So, Dark Sun: It's officially out. What do you think of it?

[Knightfall]

Re: GP vs. CP.

My quick skimming of the economy section basically explained that Ceramic Pieces were issued by the Dragon Kings as a means of economic control, but once you got outside the city GPs were widely used instead.

Pfft.

 

[Wik]

I don't care much for FR anymore (bad blood from the edition wars on the official boards), but Eberron I think is really great and I also like the PoL "default" setting in many ways. So Dark Sun more or less taking over Eberron as my 4E setting of choice is quite an accomplishment.

FR was never my setting of choice, but I do like the 1e products. And Eberron as written is alright, but it didn't go far enough for me. When I run it, I put my modern history degree to good use, and really go to town with trade unions, spies, and all that fun stuff. My version of Eberron is a lot cooler than the "core" eberron.

the PoL default is not my thing, except for the Astral Sea, which is awesome - and was my "setting of choice" until earlier today when I bought the DS books.

But yeah, Dark Sun would easily win as setting of choice for me. Until Gamma World 4e comes out, there's no danger of any setting supplanting it, and even then, it's going to be a close call.

 

[MerricB]

I think it's ridiculous it's not out in Australia yet, despite there being a Game Day (for which I have the Dark Sun adventure) on this Saturday.

 

[MerricB]

My big question: Does it feel like Dark Sun to you?

Cheers!

 

[Scribble]

I'm Hype still!

I never read a game book straight through, so I'm still skipping around from section to section of the book, but so far so awesome.

I was never actually a huge DS fan in 2e. I was kind of stuck in the "All Tolkien All The Time!!!" Mindset back then, so DS really rubbed me the wrong way.

(I also disliked the fact that it kind of negated a whole ton of material I owned...)

Over the years my love of post apocalyptic "Points of Light" style settings grew (starting with Scarred Lands) and now I'm really digging DS.

1) At times, I seem to be misreading some rules. The rituals section mentions that there's no longer a "religion" skill - am I reading that right?

Don't think you are actually. It says there are no rituals utilizing the religion skill (because there are no divine classes.)

They also say if you want to include one it's probably better to have it be based on an arcane check instead. (With no gods or religions, probably no one will be trained in religion.)

2) There seems to be some weird little glitches involving coinage, as if the game designers couldn't decide between "gp" and "cp". Most of the game uses the gold piece standard, which makes sense in a broad situation, but not so much in athas. I can live with it. But there are some parts where prices are in 'cp' - I really don't think they meant that it costs only a couple coppers to pay a sorcerer king's levy. Strange.

The book uses the standard coin names, but indicates Athas uses Ceramic Pieces that correspond to the worth of the standard D&D coinage.

So the book will say a sword costs say 10 Gold Pieces, but on Athas that's actually 10 Ceramic.

Sorcerer Kings back the ceramic with real gold. (Kind of like the US Dollar used to be way back in the day.)

Yes, the Sorcerer King's Levy costs what would be the equivalent of 2 copper pieces.

Sure it sounds cheap, but it's just the cost to enter a city- It's like a bridge toll.

My big question: Does it feel like Dark Sun to you?

Well, as I said I wasn't a huge fan, but from what little I did play in the setting, and from reading the material over again before this edition came out, it does to me...

Obviously it's not an exact match, since the editions are different, but it feels like they got the overall world tone right.

 

[Obryn]

I'm loving it so far. It's faithful to the setting in all the places it's important to me, and when it breaks from tradition, it does so in a pretty classy way.

I've mostly focused on the mechanics so far, and I think they're innovative and awesome.

The one thing I wished for was more racial feats - especially racial feats for Athasian Dwarves, Elves, etc. They're different enough from core that IMO it would have helped a lot with their characterization. Maybe add in a Focus feat or two for Dwarves, some Running stuff for Elves, etc.

-O

 

[Stumblewyk]

I'm happy so far. I haven't read the book cover-to-cover yet (that's what my 1 hour lunch breaks are for this week), but I'm happy. I'm making a few (minor, in my eyes) tweaks to meet my preferred flavor, but it's a solid addition, and it'll mark the first official "canned" campaign setting that I'm running since Ravenloft in 2e.

 

[dangerous jack]

I'm just about halfway through the Creature Catalog (not in page order though), but there are some really inspired monsters in there. The Eladrin (simple but evocative), Silt Horror (tentacles, woo-hoo), Wight Thrall (passing on their strength), Dune Runner Wight (running curse), Oath Wight (aka Dwarven Banshee), and Thrask (serious blood-drinker) have already jumped out at me as needing to be used.

 

[jaycrockett]

I'm loving it, but probably just because I loved the original version. I've gotten my old stuff out and am going through it as much as the new stuff.

Still I think they did an admirable job in general. Themes are a great way to pull in some Dark Sun concepts without putting out a ton of new classes.

 

[webrunner]

I dunno, the sun seems kind of too dark to me, i can't even see if i'm wearing my shades.