (did I use whom right Mousy???) have never seen a giant, are like "Dude that guy is HUGE! He must be like half giant or something! What kind of giant are you half of Giganto????"

"I'm actually a Goliath-"

And then some all science minded Dark Sun scholar is like "Technically he would be considered still a part of the "Medium" size category, and not either "Huge," or "Large," as one might expect from something considered to be even Half-Giant and-"

"Shut up nerd. Giganto the Half Giant is the man.""

doctorhook · Jun 4, 2010

Danzauker said:
That's exactly what I said. If a category has no game effect it's just fluff, so rules-wise it does not exist.

It does have an effect: Gargantuan creatures have a default base-size of four by four squares, but can be larger than this. If you want a creature that was "Colossal" in 3.5E to be the same size in 4E, call it Gargantuan and give it a base-size of six by six squares. Done.

As I'm rereading this debate, it occurs to me that I'm not even sure what your argument here is, except that you think we need Colossal again...

Danzauker said:
Given that line of reasoning, then I should be happy to play a Medium pixie, or a bipedal centaur, because Tiny and four legged creatures "throw balance out of the window"?

Yes, you should be. You could probably safely make your pixie-race Small though. Is quadrupedalism unbalanced? I don't know, but if it is, then you should be happy to have a balanced version offered to you, even if it means you're now playing a satyr instead of a centaur. You can use fluff to make up the difference.

Danzauker said:
No, thanks, as long as I am concerned, sometimes fluff is not enough. Wnen it's needed I want to have mechanics to reflect the description. If it can't be done, I prefer to leave the thing in NPC world.

Why are "the mechanics" needed now? 4E already has a big, giant-related race -- they're called goliaths. There's no role for a new half-giant race to play that goliaths can't. If you went ahead and included a new half-giant race anyway, you'd have to explain what the heck goliaths are (since they aren't half-giants) and why they're running around Athas...

...Because they will most definitely running around Athas this summer.

Herschel · Jun 4, 2010

I am another that is super-stoked. I lovingly looked at my old box set at times trying to figure out how to convert it with minimal time/effort, then came the news I don't have to!

Celestian · Jun 4, 2010

I liked reading the original setting but I'd never use it. It's just to "weird" for my tastes (and my group). Has some really interesting ideas.

Now had it been DL or GH or even Oriental Adventures I'd be psyched for it.

RodneyThompson · Jun 4, 2010

I am hype for Dark Sun.

Take that, Marmell.

Mouseferatu · Jun 4, 2010

Moridin said:
I am hype for Dark Sun.

Take that, Marmell.

Next time, Gadget! Next time!

mgbeach · Jun 5, 2010

Here are three Dark Sun character sheets from the Penny Arcade Dark Sun game podcast (Adult language in the podcasts)

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/DarkSun_TwoCoins.pdf
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/DarkSun_Tuzul.pdf
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/DarkSun_Mantis.pdf

TheLastRogue · Jun 5, 2010

I'm so hype I've already started getting stuff ready for my next campaign . . . agony beetles, anyone?

Who's Hype for Dark Sun???

Scribble

First Post

Danzauker

Adventurer

Scribble

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doctorhook

Legend

Herschel

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Celestian

Explorer

RodneyThompson

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Mouseferatu

Hero

mgbeach

Explorer

TheLastRogue

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