Though this does bring me a question of, is Red Dawn being a Dark Sun clone actually a bad thing?
When we're all using orcs, halflings, immortal elves, and dwarves, in worlds with dark lords, magic artifacts, distant but influential gods, and so on, I feel almost as if Red Dawn was unfairly crucified.
Almost.
Reading through the Kickstarter page, without a doubt the most damning evidence of all is the Ravaging and Replenishing magic they put here. The concepts of Dark Sun (twisted magic, sorcerer kings, destroyed world, psionics) I think can all be done without being too egregious. But then we reach the races and the magic system and it all very rapidly gets just a little bit too close.
Which makes me sad, because the premise of this setting is good. The moon is immolated, it tidally locks the planet, and over thousands of years slowly cooks it alive, stripping it of all water. That premise is so good. Sorcerer Sovereigns ruling a literal burning planet orbited by two burning satellites opens some interesting ideas. Do more meteors strike the planet now, given how the moon has changed position? What other celestial (in the space sense) phenomena are occurring on this two-star planet? How does having two suns effect magic in a deeper, more mystical way (as much magic in IRL folklore is based off ideas of the eclipse, the sun, the moon, the stars)? How do the cultures change beyond just becoming naughty word and oppressive?
If they had scrapped Elemental Priest in favor for priest who worship the Extinct, which can include elements and seasons long dead, that would have been another interesting twist they could have had. Have the Salt Giants be the roaming vessels of the old world, and priests seek them out for wisdom, for guidance, and, if they're lucky, for magic to live outside the reign of Sorcerer Sovereigns. Has clerics and paladins who armor themselves in fossils that double as magic focuses and that change the nature of their magic, maybe replacing Channel Divinities with a new form of metamagic based off invoking the powers of the dead old worlds.
And if the planet is tidally locked, what of the dark zone? What dwells in that last bastion of semi-normality, where the scarce resources of the rest of the planet are more plentiful? Have a story seed where the Sorcerer Sovereigns war against each other to claim this "Shadow Zone," their war threatening to destroy it, and have the players of Red Dawn poised to be the ones who not only bring those Sovereigns down but too save the last hope for this planet.
So many ideas, and yet they choose to go with the ones already done in an altogether transparent copying of Dark Sun. I hope these guys are able to see the nuggets of amazingness in their base setting concept and bring it out in their relaunch.
