D&D 5E Am I no longer WoTC's target audience?

[pemerton]

So which set of stats do you pick as the starting point for conversion?

Whichever ones you like.

What if you convert them differently than me?

Nothing happens. The world keeps turning. You play your game, I play mine.

Let's say your DM wants Mordenkainen as an influential NPC and converts his stats and they are vastly different than when WotC converts them in a product he later wants to use. Why handwave that with your players if you don't have to had those stats been converted already...

This makes no sense to me. Why would I wait X months/years if I want to use Mordenkainen now? Basically you're arguing that non one should ever use game elements that aren't taken from an official WotC product. That's completely at odds with the traditions of RPGing in general, and D&D in particular.

 

[3catcircus]

Whichever ones you like.

Nothing happens. The world keeps turning. You play your game, I play mine.

This makes no sense to me. Why would I wait X months/years if I want to use Mordenkainen now? Basically you're arguing that non one should ever use game elements that aren't taken from an official WotC product. That's completely at odds with the traditions of RPGing in general, and D&D in particular.

No, I'm arguing that by not having 5e stats for "x" you are forcing DMs to do extra work if they want to use that "x" now - whether an NPC, a flavor feat, or demographics for Keoland.

That's the frustration with waiting if you can't or don't want to do your own conversions - WotC is sitting on all this IP and seemingly doing not much of anything at all with it from a big picture standpoint

 

[Reynard]

No, I'm arguing that by not having 5e stats for "x" you are forcing DMs to do extra work if they want to use that "x" now - whether an NPC, a flavor feat, or demographics for Keoland.

That's the frustration with waiting if you can't or don't want to do your own conversions - WotC is sitting on all this IP and seemingly doing not much of anything at all with it from a big picture standpoint

If you want to run Dark Sun, or Planescape, or Birthright, or (and this one is the point) your own homebrew world, of course you are going to have to put in some extra effort. that's what being a DM is. Before Dark Sun came out, if you wanted a muscle bound shirtless sword and sorcery pulp campaign, you had to build it yourself. Why is WotC required to give it to you now when with previous edition stuff being easily accessible you have tons less work to do than you had back then?

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I want to know what will happen in Athas after the Pentad Prism or how is the rest of the world, if the other continents and not only the dead lands may be place for adventures, and I want to know how it is Adlatum, the third continent of Krynn. If I wanted empty space for sandbox then I would use the rest of the crystal sphere.

 

[Coroc]

Coroc, Zardnaar and others like them are the type of people who would be asking for a 5e DS, so your 4e game IS but a wussified version of Darksun not true to the originals (EDIT: to them. In case it was not clear), and your suggestion that they pick up 4e DS is unhelpful at best.

Yeah, but I am at a point now where I rather prefer they do not bring out 5e DS because I think that @Zardnaar s or my own homebrew would do the better job, more truthful to what DS was intended to be.

 

[Zardnaar]

The issue (and I repeat more plainly) the people who are really asking for DS in 5e are not the 4e crowd so suggesting a 4e book is not the solution. Furthermore such crowd would likely be far more dogmatic about the rule changes.

Not to pick on @Coroc, but I quote part of his post which might illuminate what I've been trying to say over the last few pages.



Bold emphasis mine.
Coroc, Zardnaar and others like them are the type of people who would be asking for a 5e DS, so your 4e game IS but a wussified version of Darksun not true to the originals (EDIT: to them. In case it was not clear), and your suggestion that they pick up 4e DS is unhelpful at best.

Original boxed set is where it's at.

Basically send all of the settings back to the start IMHO before they blew them up. Fans if the metaplot that blue things up can still do so.

4E DS had an Arabian Nights vibe and things like healing surges both if which fail at DS.

 

[pemerton]

No, I'm arguing that by not having 5e stats for "x" you are forcing DMs to do extra work if they want to use that "x" now - whether an NPC, a flavor feat, or demographics for Keoland.

That's the frustration with waiting if you can't or don't want to do your own conversions - WotC is sitting on all this IP and seemingly doing not much of anything at all with it from a big picture standpoint

WotC owns thousands, maybe millions, of pages of IP. And thousands of lines of statblocks. They are not going to convert them all to 5e. And for most of them - as I've posted in this and the other thread - the "conversion" required is trivial. So why would WotC waste its time on it? They will publish stuff that actually has a significant market and grows their "brand" in the way they want it to.

4E DS had an Arabian Nights vibe and things like healing surges both if which fail at DS.

For what it's worth, I disagree with both these contentions. When I ran 4e Dark Sun it was nothing like Arabian Nights. And Healing Surges just played their normal function in 4e play. In 2nd ed AD&D Dark Sun characters still had hit points and healing magic.

I want to know what will happen in Athas after the Pentad Prism or how is the rest of the world, if the other continents and not only the dead lands may be place for adventures, and I want to know how it is Adlatum, the third continent of Krynn.

I want to know how Chris Claremont would have resolved his X-Men storylines if he'd had the chance. But if the commercial publishers don't publish it, then we just have to use our own imaginations.

 

[Sadras]

Yeah, but I am at a point now where I rather prefer they do not bring out 5e DS because I think that @Zardnaar s or my own homebrew would do the better job, more truthful to what DS was intended to be.

That is fair.

I have an idea (most likely silly) where they bring out a Multiverse book, where in each chapter they discuss the various settings of old (Birthright, Mystara, Ravenloft, Dark Sun...etc). They would not have to include all the lore and crunch, but instead describe the basic setting, its origin/creators, referencing the old material, highlighting some discrepancies through the years with various editions, some possible crunch to tack on to get the setting feel, setting peculiarities (limitations on races, classes...etc)..

The benefit of this
1. It pays homage to these settings for us neck beards;
2. Introduces the younger generation to these settings - continuity;
3. Does not mess up the original setting with ideas the superfans would have issue with;
4. Provides some possible crunch ideas;
5. Product has greater chance of success by being marketable to all of the minority setting lovers at once;

 

[BrokenTwin]

Original boxed set is where it's at.

Basically send all of the settings back to the start IMHO before they blew them up. Fans if the metaplot that blue things up can still do so.

4E DS had an Arabian Nights vibe and things like healing surges both if which fail at DS.

If anything, I'd argue that 4E healing surges benefited the flavour of DS, since they were essentially just a cap on how much healing your character could handle between long rest periods. Compared to other editions, there was little "free" healing in 4E. Even magic healing (for the most part) consumed the target's healing surges.
So it was fully possible for your character to reach the point where they just flat out couldn't heal anymore, and had to be super careful as a result. Which feels VERY Dark Sun to me.

 

[Zardnaar]

If anything, I'd argue that 4E healing surges benefited the flavour of DS, since they were essentially just a cap on how much healing your character could handle between long rest periods. Compared to other editions, there was little "free" healing in 4E. Even magic healing (for the most part) consumed the target's healing surges.
So it was fully possible for your character to reach the point where they just flat out couldn't heal anymore, and had to be super careful as a result. Which feels VERY Dark Sun to me.

Main point is you have non magical healing full stop.

Original DS 1d3 points per day. 3 was with a skilled healer and bed rest.

DS was designed to be gritty and maybe fatal. It's why you had character trees.

So yeah the brutality is kinda key to the setting.