D&D 5E (2024) Unconfirmed Dark Sun World Book

[Zardnaar]

lol yes it is. The writing could not have been any more obvious in trying to capture the time period, on top of being just bad. I have watched a lot of bad movies, I'm not some art critic, but I was laughing out loud at the dialogue, and it wasnt trying to be funny.

When I think trash fire i
I'm thinking stuff like Highlander 2.

TLJ is more meh than complete rubbish. Ymmv of course.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

DS was cool for the 5e standars the handicap is the banning of player options. WotC, a lot of players, want the new classes, subclasses and PC species could be added to all the settings.

It needs new interesting antagonist factions, and places to be explored, for example something like the demiplane of the thorns, where plants aren't hurt by necrotic damage. You can't eat its fruits or seeds but you can cut down to obtain wood. The bad new is somebody arrived before to create an army of tombtouched plant monsters and biopunk machines

Other idea is there is a "civil war" among the primal powers, and these hide their true names to avoid supernatural curses by the enemy but they can use mortals like "proxies".

We need ideas for possible expansions.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Coming out of the theater from TLJ, my problem was that it was a decent movie by itself but a rather bad Star Wars movie. It was too interested in deconstructing the tropes of the genre, and that's a job for outsiders and spinoffs. Not the flagship brand. Flagships. if they do indulge in a little light deconstruction, need to reaffirm everything again by the end.

To bring it back on topic, that's why so many people don't want a new Dark Sun release to deny itself. When continuing an existing IP, no one wants a new entry that feels embarrassed by its own history. A trim here, a tuck there, sure. But it still needs to be an example of why we wanted it to come back and that means celebrating the material. Not bad mouthing what came before. It's a fine line.

I think you nailed it on both subjects. If a project is going to please fans (and here I mean people who love the earlier works), it has to celebrate what was good about the thing.

I can agree that sometimes it can feel like they spend too much effort showing how they are subverting its perceived flaws, rather than celebrating its successes when reviving something.

 

[Cergorach]

Planescape, Eberron, and FR were all good setting guides in my opinion.

I actively disliked the Planescape one, the Eberron one I found dense in a bad way, and the previous FR books were Meh!(tm) at best. Only the newest FR duo did a good job imho, not that I liked everything, but it was a well organized, but still dense book, with lots of easily accessible information for new and old players alike.

BUT they all lost their 'magic' of their 2nd and 3rd edition books and presentations. Yes, things need to be updated, just like you need to wash cloths. But in this case they were just very washed out versions of previous editions, some more then others. And for me that's mostly an issue with presentation, illustration, scope, and focus.

A 5e 2024 Dark Sun version is welcomed for the mechanics, for most other stuff I'll probably just use the 2e material.

 

[Kurotowa]

I think you nailed it on both subjects. If a project is going to please fans (and here I mean people who love the earlier works), it has to celebrate what was good about the thing.

I can agree that sometimes it can feel like they spend too much effort showing how they are subverting its perceived flaws, rather than celebrating its successes when reviving something.

Yeah, I think it's a delicate balance that has to be struck. Do too little to update an old property, and it can feel dated and make you question why you don't just stick to the original. Change too much, or spend too much time apologizing for old flaws, and it can feel like a stranger trying to wear borrowed medals they didn't earn.

Do I want a 100% faithful Dark Sun release? No, if I wanted that I can just get the old books, and goodness knows they were a product of their time. Do I want something half-assed, or that completely reinvents the setting while throwing out all the bits I actually like? Definitely not that either. There's a Goldilocks Zone between the two they need to hit.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

completely reinvents the setting while throwing out all the bits I actually like

I guess that is going to depend on which bits you actually like, and how that aligns with modern tastes.

 

[Kurotowa]

I guess that is going to depend on which bits you actually like, and how that aligns with modern tastes.

I mean, that's totally fair. Choosing between dated bits that need replacing and core traits that need preserving is an artistic decision, and those are always subjective. There's never going to be a unanimous consensus on it. All you can do is put it in the hands of talented artists and hope their execution is persuasive.

And even then, there's always going to be some people who completely detest it and some people who think it's the best thing since sliced bread. The only objective measure of success is the ratio between the two.

 

[J-H]

Well, since we are fully off the rails now...here is the lecture where Sanderson talks about plot pacing and uses Last Jedi as an example:

Thanks for posting this! I just watched all of it and am now going back to the lecture series.