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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 8421119" data-attributes="member: 58197">Dark Sun is the one I'm mainly interested in. What I want from it:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Timeline: Back to basics. The game should start either right before or right after Kalak's death. Dump the metaplot.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Stuff that doesn't belong, ain't there. No gnomes, no tieflings. No gods, no paladins... and if I had my druthers, no clerics either*. No spells that circumvent environmental challenges (goodberry, create water, et cetera). Dark Sun can't be afraid to cut things that don't fit the theme.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The world is a mystery. Nothing about Rajaat or Cleansing Wars or that the Dragon used to be human. The sorcerer-kings have ruled as long as anyone can remember, and they keep their past hidden. The Dragon is simply the Dragon, the ultimate defiler, origins unknown. The history of Athas is a closed book, and what lies within is up to the DM.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Survival rules. Surviving the wilderness is a serious challenge in itself, and the danger of death from thirst, starvation, and exposure is ever-present. This means a robust system for survival and travel.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The power of the Dark Side. Preservers get access to the resources of the Veiled Alliance, and the ability to use magic stealthily. Defilers get raw power. There should be major mechanical differences, not merely cosmetic.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Everyone has access to psionics. Following the original, psionics is the "everyman" power, and all characters have the option to start as wild talents. This would probably mean all Dark Sun characters starting with a bonus feat.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If there are published adventures, no save-the-world plots. The template for the classic D&D adventure is that a basically okay world is threatened by the machinations of a Big Bad. Athas is not a basically okay world, and the Big Bads have already won. Adventures can focus on simple survival, or on carving out a space of freedom in a world of tyranny; but "defeat evil to preserve the status quo" should not be on the list.</li> </ul>*I always felt that clerics in Dark Sun, even elemental clerics, struck a wrong note. A core premise of Dark Sun is that there is no higher power looking out for you. Pray all you want, nobody's going to answer. Clerics should have gone in the dustbin right alongside paladins, but I suspect the designers got cold feet about taking away the healbot.</blockquote>

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