I don't know. Being a long-time RPG player, there's a lot disbelief I can suspend. But an old halfling in space? Jus' hangin', castin' his spells?
Maybe he is just waiting for some kid to send him a telescope.
I don't know. Being a long-time RPG player, there's a lot disbelief I can suspend. But an old halfling in space? Jus' hangin', castin' his spells?
It depends upon which edition. The original boxed set had Dark Sun was cut off from the rest of the D&D multiverse. It had its own cosmology and was inaccessible by Spelljammers. I don't recall if this changed with later editions.
However, in the revised edition for 2e, a halfling crashing on Athas might have become plausible as there were plans for three halflings to have crashed on Athas while travelling on The Messenger comet, a halfling spaceship. Thankfully, in my opinion, it was never actually published (although, a few Gencon DMs supposedly received copies). It would have been another example of what many people (myself included) felt ruined Dark Sun with the revised edition that began with Slavicsek bringing the novels into the boxed set as official continuity and just getting worse with products like Mind Lords of the Last Sea and Windriders of the Jagged Cliffs.
I've said it a few times, my biggest problem is with auto-bans that are in place simply because the DM can't accept a certain race since they didn't exist in the 2e version of the game
Personally, I would find a planar glitch mode of incorporating a PC, and even moreso a spelljammer mode, as extremely destabilising of any campaign world (including Athas/DS) that I could imagine GMing. It suggests that the world where the events of the campaign will actually be taking place (that little slice of geography and history) is not a very big thing at all, and that the real stakes are elsewhere.
It depends upon which edition. The original boxed set had Dark Sun was cut off from the rest of the D&D multiverse. It had its own cosmology and was inaccessible by Spelljammers. I don't recall if this changed with later editions.
I like the closed sphere idea because it maintains theme. (In 2e, different cosmologies were all just based on subjective perceptions. It was a single multiverse. I love 5e's take on it: It's all one multiverse, but lots of worlds interpret it using different models, and whose to say who is right?) Of course, it's D&D, so a closed sphere floating out in the deep Phlogiston years away from any of the rivers you can travel on...is an obstacle waiting to be overcome by any DM who chooses to open a way.
And, I'll note that the question of other players got swept away in the scrum. So, I'll ask again. Does anyone actually consult other players when creating their character? Have you ever told another player (not as the DM, but, just as a fellow player) that they can't play that character because you don't like it?
I have no issues with Gnome in general. I have had them in nearly every campaign that i have run. Gnomes in Darksun? Not if I run as violates canon from the first boxed set. Travellers from other universes? No. It violates canon of the original boxed set. If it were Ravenloft (one of my other favorite settings), I would allow travellers from other worlds, because of the Mists. I would not allow Athas based characters, because of the canon. Forgotten Realms? yes. Greyhawk? yes. On the other hand, I may still ban certain PC races like Dragonborn, Drow, Shadar-Kai, etc , because I think they are lame, I don't want to deal with them. I will tell a player straight out.See, there's the rub. You feel that these later additions "ruined Dark Sun". Totally fair. But, there also has to be a realisation there that not everyone thinks that way. Not everyone thinks that Dark Sun (or whatever setting you care to name) begins and ends with the boxed set or some other arbitrary line in the sand that people want to draw. And, additionally, does it matter that "many people" think the way you do? Considering that the setting line continued on down a different path than, obviously, what you thought was the "true" Darksun, how can you justify standing on canon to disallow this or that, but, then ignoring canon when it's convenient?
Canon of the first boxed set is what I choose to go by. What happens in play and how it diverges from other groups or later material I don't care. Those are points where all individual campaigns diverge. When it is a canon issue of the first boxed set to not allow something, I will say that. When I choose not to go with later editions, because I don't like what *later* designers have done with the setting and I consider those later editions retcons/alternate versions, I have no problem saying that either.IOW, you're already running a homebrew version of Darksun anyway. Simply by excluding material. Again, its perfectly fine to do so. I would actually expect that virtually all campaigns set in published settings do that. But then turning around and trying to claim that someone else's version of Darksun, one where gnomes didn't all die, or one that you have halfling astronauts, is "wrong" seems a bit off to me.
It's perfectly fair to say, "No, I don't want that in my game because I don't like it" but, I think it's a bit disingenuous to try to justify it by standing on canon. Why not just be forthright about it? You're disallowing something because you don't like it. Not because it would be a mechanical issue (adding a gnome to DS is hardly game breaking) or even really a setting issue (it can be added with only minor changes to canon and generally changing canon that no one ever knew or cared about anyway), but because you, the DM, simply don't like it.
I choose what the parameters are not the players. Once the parameters are set, then we have group discussions on characters. When I am a player in other campaigns of DMs that I know, it is the same way.And, I'll note that the question of other players got swept away in the scrum. So, I'll ask again. Does anyone actually consult other players when creating their character? Have you ever told another player (not as the DM, but, just as a fellow player) that they can't play that character because you don't like it?
in the first boxed set, you could not Spelljam to Athas. If the DM allowed it, it was a house rule.A closed sphere still contains Athas Space....so therefore Spelljamming is not excluded from Dark Sun.
in the first boxed set, you could not Spelljam to Athas. If the DM allowed it, it was a house rule.
You do not need to Spelljam to Athas Space if you are already in Athas Space.
You know how Crystal Sphere mechanics work in Spelljammer, yes?