transmission89
Hero
Oh god, no to all of this. I’d rather they leave it alone than do any of this.VAN RICHTEN'S GUIDE TO RAVENLOFT has given us an idea of how Wizards of the Coast will be updating old campaigns to 5th Ed
With that template in mind I started musing about Dark Sun
I imagine it will look a lot like it did in 4th Ed but continue to evolve
Lineages
All the races / lineages in the PH need to be in the campaign. That means including tieflings, gnomes and half-orcs. Each could get a paragraph on his they fit into the world, like in EBERRON: RISING FROM THE LAST WAR
Thri-kreen will likely be the sole new race
Half-giants will likely remain goliaths. Muls are the ugly product of forced mating, so they're just gone. They could also reprint aarakocra
Player Options
WizCo isn't going to do a psionicist for 5th Ed. Instead, a Wild Talent system allowing PCs to have psychic powers would replace that. Like Dark Gifts or the Supernatural Gifts of Theros. Everyone is psionic
They won't get rid of paladins and clerics because players need to be able to make whatever characters they want. Just having an Elemental Domain would limit options too much. Clerics would instead worship the Primordials. Just provide a table of flavor suggestions on how spells could look elemental
But a templar domain could work. Or warlock pact like in 4th Ed
Getting inspiration from 4th Ed, Defiling and obsidian and bone weapons could work roughly the same. When you roll a natural 1 on an attack you can re-roll. With a spell you defoliate and area based on the level and with a weapon it breaks if the re-roll misses. Make it the player's choice. Defiling could also be a method of gaining additional spell slots. When you're high enough level you can kill an area of land to get an extra 1st level spell
Setting
VGR showed us WizCo is willing to change campaigns to fit modern tastes
Based on past convos here a controversial element is slavery. That needs to be gone
The sorcerer-kings can be dictators who rule their lands and hold sway over the life 'n' death of all their subjects without using the loaded term "slaves." Folk in the city-states can just have mistreated servants and not buy or sell people
Survival Adventures
Like VGR focused on "horror adventures" this product should focus on "wilderness survival." Person v. nature
Lottsa charts of random encounters and adventure sites encountered on the road. Advice on how to run adventures focused on travel and natural hazards. How to make it work at various levels. Reprinted and expanded rules on surviving in hot environments and foraging for food
City States
Each City-State should have a completely different tone and style of adventure. Focus on what dungeons are nearby and what the PCs need to do to survive there. There should also be some new city-states ruled by non-humans. An elf or tiefling city-state
Like Ravenloft's domains, these should be isolated. We don't need a full map of the Tablelands. DMs can choose how far away settlements are and rearrange the map based on what's best for their adventure
It's harder to survive if you're uncertain of the distance between city-states and oases. It also works with the shifting nature of deserts. There could be a watering hole or it could have dried out. There could be a pass or it could have been erased by the sands. You could have enough food and water to make it to the next settlement, but you might not
Each journey is new and travel is never routine
Sorcerer-Kings
There are seven major city-states ruled by sorcerer-kings. There's only two sorcerer-queen so a couple need to be gender flipped for better representation
They also need a new name. They're not all kings. And they're wizards, not sorcerers. Wizard-Monarchs? Spell-Tyrants? Archdefilers?
The ruler of Tyr should also still be alive. If anyone kills them it should be the PCs. And having a "safe" city-state populated by free folk not ruled by a tyrant makes Dark Sun less dangerous and hostile
What ya'll think?
Anything else that needs changed?
If they are going to touch it, just update the rules and add some things to make survival an actual thing in 5e (ie, you can’t just rely on Goodberry all day).