D&D 5E How would you wish WOTC to do Dark Sun

[Bacon Bits]

Dark Sun was always a total conversion for AD&D, and I'd want to keep that feeling. I would like to see:

Player Racial [Ancestry] rules for:
Athasian Aarakocra
Athasian Dwarves
Athasian Elves
Athasian Half-Elves
Athasian Half-Giants (one version Goliath-like, and a variant closer to the original version)
Athasian Halflings
Athasian Humans
Muls
Pterrans -- You could just use Lizardfolk here
Thri-Kreen

No other player races. No Tieflings, no Drow, no Dragonborn (certainly not since dragons themselves are relatively new), no Gnomes, no Orcs of any kind, no Genasi, no Warforged, no Goblins. DS is cut off from the multiverse, and many races are extinct due to Rajaat's genocidal champions.

Class rules for:
Fighter (Gladiator) or Barbarian (Gladiator) -- I'm not really concerned about which. Maybe even do Fighter (Gladiator) and Barbarian (Pit Fighter).
Wizard (Defiler)
Wizard (Preserver)
Cleric (Earth/Air/Fire/Water)
Psionicist -- Honestly I'd probably combine Monk Ki and Warlock
Monk (Psionic Warrior)
Warlock (Templar)

I'd cut Sorcerer from the setting because magic is hard to find not a random wellspring. I'd cut Paladin because the world is hopeless. No Artificer for fairly obvious reasons. I'd include a sidebar telling DMs they can include them if they wish, but they're not usually present.

Equipment rules for:
Low quality weapons (bone, stone/obsidian, and wood) -- Probably reduce damage die
Cahulaks, Chatkcha, and Gythka (the only DS weapons I think are iconic)
Piecemeal/low quality armor -- It's difficult to get a high AC on Athas
Maybe want to include a variant for a durability system for weapons and armor, which would be very flavorful but not appropriate for all groups.

Deeper exploration rules for:
Extreme heat and cold
Wilderness survival
Finding water
Silt Sea

Game rules for:
Psionics -- And don't be concerned about making Psionics work for every campaign setting. Make something that works for DS.
Defiling/Preserving
Wild Talents aka Psionic Backgrounds -- Every time we played everybody got a Wild Talent because they're fun. These should be like a second background you pick which give you a benefit similar to Magic Initiate.
Athasian vehicles

Monster rules for:
The Athasian creatures

Then, skip the setting ahead 100 years from the end of the Prism Pentad. New Sorcerer Kings have come to power by some unknown means and fall or are replaced every few years. Don't create a metaplot. Tyr can be a "free" city, but possibly one increasingly subject to some remote Sorcerer King's influences. Expand the wasteland, removing much of the green lands to the west not wholly controlled by the Halfing tribes.

The general feel should be like pre-Christian Roman Judea, but set in a dying world with no hope for the future.

 

[Danzauker]

I hear this point brought up a lot, but everyone I’ve ever known who cares about such things as sensitivity and inclusiveness in D&D love Dark Sun. Contrary to what some people think, there isn’t a woke-brigade who doesn’t want any mature or controversial content in media (for the most part, I’m sure there are a few extreme folks out there, but they’re a tiny minority). A lot of people are just conscious of the messages our media sends. And the messages Dark Sun sends are generally quite positive. It has strong environmentalist themes and strong anti-authoritarian themes, and while there is a lot of systemic oppression depicted. the PCs are usually part of the oppressed groups and fighting against the systems of oppression.

I'd wish to agree based on my (limited) experience in online discussion lately that's not the same zeitgeist I'm sniffing.

DS is literarly stuffed with some of the currencly most sensitive topics, from racial to cultural appropriation. I always hope extremist stances are the minority, but they can be a vocal minority.

As a side note, I had a very different approach with my frends in regards of Dark sun than the "positive" vibe you are writing of. Basically more Mad Max/The Blood of Heroes/conan than anything. Where almost everyone is a questionable if not outright bad guy. Even the PCs were selfish scoundrels, no LG types.

 

[jayoungr]

How would you wish WOTC do Dark Sun? (apart from soon!)

I would like to see the 2 books

I know this is just your wish, but they have not done two full books for any other setting thus far.

 

[rgoodbb]

I know this is just your wish, but they have not done two full books for any other setting thus far.

Don't you think it would take that to do it justice though? and don't you think people who wanted it would pay for two books?

 

[Orcslayer78]

I don't think so. You simply do not understand the difference between a depiction being offensive and depicting unpleasant things.

Still I can tell the difference between fantasy and reality, unless those people who can't tell the difference between real life racism and a make believe game.

 

[Danzauker]

Then, skip the setting ahead 100 years from the end of the Prism Pentad. New Sorcerer Kings have come to power by some unknown means and fall or are replaced every few years.

Why do many people want a timeline advance just to, in the end, make a "reboot" of the old first box setting? this is what I don't get.

Why not simply set it the "day before" Kalak's fall like the original box, plus maybe other elements included later but that could fit in any time line and let gamers reenact the Pentad if they want. Or maybe even better, make a sourcebook that allows you to play in different eras such as the Dragonlance 3E ones?

 

[jayoungr]

Don't you think it would take that to do it justice though?

I don't know. Eberron managed to do pretty well with just one, so they might be able to pull off something similar for Dark Sun.

and don't you think people who wanted it would pay for two books?

Yes, but I don't know if there are enough of those people to make two books profitable.

 

[rgoodbb]

I don't know. Eberron managed to do pretty well with just one, so they might be able to pull off something similar for Dark Sun.


Yes, but I don't know if there are enough of those people to make two books profitable.

That's fair I suppose. Hmumf...

 

[jayoungr]

What I think would be more likely is a big hardback setting book, and then one or more adventures released separately in PDF format only. Maybe print-on-demand at best.

 

[Bacon Bits]

Why do many people want a timeline advance just to, in the end, make a "reboot" of the old first box setting? this is what I don't get.

Why not simply set it the "day before" Kalak's fall like the original box, plus maybe other elements included later but that could fit in any time line and let gamers reenact the Pentad if they want. Or maybe even better, make a sourcebook that allows you to play in different eras such as the Dragonlance 3E ones?

It's the same reason you don't always want to play in Middle Earth during the War of the Ring, or why you don't always want to play in Star Wars between the destruction of Alderaan and the Battle of Yavin, or why you don't play Star Trek actually on board the Enterprise. You want the setting, but you don't want to retread old ground or use predictable, known characters (that already have their own arcs and aren't even yours!). You want to preserve the setting without being obligated to obey the plotline.

Everybody knows the story behind the Pentad Prism and it's not interesting anymore (if it ever was). Rajaat and Borys are not the attraction of the setting. The easiest way to communicate that to the players is to shift time. That also means you have an opportunity to make changes or corrections to possibly make the setting more appealing to modern players, to give the setting more active content, etc.