On the topic of there being gods but much reduced. I would have that ascension to true godhood would require restoration of the world and reversal of the defilement as the world cannot support a population needed to maintain ascension.
D&D 5E How I'd rewrite Dark Sun... what changes would you make?
Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
@Steampunkette has her own psionics system (an awesome one!) that isn't magic. One would assume that is in play here.
From 2e:
Arcane Magic defiles.
Divine Magic (Including what we'd consider Primal Magic, today) doesn't.
Psionics aren't magic and don't defile.
Clerics are using elemental magic, but it's granted from Elementals, and treated as Divine, essentially. Druids, like Clerics, also get their spells and powers from elementals but it's less "This powerful Elemental Lord is standing in for a god" and more "Every rock and tree and creature has a life has a spirit and grants me power so long as I protect them."
So I'd just be building off the setting rather than trying to impose 5e's "Everything is the Weave" narrative onto it all.
dave2008
Legend
I am aware and I own it! However, the OP asked us what we would do, so I was clarifying as she didn't even mention psionics in her OP
dave2008
Legend
OK, my perspective is a bit different from the 2e and core 5e. It sound like you are just using the 2e version is that correct?
Yeah, basically. Kind of blending the 2e and 4e versions to make the 5e version.
jmartkdr2
Hero
An idea: maybe Tyr formally banned slavery, so there's at least one city-state where (on paper) slavery isn't a thing. This does set up Tyr as the "good guys" but I think a setting like DS needs a really shiny point of light to not get lost in its own grimdarkness.
Of course, emancipation does not mean freedom form poverty or exploitation, you just can't be bought and more importantly your children have more potential opportunities.
Of course, emancipation does not mean freedom form poverty or exploitation, you just can't be bought and more importantly your children have more potential opportunities.
Twiggly the Gnome
Legend
How about this...
... The gods aren't dead, they're prisoners of the Sorcerer Kings! These bound deities are the fuel for the Sorcerer Kings' process of apotheosis. The first Sorcerer King to fully absorb their imprisoned god was Borys, who consumed the god of dragons.
... The gods aren't dead, they're prisoners of the Sorcerer Kings! These bound deities are the fuel for the Sorcerer Kings' process of apotheosis. The first Sorcerer King to fully absorb their imprisoned god was Borys, who consumed the god of dragons.
Hexmage-EN
Legend
A single article in 4E introduced the concept of a primordial-worshiping cult called the Broken Builders. Their basic gist is that they wanted to restore the primordials so that they would destroy the world as it is and make it new. That might be an interesting enemy faction with some more optimistic members who think the primordials will fix everything and more nihilistic members who just think the world should end to put everything out of its misery.
As for slavery, if I were running this just for a single group and not something to publish for mass consumption I'd probably have fighting against it be almost impossibly hard as a means to sell how desperate this world is and how IRL slavery couldn't just be stopped with a ragtag group of heroes. After all, when faced with staying in bondage or being freed to thirst to death on a dying world (provided one of the many psionic horrors of the desert doesn't kill them first). That's how I've depicted duergar slavery before; "oh, sure, leave our safe and well-defended enclave, but good luck with beholders and purple worms and grell and bulette and the many other things that will try to kill you, at best. Here, take this vial of poison just in case you run into any mindflayers."
As for slavery, if I were running this just for a single group and not something to publish for mass consumption I'd probably have fighting against it be almost impossibly hard as a means to sell how desperate this world is and how IRL slavery couldn't just be stopped with a ragtag group of heroes. After all, when faced with staying in bondage or being freed to thirst to death on a dying world (provided one of the many psionic horrors of the desert doesn't kill them first). That's how I've depicted duergar slavery before; "oh, sure, leave our safe and well-defended enclave, but good luck with beholders and purple worms and grell and bulette and the many other things that will try to kill you, at best. Here, take this vial of poison just in case you run into any mindflayers."
Tonguez
A suffusion of yellow
I dont want points of light Dark Sun, I what dystopian wasteland where the wilderness is arid death and the scattered cities are dominated by either Tyrants and their enforcers or by Warlords and fearful mobs. I like the encounter approach of Dark Sun adventures, where PCs get caught up in the petty incidents of bullying, oppression and corruption in a city and that leads them to make connections with the different factions vying for control and to have to make choices between multiple bad options.
I also really really like defiling magic, its a sweet flavour that differentiates it from Vancian style and marks the difference between the Templar elite and others who try to call on magical power. I also like the visuals of the Nobles controlling water supply and growing verdant gardens specifically so it cn be corrupted for magical power And I like the moral conundrum that even Preservers face to use their ability.
Nobles controlling water also allows for explicit slavery to be replaced by water-rationing. Overseers who demand service in return for a cup of the life sustaining liquid, whilst their noble masters waste it on vanity projects.
Scorcerer-Kings certainly dont have to be all heading for Dragon apotheosis and there could be different varieties of Scorcerer-King - seeking to become Dragons, Liches, Elementals or even Avangions. I wouldnt have gods but rather Immortals, other beings in the world who are not S-Ks but who have already achieved their Apotheosis, it would allow for cults and entities outside the cities to exist in the worlds tapestry of competing factions served by Warlock Hexblades as much as by Templar Paladins.
I also liked the PCs being participants in the Tyr rebellion and overthrow of Kalak, so I’d keep that adventure (modified) and then see how the various factions vying for control play out.
Im also inclined to use another city like Raam instead, they were inspired by the overthrow of Kalak and now seek to free their own city from tyranny.
I also really really like defiling magic, its a sweet flavour that differentiates it from Vancian style and marks the difference between the Templar elite and others who try to call on magical power. I also like the visuals of the Nobles controlling water supply and growing verdant gardens specifically so it cn be corrupted for magical power And I like the moral conundrum that even Preservers face to use their ability.
Nobles controlling water also allows for explicit slavery to be replaced by water-rationing. Overseers who demand service in return for a cup of the life sustaining liquid, whilst their noble masters waste it on vanity projects.
Scorcerer-Kings certainly dont have to be all heading for Dragon apotheosis and there could be different varieties of Scorcerer-King - seeking to become Dragons, Liches, Elementals or even Avangions. I wouldnt have gods but rather Immortals, other beings in the world who are not S-Ks but who have already achieved their Apotheosis, it would allow for cults and entities outside the cities to exist in the worlds tapestry of competing factions served by Warlock Hexblades as much as by Templar Paladins.
I also liked the PCs being participants in the Tyr rebellion and overthrow of Kalak, so I’d keep that adventure (modified) and then see how the various factions vying for control play out.
Im also inclined to use another city like Raam instead, they were inspired by the overthrow of Kalak and now seek to free their own city from tyranny.
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