D&D 5E [UPDATE: Deadworlds is out NOW!] Hey, do you like the Mad Max films, mantis-people, and running characters through death-trap wastelands? Because Dead

Hi, I'm George Sutherland Howard, university student, high elf rogue, and amateur game designer!
I've been running around ENWorld for a while, posting material here and there that I've made for 5e (because (a) 5e doesn't yet cover everything I want as a player and a DM, (b) it's fun, and (c) I take pride in making something that's functional enough that I feel like anyone could really use it in their games). ENWorld has been a great place for me to learn and grow as a designer, and I'm here again with something a little bigger, inspired in equal parts by the Dark Sun setting and the Mad Max films: Deadworlds.




Now, I'm a big fan of post-apocalyptic media. I freakin' love Mad Max: Fury Road - it touches every creative bone in my body, as an artist, writer, and DM - and I'm a huge supporter of the Dark Sun D&D setting (where the world is terrible, magic is terrible, and your characters - your main and all 5+ backups - are varying shades of terrible). It is the latter especially that has inspired the Deadworlds mini-supplement, which allows DMs and players to run games in brutal fantasy worlds where everything has gone to heck in a handbasket (if you'll pardon my language).

Deadworlds' 26 pages cover:

• Three new races and two new subraces, such as feral halflings, half-dwarves, and the mantis-like Krith
• Nine subclasses, including elemental cleric domains, the Psychic sorcerer, the World Warrior fighter, and a heavy metal bard college, the College of Red Iron.
• Two backgrounds - the Secret-Broker and the Tyrant's Lieutenant
• Seven feats, which can be easily brought over into a variety of settings
• A section of expanded and alternate rules, including non-metal materials, stackable injuries, and defiling magic that corrupts everything around the caster.

Much of the material was designed in such a way that it can be used in a variety of settings and characters. Anyone looking to add a bit of gritty darkness to their own setting or character should consider looking into Deadworlds!

If everything goes according to plan, Deadworlds will release on the DM's Guild on Friday the 18th of November for $2 - and I'll be releasing some free previews of my favorite bits here in this thread before that!

And if you're wondering what my qualifications are, I can give you some history. I've been playing D&D for a decade now, having started with 3.5 and moved through 4e to 5e. I playtested D&D 5e since the beginning of the D&D Next program, and have closely followed its development before and after release, including Unearthed Arcana and the Legends and Lore articles that delved into aspects of development. My most successful product on the DM's Guild is The Booklet of Infinite Horrors, a small 12-page Pay-What-You-Want document that I made to help me run Out of the Abyss and make demons feel more like the epitome of evil and chaos that they are. It's currently an Electrum seller.

I also have been studying and making video games (in an artist role) for the last four-and-a-half-years at university. I have character art credits in the award-winning indie game Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor, and continue to work with and study under games industry veterans (including the chap who really got me into Dark Sun in the first place!).


Again, I really appreciate all the help the community at ENWorld has given me in developing my skills as a player, a DM, and a game designer. I'll see you in the Wasteland.

Previews
Tuesday's Preview: Some half-dwarf art
Wednesday's Preview: Table of Contents
Thursday's Preview: The Bardic College of Red Iron

AND IT'S UP!

Deadworlds is now available for purchase on the DM's Guild, for $2.00!

So you mention Mad Max, but don't mention any vehicle rules.

That's... kindof an important part.

Willie the Duck said:

So you mention Mad Max, but don't mention any vehicle rules.

That's... kindof an important part.

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It's still a fantasy supplement, after all. I'm referring more to the weird, messed-up tone and world of Mad Max, rather than the time period in which it takes place. Still, if people want vehicle rules, I'd be happy to give it a shot, but that's a significantly more ambitious bit of work than what I've ever taken on before.

...Seriously? Is this topic for real?

I was going to ask if you were new to D&D and so weren't aware of Dark Sun, but then I saw you actively cited it as an inspiration, so that makes it worse.

Don't get me wrong, I can understand being inspired by things, but... cheezit, at least put a little more effort into things! This is blatant, lazy ripping off of almost everything from DarkSun! Elemental clerics, feral halflings, half-dwarves/muls as a PC race, psychics, defilers, thri-kreen - oh, sorry, "Krith"... far as I can tell, you haven't done a single thing new beyond renaming everything and adding a Bard subclass to replicate Coma the Doof Warrior from Fury Road!

Sweet chocolate crunchy bars, am I the only one seeing a problem with this?

Acr0ssTh3P0nd said:

It's still a fantasy supplement, after all. I'm referring more to the weird, messed-up tone and world of Mad Max, rather than the time period in which it takes place. Still, if people want vehicle rules, I'd be happy to give it a shot, but that's a significantly more ambitious bit of work than what I've ever taken on before.

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No, that's fine. I was unclear on the purpose.

QuietBrowser said:

Sweet chocolate crunchy bars, am I the only one seeing a problem with this?

