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<blockquote data-quote="Bacon Bits" data-source="post: 8573062" data-attributes="member: 6777737">Yes, I agree. Dark Sun's attraction is that it takes existentialism and nihilism and turns those dials up to 11 in a post-post-post-apocalypse. I've even had DMs run the setting as near Randian objectivism (rejection of the mystical and superstitious), which was a real interesting take. The only thing I haven't seen is full-on Kafkaesque Dark Sun, which would just be exhausting, I think. Still, the nice people you encounter are merely social Darwinists.Ravenloft, too, can lean into the same sorts of themes. Gothic horror draws from the same sorts of struggles. I could imagine a domain in Ravenloft that leans into it. There's a reason Bloodborne, Dark Souls, and Call of Cthulu lean into the gothic horror, body horror, and existential themes as well.I think that The Witcher setting also leans into existentialism, nihilism, and gothic horror in much the same ways. Endless wars tearing apart the fairy tale kingdoms, monsters roaming the land but also slowly being exterminated, civilization's &quot;corruption&quot; destroying magic, magic's &quot;corruption&quot; fueling the unnatural. It feels like a world teetering on the edge of fantasy before a plunge into reality, potentially becoming quite dystopian in wholly new ways. Certainly the witchers themselves view the world in much the same way that the PCs in Dark Sun do.These all require a table with the wherewithal to play in it, as so many of the themes and structures of the game world are going to be depressing or frustrating. At one point I'd have called it &quot;mature,&quot; but wallowing in a dark setting doesn't require maturity; it requires a stomach that wants to endure it. It's one of the reasons I haven't enjoyed the movies from DC recently. I'd like a less post-modern more optimistic take, thank-you-very-much. If I wanted all grimdark all the time, I'd watch cable TV news.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Bacon Bits, post: 8573062, member: 6777737"] Yes, I agree. Dark Sun's attraction is that it takes existentialism and nihilism and turns those dials up to 11 in a post-post-post-apocalypse. I've even had DMs run the setting as near Randian objectivism (rejection of the mystical and superstitious), which was a real interesting take. The only thing I haven't seen is full-on Kafkaesque Dark Sun, which would just be exhausting, I think. Still, the [I]nice[/I] people you encounter are merely social Darwinists. Ravenloft, too, can lean into the same sorts of themes. Gothic horror draws from the same sorts of struggles. I could imagine a domain in Ravenloft that leans into it. There's a reason Bloodborne, Dark Souls, and Call of Cthulu lean into the gothic horror, body horror, and existential themes as well. I think that The Witcher setting also leans into existentialism, nihilism, and gothic horror in much the same ways. Endless wars tearing apart the fairy tale kingdoms, monsters roaming the land but also slowly being exterminated, civilization's "corruption" destroying magic, magic's "corruption" fueling the unnatural. It feels like a world teetering on the edge of fantasy before a plunge into reality, potentially becoming quite dystopian in wholly new ways. Certainly the witchers themselves view the world in much the same way that the PCs in Dark Sun do. These all require a table with the wherewithal to play in it, as so many of the themes and structures of the game world are going to be depressing or frustrating. At one point I'd have called it "mature," but wallowing in a dark setting doesn't require maturity; it requires a stomach that wants to endure it. It's one of the reasons I haven't enjoyed the movies from DC recently. I'd like a less post-modern more optimistic take, thank-you-very-much. If I wanted all grimdark all the time, I'd watch cable TV news. [/QUOTE]

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