"Forgotten Realms 4e is three books, period, done, end of line: Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, Player’s Guide to FR, and DM’s Guide to FR. All settings will be done like that, one per year, until they run out of settings. They mentioned Greyhawk, Ravenloft, Dark Sun, and Spelljammer as settings on their list! Eberron, of course, is the ‘09 setting release (same three books), but it will also get DDI updates starting in June."
Although having said that I do hope there'll be some support for settings in the way of adventures. It seems like a bad idea (IMO) to not publish any adventures for the settings, although they'll most likely be published in Dragon and Dungeon.Collaborative efforts, and a strong community, and review, and playtesting, etc, is what makes Athas.org products several notches above what a lone fan can come up with when attempting to adapt to rules a DS element. If we're stuck to doing this alone, like it was before in the old days of the 90s and 2E, it won't be as much fun IMO.
Also I didn't really think much of the initial announcement (WotC of course refuses to commit to anything beyond Eberron so I don't think Dark Sun's inclusion on that list is really indicative of anything except that WotC still remembers Dark Sun). However I think there's a good chance (better then 3rd edition had) regardless of that list that WotC will publish a new Dark Sun.
From what I understand new PHBs will be released each year with each PHB introducing a new type of class. So PHB2 might introduce Primal type classes. I think the year that the Psionic type classes are introduced in a PHB is the year that Dark Sun will be published. After all, is there any setting that uses psionics as much as Dark Sun? (It also seems logical to me that the classes in a year's PHB will have some classes that are useful for that year's setting).
Although I do wonder what will happen to athas.org, I'm not going to worry overly as it will be AT LEAST 2010 before anything happens (I doubt it will be released in 2010 as well. I think we'll get Greyhawk, Ravenloft or a setting not on that list in 2010).
Would this mean Athas.org would lose it's charter? Would we, and other sites, still be able to put out stuff without being shut down by WotC? (Of course we couldn't say it's official anymore...)
This is an interesting question indeed. Of equal interest is the current furore surrounding the GSL (successor to the OGL.) Current rumours indicate that companies who wish to sign up to the GSL and release 4e product will have to forego any use of the OGL and thus cease supporting 3e. A company cannot do both. It's either or. Confirmation from WotC on the veracity of these reports is due in the coming days. Needless to say, this makes for an interesting choice for athas.org, depending on how things play out. If athas.org wants to continue as the official fan site for DS4e, will it have to cease supporting DS3e and remove those downloads? Hopefully it won't come to that and the GSL will be lenient where fan sites are concerned. Interesting times.
Collaborative efforts, and a strong community, and review, and playtesting, etc, is what makes Athas.org products several notches above what a lone fan can come up with when attempting to adapt to rules a DS element. If we're stuck to doing this alone, like it was before in the old days of the 90s and 2E, it won't be as much fun IMO.
Agreed. Although I think we're seeing WotC retaking ownership of their own IP across the board. Good business sense, yes. But there's more to a community than business
.Having thought about it some more, I think adventure books will be published in addition to the 3 core books (so it won't just be 3 core books and that's it, forever). I base that on this adventure for Forgotten Realms which isn't mentioned in the WotC publishing plan.
This has since been clarified by Chris Sims from WotC, who said that the announcement I linked to was in error when it failed to mention the adventure. It's Campaign Guide, Players Guide and one adventure.
Although I do wonder what will happen to athas.org, I'm not going to worry overly as it will be AT LEAST 2010 before anything happens (I doubt it will be released in 2010 as well. I think we'll get Greyhawk, Ravenloft or a setting not on that list in 2010).
True. Whatever happens, it's a few years off.
From what I see, they're explicitly trying NOT to do what TSR did, which was to sink a lot of their resources into producing a lot of products focused on particular settings, which weren't terribly portable.
So, if nothing else, after WotC puts out a set of three Dark Sun books (which likely won't happen for several years), there's still a place for Athas.org in producing supplemental materials, like City State of Draj, or building adventures.
Eberron uses Psionics, so I'd guess that the psionics material will be out in pretty short order. Probably PHB2. You won't have to wait for the eventual Dark Sun release...
Eberron uses Psionics
That's a shame. I was thinking that tying Dark Sun with psionics would increase its chance of getting published dramatically. However if it has no such connection, I see it being one of the last setting books.
