D&D 4E How would you re-envision Darksun with 4e?

[The Little Raven]

Batman: Beyond did it.

Batman Begins. Batman: Beyond was the cartoon that took place in the future.

 

[Raduin711]

I think they could do whatever they want. If most customers think the later stuff is stupid, they could certainly "re-launch" the setting from the original box set.

Batman: Begins did it. They took all those other movies and tossed them right out the window. I see no reason why they couldn't do the same with DS.

Oh, and one more proposal for Templars: make it more of a social status thing, and less of a strictly class-based thing. As in, there'd by "Templar" build paths for Cleric, Warlord, *and* Warlock. Or, who knows, maybe 4E multiclassing will allow characters of other classes to dabble in Templar abilities.

Edit: Mourn's Batman lore is superior

Except Batman: Begins is a comic book movie. Both movie adaptations and comic books are known for relaunching and resetting timelines, etc. I have never known an RPG to do this.

 

[Elphilm]

Oh--and becoming a dragon or avangion is quite obviously an epic destiny.

This made me consider how suitable epic level play is for Dark Sun.

Although we know little about high-end play in 4E, the impression I have got from the previews is that epic levels will involve planar travel and battles, and accomplishments that can change entire worlds. I think this goes against the feel of Dark Sun - especially if an appropriate deed for epic level characters in 4E would be, for example, to reverse the condition of a dying planet...

I could easily see Dark Sun in 4E with a level cap of 20. Becoming an Athasian dragon or an avangion would be a paragon path rather than an epic destiny. After all, these creatures are in a way paragons of defiling and preserving, respectively.

Indeed, if I were to do Dark Sun, it would be a setting mostly geared towards the heroic tier for that savage Sword and Sorcery feel. Only the greatest leaders and most powerful magicians would be at the paragon tier, with the Sorcerer-Kings sitting at the very top of the pile as level 20 bosses (or whatever the term for a creature that challenges the entire party will be).

 

[Solmyr]

I'd run it with WFRP rules.

 

[Dausuul]

Except Batman: Begins is a comic book movie. Both movie adaptations and comic books are known for relaunching and resetting timelines, etc. I have never known an RPG to do this.

*shrug* Just rebrand it as "Dark Sun Classic Edition," or something like that. While there aren't usually "reboots" as such in RPGs, sweeping revisions and retcons do get made, especially with the release of new editions.

Movies and comic books learned long ago that it's possible to put too much emphasis on continuity; as different writers and managers work on a project, some of them will inevitably add crappy material to the storyline. If you demand absolute continuity, you're stuck with the crappy material forever and ever. The occasional reboot allows a writing team to clear out the bad stuff and rejuvenate the setting. WotC could adopt a similar approach.

 

[Professor Phobos]

What are you talking about? RPGs reboot all the time.

 

[DreamChaser]

Except Batman: Begins is a comic book movie. Both movie adaptations and comic books are known for relaunching and resetting timelines, etc. I have never known an RPG to do this.

World of Darkness not withstanding you mean?

DC

 

[ruleslawyer]

This made me consider how suitable epic level play is for Dark Sun.

Although we know little about high-end play in 4E, the impression I have got from the previews is that epic levels will involve planar travel and battles, and accomplishments that can change entire worlds. I think this goes against the feel of Dark Sun - especially if an appropriate deed for epic level characters in 4E would be, for example, to reverse the condition of a dying planet...

I could easily see Dark Sun in 4E with a level cap of 20. Becoming an Athasian dragon or an avangion would be a paragon path rather than an epic destiny. After all, these creatures are in a way paragons of defiling and preserving, respectively.

Indeed, if I were to do Dark Sun, it would be a setting mostly geared towards the heroic tier for that savage Sword and Sorcery feel. Only the greatest leaders and most powerful magicians would be at the paragon tier, with the Sorcerer-Kings sitting at the very top of the pile as level 20 bosses (or whatever the term for a creature that challenges the entire party will be).

Except, though, that DS is one of the few settings that really had PC-type "epic destinies" even back in 2e.

Also, I'm not exactly opposed to the idea of DS characters reversing the condition of the planet, defeating the SKs, etc.... once they're epic level. I tend to prefer the idea that at a particular, never-before-reached-by-anyone-except-a-select-few level, PCs really can change the world, including the setting's core assumptions.

 

[Dausuul]

Except, though, that DS is one of the few settings that really had PC-type "epic destinies" even back in 2e.

Also, I'm not exactly opposed to the idea of DS characters reversing the condition of the planet, defeating the SKs, etc.... once they're epic level. I tend to prefer the idea that at a particular, never-before-reached-by-anyone-except-a-select-few level, PCs really can change the world, including the setting's core assumptions.

Absolutely. My feeling is that epic levels ought to be about epic achievements. Sure, there's not much to do in Dark Sun once you reverse the decay of the world... but that's okay, because that should be the grand finale of a very long campaign. Afterward, you wrap up that campaign, and start a new one in a different setting.

 

[Najo]

That's what they did with the Dragon (or was it Polyhedron?) Magazine article, they advanced the timeline by 80 or so years, and brought back all the city-states except for Tyr under the rule of sorcerer-kings. Though that article did controversial things like leave most of the classes as they were in the core books, and introduce Maenads and Elan to Athas.

It was about 300 years I think. Most of the changes to the backstory were good. The classes thing was bad.