Dragonstar 4e

[DonAdam]

Midnight also played alright at low levels; sort of like core 3e that way.

Dragonstar... *shuddders*

 

[Rechan]

Never really Looked at Dragonstar, although I'm aware of the concept and I fairly like it.

 

[Neil Bishop]

Heh. Ironic that Midnight was one of the submissions for WotC Setting Search contest where Eberron is the winner.

I don't think it was. FFG's other setting, Dawnforge, was definitely in the setting search but not Midnight, IIRC.

 

[Tuft]

I admit Dragonstar made all the problems in 3e much worse. They didn't really think it through very thoroughly. Wizards, for instance, become all but useless in a world with lasers and grenades that do as much damage as they do in Dragonstar.

I really, really loved playing my wizard in Dragonstar . With all the grenades and lasers, I didn't have to stock up on fireballs and lightning bolts, but had the opportunity to choose much more fun spells...

It really helped that my character, being a soulmech, could keep her scrolls in internal data memory, and that our employer reimbursed all scrolls used during a mission, too...

So useless, absolutely, emphatically not.


The fact that it seems much harder, if not impossible, to do the same shift from damage magic to utility magic in 4E is one of the things I really dislike about it. If the fighters have fun blowing stuff up with lasers and grenades, and I have fun doing stuff other than causing damage, why is it BadWrongFun(tm)?

 

[Lord Mhoram]

I'd love to see. Don't think it is going to happen, but I'd love to see it. Dragonstar was my favroite 3.x setting (The Arcana Evolved from Monte being a very close second). Spelljammer was my favorite 2nd ed setting. I loves me my D&D in space.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I really, really loved playing my wizard in Dragonstar . With all the grenades and lasers, I didn't have to stock up on fireballs and lightning bolts, but had the opportunity to choose much more fun spells...

It really helped that my character, being a soulmech, could keep her scrolls in internal data memory, and that our employer reimbursed all scrolls used during a mission, too...

So useless, absolutely, emphatically not.


The fact that it seems much harder, if not impossible, to do the same shift from damage magic to utility magic in 4E is one of the things I really dislike about it. If the fighters have fun blowing stuff up with lasers and grenades, and I have fun doing stuff other than causing damage, why is it BadWrongFun(tm)?

It is a kind of "if you like it why not" that got sacrificed to the altar of game balance.
If it is of any consolation to you, it appears as if a lot of the "real" utility magic can be found in the rituals. So you never have to make a trade off (especially the kind of trade offs that cost lives or adventures).
Off course, the rituals don't give you much to do during combat, but what utility magic did gave you that in 3E? The only thing that were really useful where spells that buffed, and that means only a switch from Wizard to Cleric (or preferably Bard, if the class was already there).

 

[Wik]

One of the things to consider using magic in Dragonstar was that, yeah, fireball was kind of useless when compared to what basic grenades could do. But Charm Person? Or Invisibility? Those spells became quite useful.

Dragonstar, to me, is a lot like D&D Shadowrun. Your mage might no longer be pure artillery, but they still had a lot of use in a game. The one DS game I ran was a Play By Post, and the PC that really stood out for me was a soulmech wizard. And he was far from useless.

 

[kenobi65]

Given that FFG stopped supporting Dragonstar back in 2004, and they never updated the game for 3.5, I tend to doubt they'll make the jump to 4E.

I played a wizard, too, in Living Dragonstar, and enjoyed it, though, he, too, tended to use a blaster rifle more than he used many of his spells.

 

[Ranger REG]

Given that FFG stopped supporting Dragonstar back in 2004, and they never updated the game for 3.5, I tend to doubt they'll make the jump to 4E.

Then perhaps FFG should license out the franchise to someone who is willing to revive it for 4e.

 

[qstor]

Then perhaps FFG should license out the franchise to someone who is willing to revive it for 4e.

I loved the setting. I'd surely be willing to invest in a new Dragonstar book.

But the setting was allowed to die off four years ago. I'd doubt if FFG wants to farm it out.

Mike