This has since been clarified by Chris Sims from WotC, who said that the announcement I linked to was in error when it failed to mention the adventure. It's Campaign Guide, Players Guide and one adventure.
Huh, well I hope Dragon and Dungeon fill in then.
So, if nothing else, after WotC puts out a set of three Dark Sun books (which likely won't happen for several years), there's still a place for Athas.org in producing supplemental materials, like City State of Draj, or building adventures.
Hopefully this is the way they go. Releasing the rules themselves, and allowing athas.org to continue producing great supplemental products.
Most developers and writers are full-on developers and writers, they've quit their other day jobs to do it, and its grueling work. They produce thousands of words every day, and rarely have time to second guess themselves.
You know, I don't get paid, but I don't have time to second guess myself either. And, I am sure you don't either Penn. :P
TSR wrecked their 2nd most innovative setting to fit some damned novel/path, ugh.
Oh, and get Brom back, if they can do that, I'd even let them pet Boo! Otherwise, it's "GO FOR THE EYES BOO! GO FOR THE EYES! RAAAASK!"
:p
Well, I for one, hope they ignore everything after the 1st boxed set, except maybe Dune Trader and a dfew others, and let folk play DARK SUN, not "Prism We Wrecked The Setting For Newbies Pentad!"
TSR wrecked their 2nd most innovative setting to fit some damned novel/path, ugh.
Oh, and get Brom back, if they can do that, I'd even let them pet Boo! Otherwise, it's "GO FOR THE EYES BOO! GO FOR THE EYES! RAAAASK!"
:p
One big thing I like with Eberron is no metasplot as such. TSR wrecked more than a few of their worlds it wasn't just Dark Sun. Krynn had the 2nd cataclysm, FR the Time of Troubles, Planescape had the Orcus plot, etc.
*nods!* forcing gamers down TSR/WOTC alleyways, is no fun, esepcially when they make such horrible messes, sigh.
Not the novel author's fault, couple of the books were ok, and helped evoke the Athasian "feel".
But it's kind of like, oh, Boromir ganked Sauron with an arrow in chapter 1 of LOTR!! ;)
Dark Sun is *not* Dark Sun to me, without the SKs, slavery etc, it's up to the players to do those kind of changes, not the game makers.
Zardnaar,
*nods!* forcing gamers down TSR/WOTC alleyways, is no fun, esepcially when they make such horrible messes, sigh.
Not the novel author's fault, couple of the books were ok, and helped evoke the Athasian "feel".
But it's kind of like, oh, Boromir ganked Sauron with an arrow in chapter 1 of LOTR!! ;)
Dark Sun is *not* Dark Sun to me, without the SKs, slavery etc, it's up to the players to do those kind of changes, not the game makers.
And me, I like to portray the upheaval and additional problems that were caused/ripped through the Tablelands with the sudden power vacuums after a number of the SKs were killed. I hardly play it as a setting which things are getting better, in fact... I like to point out that things are now worse than when there were SK's in those cities...
And me, I like to portray the upheaval and additional problems that were caused/ripped through the Tablelands with the sudden power vacuums after a number of the SKs were killed. I hardly play it as a setting which things are getting better, in fact... I like to point out that things are now worse than when there were SK's in those cities...
I'm not saying the things have improved (except in my FY 1015 game) but lets be honest it happened very quickly. The setting was barely out the door and Kalak bites the big one and in 93 the Dragon was dead already along with over half the Sorcerer Kings.
Also being brutally honest the Prism Pentad wasn't that well written. It was beter than a few of the Dragonlance and FR books at the time but not the best ones. It wasn't badly written as such but the plot was a bit stupid and the way it was implemented.
I'm not saying the things have improved (except in my FY 1015 game) but lets be honest it happened very quickly. The setting was barely out the door and Kalak bites the big one and in 93 the Dragon was dead already along with over half the Sorcerer Kings.
So? That just means there is less to hook onto to keep the "old" setting around.
Also being brutally honest the Prism Pentad wasn't that well written. It was beter than a few of the Dragonlance and FR books at the time but not the best ones. It wasn't badly written as such but the plot was a bit stupid and the way it was implemented.
I care less about how well it was written, and more about what ideas it produced for me to play with in the campaigns. I'm not going to begrudge the setting just because an author wasn't really up to par to some standards.
