After encounters/ free rpg day experience, what do you think of Dark Sun? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

After encounters/ free rpg day experience, what do you think of Dark Sun?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
brycedeline
Jun 19, 2010 22:55:32 I just thought I would:
1. Introduce myself, since I am new to the forums and
2. Ask what everyone's experience of the new 4E Dark Sun have been like.

Personally, I think I am a fanboy. I am definitely excited for August.

I have been slightly disappointed with the pre-made characters so far though. But that has nothing to do with the setting!
#2
demonunderpants
Jun 19, 2010 23:33:55 I think Suldin and Vinara are great characters. To me the most important part of these premades are their backgrounds. The people I've played with have read through the character backstories and gotten a much better feel for Dark Sun than I was able to explain. I have people that are excited to play now because they want to be a Veiled Alliance illusionist and his Half-Giant bodyguard.
#3
jovis70
Jun 19, 2010 23:55:05 welcome to the party!!

I went out and picked up the Free game Bloodsand arena and ran my group though it.
We had a blast!!
especially at the arena, their initial response to the "Rules" of the arena was WTF
but when they got started and realized what they could do
it turned them around.

but I have to agree, the pregens have left me less than satisfied.
but the backgrounds and fluff have more than made up for it.

Joe
#4
brycedeline
Jun 20, 2010 0:52:52 I definitely agree with the backgrounds/ fluff making up for it.

#5
Galen44
Jun 20, 2010 1:22:28 Did anyone else notice that Pak'Cha is completely missing a daily attack power?
#6
SquareKnot
Jun 20, 2010 2:01:56

Did anyone else notice that Pak'Cha is completely missing a daily attack power?

Yes, It's Duststorm Binding. It was present on the DDXP character sheets, that you can see at Critical-Hits.com.

Also, Ulieth has the trained skills of Suldin, rather than his own. Looks like a cut and paste error.

And Morg gets a +1 bonus to WIS from having a WIS of 11? He didn't at DDXP.

Suldin has the Orb of Deception, which allows him to get an additional attack on a miss with an illusion power. However, the illusion keyword (or most other keywords) is not listed. Nightmare Eruption, Phantom Bolt, Grasping Shadows, Phantom Chasm (and Ghost Sound) are all illusion powers.

Those are the character sheet errors I've found. There are just a handful with the module.

The Human Wasteland Raider Barbed Spear power has no damage listed. I assume it must (probably 1d10+5), since it doesn't have any other effect listed.

The module talks about survival days, but never says how many each character starts with (that I could find). It does say to take away 3 for a skill challenge failure.

I just got back from running the module. People really liked the Dark Sun setting. I wish more of the setting could have been introduced in the game store play-through, but the module itself is very flavorful and would have really shined given more time and a play group that was more interested in the intrigue of Athas.

#7
JohnLynch
Jun 21, 2010 7:18:06 The mod was starting off okay. We're fleeing the ravaging mobs of Tyr (we were playing a templar, a nobleman of a house that sold slaves and a hous eneko merchant). We're so desperate that we're actually travelling with elves! There's lots of potential for us to get screwed over here and for a fun module to unfold.

The elves "go forage" elsewhere while we stay in a canyon with the kanks. Yup, we're about to get attacked here. Midway through the fight my character calls out "stop killing them. We could sell them back into slavery." From then on we "subdually take down" the runaway slaves and then tie them up and continue to Altaruk. Once there we sell the slaves for a decent price and buy some "figs of healing." Then the elves finally attack.

I was okay with that. I saw it coming (they're elves for crying outloud!), but we fought as best we could. Given we were 3 players with a "water cleric" (warlock), battlemind and a cleric/warlock hybrid and there was no scaling applied to the combat, we did pretty well. But then the militia came. The horribly corrupt militia (at least I'm assuming they were horribly corrupt because they took the side of elves despite our really good diplomacy rolls).

And it was off to the arena.

We had no interest in the skill challenge arena fight. We were ready for round 2 of the combat. Our DM had given us an extended rest, so that was all okay. But when the DM mentioned the "rules" and that we had to do a skill challenge, we all said "this is stupid." But we were okay with it. We kill them in five rounds, we get the most coins in our pot by virtue of them being dead.

Then we discovered there was no fighting allowed.

Our characters riled up the crowd, getting them thirsting for blood. And in return we received a +2 to speed. We weren't very impressed (and I got the impression the DM was running it strictly from the module). Fortunately I've been playing Athasian-like characters since 2002. I immediately said, "okay, we'll roll initiative." We actually beat the NPCs (something we were surprised with, considering we had initiative bonuses ranging from -1 to +1). My character took a single coin, dropped it in our pot. I then told our "water elementalist" to freeze the rest of the pile of coins and to then smash the coins. We won. We had 1 coin in our pot, they had no coins.

Welcome to Athas.

