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Message: <blockquote data-quote="wingsandsword" data-source="post: 1472317" data-attributes="member: 14159">I think the real problem is that there is no perfect solution.The Dark Sun conversion that would have pleased the dyed-in-the-wool 2e AD&D Dark Sun fans would have rewritten every base class, every race, had plenty of new spells and psionics, and a score of new prestige classes (including Athasian Dragon, Evangieon, and 4 Clerical Elementals as Epic Transformational prestige classes).  Change around all the equipment tables, and revamp magic items, while removing and restricting lots of spells and classes.In short, it would have almost required a whole new Player's Handbook from scratch.  As a separate d20 game, licensed out to a 3rd party like Ravenloft was, it could have been done.  It couldn't have been done in the confines of a short magazine article.  The Dragon/Polyhedron articles were just enough to convey some basic concepts of the setting, without getting bogged down in making sure everything from 2e Dark Sun is ported over.Whatever could be fit into the page count available for Dragon/Polyhedron couldn't be everything everyone wanted.  Then add in the fact that this version would be so steeped in the lore, metaplot, and considerations of 2e Dark Sun that a newbie would be lost, or possibly turned away at the complexity and seemingly arbitrarily restrictions (No Monks, Paladins or Sorcerers, no Bardic Magic, no half-orcs or gnomes, other races and classes heavily changed).  For a "D&D" setting, it would really seem forbidding and possibly disheartening to a newbie.I've already seen hardcore Dark Sun fans offline engage in some rants that probably shouldn't be reposted online.  Suffice it to say he prefers the athas.org version.  However, as one who was only vaguely aware of the setting and knew the basic concepts, it had everything I was expecting:  Elemental Clerics, Templars, Dragon Kings, Preservers & Defilers, Half Giants, Muls, Roguish Runner Elves, Cannibalistic Halflings, Everyone's got Psionic powers, Muls, Thri-Kreen, Paranoid Druids, wooden/bone/obsidian weapons, Insanely high temperatures.  It was all there.  Some things weren't exactly how I expected it, but it was close enough for a casual enthusiast.I didn't get anywhere this bent out of shape when my personal favorite discontinued setting got a limited write up (Dark*Matter).  Sure I would have loved a much bigger and more detailed treatment, with more crunch (since I already had the fluff, those old Dark*Matter books were great for setting stuff), but I just used the Polyhedron version as a suppliment to the d20 Modern Dark Matter game I was already running and the conversion stuff I whipped up myself.  If you don't like the Paizo version, go to athas.org, and scavenge Dungeon/Polyhedron for anything new you see and like.</blockquote>

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