D&D 5E (2024) Unconfirmed Dark Sun World Book

[Misanthrope Prime]

Another aspect is that eating people isn't the point of the halflings. The point is that they're xenophobes, and will likely kill anyone entering their territory. And hey, if you're going to kill them anyway, there's no point in letting all that meat go to waste...

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I guess WotC will invent some excuse to justify we can play with "civilized" halflings. Maybe they come from the "kreen empire".

Now I imagine the halflings throwing the organic remains into special cauldrons where they cultivate a transgenic fungus that is used to produce mushroom flour. But take care with "secret family recipes".

* If the sha'ir from al-Qadim can cast spell thanks pacts with "gens". Could a primal Athasian version of sha'ir class be possible in DS?

* Other idea is something like the "project Animus" from "Assasin's Creed" videogames. Let's imagine psionic powers being used to recover the past memories of your ancestors. Of course the sorcerer-kings wouldn't allow this power to be used, or they would create some illusory demiplane to trick those who tried to use this power. The fun part is the dream-plane could be a very interesting place to be explored by Athasian PCs.

Maybe within the "Land-within-the-wind" there are "dreamscapes" with alternate Athas timelines. For example a kreen-empire where the rastipedes (Spelljammers) are traders.

 

[Zardnaar]

They dont need to civilized the. Just dont base them on RW cultures hence my bio clothing idea.

 

[ECMO3]

They dont need to civilized the. Just dont base them on RW cultures hence my bio clothing idea.

How do they do this?

Let's say they want to keep a tribe that lives in the Jungle area, is Xenophobic and eats people. How do they make that so people don't say it is based on a real world culture?

They could make Halflings tall, then they would not share a shorter stature with the Pygmie peoples, but people would still say they are based on some of the cannibalistic Asian or Indian Ocean Island tribes.

 

[Necropolitan]

How do they do this?

Let's say they want to keep a tribe that lives in the Jungle area, is Xenophobic and eats people. How do they make that so people don't say it is based on a real world culture?

They could make Halflings tall, then they would not share a shorter stature with the Pygmie peoples, but people would still say they are based on some of the cannibalistic Asian or Indian Ocean Island tribes.

"Ding dong the Sorcerer King is dead!"

 

[Zardnaar]

How do they do this?

Let's say they want to keep a tribe that lives in the Jungle area, is Xenophobic and eats people. How do they make that so people don't say it is based on a real world culture?

They could make Halflings tall, then they would not share a shorter stature with the Pygmie peoples, but people would still say they are based on some of the cannibalistic Asian or Indian Ocean Island tribes.

Have them dress in alien clothing. Hence bioshaped clothing. They don't know how it works but they can grow it.

 

[humble minion]

Let's say they want to keep a tribe that lives in the Jungle area, is Xenophobic and eats people. How do they make that so people don't say it is based on a real world culture?

Single most obvious thing? Give them blond hair and blue eyes. Or at least DON'T give them black hair and dark or coppery skin. Give them deep green foliage-coloured hair, give their skin spots or stripes like the pelts of big cats. Don't play into the old stereotypes, basically.

Realistically, we and anyone designing new Dark Sun are products of the culture we rea up in and absorbed, and our creative output will inevitably reflect that. You're never going to hack every last vestige of real-world culture out of any fantasy creative output.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I guess WotC will invent some excuse to justify we can play with "civilized" halflings. Maybe they come from the "kreen empire".

Now I imagine the halflings throwing the organic remains into special cauldrons where they cultivate a transgenic fungus that is used to produce mushroom flour. But take care with "secret family recipes".

* If the sha'ir from al-Qadim can cast spell thanks pacts with "gens". Could a primal Athasian version of sha'ir class be possible in DS?

* Other idea is something like the "project Animus" from "Assasin's Creed" videogames. Let's imagine psionic powers being used to recover the past memories of your ancestors. Of course the sorcerer-kings wouldn't allow this power to be used, or they would create some illusory demiplane to trick those who tried to use this power. The fun part is the dream-plane could be a very interesting place to be explored by Athasian PCs.

Maybe within the "Land-within-the-wind" there are "dreamscapes" with alternate Athas timelines. For example a kreen-empire where the rastipedes (Spelljammers) are traders.

I love Sha'ir.

But I think we already know the subclasses (class the Psion) we are getting for DS thanks to UA.

I think it will get the Platinium B&G treatment.

 

[ECMO3]

Single most obvious thing? Give them blond hair and blue eyes. Or at least DON'T give them black hair and dark or coppery skin.

Like the Wizard of Oz munchkins in the photos above? Yeah I don't think that will work.

Also where does it say Darksun Halflings have black hair and dark coppery skin? I don't remember that at all, although maybe that is in a book I don't have. I do remember that they are "quick", "paint their skin red and green", "are rarely affected by Age" and have "hair that grows to great length". None of those things seem to be consistent with the culture or even stereotypes associated with the RL people they are supposedly based on.

It would seem they did exactly what you suggest and are still criticized.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Don't worry, this has got a simple solution. Luke Skywalker will order C3PO to translate they can't keep eating sentient creatures anymore and magically it will become a family-friendly franchise.

Athasians are "tribal-punk", like the lost boys from the movie "Hook" or Kevin Costner "Waterworld".

If Athasian halflings are going to be retconected is to explain the reason because a halfling PC would join to a group of adventurers with members of other species. Perhaps they were expelled from their tribe or she would want to explore ruins to collect lifechanging secrets (biopunk tech).

* We aren't going to see a true DS sourcebook without a previous UA article about PC species because it is not only the mulzhennedars but also the tari(ratfolk) and the Pterrans. Maybe saurials(dinosaur-folk) could be "wellcome" with an easy explanation they are from other wildspace and they suffered a failed attempt of conquer by githyankis. Then they would travel to the Athaspace for a counterattack.

The t'sa from Alternity/d20 Future also could find some space. Maybe they have been recruited by some external time-traveler faction because they can't be affected by time-travel in the same way, or they were chosen to be the guardins of some "Hollow World" (a demiplane with prehistoric beasts)

* What if the hej-kin created a secret underground civilitation like the K'n-yanians from Lovecraft's story "the Mound"?

Sorry, wrong franchise!, what would be I thinking?