I did like the opportunity to come up with a dodgy idea that technically works within the rules given. It was a suitably Athasian response to the skill challenge IMO. Although to be honest no matter what the module did, we were going to come up with dodgy ideas (we did sell the slaves back into slavery afterall). So that says more about our characters than the mod.

I'd love to get a read of the module.
#8
turlough
Jun 21, 2010 8:45:52 Hmm. Interesting about the errata. Was this what was done at DDXP?

My players did notice the lack of a daily, so I will have to tell him about it. He will get a kick out of it, and love the chance to rant (more) about the editing.

However, I ran the module and I thought most of it went well. They rolled well during the first two skill challenges to travel to Altaruk, so when they got attacked in the third, I said the good rolls earlier avoided a lot of combat in those terrains. (I had my 2E boxed set map with me, so could show them that and how the challenges were divided between the terrains.) I did add one more combat at the beginning to let everyone get used to their characters. Then, they were thinking, based on how often the elf was increasing their reward, that either he was going to die or betray them. So, the betrayal came as no surprise. However, in the ensuing diplomacy check, the one rolling got a natural 20! So, they were believed, got the extra money and didn't have to do the arena fight. I offered to run them through an arena fight but two of the players had to go so we stopped there.

Overall, I enjoyed running it! I had figures for it all. I didn't emphasize the survival days, although I did talk about them foraging with Nature checks but they made them so I didn't spend tons of time on it. So, I had fun. I don't think the Dark Sun side of it was emphasized enough, though.

What I mean by that is that nothing that was done couldn't have been done in FR. If a DM, and the players, want to track food and other supplies, it can be done in FR. Further, resolving overland movement via skill challenges could also be done. Really, except for the environment (although FR does have a desert but I didn't use it much myself), it was the races and classes with themes that made it different. But, FR has its own races and themes will probably be added as well. Maybe I am merely reaching and being picky in that that's enough to make it Dark Sun like. And the elf betrayal was also Dark Sun to me. Maybe it's because we didn't get the arena, which FR doesn't have as common place, if at all, that we missed some of the Dark Sun flavor.

I think everyone had a good time! One player was trying to get the other sold on 4E and I don't know if that completely happened but everyone seemed to have fun!

turlough
#9
Band2
Jun 22, 2010 13:17:28
I just thought I would:
1. Introduce myself, since I am new to the forums and
2. Ask what everyone's experience of the new 4E Dark Sun have been like.

Personally, I think I am a fanboy. I am definitely excited for August.

I have been slightly disappointed with the pre-made characters so far though. But that has nothing to do with the setting!