Well, I for one, hope they ignore everything after the 1st boxed set, except maybe Dune Trader and a dfew others, and let folk play DARK SUN, not "Prism We Wrecked The Setting For Newbies Pentad!"
When people look back on Babylon 5, I sure hope they ignore everything after the Pilot! I mean, gosh, they even changed the way Deleen looks!! And they dared change her from a cold blooded bit*h into a milder character!!! ...bastards. BABYLON 5 is nothing more than a crappy show masquerading as "The Gathering, or The Weekly Series That Really Should Have Been!"
When people look back on Babylon 5, I sure hope they ignore everything after the Pilot! I mean, gosh, they even changed the way Deleen looks!! And they dared change her from a cold blooded bit*h into a milder character!!! ...bastards. BABYLON 5 is nothing more than a crappy show masquerading as "The Gathering, or The Weekly Series That Really Should Have Been!"
Change is fine but I think it was the speed and degree of change that upsets some DS fans. I don't care to much but don't like the PP that much.
Do you play Dark Sun?
As many folk have said, including this thread, not long after the setting came out, the entire basis of the millieu was screwed over, completely.
The Sorceror Kings were the main lynch pins of the setting, and got ganked by crappy low levle NPCs in some so-so novels (no offence, they weren't terrible but they weren't wonderful either, and the history fo Athas is just..ugh)...that stuff should be left ot the players and DMs.
It's like ganking most of the Forgotten Realms main players, permanently, AND giving a craptastic backstory to the Realms as well, plus, slavery descends across the Realms...
Slavery and oppression are vital features of Dark Sun, "Free Tyr" just messes that up, again, something only players and DMs should do.
Dark Sun is not a "Happy joy joy" setting, getting any moral victory achieved is a triumph, not a petty occurence. It's gritty, very dangerous, strange, mysterious, ammoral and thus, fun!
The "official" changes RUINED that.
After browsing the Boxed Set for 10 minutes I went home with it and with Freedom and a few other goodies, The Verdant Passage included. I never had time to imagine a purely static Athas. The Athas I read about was many things: changing and static at the same time, corrupted, decayed, yet some hope lives in it.
Slavery and oppression are vital features of Dark Sun, "Free Tyr" just messes that up, again, something only players and DMs should do.
I fail to see how it messes it up. I use "Free tyr" as the backdrop to point out just how important slavery has become on Athas, and how terrible the new leadership of Tyr have been managing their city. At least, when people were slaves, they were guaranteed a roof over their head and food to eat. Now there is a lot of people who are stuck on the streets, starving to death and freezing at night. Yep, good stuff. Like Tyr's council would have any inkling what a Democracy really is.
Dark Sun is not a "Happy joy joy" setting, getting any moral victory achieved is a triumph, not a petty occurence. It's gritty, very dangerous, strange, mysterious, ammoral and thus, fun!
Exactly.
The "official" changes RUINED that.
I beg to differ. I say it mixed things up, put power vacuums in place around the city-states which aren't being filled. If anything, it caused the former status quo to now be broken, probably irreparably, and things are now spiraling more and more out of control. The surviving Sorcerer-Kings cling to their power even more, and those who aren't protected by the Sorcerer-Kings... well... life hasn't exactly been all fun and games. In many ways, the city-states that don't have kings any more, are really beginning to understand just how much they needed their monarchs.
When people look back on Babylon 5, I sure hope they ignore everything after the Pilot! I mean, gosh, they even changed the way Deleen looks!! And they dared change her from a cold blooded bit*h into a milder character!!! ...bastards. BABYLON 5 is nothing more than a crappy show masquerading as "The Gathering, or The Weekly Series That Really Should Have Been!"
Well, we are not talking about minor changes made between a one hour pilot and multi season weekly series here are? The original DarkSun boxed set was a VERY clear vision and solid foundation for the setting. It went a long way toward establishing the character of the world. It was, in my opinion the most well written campaign setting set ever. " The Wanderer's Journal " is STILL one of my most favorite reads.
To me the Prizm Pentad pretty much ruined everything in the original boxed set. And then the " revision " just spit on DarkSun's grave. Poorly written, poorly concieved. I could find NOTHING in it that I felt fit with the original image of Athas laid out in the original boxed set.
