pawsplay
Hero
The news that 4e is going to do Dark Sun actually raises a twinkle of curiosity in me, even though I don't dig 4e at all. The funny thing is, I wasn't a big Dark Sun player back in the day. The setting had a lot of promise, but there were definitely things about the setting that were problemtic.
The first thing I remembered was the power boost. You started at 3rd level, with high ability score rolls, and everyone got psionics. I told this to a friend once, as though it were a parody of a D&D setting, then laughed cruelly at him when I told him it was a real product. By modern standards, it's pretty mild, but back then, Dark Sun was the signature zeppelin of power creep in D&D. It also had some weird ideas, like "character trees." And the gladiator as a character class had a lot of trouble being more than a fighter. The presence of level 21+ rules for rogues and the dragon and avengion "prestige classes" implied a lot of very high level gaming, which first of all, was not a common part of the D&D experience, and second, seemed somewhat out of place in a swords-and-sorcery, gritty setting where water was a valuable trade good.
But it also had the awesome. A varient cosmology. Magic as life force. Classic swords-and-sorcery tropes. A post-apocalyptic, almost Tekumel-like feel. Great art. In fact, all you have to die is excise some of the odd rules stuff and come up with some kind of sensible narrative for high level play in a blasted wasteland, and the awesome just pour out.
The first thing I remembered was the power boost. You started at 3rd level, with high ability score rolls, and everyone got psionics. I told this to a friend once, as though it were a parody of a D&D setting, then laughed cruelly at him when I told him it was a real product. By modern standards, it's pretty mild, but back then, Dark Sun was the signature zeppelin of power creep in D&D. It also had some weird ideas, like "character trees." And the gladiator as a character class had a lot of trouble being more than a fighter. The presence of level 21+ rules for rogues and the dragon and avengion "prestige classes" implied a lot of very high level gaming, which first of all, was not a common part of the D&D experience, and second, seemed somewhat out of place in a swords-and-sorcery, gritty setting where water was a valuable trade good.
But it also had the awesome. A varient cosmology. Magic as life force. Classic swords-and-sorcery tropes. A post-apocalyptic, almost Tekumel-like feel. Great art. In fact, all you have to die is excise some of the odd rules stuff and come up with some kind of sensible narrative for high level play in a blasted wasteland, and the awesome just pour out.
