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

[Yaarel]

The DMs Guild is unlocking the Spelljammer setting for its 5e fans to create indy options for the Spelljammer setting.

The 5e Spelljammer setting is the astral plane. It is an astral sea with spherical regions called wildspaces that each overlap a solar system somewhere in the material plane.

One of the wildspaces is called Doomspace. Apparently, the 5e designers originally intended this to be the Dark Sun setting, "Athasspace". In this timeline, the gods of the Forgotten Realms destroyed Dark Sun, turned the crimson sun into a black hole, while the hapless planet hurtles toward the black hole annihilation. However, Doomspace walks back the identification. Officially, Doomspace isnt Dark Sun.

Nevertheless, Doomspace still has many if not all of the features that describe the original Dark Sun setting, including unique Dark Sun creatures, a Defile mechanic, psionics, and so on.

It is possible to use the features that have been unlocked to reconstruct the original Dark Sun setting for options that can be published in the DMs Guild.

For the purposes of this thread, use the term "Dark Sun" when you mean the original 2e Dark Sun setting published in 1991 and in supplements afterward. Use the term "Doom Sun" when you mean a 5e version of it that is publishable in the DMs Guild.

Also, DMs Guild hasnt actually Dark Sun itself. So circumlocutions are sometimes necessary. For example, "Athas", the name of the planet of the Dark Sun setting is probably off limits. I suggest referring to a different planet called "Ashta" instead. Ashta is a planet (or rogue moon) that is tucked away somewhere in Doomspace. You decide where it is. The personal names of Dark Sun, like Rajaat, Borys, etcetera are probably off limits. But somewhat generic terms like "sorcerer kings" and "dragon" are probably fine. As far as I can tell, the "mul" race is still off limits, but a "half-dwarf" is unobjectionable.

Happily, psionics is an official part of core 5e. So all psionic related options are good.

Spelljammer even unlocks the term "Defile". So any VARIANTS of the Defile mechanic are also totally ok in DMs Guild.



The purpose of this thread is to describe what you yourself like about the original Dark Sun setting. And. How you would convert this into 5e options for a "Doom Sun" that can be made available in the DMs Guild via the Spelljammer setting.

This is a thread where all points of view are welcome. Add your own voice about your own concerns about Dark Sun. And get a sense of what other players think about Dark Sun.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

Isn't the Doomspace planet Fyreen the one that seems most similar to Athas? IIRC it was despoiled and ruled by tyrannical dragons.

 

[Charlaquin]

Isn't the Doomspace planet Fyreen the one that seems most similar to Athas? IIRC it was despoiled and ruled by tyrannical dragons.

Yes, but Fyreen is said to be days away from falling into the black hole, so setting this “Doom Sun” there would put a pretty tight time constraint on any adventures in the setting.

 

[darjr]

Yes, but Fyreen is said to be days away from falling into the black hole, so setting this “Doom Sun” there would put a pretty tight time constraint on any adventures in the setting.

Two words.

Time Dilation.

It gives you time and is also a trap.

 

[Charlaquin]

Two words.

Time Dilation.

It gives you time and is also a trap.

That’s the opposite of how time dilation works. Time always moves “normally” from the observer’s perspective. To an observer on Toril, the time it will appear to take Fyreen to fall into the black hole approaches infinity as Fyreen gets closer to the event horizon (and eventually Fyreen will disappear from the Toril obsverer’s view because the time it will take the light reflected off Fyreen to reach Toril also approaches infinity). Meanwhile, to an observer on Fyreen, it will only take days to fall into the black hole.

 

[Shardstone]

That’s the opposite of how time dilation works. Time always moves “normally” from the observer’s perspective. To an observer on Toril, the time it will appear to take Fyreen to fall into the black hole approaches infinity as Fyreen gets closer to the event horizon (and eventually Fyreen will disappear from the Toril obsverer’s view because the time it will take the light reflected off Fyreen to reach Toril also approaches infinity). Meanwhile, to an observer on Fyreen, it will only take days to fall into the black hole.

I think the idea is to just change the lore a bit. Fyreen is decades from falling into the black hole, but on Dark Sun it feels like a year, then a month, then a week, then a day, which imo would be an amazing adventure premise.

 

[Yaarel]

Here are references for the official 5e Spelljammer.

DOOMSPACE

DEFILE

 

[darjr]

That’s the opposite of how time dilation works. Time always moves “normally” from the observer’s perspective. To an observer on Toril, the time it will appear to take Fyreen to fall into the black hole approaches infinity as Fyreen gets closer to the event horizon (and eventually Fyreen will disappear from the Toril obsverer’s view because the time it will take the light reflected off Fyreen to reach Toril also approaches infinity). Meanwhile, to an observer on Fyreen, it will only take days to fall into the black hole.

Ope!

But it’s still a trap. Only a year goes by for you on the planet but years and years go by “outside”

It’d be like you were “killed” by Dr Who Angels.

 

[Charlaquin]

I think the idea is to just change the lore a bit. Fyreen is decades from falling into the black hole, but on Dark Sun it feels like a year, then a month, then a week, then a day, which imo would be an amazing adventure premise.

I mean, saying Fyreen is any amount of time from falling into a black hole is a meaningless statement by itself; from who’s frame of reference is it that amount of time away? The book says it’s days away, so the maximum amount of time we can give it is if we assume that’s days away from Fyreen’s frame of reference. If it was days away from a frame of reference outside the black hole’s influence, it would be an immeasurably short amount of time away from Fyreen’s frame.

And don’t get me wrong, “you only have a few days to escape Fyreen before it falls into the black hole” is a very cool premise for an adventure. But it’s pretty limiting to Fyreen’s usability as a long-term campaign setting.

 

[darjr]

Maybe Athas was one of the planets and already fell through? A twin of Fyreen. Like Earth and Venus.