I have been a little hesitant about the new 4e Dark Sun. I have made it to a couple of the Encounters and enjoyed them, so I am definitely coming around, and getting excited for it.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 brycedeline Jun 19, 2010 22:55:32	I just thought I would: 1. Introduce myself, since I am new to the forums and 2. Ask what everyone's experience of the new 4E Dark Sun have been like. Personally, I think I am a fanboy. I am definitely excited for August. I have been slightly disappointed with the pre-made characters so far though. But that has nothing to do with the setting!
#2 demonunderpants Jun 19, 2010 23:33:55	I think Suldin and Vinara are great characters. To me the most important part of these premades are their backgrounds. The people I've played with have read through the character backstories and gotten a much better feel for Dark Sun than I was able to explain. I have people that are excited to play now because they want to be a Veiled Alliance illusionist and his Half-Giant bodyguard.
#3 jovis70 Jun 19, 2010 23:55:05	welcome to the party!! I went out and picked up the Free game Bloodsand arena and ran my group though it. We had a blast!! especially at the arena, their initial response to the "Rules" of the arena was WTF but when they got started and realized what they could do it turned them around. but I have to agree, the pregens have left me less than satisfied. but the backgrounds and fluff have more than made up for it. Joe
#4 brycedeline Jun 20, 2010 0:52:52	I definitely agree with the backgrounds/ fluff making up for it.
#5 Galen44 Jun 20, 2010 1:22:28	Did anyone else notice that Pak'Cha is completely missing a daily attack power?
#6 SquareKnot Jun 20, 2010 2:01:56	Did anyone else notice that Pak'Cha is completely missing a daily attack power? Yes, It's Duststorm Binding. It was present on the DDXP character sheets, that you can see at Critical-Hits.com. Also, Ulieth has the trained skills of Suldin, rather than his own. Looks like a cut and paste error. And Morg gets a +1 bonus to WIS from having a WIS of 11? He didn't at DDXP. Suldin has the Orb of Deception, which allows him to get an additional attack on a miss with an illusion power. However, the illusion keyword (or most other keywords) is not listed. Nightmare Eruption, Phantom Bolt, Grasping Shadows, Phantom Chasm (and Ghost Sound) are all illusion powers. Those are the character sheet errors I've found. There are just a handful with the module. The Human Wasteland Raider Barbed Spear power has no damage listed. I assume it must (probably 1d10+5), since it doesn't have any other effect listed. The module talks about survival days, but never says how many each character starts with (that I could find). It does say to take away 3 for a skill challenge failure. I just got back from running the module. People really liked the Dark Sun setting. I wish more of the setting could have been introduced in the game store play-through, but the module itself is very flavorful and would have really shined given more time and a play group that was more interested in the intrigue of Athas.
#7 JohnLynch Jun 21, 2010 7:18:06	The mod was starting off okay. We're fleeing the ravaging mobs of Tyr (we were playing a templar, a nobleman of a house that sold slaves and a hous eneko merchant). We're so desperate that we're actually travelling with elves! There's lots of potential for us to get screwed over here and for a fun module to unfold. The elves "go forage" elsewhere while we stay in a canyon with the kanks. Yup, we're about to get attacked here. Midway through the fight my character calls out "stop killing them. We could sell them back into slavery." From then on we "subdually take down" the runaway slaves and then tie them up and continue to Altaruk. Once there we sell the slaves for a decent price and buy some "figs of healing." Then the elves finally attack. I was okay with that. I saw it coming (they're elves for crying outloud!), but we fought as best we could. Given we were 3 players with a "water cleric" (warlock), battlemind and a cleric/warlock hybrid and there was no scaling applied to the combat, we did pretty well. But then the militia came. The horribly corrupt militia (at least I'm assuming they were horribly corrupt because they took the side of elves despite our really good diplomacy rolls). And it was off to the arena. We had no interest in the skill challenge arena fight. We were ready for round 2 of the combat. Our DM had given us an extended rest, so that was all okay. But when the DM mentioned the "rules" and that we had to do a skill challenge, we all said "this is stupid." But we were okay with it. We kill them in five rounds, we get the most coins in our pot by virtue of them being dead. Then we discovered there was no fighting allowed. Our characters riled up the crowd, getting them thirsting for blood. And in return we received a +2 to speed. We weren't very impressed (and I got the impression the DM was running it strictly from the module). Fortunately I've been playing Athasian-like characters since 2002. I immediately said, "okay, we'll roll initiative." We actually beat the NPCs (something we were surprised with, considering we had initiative bonuses ranging from -1 to +1). My character took a single coin, dropped it in our pot. I then told our "water elementalist" to freeze the rest of the pile of coins and to then smash the coins. We won. We had 1 coin in our pot, they had no coins. Welcome to Athas. I did like the opportunity to come up with a dodgy idea that technically works within the rules given. It was a suitably Athasian response to the skill challenge IMO. Although to be honest no matter what the module did, we were going to come up with dodgy ideas (we did sell the slaves back into slavery afterall). So that says more about our characters than the mod. I'd love to get a read of the module.
#8 turlough Jun 21, 2010 8:45:52	Hmm. Interesting about the errata. Was this what was done at DDXP? My players did notice the lack of a daily, so I will have to tell him about it. He will get a kick out of it, and love the chance to rant (more) about the editing. However, I ran the module and I thought most of it went well. They rolled well during the first two skill challenges to travel to Altaruk, so when they got attacked in the third, I said the good rolls earlier avoided a lot of combat in those terrains. (I had my 2E boxed set map with me, so could show them that and how the challenges were divided between the terrains.) I did add one more combat at the beginning to let everyone get used to their characters. Then, they were thinking, based on how often the elf was increasing their reward, that either he was going to die or betray them. So, the betrayal came as no surprise. However, in the ensuing diplomacy check, the one rolling got a natural 20! So, they were believed, got the extra money and didn't have to do the arena fight. I offered to run them through an arena fight but two of the players had to go so we stopped there. Overall, I enjoyed running it! I had figures for it all. I didn't emphasize the survival days, although I did talk about them foraging with Nature checks but they made them so I didn't spend tons of time on it. So, I had fun. I don't think the Dark Sun side of it was emphasized enough, though. What I mean by that is that nothing that was done couldn't have been done in FR. If a DM, and the players, want to track food and other supplies, it can be done in FR. Further, resolving overland movement via skill challenges could also be done. Really, except for the environment (although FR does have a desert but I didn't use it much myself), it was the races and classes with themes that made it different. But, FR has its own races and themes will probably be added as well. Maybe I am merely reaching and being picky in that that's enough to make it Dark Sun like. And the elf betrayal was also Dark Sun to me. Maybe it's because we didn't get the arena, which FR doesn't have as common place, if at all, that we missed some of the Dark Sun flavor. I think everyone had a good time! One player was trying to get the other sold on 4E and I don't know if that completely happened but everyone seemed to have fun! turlough
#9 Band2 Jun 22, 2010 13:17:28	I just thought I would: 1. Introduce myself, since I am new to the forums and 2. Ask what everyone's experience of the new 4E Dark Sun have been like. Personally, I think I am a fanboy. I am definitely excited for August. I have been slightly disappointed with the pre-made characters so far though. But that has nothing to do with the setting! I have been a little hesitant about the new 4e Dark Sun. I have made it to a couple of the Encounters and enjoyed them, so I am definitely coming around, and getting excited for it.