D&D General Dark Sun as a Hopepunk Setting

[Zardnaar]

Of course.

Amazing how fans of a setting say they don't like when a setting stagnates at one point in time, but then they hate every update that comes out after the first version. It's absolutely amazing how many fans hate Prism Pentard, Faction War, The Grand Conjunction, The Time of Troubles, The Greyhawk Wars, and Fifth Age.

Simple concept. Each other those settings offered something cool. Then TSR blows it up.

It's also the speed of it. In Darksuns case 2 years of real time.

They didn't give the settings time to breathe. They were also obsoleting material you paid money for.

Example.

1995 I friend lent me Darksun boxed set. Next years read bits of Dragon Kings in a gamestore.
Then he bought revised boxed set late 96 maybe.

No idea what's going on. Then 1997 I find Prism Pentad.

No internet and you use what you could find. A single book was also a weeks rent as well or close to it.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Of course.

Amazing how fans of a setting say they don't like when a setting stagnates at one point in time, but then they hate every update that comes out after the first version. It's absolutely amazing how many fans hate Prism Pentard, Faction War, The Grand Conjunction, The Time of Troubles, The Greyhawk Wars, and Fifth Age.

To be fair that's a common thing with writers given an assignment to 'shake things up'. They tend to over reach, change things that are of fundamental importance to the fans' parasocial relationship with that story, and in general do something big and sweeping in a non-organic way.

 

[Remathilis]

To be fair that's a common thing with writers given an assignment to 'shake things up'. They tend to over reach, change things that are of fundamental importance to the fans' parasocial relationship with that story, and in general do something big and sweeping in a non-organic way.

Which is why Eberron not changing the year on published material is the best way to handle that. It keeps the baseline and doesn't assume changes that can ruin a DMs campaign. WotC clearly agrees since every setting has been reset to the original campaign year (with the exception of Faerun).

Honestly, it's literally the best move they made with their settings. Reset them to the beginning and let the DM decide how events move from there.

 

[Vaalingrade]

90's metaplot was a plague on the industry, yes.

 

[Micah Sweet]

...But 4E reverted most of that. It was back to just Kalak being dead instead of all the Prism stuff. I don't understand why people object to the 4E lore even if they hate the edition's mechanics with burning passion.

I liked the Prism Pentad.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Of course.

Amazing how fans of a setting say they don't like when a setting stagnates at one point in time, but then they hate every update that comes out after the first version. It's absolutely amazing how many fans hate Prism Pentard, Faction War, The Grand Conjunction, The Time of Troubles, The Greyhawk Wars, and Fifth Age.

I don’t hate any of those things. Even if I did, I could easily run a game set before the stuff I don't like.

Many Star Wars stories are set during the Dark Times or the Galactic Civil War for a reason.

 

[Chaltab]

I liked the Prism Pentad.

shrug

I've not read it and have no opinion of it, but I think the metaplot changing the whole premise of the setting makes it more difficult to sell. I'm not opposed to having novels, I don't think they should be assumed canon to the game.

 

[Micah Sweet]

shrug

I've not read it and have no opinion of it, but I think the metaplot changing the whole premise of the setting makes it more difficult to sell. I'm not opposed to having novels, I don't think they should be assumed canon to the game.

I like the cross-media nature of the continuing narrative. Nothing requires you to advance your story to match theirs, a fact they made clear often at the time.

I'm a big fan of game books for settings with evolving history to provide material facilitating play in different eras. Star Wars, Star Trek, Legend of the Five Rings (and many other games from the '90s), various superhero RPGs, and others, in addition to D&D have done this.

 

[Zardnaar]

shrug

I've not read it and have no opinion of it, but I think the metaplot changing the whole premise of the setting makes it more difficult to sell. I'm not opposed to having novels, I don't think they should be assumed canon to the game.

Fun read but big impact on the setting.

 

[Staffan]

...But 4E reverted most of that. It was back to just Kalak being dead instead of all the Prism stuff. I don't understand why people object to the 4E lore even if they hate the edition's mechanics with burning passion.

I didn't like 4e overall, but it had some good ideas and I'm sad 5e threw the good ones out with the bad, or misunderstood how they worked when trying to integrate them (short rests and healing surges/hit dice, I'm looking at you). But after trying 4e out, my group didn't stay with it – so we never played 4e Dark Sun either. But for what it was, 4e Dark Sun seemed like a good compromise between new and old, and in some cases going even further than the OG rules (e.g. removing clerics entirely in favor of primal alternatives like the shaman).

Amazing how fans of a setting say they don't like when a setting stagnates at one point in time, but then they hate every update that comes out after the first version. It's absolutely amazing how many fans hate Prism Pentard, Faction War, The Grand Conjunction, The Time of Troubles, The Greyhawk Wars, and Fifth Age.

Well for one thing, "fans" are rarely a monolithic block. The fans that dislike "stagnation" are not the same ones that dislike setting-shaking events. I, for one, prefer settings that are frozen in time and focus on developing detail for that moment and present potential pathways forward rather than settings that are in constant flux and keep invalidating old material. Eberron is the model to use.