[SCOOP] Psionics 3.5, The New Setting, and Dark Sun!!

[Leopold]

only way this could be someone useful and benefical was if the dark sun license were allowed to be used by all as OGL material. Face it, DS is not THAT hot of a setting and it does have it's niche. Allowing 3rd party companies to use that material for free would be a boon for the game and would help sell the core book that WOTC may produce.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

Personally, I liked the changes to the city-states in Dark Sun Revised (DSR). In the original setting, all the city-states were mostly alike ("City ruled by immortal sorcerer-monarch served by corrupt templars"). In DSR, you got seven really different city-states:
Tyr - fledgling democracy.
Urik - pretty much as before, but closed to the rest of the world.
Nibenay - pretty much as before.
Gulg - pretty much as before but the SQ *seems* to become more ecologically-minded.
Raam - descends into total anarchy.
Balic - ruled by three merchant-lords of varying dispositions.
Draj - pretend it's business as usual with a figure-head king.

To me, that's much more interesting than seven city-states that are pretty much alike. For those who want to run a city-based campaign where the PCs struggle against the sorcerer-monarch's henchmen, there are still three cities for that (two of which were pretty well described in The Ivory Triangle - that's probably why those two particular monarchs survived).

Personally, I disliked the rule changes in DSR more than the setting changes: halflings suddenly can't be preservers/illusionists anymore, different (and worse) psionics rules, defiling on memorization, and where the heck did the templar class go?

The differences may have been larger in the revised but what killed it for me is that it had a feel to it(to me at least) like the good guys were winning and it was only a matter of time until all the sorcerer kings were overthrown. The original thing that drew me to darksun was it was a setting where the Bad Guys were on top, they were winning, and there was a fledgling revoultion trying to make some change.

Now I think its cool when camapign worlds evolve, I really like SR in how a year passes in the SR world as rougly a year passes here, and events happen and the world evolves. But in SR the core feel doesn't seem to change. The pcs are still the little guys, and while small victories occur here and there the big boys have there victories as well.

And that's where I feel the revised darksun failed it lost its core feel of fledgling revolutionaires against overwhelming odds. Almost all the changes were on the side of the sorcerer kings being overthrown, and the evolutionaries getting powered up.

Side Note: I'm curious to see how they handle sorcerer kings(and the good varient whoose name I forget) transformation into superbeings in the new multiclassing system. For those who don't know you needed to be a really high level psion and a really high level wizard before you could make the transition to dragon form for evil guys, and again I forget the good guy form. They may just say hey this requires the epic level handbook, because we're talking level 30 at least.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

And then will come 4e... TSR died because they were unable to renew their game. I think WotC "Magic" know what to do...

Considering the major changes from 2e to 3e, where for all intents and purposes it was a new game and not a new edition the revision seems to be about right in time line compared to other companies, same with the new edition predicted in 05 I think. Maybe you're just spoiled from the long lasting 2e, and expect 3e to be the same. But most game companies that don't die off have new editions much more frequently than D&D has in the past. Crap shadowrun is already on 3e and they've been around since what late 80's.

So in other words this isn't some "magic" thing this is just the norm for the industry.

 

[Golandrinel]

Sorry, I may cover ground that has already been covered ... but I only joined 1/2 an hour ago.

There's nothing like a new release to push sales for a re-hash of old rules and settings. A new psionics dominated setting will give fuel to the psionics fire and with it drag out the skeleton of the darksun setting, which is IMO the best and most underrated setting ever produced.

I won't be rushing to buy the new setting, Midnight and Darksun will do just fine... I fI can get my head around the d20 concept that is.

 

[Staffan]

The differences may have been larger in the revised but what killed it for me is that it had a feel to it(to me at least) like the good guys were winning and it was only a matter of time until all the sorcerer kings were overthrown. The original thing that drew me to darksun was it was a setting where the Bad Guys were on top, they were winning, and there was a fledgling revoultion trying to make some change.

That was not quite the impression I got - OK, DSR was not quite as bleak as the original box (the rulebook was called "Age of Heroes" after all), but it was definitely not a happy world. The Dragon might be dead, but there were several new threats looming on the horizon (the Kreen, Dregoth, and possibly an undead invasion) not to mention the added pseudonatural hazard of the Tyr storms. The intro adventure in the box set also had a hint about returning Rhulisti, aka ur-halflings. One might also wonder how long the wards put in place to hold Rajaat again will hold - I doubt the original Sorcerer-monarchs used a spell that required thousands of human sacrifices just to be evil, and I also doubt that even Sadira's sun magic can match that kind of power.

 

[Staffan]

only way this could be someone useful and benefical was if the dark sun license were allowed to be used by all as OGL material. Face it, DS is not THAT hot of a setting and it does have it's niche. Allowing 3rd party companies to use that material for free would be a boon for the game and would help sell the core book that WOTC may produce.

Dark Sun is quite possibly the hottest setting of them all. It's not uncommon for it to reach 150 degrees Fahrenheit in the afternoon.

OK, Spelljammer might be hotter locally, what with the fire bodies and all, but I think Dark Sun has the highest mean temperature.

 

[EvilOz]

And then will come 4e... TSR died because they were unable to renew their game. I think WotC "Magic" know what to do...

If this becomes true and WotC puts out a new edition anytime within the next five years, I doubt I will buy it. I have built a serious 3E library and it rivals my old 2E library (which is pretty much useless now except for reference)

The one thing I am deathly afreaid of is that WotC will lose sight of what is really important to them, the people who play. The main demographic for DnD players falls into the lower income brackets. It is hard enough for me to buy a book a month and pay my bills. 4E better be further off than most people think, or WotC risks losing alot of the new player base they have created.

Words wouldn't be able to describe how mad I would be about a quick turn around release of 4E within the next five years

 

[FireLance]

You were reading my mind on the use of different times. An early Cleansing Wars time period would be excellent!!!!!!

Yup, but it would hardly be considered a "Golden Age", except maybe for Rajaat and his band of genocidal followers.

 

[FireLance]

Side Note: I'm curious to see how they handle sorcerer kings(and the good varient whoose name I forget) transformation into superbeings in the new multiclassing system. For those who don't know you needed to be a really high level psion and a really high level wizard before you could make the transition to dragon form for evil guys, and again I forget the good guy form. They may just say hey this requires the epic level handbook, because we're talking level 30 at least.

The "good guys" were called Avangions, and yes, you'd have to be really high level to become one. If they stick by the 2e system and require you to be a level 20 psion and a level 20 wizard, you'd have to wait 40 levels (at least) before you can take your first level in one of these classes.

Problem is, I've never played an Epic level campaign, but I've heard that multi-class spellcasters really lack effectiveness when compared to a focused character, especially against spell-resistant foes. It would be really interesting to see how they could be balanced.

 

[FireLance]

Epic Level Prestige classes are tough. I have done conversions for Darksun Dragons, Avangions and mortal elementals. It's not easy!

Megamania, any chance of seeing your conversions?