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I would prefer it be referred to as a off-brand Darksun fan project, but otherwise no problem. Lots of people have tried to reinvent DS for each new edition.

QuietBrowser said:

...Seriously? Is this topic for real?

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Yes

QuietBrowser said:

Don't get me wrong, I can understand being inspired by things, but... cheezit, at least put a little more effort into things!

Click to expand...

I put a little over a year of consistent effort into research, design, iteration, and balance, so I'm not quite sure where to go from here. Seriously, do you have any suggestions for other material? I'd love to bite into something else, try to get it as good as possible.

QuietBrowser said:

This is blatant, lazy ripping off of almost everything from Dark Sun! Elemental clerics, feral halflings, half-dwarves/muls as a PC race, psychics, defilers, thri-kreen - oh, sorry, "Krith"... far as I can tell, you haven't done a single thing new beyond renaming everything and adding a Bard subclass to replicate Coma the Doof Warrior from Fury Road!

Click to expand...

Well, I like to think that the work and effort spent making sure that DMs can rely on this material to be balanced, professionally written, and adhering as closely to 5^th Edition’s design philosophy as possible counts as something new. I certainly have yet to see any single 5^th Edition supplement – free or otherwise – that allows me to run Dark Sun (and worlds like it) to anywhere approaching a professional level of quality, and I decided that this might be a void that needs filling.

As for the lack of completely original ideas, I'll just say this:

1. The core of D&D is built almost entirely off translating the fictional works of other people, and the tropes that developed from them, into game mechanics. I'm taking the fictional lore and tropes of post-apocalyptic games and putting them into game mechanics.

2. One of the biggest things I’ve taken from my game dev education so far is that the only factor that really matters in any creative endeavor is execution. Cool ideas are a dime a dozen, but they don’t mean anything if they can’t be executed with a degree of competency. I mean, compare Guardians of the Galaxy to Batman V Superman.

Do I have that competency? I strive to reach that level, but I've yet to really officially publish anything like this, so I can't say for certain. My mechanics work has gotten really good feedback from several different web communities, so I think I'm moving in the right direction. This is my first big test, and I would not be undertaking it if I did not think that I could pass it.

I'm going to wait and see how the D&D communities respond to Deadworlds. If they respond well, then I'll go forward with putting out work based on more original ideas instead of adaptation, now that I've laid the foundations for what I think the mechanics should be. If people are not fans of direct adaptation and homage, then I'll leave this path alone and go another direction.

I was also like to say that many of the subclasses and optional rules can be easily translated to other, more -typical fantasy settings. Stackable minor injuries, for example, help create a gritty feeling without changing the way hit points and healing operate, and thus could work just as well in a darker fantasy setting like Ravenloft or the world of the Witcher series. The World Warrior fighter subclass is a great way to make a non-magic ranger-type character that focuses as much on tactics and skill use as on straight combat prowess, and the Sworn Sword paladin oath is a fitting tool for players and and DMs alike in crafting characters who are fanatically devoted to protecting another creature.

QuietBrowser said:

...Seriously? Is this topic for real?

I was going to ask if you were new to D&D and so weren't aware of Dark Sun, but then I saw you actively cited it as an inspiration, so that makes it worse.

Don't get me wrong, I can understand being inspired by things, but... cheezit, at least put a little more effort into things! This is blatant, lazy ripping off of almost everything from DarkSun! Elemental clerics, feral halflings, half-dwarves/muls as a PC race, psychics, defilers, thri-kreen - oh, sorry, "Krith"... far as I can tell, you haven't done a single thing new beyond renaming everything and adding a Bard subclass to replicate Coma the Doof Warrior from Fury Road!

Sweet chocolate crunchy bars, am I the only one seeing a problem with this?

Click to expand...

So what?

QuietBrowser said:

...Seriously? Is this topic for real?

I was going to ask if you were new to D&D and so weren't aware of Dark Sun, but then I saw you actively cited it as an inspiration, so that makes it worse.

Don't get me wrong, I can understand being inspired by things, but... cheezit, at least put a little more effort into things! This is blatant, lazy ripping off of almost everything from DarkSun! Elemental clerics, feral halflings, half-dwarves/muls as a PC race, psychics, defilers, thri-kreen - oh, sorry, "Krith"... far as I can tell, you haven't done a single thing new beyond renaming everything and adding a Bard subclass to replicate Coma the Doof Warrior from Fury Road!

Sweet chocolate crunchy bars, am I the only one seeing a problem with this?

Click to expand...

What problem? You follow the OGL or whatever they're calling it & you could re-print 5e nearly word for word if you liked....

If anyone wants to actually take a look at the kind of material that's gonna be inside Deadworlds, I've just posted the Bardic College of Red Iron as a freebie.
Yeah, it's the heavy metal bard . Yes, the 14th-level feature is called "War Pig". I regret nothing.

I'm going to buy this.

Going to check out the product for use with OotA, too -- as I'm running that now.

Cheers!