The image the original boxed set created was a world in which there was very little hope for prosperity, or peace, a world of myserious origins and ominous future. Athas was a world where in heroes had little hope of anything beyond survival from one day to the next. But PP changed all that with the destruction of the world's most powerful entities, and that ridiculous explanation of the world's history and how it came to be shaped.
To be honest I think that beyond the Wanderer's Journal, th ehistory of athas should have never been touched officially. The mystery of the world was most of it's draw. Defining what Athas once was and why it came to be as it is in the now was like learning how many midichlorians were in Anakin Skywalker's blood. The identity that was established first was lost. And then Kurn, Saragar, the Tohr Kreen empire, and blimp riding halflings came along and totally ruined any desire I had to even play in the world anymore. I know I could have just used homebrew but that was not the same.....
Anyway, IF WOTC does bring out a new Dark Sun, I would LOVE to see Lynn Abbey at the helm of the writing, " The Brazen Gambit ", " Cinnabar Shadows ", and " Rise and Fall of a Dragon King " were the only novels set in Dark SUn that actually followed the feel of the original identity.
I also think that WOTC should focus a lot more effort on the wargaming side of Athas. Talk about your perfect war torn world!
It's like ganking most of the Forgotten Realms main players, permanently, AND giving a craptastic backstory to the Realms as well, plus, slavery descends across the Realms...
Oh you mean exactally like what they are doing right now!
I would like to thank WotC for reminding me how much I miss HERO system.
In any case back to the original topic,
Bill Slavicsek clarifies his comments from the road show here:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dramp/20080430&authentic=true
Also I found this post on Enworld from Michele Carter, a senior editor at WotC:
"Heh. Henry (and others): considering Bill's well-known fondness for Dark Sun, there's no question that it's at the top of the list for consideration. We've been thinking about ALL of our worlds and how they'd best be presented with the new edition."
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=225088&page=3&pp=30
Hope I did that link correctly. The post is at the buttom of page 3 of the thread. Sounds like a little better news about Dark Sun.
The original DarkSun boxed set was a VERY clear vision and solid foundation for the setting. It went a long way toward establishing the character of the world...To me the Prizm Pentad pretty much ruined everything in the original boxed set.
You beat me to it, so: AMEN!
That is exactly the problem with that particular metaplot (and often with metaplots in general), but I've said what I'd say before so I won't repeat myself.
...I would LOVE to see Lynn Abbey at the helm of the writing, " The Brazen Gambit ", " Cinnabar Shadows ", and " Rise and Fall of a Dragon King " were the only novels set in Dark Sun that actually followed the feel of the original identity.
Again, AMEN.
I'll add my voice to the chorus of reason which holds that the Prism Pentad totally jacked the setting. TSR had a gem of a setting which they immediately took a big crap on.
The problem I have with a 4e Dark Sun is how well it will translate from previous editions. Magic for one is the biggest issue. Other changes will probably be seamless but Magic and the way it functions on Athas I just don't believe is reconcilable, which means casting classes would have to be completely rebuilt to work. If they can make it work that would be great, but I'm not very optimistic.
Actually, I think 4E will be more open to the ideas of how magic functions in Dark Sun than any previous edition of the game was. There is a lot more freeform, looser structure (less crunchy bits) to work with. Sure, the massive variety of spells available to a wizard diminishes, but it would definitely seem to fit more with what you'd find in the setting material & novels...
Actually, I think 4E will be more open to the ideas of how magic functions in Dark Sun than any previous edition of the game was. There is a lot more freeform, looser structure (less crunchy bits) to work with. Sure, the massive variety of spells available to a wizard diminishes, but it would definitely seem to fit more with what you'd find in the setting material & novels...
Actually I'm concerned about the whole At-Will/Encounter/Daily setup. With previous editions, defilers were fairly balanced because of the ring of ash that formed on casting and the limit on how many spells could be cast in a day. Now, I just don't see how magic doesn't decimate what is left of the world in short order. In short, there is too much expenditure of magic with 4e.
Then there is multi-classing. There is just no good way to make a build that lets you master both psionics and magic (at least what has been released strongly implies its not possible) to become an advanced being.
Actually I'm concerned about the whole At-Will/Encounter/Daily setup. With previous editions, defilers were fairly balanced because of the ring of ash that formed on casting and the limit on how many spells could be cast in a day. Now, I just don't see how magic doesn't decimate what is left of the world in short order. In short, there is too much expenditure of magic with 4e.
