Eberron: Forge of the Artificer to Be Priced at $29.99

eberron4.jpg


Dungeons & Dragons is returning to the splatbook era. Today, Wizards of the Coast announced pre-orders for Eberron: Forge of the Artificer, a new "rules expansion" focused on Eberron. Buried in the pre-order announcement is that the physical version of the book will cost just $29.99, suggesting a much thinner page count and the lowest price point for a Fifth Edition book released by Wizards of the Coast.

Wizards previously teased that the new Eberron book would be different from other D&D sourcebooks, but the $29.99 price point is about half of the current $50-$60 price point for current D&D rules manuals. No page count has been confirmed for the new Eberron book, so we'll have to see just how much of a splatbook Eberron: Forge of the Artificer ends up being.
 
Click to expand...

log in or register to remove this ad

Christian Hoffer
Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer is a veteran tabletop journalist and Forever DM. His non-tabletop hobbies include Pokemon, Ohio sports, and building miniatures.

log in or register to remove this ad


A sourcebook about the crunch of Dark Sun is possible but it would need a lot of work. About the "fluff" the thing may be different. My theory is an adventure where the PCs have to travel to the region of Tyr from other plane, or to a new zone that is being settled by natived from the Athasian tablelands, working like a spin-off.

If Dark Sun was unlocked in DMGuild some titles would be more focused into selling art than adventures, crunch or fluff.

Dark Suns franchise not only suffers possible troubles about slavery, genocide and other threats but it was designed to ban some clases and PC species. And WotC has to choose if the novels will keep being canon, or maybe a new timeline is created (the time travel is possible in Athas). Maybe the mind lords "betrayed" other crononaut who wanted to save the past and then they became dark lords in Ravenloft, becoming "neighbours" of Kalidnay. They could escape (Vecna had got his own reasons to help them) and they returned to Athas, but in the past. They didn't avoided the cleasing war but at least they help to evacuate. Then Rajaat was chosen by the dark powers to face the cult of Tharizdum. Then Rajaat could enjoy his return to the blue age but this was a poisoned gift.

Or Athas was chosen as battlefield in an interplanar conflict because it was mainly dessert and the risk of collateral damage was lower.

Or Vecna wanted to create his own demiplane of the dread but this was more post-apocaliptic than gothic horror.
 


The issue with Dark Sun isn't that it portrays slavery as good. It's that it portrays it as a pervasive and more or less permanent cornerstone of every major civilization in the setting. The most common trope for starting a Dark Sun campaign is "we're slave gladiators."

"It's a fantasy game where we put on the hat of pretending to be oppressed slaves for a few hours - it's fun!" isn't going to play well in 2025. It's just not.

Whether you agree or disagree that slavery can be a major part of the setting, surely anybody can read the tea leaves and see that WotC has FAR more to lose than to gain by wading into something so likely to result in controversy. It would be another self-inflicted wound to the brand coming off a series of recent ones (hadozeegate, OGLgate).

Even if they somehow cut slavery and eugenics for the 5.5 version of Dark Sun, which imo would be a tall order, it wouldn't stop the hit pieces from coming.

'WOTC relaunches setting based on slavery and eugenics!"
"DYK? In the original Dark Sun, slave masters breed humans with dwarves to create a perfect race of sterile slave workers!"

It would be a disaster.

Also important to note that this risk would be taken in order to revive a setting that was NEVER financially successful for either TSR or WotC.

If I'm WotC, Dark Sun stays in the archives.
 



Burnside said:
Even if they somehow cut slavery and eugenics for the 5.5 version of Dark Sun, which imo would be a tall order, it wouldn't stop the hit pieces from coming.

'WOTC relaunches setting based on slavery and eugenics!"
"DYK? In the original Dark Sun, slave masters breed humans with dwarves to create a perfect race of sterile slave workers!"
Click to expand...
Yes, and don't forget the other likely reactions from some quarters, if WotC manages to release a version that completely removes all the slavery and eugenics elements:
"WotC releases PG version of Dark Sun for crybabies."
"This isn't Dark Sun."

It's a lose-lose proposition for them. Best to stay out of it. If folks want Dark Sun for 5e, let them make it to suit their own tastes. DMs have always been the best at modding the game, anyway.
 


LuisCarlos17f said:
A sourcebook about the crunch of Dark Sun is possible but it would need a lot of work. About the "fluff" the thing may be different. My theory is an adventure where the PCs have to travel to the region of Tyr from other plane, or to a new zone that is being settled by natived from the Athasian tablelands, working like a spin-off.

If Dark Sun was unlocked in DMGuild some titles would be more focused into selling art than adventures, crunch or fluff.

Dark Suns franchise not only suffers possible troubles about slavery, genocide and other threats but it was designed to ban some clases and PC species. And WotC has to choose if the novels will keep being canon, or maybe a new timeline is created (the time travel is possible in Athas). Maybe the mind lords "betrayed" other crononaut who wanted to save the past and then they became dark lords in Ravenloft, becoming "neighbours" of Kalidnay. They could escape (Vecna had got his own reasons to help them) and they returned to Athas, but in the past. They didn't avoided the cleasing war but at least they help to evacuate. Then Rajaat was chosen by the dark powers to face the cult of Tharizdum. Then Rajaat could enjoy his return to the blue age but this was a poisoned gift.

Or Athas was chosen as battlefield in an interplanar conflict because it was mainly dessert and the risk of collateral damage was lower.

Or Vecna wanted to create his own demiplane of the dread but this was more post-apocaliptic than gothic horror.
Click to expand...
I don't think that it's as difficult as some folks make it out to be. Dndshorts did a great video about (4e) dark sun today. He left out the cleansing wars and the important associated bits that explain why the people of athas can't just evolve their civilization to recover from that collapse of civilization, but it nicely covers the broad strokes of things well enough
 

Similar Threads

Christian Hoffer
Eberron: Forge of the Artificer Alternate Cover Revealed
2 3 4
Replies
31
Views
11K
FitzTheRuke
FitzTheRuke
Morrus
D&D (2024) You Can Now Pre-order Eberron: Forge of the Artificer
15 16 17 18 19
Replies
189
Views
25K
Von Ether
V
Christian Hoffer
D&D Eberron: Race for the Crab Temple Coming to PAX East
4 5 6 7 8
Replies
70
Views
11K
EthanSental
EthanSental
G
D&D (2024) Forge of the Artificer special cover revealed
Replies
2
Views
464
Reynard
Reynard
Christian Hoffer
D&D Adds Two New Books to 2025 Slate, Including New Eberron Book
14 15 16 17 18
Replies
176
Views
45K
Shardstone
Shardstone

Related Articles

Remove ads

Remove ads

Top