It's Dark Sun

[Holy Bovine]

I know. It gives me hope that we may one day see the return of my beloved SpellJammer.

I honestly think Spelljammer was better as a method of moving between different worlds. having a toolkit that could quickly detail some of those worlds would be great and some rules for 'spelljamming' could easily fit into such a toolkit. That would make a pretty cool book imo - worldbuilding with some rules for moving easily between them.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I honestly think Spelljammer was better as a method of moving between different worlds. having a toolkit that could quickly detail some of those worlds would be great and some rules for 'spelljamming' could easily fit into such a toolkit. That would make a pretty cool book imo - worldbuilding with some rules for moving easily between them.

Seeing something like this along with a "Planescape lite" revival with rules for organizations and plane-design...

...would be kind of awesome.

 

[Eldorian]

The Feywild should be extinct. Not non-existant, extinct. Athas once had one, but Defiling magic drained the Feywild first. The Feywild is not only "nature" turned up to 11, but also magic. Arcane engery suffuses the Feywild. If Defiling magic drains energy, then it might be the case that the original users of Defiler magic didn't even necessarily know they were defiling. They just tapped into this apparently limitless source of energy. Little did they know that they were destroying an entire plane of existance. And once the Feywild was siphoned off completely, with not even a dry husk to leave behind (because even a husk has inherent fey energy in the Feywild), the defilers were addicted to the practice and began using the only other source of energy available: Athas.

How's that sound?

This and another post inspired me to say this:

The feywild of Athas isn't extinct, it's dead. You can go there, but it's empty. Like, if you've read the Twins series from Dragonlance, the Abyss in those novels. It's a gray, featureless plane, with a gray sky, and nothing in it. This is enough to have powers that interact with the feywild still work, such as various teleportations.

However, the other idea is that Druid groves have a bit of the real feywild in them. The better groves have a yellow sun if you get deep enough, and are cooler and wetter. You get REALLY deep in an epic level druid's grove, and the sun is freaking blue. Basically, the feywild is a windless, featureless plain of grey, still grit for ground, gray sky, with SUPER oasis's where powerful druid groves are. In fact, the motivation of druids could be to resurrect the feywild.

And the Grey I think might be the Ur-shadowfell.

 

[williamhm]

This and another post inspired me to say this:

The feywild of Athas isn't extinct, it's dead. You can go there, but it's empty. Like, if you've read the Twins series from Dragonlance, the Abyss in those novels. It's a gray, featureless plane, with a gray sky, and nothing in it. This is enough to have powers that interact with the feywild still work, such as various teleportations.

However, the other idea is that Druid groves have a bit of the real feywild in them. The better groves have a yellow sun if you get deep enough, and are cooler and wetter. You get REALLY deep in an epic level druid's grove, and the sun is freaking blue. Basically, the feywild is a windless, featureless plain of grey, still grit for ground, gray sky, with SUPER oasis's where powerful druid groves are. In fact, the motivation of druids could be to resurrect the feywild.

And the Grey I think might be the Ur-shadowfell.

I really like this idea. A mostly dead plane with points of light in it. I cannot wait for Darksun its so different than the usual dnd setting.

 

[The_Fan]

I really like this idea. A mostly dead plane with points of light in it. I cannot wait for Darksun its so different than the usual dnd setting.

I may disagree with your point, but I approve of your snark. Well played, will.

 

[The_Fan]

double post

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

I know. It gives me hope that we may one day see the return of my beloved SpellJammer.

*agrees, big time!*
Spelljammer will live again!!!

 

[GMforPowergamers]

in the last few months there have been alot of speculation on what will or will not fit in 4e DS, especialy since the announcment last week.

I have to wonder though if we had a fly in the room with the developers back on day 1 of talking 4e dark sun...what do you think they were talking about?

Do you think they were (well those that worked for tsr 2e) patting themselves on the back about how there ideas had to come in?

Do you think they were looking at this as a chance to 'fix' things they saw as problems?

DO you think anyone brought up the idea of the 'cult of the internet' second guessing everything?

Do you think they had an adventure in mind first, or the setting??

 

[Henry]

I have to wonder though if we had a fly in the room with the developers back on day 1 of talking 4e dark sun...what do you think they were talking about?

"So... Dark Sun, it is, then? All right! Let's do this!... so, anyway, my son, he actually pitched an honest-to-God NO-HITTER at his last little league game! Awesome, right?!?!"

Do you think they were (well those that worked for tsr 2e) patting themselves on the back about how there ideas had to come in?

"All right, Bill, stop doing the victory dance! You won the vote! Now get over here with Rodney and help him figure out some approaches to this defiling mechanic!"

Do you think they were looking at this as a chance to 'fix' things they saw as problems?

"All right, so it's agreed? We make EVERYONE cannibals, not just the halflings, which solves the whole complaint players have against starvation, and jawbones of asses are now simple weapons? OK, sounds good!"

DO you think anyone brought up the idea of the 'cult of the internet' second guessing everything?

Do you think they had an adventure in mind first, or the setting??

Number of the Day off a Lotto site.

 

[Wik]

I'd just like to say that DS (and the DS thread I knew would be waiting for me) got me back to EN World. It's been awhile! (Like... a year? Wow)

Second, I can't believe DARK SUN is almost twenty years old. Wow. I'm getting old. I bought the setting when the revised set was released (because DRAGON magazine told me I should). I bought it with christmas money, on boxing day. Along with the revised set, I bought the skills and powers book. I was peeved to find that I couldn't use the one with the other. But DARK SUN had the cloth map, so it won.

A reset is good. As soon as I knew it was going to be released, I looked at it differently than a lot of people, though. I said "I'll be running THIS sort of game. And I'll mine from the book". So, I have an idea of what sort of DARK SUN I'll run (But I'll be flexible, if the new book suggests something I haven't thought of before). I have some rules figured out, back when I thought I'd convert DS on my own. If the book contradicts what I want to do, I'll ignore it. Even if it's a mess on a scale of the 4eFR book, It'll be okay - at least I can mine it for monsters, right?

On Defiling - my mechanic in mind is pretty simple. PCs are naturally preservers, but they can choose to defile to get bonuses. The more they do it, the more they progress along a "defiling track" (Like disease). Get to a certain point, and they can ONLY defile (and there's no turning back, or at least, it's hard). Or something. Plus, you can have feats that only work when defiling, and feats that only work when preserving.

I have no problem with "Divine" classes. But I do have a problem with "radiant" energy. Guess I'm weird like that. I can see Cleric/Avenger/Paladin servitors of the Sorcerer Kings. And I can see Clerics that serve Fire, or Earth (imagine instead of channel divinity, you get channel element?). Radiant energy bothers me because most powers that use it (and most creatures weak towards it) have a sort of "light=good, dark=bad" religious vibe to it, that doesn't mesh well with Dark Sun.

I think I know how the races are going to go. Half-Giant will be medium-sized, deal damage, and be pretty much awesome. Mul will have a self-heal mechanic or damage resistance (some sort of "takes more damage" mechanic). Thri-Kreen will have a bite attack that can paralyze, and a jump power (or maybe a shift power). I imagine the bite will be a minor attack, akin to a Dragonborn's Breath.

I hope wotc dials down the psionics of the original boxed set a bit. Even the original designers admit to going a bit overboard with the psionics. In a dream world, though, I'd like to see the random wild talents table. That'd rock.