D&D General Dark Sun as a Hopepunk Setting

[Corinnguard]

I dunno...

I feel like A5e could contain it -really- well. The combat maneuvers and stuff for the martial types really play into the more over the top style of the setting and gladiatorial fights.

Could hand out extra exertion to all the martial types to play up the more "Gonzo" nature of things. Then have the Sorcerer and Wizard defile by default with preserving taking some extra effort... and then give them the ability to defile harder for -additional- power.

Warlocks, Paladins, Druids, Clerics, no defiling.

Don't forget the heritages, cultures, backgrounds and destinies that could be present in a Dark Sun-like setting if A5e gets the job of creating its' successor. The Elan from Josh Gentry's Slice of Psionics could be part of the official heritage line-up. Ditto for MoAR: Complete's Half-Giant heritage.

 

[Charlaquin]

Appereantly nowadays yes, because implication and subtexts are just overread. People ask why we have to read literature and write interpretations in school, thats why.

Another example from recent memory that differs from your example: The Barbie movie. I actually enjoyed the first half, but the message was NOT subtle. Its like brute force satire. But they put anyway multiple monologues at the end where characters of the movie explained the intention of the movie directly to the camera, to the viewer. It felt laughable, I was annoyed and felt not taken seriously as a viewer. Again, the movie was not very subtle up until this point. But they had to do what you wish implicitly: Putting the authorial intent directly in the actual work, even adressing it directly to the viewer, it was almost a 4th wall break. They seemed to have the urge to remove any ambiguity and need for interpretation, which I think is just sad.

And yet, people still managed to misread it.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Really starting to whittle down what we're allowed to feel ok about eating over time.

The truth is, Nature is Brutal and life survives by consuming other life. There's not really much we can do about it, other than try to minimize the harm. Personally, I feel that an attitude of "respect your food" - both plant and animal - and do your best not to waste it, is about the best we can hope for.

Waste is the crime, IMO - not consumption. Well, that and treating the animals like crap before murdering them. It's tricky for most people, but you can treat an animal with respect and still kill it for food.

And cutting waste requires a LOT less food than we currently "consume" - much of which is wasted. Starvation isn't something that needs to happen in our modern world. Only a small part of that is logistics. Much of it is greed.

 

[Charlaquin]

The sad part is, even that wasn't enough.

Heck, this year the makers of Joker burned their franchise to the ground to try to get through to the misaimed fandom and the Joker people completely no-sold it.

In media, first impressions, however wrong, have become permanent.

Though, I think Joker 2 proved something: you can express a message clearly enough to get it through to an audience who’s committed to misunderstanding it, but all you’ll have to show for it in the end is a work everyone understands and no one likes. Sometimes it’s worth it to make art actually be good, even if it means some people will get the wrong idea about what it means.

 

[Steampunkette]

My take on that was to have Arcane casters use Spell point variant rules. Half the SP are defiler points, but you could take a minute out of combat to convert them to preserver spell points.

Oh, y'know... that's a pretty good solution... But what about...

You get half the normal allotment of spell points, and your spell points recover on a Short or Long rest.

But you can also choose spend an action to defile and recover spell points based on your level. And when you take the Defile action you can also cast a spell with the same action.

That way you can be a "Fairly Weak" preserver who can't cast as many big spells in one fight as a Defiler can, but you make up the loss by getting spell points when you short rest. And then if you Defile you get to circumvent the limits and go beyond what a traditional A5e caster can do?

Don't forget the heritages, cultures, backgrounds and destinies that could be present in a Dark Sun-like setting if A5e gets the job of creating its' successor. The Elan from Josh Gentry's Slice of Psionics could be part of the official heritage line-up. Ditto for MoAR: Complete's Half-Giant heritage.

Elan could definitely be useful, yeah! Half-Giants? Absolutely.

I would say we could use the Kitax for Kreen, once they release, but it might be better to just make a Kreen-Stand-In.

Athasian Elf culture for the running and stuff would allow humans raised in that culture to run with the elves, too. So that could be fun.

Yeah... A5e is really well suited to this setting.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I suspect I'm the only one here who has talked to people whoose culture practiced cannibalism. Came up in curse of strahd even as I had a member playing.

It had spiritual connotations. Possible practical applications. No cow, sheep, horse etc to eat. Pig, chicken limited crops, birds, fish that's it.

Warrior culture. They're not ashamed about it unless you weaponize it to beat them over the head with it.

Some joke about it as well. As I said no shame. I remember an introduction in the 90's "I'm XYZ my ancestors ate people".

Local museum has a variety of weapons from South pacific cultures. Very Darksun. They would mess you up without metal armor.

Wasn't universal in South Pacic but PNG, Fiji and Aotearoa it was practiced.

Bah. Europeans consumed mummia (literally mummy flesh) "medicinally" (but sometimes for things that we wouldn't consider medical today) while condemning a few pacific islanders for taking a bite out of the hearts of their enemies.

And yeah, pretty much no one ever consumed humans as a regular part of their diets. It was either ceremonial, or during food shortages, which, you know, was pretty standard for everyone in times of need. People ate people on the Oregon Trail, for example. We don't tend to blame those rugby players from the plane crash shown in the movie Alive, do we?

People just like to judge others for things that they themselves would do, and worse, when put in a similar situation.

 

[Remathilis]

Though, I think Joker 2 proved something: you can express a message clearly enough to get it through to an audience who’s committed to misunderstanding it, but all you’ll have to show for it in the end is a work everyone understands and no one likes. Sometimes it’s worth it to make art actually be good, even if it means some people will get the wrong idea about what it means.

I'm pretty sure the biggest takeaway is that most people start with their gut reaction first and then work back to prove themselves right. Facts and authorial intentions don't phase them.

 

[Charlaquin]

Bah. Europeans consumed mummia (literally mummy flesh) "medicinally" (but sometimes for things that we wouldn't consider medical today) while condemning a few pacific islanders for taking a bite out of the hearts of their enemies.

You know, you know, you know, it isn’t sexual
Strictly confectional
Strictly medicinal
If a little nontraditional

 

[Chaltab]

Oh, y'know... that's a pretty good solution... But what about...

You get half the normal allotment of spell points, and your spell points recover on a Short or Long rest.

But you can also choose spend an action to defile and recover spell points based on your level. And when you take the Defile action you can also cast a spell with the same action.

That way you can be a "Fairly Weak" preserver who can't cast as many big spells in one fight as a Defiler can, but you make up the loss by getting spell points when you short rest. And then if you Defile you get to circumvent the limits and go beyond what a traditional A5e caster can do?

I mean that is very similar in practice. Just, a minute instead of an hour if you seek to avoid defiling..

 

[Vaalingrade]

Though, I think Joker 2 proved something: you can express a message clearly enough to get it through to an audience who’s committed to misunderstanding it, but all you’ll have to show for it in the end is a work everyone understands and no one likes. Sometimes it’s worth it to make art actually be good, even if it means some people will get the wrong idea about what it means.

I agree with your conclusion, but I'm pretty sure the Joker Heads still think they just failed at making a Joker movie and Arthur Fleck is still awesome and good and a Tik Tok of them wearing white cake and growling and yipping at the camera like an incontinent chihuahua is still the most badass thing a person can do.