I was just thinking about the upcomming Dark Sun
and a few questions came to mind.
Residuum in Dark Sun?
Any thoughts on if it will be included or even if it should be?
and how might it work if it is?
In the orginal box set it didn't mention anything about the SK's being dragons, that was introduced later.
should the SK's be Dragon Kings?
if not how much will that change the time line?
would anyone be upset if it did?
The second box set (aka DS2) expanded the world to include the Dead Lands aka the obsidian Planes should DS4 include this?
what about the Last sea?
Did anyone play actually an html_removed html_removed html_removed html_removed Aarakocra?
What is it that you didn't like about the expanded Dark sun (aka DS2)
Jovis
should the SK's be Dragon Kings
No.
if not how much will that change the time line?
Not much, honestly. Making them not Champions and such would affect it significantly more.
would anyone be upset if it did?
Even if it did affect the timeline significantly, I wouldn't be upset.
The second box set (aka DS2) expanded the world to include the Dead Lands aka the obsidian Planes should DS4 include this?
I think you mean the Obsidian Plains. And sure, include them, with decent detail and interesting locales and adventuring/scenario possibilities. (Though I can see it being done very badly, too, as a shallow caricature of itself if the writers aren't careful.)
what about the Last sea?
Redone so it isn't a bad episode of the original Star Trek? Sure. Otherwise, I think it can be safely (and better) left out.
Did anyone play actually an Aarakocra?
No. But I wrote a story with them in it.
What is it that you didn't like about the expanded Dark sun (aka DS2)
The new history of the world with Rajaat and etc, the death of the Dragon, the deaths of so many of the Sorcerer Kings.
yeah let the offical history *die*, ugh. If folk want it for their games, their choice so no worries 
but rajaat, cleansing wars etc I do NOT want forced onto the damn setting again, I want Athas to be a mystery left to each DM/group to sort out for themselves.
The second box set (aka DS2) expanded the world to include the Dead Lands aka the obsidian Planes should DS4 include this?
I think you mean the Obsidian Plains. And sure, include them, with decent detail and interesting locales and adventuring/scenario possibilities. (Though I can see it being done very badly, too, as a shallow caricature of itself if the writers aren't careful.)
oops missed that one, thanks.
Going to let the people who have actually played Dark Sun answer most of your questions. Since they’re for some reason not answering your first question...
Residuum
There is no reason to change the mechanics of residuum in Dark Sun. And while there is no reason to take away the option, it’s going to due to the other factors of Dark Sun. Firstly, Dark Sun will most likely have an alternative reward system by default meaning magic items will be scarce and only rewarded when it is better suited compared to the alternative of the alternative reward. Second, since the magic items would be rare, the desire to disenchant what you have will be slim.
enchanted obsidian, perhaps? ;)
They should definately leave the history of Athas alone. You don't need a detailed timeline, the setting is better suited with little information as to how the planet has gotten so decayed. I never liked working in the meta-plot in my games; it was all just SETTING, with little influence on the day-to-day activites of the PC's. Certain things should remain (DREGOTH), but a full-on time line of all the events leading up to the start of the game is unneccesary. I think Dark Sun is best suited to tailoring by individual DM's. For example, in my Athas (the one that lives in my mindscape) the Sorceror-Kings are actual dragons, the last dragons. No one of course knows this.
is it that they put a history to Dark Sun or is it the specifics of that history that annoy you?
the other worlds like FR have a detailed history was that wrong to do?
Jovis
the other worlds like FR have a detailed history was that wrong to do?
You can't say something in one game/setting is wrong for something in another game/setting (or right, for that matter). Each has their own feel and voice, and in the case of Dark Sun (perhaps as opposed to the case of FR), a history was the wrong thing to do.
It wasn't the history that annoyed me so much as the advancing of the metaplot throughout the supplements. I find it much better to create the world at a certain point in its history and then let people continue on creating what they want. As it was, I ignored much of the metaplot the first time around.
I'm coming around to that way of seeing it too, that the metaplot advancement was a mistake. Freeze the setting at a specific time, provide options to make things change if you want it for your game, and everyone is happy.
I like what Exalted did, which is what people are saying here. They came up with a year and then nothing has advanced it. It's not that there is NO meta plot but you have to read the books to get a sense of the history and then get a sense of what is probably happening.
Something like that, which is easily ignored, is a good way to go, I think.
turlough
The inconsistencies were the most annoying thing about Dark Sun, at least for me. I love the setting and think that the first approach was the right one. It's a wasteland, history is mostly forgotten, it's all an big mystery that doesn't even matter because it's hard enough to survive. You don't have the time to think about such things as past.
The Wanderer's Journal was simply the best. It gives you hints and leaves everything else to your imagination. Troy Dennings novels gave Athas even more depth. Sure a lot of SK died but this proved only how hard and unforgiving that world is. But what followed lost a lot of the feel the previous material used to have, in my opinion. Lynn Abbeys books felt right, they even felt perfect.
2nd Ed however did something wrong. It had a lot of potential but some parts felt just not "right". It tried to explained too much, it ignored even more and it made the world to friendly. I took what I liked and changed the rest. I loved, however, the psi game mechanics, MAC and MTHAC0 :D. Things like the 15 Champions, instead of 13 felt just plain wrong. I don't want to talk about the surviving Druids or the Jagged Cliffs.
What I also loved about the Dark Sun setting were the ideas of the fans. Everyone had an "similar" Dark Sun world in mind but it was still different. Some things like the Nature-Benders who were "changed" by the Nature-Master (who won the war but did not kill) into Zik-Chil (so they would loose their life shaping powers) and banished into the Lands beyond the Hinterland. There they found the primitve Thri-Kreens, learned to change life instead of shaping it and build an Thor-Kreen empire. It harmonized well with my theory that the most powerful Nature-Masters, who put some of their brothers into an stasis by the "Cleft Rock" Oasis, "transformed" themselves into Pyreen to monitor the Rebirth and loose their life-shaping powers, so that this art would be forgotten and no one ever tempted to use it again.
I hope 4e resets the time line to the point of the first Boxet set (or the end of the Prism Pentad) and leaves everything else to the GMs imagination. But this seems very unlikely. Maybe an +100 years in the future approach like they did in the FR setting would be the best way to get rid of the inconsistencies.
I generally like the idea of metaplot, I like the game to feel like it's advancing and living; however, it can feel like it's contstraining a campaign, especially if you do something that's contrary to the metaplot.
That being said I did like the mystery of the original boxed set and the revealing in Denning and Abbey's books...so I'm torn on that argument.
Here's another idea though...instead of advancing a metaplot by way of having events take place, how about revealing the past a bit by bit. And making those bits conflict with each other so there's no definitive answer. Have each "history" be subject to that particular story.
Even though there's only going to (3?) books for the setting, Players Guide, Campaign Guide, & Main adventure (right?), there will still be suppletmental information in Dragon and adventures in Dungeon where these alternate histories can be shown.
There's some example of this in the history already...are/were there ever gods on Athas? That is debatable. Good..keep it that way.
I'm going to start another thread about this because I think it deserves some thought.