Wizards in a rough patch?

[Silveras]

Yeah, DS was in a tough spot. It was a nice starting situation, but suffered from being entrained in the metaplot being generated by the novels.

I don't know how you would reconcile that now. Probably can't, not without alienating some segment of the fanbase.

I had been pondering this in the light of the ongoing FR development. Generally, I was thinking along these lines:

1. All sourcebooks in the first "cycle" are set in the same time-period.
2. Once all areas a covered, the next "cycle" of sourcebooks begins.
3. All novels are set between "cycles", using the most recent previous cycle's sourcebooks as "canon".
4. Each "cycle" is set 10 years apart. NPC changes are discussed, but the details are left to the DM as to how, or if, his/her campaign gets there.

 

[Nightfall]

Silveras,

I noticed that as well. For me, the best way for DS to fix itself would be another Cataclysmic event. Possibly a star fall which could also "rent" the planar structure once more. But in any case, DS certainly needs a rework.

 

[Turjan]

As much as I hate to talk about it -- not a fan of the setting -- I'm sure DS fans would differ with you.

I'm a DS fan. A deluxe DS book was my wish in the "What do you think WotC should be making?" thread. I see the problems with how exactly this book would have to look like in order to please the fans, though.

Yeah, DS was in a tough spot. It was a nice starting situation, but suffered from being entrained in the metaplot being generated by the novels.

I don't know how you would reconcile that now. Probably can't, not without alienating some segment of the fanbase.

I suppose you are right. WotC sees this most probably as a no-win situation. It doesn't matter how a putative Dark Sun book would look like, a lot of people would complain. Additionally, we see how much problems athas.org has with being accepted (there are lots of complaints about their conversions) and how vocal the negative reaction to the Dungeon/Dragon special was. The case is most probably irredeemable.

 

[Turjan]

I noticed that as well. For me, the best way for DS to fix itself would be another Cataclysmic event. Possibly a star fall which could also "rent" the planar structure once more. But in any case, DS certainly needs a rework.

Your suggestion makes me think of DL *shudder* !

 

[Nightfall]

Eh only if you tell those in the minority to stuff it. Me, if I was a publisher I'd say "Look you want a DS 3rd edition, YOU make one then!"

I'll be you we'll see more infighting than...well I'm trying to think of a good D&D analogy but so far all I've got it "Sun and Moon elves in Myth Drannor."

 

[Nightfall]

Your suggestion makes me think of DL *shudder* !

Hey it worked didn't it? I mean now is the 5th age and they've come back swinging for 3rd/3.5.

 

[Turjan]

Hey it worked didn't it? I mean now is the 5th age and they've come back swinging for 3rd/3.5.

I'm not sure if we don't witness a message board syndrome here. Take DL. On EN World or rpg.net it's derided because of its overwhelming metaplot. Nevertheless, it doesn't seem to sell that badly.

If I look at DS, I see a worse picture. It's one of those settings that always come out near the top in polls for the most favorite (official) D&D setting. But people cannot decide on which DS they actually like. If I then look at ebay and for how much DS game books and boxed sets actually sell (i.e., next to nothing), I cannot really believe that DS is a popular setting. On RPG messageboards, yes. But in the general D&D public? It doesn't look like it.

 

[Greg K]

Add me those Dark Sun fans preferring 1e. The only way that I would buy a new Dark Sun is if they stayed true to 1e and simply updated the mechanics, classes, magic, and creatures. I do not want to see the trash that resulted in the Dragon article.

Oh wait, WOTC would probably use the XPH psionics instead of a skill and feat system in which case I would only by a new Dark Sun if I wanted to run it without Psionics.

 

[wingsandsword]

Add me those Dark Sun fans preferring 1e. The only way that I would buy a new Dark Sun is if they stayed true to 1e and simply updated the mechanics, classes, magic, and creatures.

Uh, Dark Sun was NEVER a 1e setting, it came out in 1991, as a setting for 2e.

If you tried to retrofit Dark Sun to 1e, among other things you'd have to come up with a way to handle psionics (since 1e psionics were only wild talents, no psionicist class), and deal with the general lack of high-level support in 1e for many classes (a setting where PC's can rise to 30th level, but several PHB classes don't even go to 20.).

You'll never be able to ressurect any discontinued setting in a way that will please everybody, especially settings which diverged significantly from the D&D norms (Dark Sun, Planescape, Spelljammer) as people's tastes are so different, in the 5 years of 3.x edition many people have disparate ideas on how to best convert things, and many fundamental assumptions regarding play style, game balance, and world construction between editions have changed and official re-releases of older worlds may be significantly different than anything WotC would ever do now (could you ever see WotC releasing a faithful conversion of Spelljammer, for example?)

 

[Greg K]

Uh, Dark Sun was NEVER a 1e setting, it came out in 1991, as a setting for 2e.

There were two editions of Dark Sun. the edition I liked was the first edition hence 1e