D&D General Dark Sun as a Hopepunk Setting

[eyeheartawk]

I hope I'm not the only one who misread the title of Dark Sun as a Horsepunk Setting.

That would be pretty cool too.

 

[TwoSix]

Classes I would do if I was building up Dark Sun from scratch, using a 5e-like chassis:

Fighter (with subclasses for psionic talent development)
Gladiator
Raider (mix of ranger and rogue, quick strikes and desert survival)
Bard (assassin/spy/infiltrator)
Templar (warlock-like, granted abilities rather than spellcasting)
Elementalist
Psychic Adept (trained in schools, classic telepath/TK style psionics)
Mutant (develops multiple uncontrolled psychic abilities)
Arcanist (preserves as default, defiling an always present option for increased power)

 

[TwoSix]

I hope I'm not the only one who misread the title of Dark Sun as a Horsepunk Setting.

That would be pretty cool too.

"Yeah, I'm gonna take my mekillot to the Old Tyr Road
Gonna riiiide till I can't no more...."

 

[Remathilis]

I hope I'm not the only one who misread the title of Dark Sun as a Horsepunk Setting.

That would be pretty cool too.

There are no horses in classic Dark Sun.

 

[Remathilis]

That is fair enough. I am not familiar enough with 5E's complexity to say whether it would work there. Personally I might push back on the boxed set being a PHB in itself, but agree it is pretty extensive (there are 90s pages of rules covering material and changes to the PHB). I think that is how it ought to be done though. It is the same core engine but it showcases how you can take D&D and retool it towards other ends.

I might make a separate thread on this sometime, but there is a definite steep curve between what classes can do in TSR era D&D and what they can do in WotC era D&D, and the side effects on that complexity (harder to make, harder to modify) and certain design assumptions (TSR D&D made almost all class features prone to failure, whereas later D&D makes them more reliable).

That really comes into play when settings assume major revisions to classes. Mostly because those assumptions were built on those older assumptions that a class has fewer levers involved and those levers are prone to failure more often. Which is why the more mechanical changes needed, the more it affects everything else.

That ultimately puts a setting like Dark Sun in a predicament. You either accept the current system as it's written with minimal changes, or you basically start from scratch and build an exhaustive alternative set of character options to match the intended tone. Because very few players are going to accept a rules expansion that gives them less options than that core book alone gives.

 

[Steampunkette]

"Yeah, I'm gonna take my mekillot to the Old Tyr Road
Gonna riiiide till I can't no more...."

Yeah, I'm gonna take my kank to the old Tyr road,
I'm gonna psi 'til I can't no more.
Yeah, I'm gonna take my kank to the old Tyr road,
I'm gonna psi 'til I can't no more.

I got the crodlu in the back
Kank tack is attached
Hat is chitin, black
Get one down in Kled to match.
Ridin' on a kank, hah
You can whip your cilops
I been in the silt sea
You ain't been out of Urik, now.

Can't nobody tell me nothing!
You can't tell me nothing.
Can't nobody tell me nothing!
You can't tell me nothing.

Swingin' my Alhulak
You ain't gonna come back!
You be usin' Trikal
Like you think you ain't a Giant's Sap.
I'm living like a Dune Freak
Blazin' up the Esperweed
Running from the Jhakar
Swing gythka on the blood prairies!

Can't nobody tell me nothing!
You can't tell me nothing.
Can't nobody tell me nothing!
You can't tell me nothing.

Yeah, I'm gonna take my kank to the old Tyr road,
I'm gonna psi 'til I can't no more.
Yeah, I'm gonna take my kank to the old Tyr road,
I'm gonna psi 'til I can't no more.

 

[Steampunkette]

I might make a separate thread on this sometime, but there is a definite steep curve between what classes can do in TSR era D&D and what they can do in WotC era D&D, and the side effects on that complexity (harder to make, harder to modify) and certain design assumptions (TSR D&D made almost all class features prone to failure, whereas later D&D makes them more reliable).

That really comes into play when settings assume major revisions to classes. Mostly because those assumptions were built on those older assumptions that a class has fewer levers involved and those levers are prone to failure more often. Which is why the more mechanical changes needed, the more it affects everything else.

That ultimately puts a setting like Dark Sun in a predicament. You either accept the current system as it's written with minimal changes, or you basically start from scratch and build an exhaustive alternative set of character options to match the intended tone. Because very few players are going to accept a rules expansion that gives them less options than that core book alone gives.

Or... You can flavor the stuff that already exists in a different way.

Like Berserkers who drink alchemical mixtures or have them pumped into their bodies to enter a rage. Or Paladins who swear Oaths to the Sorcerer Kings rather than vague declarations to the universe.

 

[Belen]

I vote that @Steampunkette create a Dark Sun Hopepunk group where the players agree to alpha and beta test her ideas for the good of the community and a future published material.

In no way would I want to be the first person to throw my hat in the ring as a potential player...

 

[Corinnguard]

I vote that @Steampunkette create a Dark Sun Hopepunk group where the players agree to alpha and beta test her ideas for the good of the community and a future published material.

In no way would I want to be the first person to throw my hat in the ring as a potential player...

I see another fully funded Kickstarter being funded within mere minutes of its' launch. I also see a poor DM being buried under many hats as a result.

 

[Steampunkette]

I see another fully funded Kickstarter being funded within mere minutes of its' launch. I also see a poor DM being buried under many hats as a result.

The cost of the art is -way- higher than people seem to realize! Just getting a few pieces and maybe a cover to do the Kickstarter with can easily hit $2,000.

And -then- I'd have to get the interior art done for an -entire- campaign setting... Dozens of landscapes and character pieces, monsters, weapons and armor, magic items and macguffins...

Even if it were fully Kickstarted to a comfortable margin, it'd probably be a year or more just to get the art done with Kickstarter proceeds.

I dunno. Something someone could do, but there's people out there with way better connections and support than lil' ol' me.

Sunset Riders is already a passion project that'll probably take years to produce if I can keep my fires stoked that long. The Shattered Sun might be too much!