D&D 5E Revising Classic Settings

[Mecheon]

You can take solace in the fact you are the only human on the planet worried about the younger generation getting hooked on the Gor novels.

I think we can all agree that the only people who have ever thought about the Gor novels in the last decade are probably Second Life roleplayers.

Because thaaaat's a community that exists.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I really, really hope they don't combine Spelljammer and Planescape. They have such very different tones .Even if you ignore the silliness in Spelljammer, it's still gonzo space opera, which is very different from Planescape's more somber and philosophical tone.

I can't see 21st century WotC going big on either philosophy or silliness. Neither have the kind of mass market appeal they are looking for.

I think it's more likely that an update of either would become more of a "planet of the week" Star Trek style space opera.

 

[Zardnaar]

Which can be gotten around by making them into a lineage of their own.

(Although, as a person with ovaries, I would be more than happy to have adventures taking the sex slavers and forced-breeding facilitators down; perhaps strangely, it's the men in my group who would likely be the most uncomfortable dealing with that issue.)

It's not something I usually put in my games.

Slavery exists at a basic level, sometimes it crops up eg slave raids fight them off.

Sex slavery not so much as you don't want to be "that guy" and no one's ever asked to buy a sex slave.

Fine in a book setting eg Dune universe in game yeah it's iffy.

 

[Coroc]

Dark Sun was a great setting. It is very much a product of the 90's, warts and all. It could stand to be updated, not watered down, but updated to be as groundbreaking as the original. Muls, like 1E half-orcs, need a rework. In a world of ecological apocalypse and magical tampering of evolution, why would Muls necessarily be 'bred' for slavery? Muls are just another way, like psionic ability, the natural world is making stronger candidates for survival.
Chattel Slavery doesn't need to be ever present. The Sorcerer Kings are in complete control. The templars, merchants, and nobles owe their position to them. The rest of the population is similar servitude without the need for echoes of history. Food, water, and safety are all limited resources. Control is easy for those with power. Slavery takes many forms after all.

I'd do a complete reboot. Not just a calendar advance. Set 5E Dark Sun after the appearance of the first Avangion. The Veiled Alliance becomes a crusade of preservers, a scourge to Freed City-States and those under the yoke of Sorcerer Kings. The Dragon still exists. How will the party navigate this chaotic land?

1. Dark Sun still is a great setting, and i see ways to make it work with 5e but you need to put on grognard googles xtreme for it to reach that tone. And since todays generation will not even remotely understand what that tone is - it is also useless to try and explain it to them, they do not know that rock'n'roll feeling because they never experienced all the circumstances themselves, it is like my parents telling me about ww2, they experienced it as kids but i will only get an idea on how it possibly was, but that's about it -
and since wotc wants to sell to younger people also, they will not do it right, basta, no use discussing it.

2. Muls are a crossbread between human and dwarves, a thing normally not possible in other settings, and muls are sterile like the namegiving horse/donkey crossbreed, so even if possible, there is no point in it.
With halfgiants it is even stated that their origins are because of magical help, since it would not work out the normal way.
But every race is stronger in DS so evolution parallel to the breeding of special slave races already did what you propagated. It is just muls not only are stronger, they also need less water than other races so in many circumstances they are more optimized. Being a bit dull they also do not tend to rebell as easy, as long as the basic needs are covered.

3. You do not navigate in DS. Travel is an adventure on its own, it is not taking the five o clock caravan from Tyr to Urik at fridays.

 

[amethal]

Sorry my comment made you salty. But you do realize every other D&D setting talked about here was created by TSR, right? So their list of created settings is way more than one.

I probably didn't express myself very well in my initial post, but yes, I do realise TSR created various settings, and it wasn't my intention to imply otherwise.

What I was trying to say was that just as nobody would (I hope) seek to claim that Forgotten Realms is not a TSR / WotC setting, despite it originally being created by someone else, Eberron is also a WotC setting despite many (but not all) of the ideas in the original setting book having originated with Keith Baker.

 

[Faolyn]

It's not something I usually put in my games.

Slavery exists at a basic level, sometimes it crops up eg slave raids fight them off.

Sex slavery not so much as you don't want to be "that guy" and no one's ever asked to buy a sex slave.

True. But while it's never been said out loud, sex slavery--at least in the forced-breeding sense--clearly been a part of Dark Sun from the second they decided that muls and half-giants were born from forced breeding. So in that case, yes, I would be glad to take those slavers down.

 

[Faolyn]

I can't see 21st century WotC going big on either philosophy or silliness. Neither have the kind of mass market appeal they are looking for.

I think it's more likely that an update of either would become more of a "planet of the week" Star Trek style space opera.

Spelljammer was silly, but it wasn't Toon--the silliness was in the background detail. The actual concept of Spelljammer was fairly serious. It just had some fairly silly things, like goofy monsters such as the lutem (the mud women I mentioned), or anything related to the Dragonlance-based tinker gnomes, or the dohwar.

And as for silliness in general, the crypt of Curse of Strahd had some horrifically pun-based names on the tombs--so horrific, I had to change them to names that didn't make me want to gouge my own eyes out.

I don't really see the philosophy of Planescape being a big issue either. It's not like the game required you, the player, to be philosophical.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Yes, Gor is popular in some places from Second Life. It's fantasy for fans of BSDM.

Could muls be created by means of reincarnation? In the real life the male mules are steriles, but the females can breed, but only with one of the two species.

* I have just read there are now serious accusations against the videogame "Genshin Impact" about possible racism and pedophilia.

 

[Faolyn]

* I have just read there are now serious accusations against the videogame "Genshin Impact" about possible racism and pedophilia.

Did you mean to post this in this thread?

Also, the article you linked seems to indicate that most of what's involved is translation errors or failure to update dialogue when character models were changed.

 

[Zardnaar]

True. But while it's never been said out loud, sex slavery--at least in the forced-breeding sense--clearly been a part of Dark Sun from the second they decided that muls and half-giants were born from forced breeding. So in that case, yes, I would be glad to take those slavers down.

Yeah it's an easy target and in DS my PCs fought against slavery.

It's not so much that it exists but depends on how graphic the DM describes stuff. Or how much relish they take in describing things.

Personally I'm fine with mist things but the gory details are left out. Things like that happen off camera.