Jacob Lewis
Ye Olde GM
Let's see... I took the survey a few days ago...
Dark Sun, and then two more that weren't Dark Sun.
Now here's the thing. I don't think a Dark Sun campaign will work well for me in 5e. 5e is very basic, mild, and working hard to appeal to the general audience. These are not the qualities of what a Dark Sun campaign should be. My feeling is that if/when we see this made, it will be presented like everything else: a dressed-up (or dressed down) version of your standard D&D.
For me, Dark Sun has always been something special. It does more than just dial things up to hard mode. It changes the focus of how the game is played, or at least it tries to. You're not waltzing into the next dungeon to find all the goodies waiting for you to collect inside. You are in full-survival mode where food, water, shade, and basic equipment are short and long-term goals. Magic helps the bad guys more than they do you.
To present this setting properly within 5e rules, there are a number of issues that need to be addressed. Magic (i.e. spells) needs to be less accessible to most classes. Likewise, martial classes need a significant boost to make them the primary choice for players. Psionics should be introduced as an alternative system, not just another spell slot. Exploration pillar needs much more attention, with particular focus on resource management, survival, and equipment damage. All of this can be done, of course. My expectation is that it won't.
The one thing I truly hope to see out of this is that the setting becomes part of the open license to allow contributions and development for this setting beyond what I expect will be no more than 1 or 2 hardcovers from WotC, and that's it.
Dark Sun, and then two more that weren't Dark Sun.
Now here's the thing. I don't think a Dark Sun campaign will work well for me in 5e. 5e is very basic, mild, and working hard to appeal to the general audience. These are not the qualities of what a Dark Sun campaign should be. My feeling is that if/when we see this made, it will be presented like everything else: a dressed-up (or dressed down) version of your standard D&D.
For me, Dark Sun has always been something special. It does more than just dial things up to hard mode. It changes the focus of how the game is played, or at least it tries to. You're not waltzing into the next dungeon to find all the goodies waiting for you to collect inside. You are in full-survival mode where food, water, shade, and basic equipment are short and long-term goals. Magic helps the bad guys more than they do you.
To present this setting properly within 5e rules, there are a number of issues that need to be addressed. Magic (i.e. spells) needs to be less accessible to most classes. Likewise, martial classes need a significant boost to make them the primary choice for players. Psionics should be introduced as an alternative system, not just another spell slot. Exploration pillar needs much more attention, with particular focus on resource management, survival, and equipment damage. All of this can be done, of course. My expectation is that it won't.
The one thing I truly hope to see out of this is that the setting becomes part of the open license to allow contributions and development for this setting beyond what I expect will be no more than 1 or 2 hardcovers from WotC, and that's it.