D&D 5E "Doom Sun" − reconstructing a 5e Dark Sun setting for the DMs Guild

[TheSword]

Wouldn't that be Doomhawk?

Or Greysparrow

 

[Remathilis]

Ahh right… that line is more used to suggest insincere criticism. Usually when a strong denial actually means the opposite. Stress on the ‘too’. I’m very familiar with the phrase as it’s my go to response to homophobia.

Whether it was an intentional slap, or an accidental one… fans have been slapped. This isn’t an Easter egg… a pleasant drop in as a nod to fans..

It can be read as having an element of hypocrisy to it (Gertrude is criticizing someone who is supposed to be a mirror of her), but the line in the play simply means "this person is being too open about their thoughts and it's saying more about the speaker than the subject." Of course, don't EVEN get me started on the people who think "protest" is used in the modern sense and think the line means "quit complaining".

Shakespeare aside, I still think it's being read as a slap because you want it to be a slap. We don't know what this part of the module looked like before it became Doomspace. I don't think it was a frozen tundra being sucked into a black hole. I think it was going to be regular Athas (as 4e knew it) but it just raised too many problems. Then again, we don't know. Maybe it was supposed to be Athas's final hours. But I don't think they would be the case. I am willing to bet though that this section got a lot more rewrite than a simple name swap. If I was a DM working on a similar scenario (making something feel Athasian without being Athas) I'd probably make similar adjustments (hot to ice, etc) to keep the tone but not the details.

 

[Charlaquin]

Oh so that's just like a totally needless clarification of the Dark Sun situation, which was intentionally mysterious? I mean, that's still a bad thing, in my books (even if it's supposed to be "DM knowledge", it won't stay that way), and indicates a fundamental misunderstanding of why Dark Sun didn't tell you that in the first place, but it's not as bad as it sounded. Still nothing new about that - even the second Dark Sun boxed set indicated a misunderstanding of elements of the first for my money.

Basically, and also a way to tie Dark Sun in with 4e’s cosmology and metaphysics.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Basically, and also a way to tie Dark Sun in with 4e’s cosmology and metaphysics.

Yeah which was also needless but definitely a thing 4E liked doing lol. Not my favourite trait of 4E, despite actually loving that cosmology.

 

[Charlaquin]

Yeah which was also needless but definitely a thing 4E liked doing lol. Not my favourite trait of 4E, despite actually loving that cosmology.

Yeah, same. Nentir Vale’s setting, cosmology, and metaphysics were awesome. For Nentir Vale. They didn’t need to be forced into every other setting.

That said, I did think 4e Dark Sun’s feywild was an awesome addition.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Yeah, same. Nentir Vale’s setting, cosmology, and metaphysics were awesome. For Nentir Vale. They didn’t need to be forced into every other setting.

That said, I did think 4e Dark Sun’s feywild was an awesome addition.

Oh gosh I should probably read up on that, I bet that was fun.

 

[Charlaquin]

Oh gosh I should probably read up on that, I bet that was fun.

In brief, they called it The Lands Within the Wind. Like everything else, it has been wrecked by defiling, but to the point that all that’s left are small pockets separated by miles of featureless black void. The few remaining pockets are fiercely protected by Eladrin who have abandoned arcane magic and honed their psionic ability. What the uninformed mistake for a mirage might actually be a portal to the Lands Within the Wind, disguised through psionic illusion.

 

[Yaarel]

Yeah which was also needless but definitely a thing 4E liked doing lol. Not my favourite trait of 4E, despite actually loving that cosmology.

4e sought to force every setting to conform to the cosmic axis multiverse setting.

5e seeks to force every setting to conform to the Forgotten Realms multiverse setting.

In my eyes: same problematic.

I happen to like the 4e multiverse better. But it too went too far.



Actually, I like systematization − consolidation, salient distinctions, and elegant design. I value the impulse to "unify" the D&D game. But unity can easily become dysfunctional conformity, out-of-context appropriation, and a kind of imperialism. One culture assimilates all other cultures.

One of the most important characteristics of "elegant" design is versatility. The design strives for "as simple as possible but not simpler". At the same time, players and DMs must be able to reuse aspects of these fewest options possible for entirely different purposes.

The game engine must respect the diversity of D&D players, and the diversity of their D&D traditions.



I want a shared gaming mechanics. Perhaps even ideally, I appreciate a collective narrative relating to a shared multiverse. But this multiverse must have safespaces, where different groups can do different things for different gaming preferences.

It cannot be that an entire infinite multiverse is under the control of a single setting and its genocidal, totalitarian, fascist Forgotten Realms "gods".

 

[Ruin Explorer]

In brief, they called it The Lands Within the Wind. Like everything else, it has been wrecked by defiling, but to the point that all that’s left are small pockets separated by miles of featureless black void. The few remaining pockets are fiercely protected by Eladrin who have abandoned arcane magic and honed their psionic ability. What the uninformed mistake for a mirage might actually be a portal to the Lands Within the Wind, disguised through psionic illusion.

That is indeed totally rockin' and spot-on for Dark Sun (moreso than a lot of the second boxed set shenanigans, actually!).

 

[Ruin Explorer]

It cannot be that an entire infinite multiverse is under the control of a single setting and its genocidal, totalitarian, fascist Forgotten Realms "gods".

I hear that. The Forgotten Realms gods, thanks to a couple of quirks of mythology, not even really down to Ed Greenwood (though he has, it seems, grudgingly accepted them, just doesn't seem to have them in his home game), are particularly astonishingly unpleasant if you look at the actual specifics of their behaviour. Only the Dragonlance Pantheon ("Nuke the world from orbit, it's the only way to make the humans stop being mildly annoying! Then sulk! For centuries!") are obviously worse (though retcons have tried to downplay their ghastliness).