D&D 5E Justin Alexander's review of Shattered Obelisk is pretty scathing

[Lanefan]

I don't remember which designer it was now, but he straight-up acted like it was crazy, irrational, beyond human understanding that someone could prefer playing dragonborn instead of humans or elves or other allegedly normal races.

Well, I can't really disagree with this sentiment.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I’m not saying you need to do it all yourself. I didn’t convert every monster when I ran Planescape or Dark Sun. I just ran a game in those settings using the 5e rules. I itnored a lot of the fiddly rules that were part of the old settings and to be honest, it went fine. The only part that was remotely an issue was psionics in Dark Sun. I just used certain spells and reskinned them as psionics.

Not saying “do it yourself” so much as “there’s not nearly as much that you need as you think”.

But hey, feel free to ignore me and continue your Eeyore impression!

I don't want to ignore rules, and your definition of too fiddly is far broader than mine. I also intensely dislike reskinning, so no, your method would not work for me, and in fact from my perspective looks like, "Just fake it! Your players will never know!". That's not who I am.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Easy to convert to, perhaps, but not as easy to convert from when trying to use new material in an older system.

Oddly enough, I've found 4e material easier to convert than 5e; but that may be because when coming from 4e I'm approaching the task from an "I have to change everything" perspective where with 5e stuff I'm thinking "This shouldn't take much effort" and then am surprised at just how long it takes.

And WotC haven't exactly put out any official conversion guides since their 2e-to-3e ones; and that's something I've kinda given up on drumming for even though I'd still like to see it: proper conversion guides from every edition to every other edition. If nothing else, this would show a bit of interest in being stewards of the whole game rather than just the current edition.

Yeah. Shame that's only true in the legal sense.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Well, I can't really disagree with this sentiment.

I know you're joking.

But you should know, I have actually dealt with people, on and off for basically the entire run since I got into 4e (so about 14-15 years now), who both think that and believe it is perfect justification to exclude dragonborn from D&D completely.

I was once told, on this very forum, by a genuinely well-meaning person trying to be positive, that I should be thankful I got playable dragonborn at all.

I don't want to ignore rules, and your definition of too fiddly is far broader than mine. I also intensely dislike reskinning, so no, your method would not work for me, and in fact from my perspective looks like, "Just fake it! Your players will never know!". That's not who I am.

Frankly, IMO, if you're completely allergic to any form of reskinning whatsoever, I'm a bit confused about why you would continue to play TTRPGs. It's an essential skill. That doesn't mean absolutely every instance of it works--e.g., I'm with you on "reskinned spells are not and never will be psionics" and similar things, like "a reskinned spellcasting Bard is not and never, ever will be a Warlord"--but some amount of reskinning is invaluable for allowing basically anything that isn't perfectly rote bog-standard stuff. Being able to repurpose monsters from their initial context into something that works for you seems to be an invaluable skill, and that would usually involve at least some mild reskinning.

Otherwise the only place you can fight a hydra is the Argolid.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I know you're joking.

But you should know, I have actually dealt with people, on and off for basically the entire run since I got into 4e (so about 14-15 years now), who both think that and believe it is perfect justification to exclude dragonborn from D&D completely.

I was once told, on this very forum, by a genuinely well-meaning person trying to be positive, that I should be thankful I got playable dragonborn at all.


Frankly, IMO, if you're completely allergic to any form of reskinning whatsoever, I'm a bit confused about why you would continue to play TTRPGs. It's an essential skill. That doesn't mean absolutely every instance of it works--e.g., I'm with you on "reskinned spells are not and never will be psionics" and similar things, like "a reskinned spellcasting Bard is not and never, ever will be a Warlord"--but some amount of reskinning is invaluable for allowing basically anything that isn't perfectly rote bog-standard stuff. Being able to repurpose monsters from their initial context into something that works for you seems to be an invaluable skill, and that would usually involve at least some mild reskinning.

Otherwise the only place you can fight a hydra is the Argolid.

Let's say I prefer my reskinning mild and infrequent. I'd rather have rules widgets that fit the situation rather than a palette-swap.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Bad. Focus on standalone adventures instead of paths and compilations would be far better. Not everything has to be a full-size hardcover book.

And wouldn't it be fun to buy "modules" again, with the maps printed on the removable, heavy-weight covers? (Although I would prefer modern cartography, not TSR blue.)

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

(Although I would prefer modern cartography, not TSR blue.)

Current technology means the blue ink no longer serves the intended purpose, so doubt they'd bother unless it's just to be retro.

 

[Irlo]

And wouldn't it be fun to buy "modules" again, with the maps printed on the removable, heavy-weight covers? (Although I would prefer modern cartography, not TSR blue.)

Sometimes I think so, but then I remember I bought a lot of crappy modules, because that was what was on the rack in Waldenbooks. I think I like getting adventures in magazines or online.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Sometimes I think so, but then I remember I bought a lot of crappy modules, because that was what was on the rack in Waldenbooks. I think I like getting adventures in magazines or online.

Sure, but better than buying an entire crappy hardcover. coughdragonheistcough

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Sure, but better than buying an entire crappy hardcover. coughdragonheistcough

Yep, certainly less waste of money if it turns out terrible. (like Strixhaven)