I don't see how. A defiler would, I'd reckon, still need to defile. So there would be a limiting factor to what they do... and it would actually make the defiler a bit harder to play as. Or a mechanic just be put in place to handle such things for Arcane spellcasters/Wizards in general. I don't see the changes for 4E hindering Dark Sun's arcane functionality and uniqueness. If anything it seems to be much more freeform and could potentially help, with its flexibility in this regard, to make the magic work more like you might read in the novels, or other setting material, rather than just looking at the gamesystem mechanics.
Then there is multi-classing. There is just no good way to make a build that lets you master both psionics and magic (at least what has been released strongly implies its not possible) to become an advanced being.
Which even in 3/3.5e, I had gone into very long, and in-depth explanation that while the 2E game mechanics claimed you needed mastery of both Magic and Psionics... the setting material implied that it was mastery of Magic, and then using Psionics as a tool to expand that mastery of magic to "the next level"... that magic was the focal point, not psionics. Psionics is more or less a tool used to make their magic more powerful, mastery of psionics is not necessarily mandatory... just enough understanding to be able to use it to exploit magic. A lot of that is derived from the phraseology used to describe the known Advanced Beings, and the wordplay used in describing what they do.
I also think that WOTC should focus a lot more effort on the wargaming side of Athas. Talk about your perfect war torn world!
I agree. I think the wargaming side of athas is a very interesting aspect to explore (by the way, DRAGON KINGS 2e accessory already focused wars in DS).
However, in the actual DS campaing setting, somebody could ask, why a SK would build and keep an army to engage in wars, if a SK himself alone could crush an entire army with his dragon magic?
In my opinion, to answer this question, the future Dark Sun game designers hired by WoTC should introduce a new balancing factor in the setting that would keep the hands of the SKs more or less tied, preventing then from using (or abusing) their spells "openly" in wars against each other.
I mean, like our real-world nuclear weapons, the use Dragon Magic of the SKs should be described as an extremely powerful force, so destructive that a single abusive use of the Dragon magic could ruin entirely the last remaining fertile fields of the Tyr Region.
Since the SKs need these fertile lands to feed the population of their city-states, so their population can grow, so the SKs can pay their anual levy of lives to the Dragon (assuming the Dragon will be brought back), so the Dragon can keep Rajaat imprisioned, so SKs can avoid Rajaat´s revenge, so SKs can live their immortal lives in peace, the use of Dragon Magic in the Tyr Region should be *banned* or *very* restricted by an agreement between the SKs (or by an imposition of the Dragon), and would be used only as the *last* resort of the SKs in their wars.
This role I propose for the Dragon Magic is indeed very similar to the role that nuclear weapons played in the "Dune" series of novels, where many of the Great Houses owned a great cache of nuclear weapons, keeping it secure, but used only as last resort in their wars.
Though the possession of nuclear weapons was necessary to secure power, the use of atomics by the Great Houses in their wars against each other was considered a violation to the prohibition of the Great Convention, that stated: "Use of atomics against humans shall be cause for planetary obliteration." (the planets in Dune are, more or less, what City-States represent in DS).
So in Dune, the atomics themselves served two political purposes: firstly, they acted as a military deterrent — since any House that violated the Great Convention flagrantly (such as using atomics openly in warfare) would suffer a massive retaliation from all of the other Houses. This leads to the second purpose of atomics, that was to keep a "defeated" House alive, that is, there was an informal agreement between the Houses that, if any House faces a defeat, it was allowed by the other to flee into a safe exile, thus avoiding the possibility of the cornered House lashing out a senselessly and suicide attack with its atomics, as its last resource.
In my opinion a similar treatment could be applyed to Dragon Magic in DS, so the SKs would act more as "distant Gods", that would need to rely more on the services of their mortal minions (including their armies) to acomplish their goals. That would leave much more space for the players characters and other NPC to act and influence the fate of this setting, without stealing the place and the beautiful role that the Dragon and the other SKs play in our DS campaing setting.
For more ideas, see also the Spell "Raze City" in this thread:[url=http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1014228]
Wizard casts spell, other wizard counters it, other wizard counters that one, other wizard counters that one, warrior comes along and chops both wizards up.
Replace wizard with Sorcerer Kings and warrior wth another Sorcerer King or high level character and you get the idea.
