Dark Sun 3.5

[Wik]

I agree with 99% of that. Good stuff. I would add the following PRC:

Arch Defiler
Athasian Bard
Caravan Guardian
Dune Trader
Elemental Champion
Gladiator
Halfling Scout
High Templar
Mercenary Legionnaire
Practitioner of the Way
State-bound Nobleman
Thrikreen Slayer
Veiled One
Wasteland Raider

I would do the changes to the base classes through substitution levels. Other than that we hit on similar things or you nailed stuff I missed. Very good work

Some of those, I think, are redundant ("Practitioner of the Way", for example), but I like the gist.

Thri-Kreen slayer is kinda neat, although I can't think of anyone in the actual campaign setting that would really qualify.

I like the idea of a Black Sand Raider PrC (Slave Tribes), or maybe one of The Free. Or a PrC from the slave tribe in the salt flats whose name escapes me right now - Salt View, was it? The performing raiders, in any case. A bardic warrior PrC.

The half-giant and halfling warriors of Hamanu would work too (which is what I think you meant by Halfling Scout, eh?). Or an inquisitive Templar dedicated to Nibenay.

And, I know you were saying "before revised", but I always liked how Lalali-Puy wanted to make herself the queen of a greening process. In the DRAGON mags, I *loved* how she was turned into almost something of a good guy because of that. Anyways, a PrC dedicated to her greening process would be cool.

And a sun wizard, like Sadira. (Hey, most of the kits in Defilers and Preservers would be a nice place to start, as would stuff from the Complete Gladiator's Handbook).

***

And I think you're dead on, concerning the classes - you could easily just sub out a few abilities to make it all work again.

I think if you upped the power of leadership, so you could get huge armies, you might capture some of that "huge fighting BATTLESYSTEM" stuff that was in the original setting. Really, it could just be a lot of fun (and it is... I ran a 1e BATTLESYSTEM Game in Athas that was a ball, if incredibly violent).

 

[evildmguy]

DS and other things

Whereas I thought the introduction of "magic biotech" into DS was one of the major factors that turned me off the Revised edition of the setting. I'm not fond of the concept in general, but there are settings in which it can work. I felt DS wasn't one of them, and it was an awful fit.

And this--not that either of us is right or wrong, but the widely disparate opinions, and the fact that different people prefer different incarnations of the setting--is why, much as I'd love to see it, a full-fledged 3.5 DS book probably wouldn't succeed.

I agree that the biotech was strange and not something I liked. Perhaps it was because it was too weird in the DND ruleset. It seemed clunky. I might be able to do it now, as I use Alternity, but it seemed strange at the time. A very rough add on, I thought.

As to the second paragraph, I agree. However, perhaps it's because the designers didn't give us any good ideas on how to run in DS? I mean, the first boxed set adventure killed Kalak, instead of showing how to run a campaign with them. Further, it has to show why the ruler wouldn't squish the PCs but let them go on their way.

For me, there are two things that helped me figure that out. The Emperor from Star Wars and the Gh'oald from Stargate. The Emperor is obvious. He has minions and he doesn't deal with the day to day stuff. The bad guys from Stargate, though, are a good example of having a leader who is mostly in control and doesn't mind some rebellion, mainly because he thinks he can squish it at any time. Or he thinks it is no threat against himself. (Or herself.) The "gods" only stepped in with things that really mattered to them.

See, here's my big issue with pre designed worlds. The designers seem to want to hint at the cool things but never really say it. Instead, we as GMs have to try and figure out what the designer hinted at. If the designers would just **SAY WHAT THEY MEANT** instead of hinting at it, it would be so much easier. I know, they can't give everything away, but I think they can do a lot more than they have. Plus, it would allow us to run our stories in the same direction, and not be so irked when the new supplement comes out that changes the world on us.

Anyway, that's what I think was missing from DS, good advice on how to run the world, i.e. how the designers saw it working as a game world. Further, I agree with what others said, that the other city-states were not well defined. I re-read the main geography book from the first boxed set recently and it is sorely lacking in descriptions about the city-states. There is not enough there to get the flavor of them or how things are supposed to work.

That's my coppers worth.

edg

 

[Najo]

This is good ideas coming in. Gonna bump this for more exposure. I like to see more members input on the content they would expect from a Dark Sun CS book if WOTC were to publish it.

 

[megamania]

I am curious about what "tweaks" were done to everyone's Darksun campaign. So to avoid hi-jacking this thread I will create a new one.

 

[megamania]

and here is a link

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?p=3700748#post3700748