Darksun titles are now in the WotC product catalog

[kilamanjaro]

Hmm...just noticed page count is 224....by comparison ECG alone is 288. How do they fit everything in one book???? The only way I figire they can do it is to cut out any 30-level power progressions... which means no new classes as we have seen them previously....OR the new classes use existing classes powers....

Any other ideas??

We already know there are no new classes.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

We already know there are no new classes.

That's probably the big reason.

New classes take up a lot of room. One base class? You have to put down their entire power progression from 1-30. Then you add the paragon classes and the epic classes...you get the idea. Cutting the new classes removes a lot of pages.

 

[JeffB]

Really looking fwd to this- I've no in depth prior experience with DS, so I'm not concerned with previous "canon", but the setting sounds pretty intense!

That said- I DID like the Player/DM info split in the current Eberron/FR books, and wish that was the case with Dark Sun I suspect though, that a single big campaign book sells better.

OH well- sign me up, regardless!

 

[Kez Darksun]

Speaking from a purely economic standpoint, I can't say I'm the slightest bit pleased that WotC is foisting off a 224 page campaign setting at the same price point as the other 288 page campaign settings that have already been released. I'd love to hear their justification for charging the same $40 for a book with 64 fewer pages.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

I'd love to hear their justification for charging the same $40 for a book with 64 fewer pages.

Hypothetically, maybe it is due to the predicted print run for Dark Sun being smaller enough that the economics call for such a price.

 

[ggroy]

Hypothetically, maybe it is due to the predicted print run for Dark Sun being smaller enough that the economics call for such a price.

Hopefully this doesn't mean anything foreboding.

 

[Hawke]

Yeah this is pretty concerning... I'd love to hear Rodney chime in about this... So I guess we can figure...

[Player's Guide - (CG Redundant Material + Full Class)] + [Campaign Guide - (Monster Stats)]

Does that equal 224 pages? I can also see creature catalog:

This supplement for the Dark Sun Campaign Setting collects the most iconic and dangerous monsters of the Dark Sun campaign setting into one handy tome. It also contains other hazards and threats found in the desert wastelands and dungeon tombs of Athas. The creatures and threats presented herein make worthy encounters for Athasian heroes or the heroes in your "homebrew" D&D campaign.

...as having more room for fluff/advice on handling some of the creatures and situations than a typical Monster Manual. A chapter on Gulg could, for example, contain not only headhunter stats or stats for the Oba but some further fluff and detail on how to play her. Stuff that would've been included in a campaign guide?

 

[Dannager]

Hopefully this doesn't mean anything foreboding.

It could just be that the predicted audience for a long-defunct setting like Dark Sun is smaller than that for a well-known and consistently supported setting like the Forgotten Realms or Eberron.

 

[hailstop]

Really looking fwd to this- I've no in depth prior experience with DS, so I'm not concerned with previous "canon", but the setting sounds pretty intense!

That said- I DID like the Player/DM info split in the current Eberron/FR books, and wish that was the case with Dark Sun I suspect though, that a single big campaign book sells better.

OH well- sign me up, regardless!

I don't have a problem with combining the players book and the DM book now after reading Robin's Laws of Gamemastering. The best idea from that work is that getting the players invested in the campaign setting, by say, letting them read the DM book, is worth much, much more than any inherent secrets that are in that book.

We've been playing Eberron since it came out and one of the players who just read the ECG is much more excited about Eberron now.

 

[hailstop]

Another thing to note, and dissapointing if it wasn't a mistake, is that the Dark Sun Creature Catalog is only a paperback, not a hardcover.