Also in the original2nd ed materials Sorcerer Kings weren't that powerful mechanically. They were quite tough but high level PCs could take them. In a way SK's used there cities as forts as well as to have a go at one you have to get through their minions, armies, Templars etc. By going out into the field they're alot more vulnerable so a high level individual (17+) or a group of 10+ characters could have a chance at defeating one if they did personally decide to use Dragon magic.
In 3rd ed Dragon magic is essentially the epic spellcasteing feat, Athas.org has tried to make the Sorcerer Kings essentially unbeatable except by very epic level characters which Athas doesn't have, or you need a cheesy build or rules loophole to defeat one (Pun Pun, Hulking Hurler and various level 20 wizard/psion/druid/cleric builds with various PrCs and/or broken spells).
I think Darksun will be in the final 2-3 to reprint after Eberron and FR the other 2 being Planescape and Dragonlance which are the probably the other most popular out of print settings.
I would expect Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Ravenloft, and then maybe Dark Sun... Planescape might come before Dark Sun...
Virtually all of them are very similar though and DS and PLanescape seem to have the more devoted fans and come up alot on threads about which camaping you miss. Thers not that much difference between FR, Greyhawk, Dragonlance.
Eberron and FR will be done fisrt then hopefully DS or Planescape (how many quasi medievil fantasy worlds do you need). I'm not a big fan of Planescape but I don't dislike it either but it seems popular and is different like DS.
As long as DS gets done before Ravenloft its all good.
Virtually all of them are very similar though and DS and PLanescape seem to have the more devoted fans and come up alot on threads about which camaping you miss. Thers not that much difference between FR, Greyhawk, Dragonlance.
Eberron and FR will be done fisrt then hopefully DS or Planescape (how many quasi medievil fantasy worlds do you need). I'm not a big fan of Planescape but I don't dislike it either but it seems popular and is different like DS.
As long as DS gets done before Ravenloft its all good.
Similar or not, I'm looking at which settings *did* get published in 3.X (even if by a different publisher than WotC, like Ravenloft or Dragonlance). Greyhawk is no longer the default setting for 4E, so as it will stand on its own, I'd expect WotC to publish the three settings that WotC handled directly from 3.X first in 4E. Forgotten Realms is by and far *the* most popular setting, so I'd expect it to roll around pretty darned quickly -- and the podcasts suggest as much. I'm not a big fan of FR, but I can see why they are doing what they are doing with the setting, to freshen it a bit... despite the (what I've seen as) hardcore fans thinking they are ruining the setting... time will tell. I'd expect Greyhawk possibly next, while Eberron might hold out until the Player's Handbook II comes out with things like Psionics and such.
After those three, then WotC would, I'd assume, roll out settings that were published, and they could look at the specific hard sales figures. Dragonlance would be the next in line I'd imagine, since it is easily more popular than Ravenloft (which would follow), then I'd expect that WotC would start looking at which are the most popular of the remaining settings. Dark Sun, Planescape, Spelljammer... these are popular primarily for how different they are, and I'd expect they'd be slated for release. Mysteria, Birthright, Red Steel, etc. aren't quite as popular, but still have a pretty good following.
All in all, I'd expect that WotC has enough settings to draw upon to make quite the interesting assortment of settings open and available. My only concern is something that was mentioned in the most recent podcast... that WotC doesn't want to release a setting without all of the basic races available... so that might mean that Eladrin, Dragonborn, and Tieflings might show up in the official Dark Sun 4E setting.. but time will tell, once again, how that will pan out.
I'll quote Nakor from Raymond E Feist Riftwar Saga series of books (or words to that effect). Basically here is why Sorcerer Kings don't use Dragon Magic vs an army.
Wizard casts spell, other wizard counters it, other wizard counters that one, other wizard counters that one, warrior comes along and chops both wizards up.
Replace wizard with Sorcerer Kings and warrior wth another Sorcerer King or high level character and you get the idea.
.
Zardnaar,
This is an oversimplyfyed powergamer-reasonning. You are missing too many details here.
To cast a spell or a counter spell, a SK will need fuel it, and a LOT of fuel will be needed if the spell we are talking about is a 10th level spell, I believe.
So telll me Zardnaar: Do you really think that the Tyr Region and City-States could support (or survive) to such a huge demand of fuel?
In my game not. Maybe in yours. A question of taste.