Anywho, Dark Sun ruled, and totally changed gamers perspectives. Old Races and Classes made new, New Races and classes introduced, and the prevalence of psionics made and make this an excellent choice for the next setting.
And considering that the psionic power source will be coming out fully around the same time, what's not to love?
We have had a generic fantasy setting, a high-fantasy setting, and a gritty fantasy setting. Let's drop Middle-Earth and head to Dune!
I would love to look into what would be kept and what would change based on the 'everything' is core idea.
so lets list what makes Darksun
- Dessert setting
- Post apoc feel
- Small kingdom/city states ruled by Dragon Kings
- Mules
- thrikreen
- Psionics important
Races acting different from normal is another important factor that makes it more interesting than say DL
What I would like to see in a 4E Dark Sun, and why it can appeal to a plethora of different players, playstyles, and genres:
Make the DSCG a little different than those we've seen thus far. Give a separate section of the book for each Age, and both campaign and character suggestions for each.
The Blue Age would be the most alien of all, a water-world campaign with bio-tech of sorts, many primal creatures on the sparse islands scattered about the world, and throughout the planet-wide oceans. Halflings and Kreen are the two PC races likely to be found here. Moreover, these two races are the only two likely to be found in ANY age. Halflings, mechanically, already exist quite well for DS, and Kreen would be absolutely perfect as one of the premiere races to introduce in this book, along with Mul, and perhaps Half-Giant (if they wish it to be different from Goliaths).
The Green Age would be modified classic high fantasy, with psionics replacing magic. Towards the end of the Green Age, but before the great war breaks out, there are some Eberron-esque elements in the most advanced cities (as is evidenced by the psionic technologies that Saragar showed to us, from mind storage and computer-like devices, to light sources, to elevators and subways, etc). This is a perfect fit for the most common time period for Warforged, for example, being psionic constructs from this bygone age. This is also the age in which essentially every race ever produced by any D&D book from now to the end of days, can easily be fit. With the Pristine Tower pumping out new species, both humanoid and non, and untold numbers of civilizations, there is no race incapable of being folded in to the setting at this juncture.
The Cleansing Wars would be a segue from the Green Age to the Brown Age. It would detail all the races that are annihilated, which would be most of them. It shows who survives, the Champions who committed these grave atrocities, et al. This is the setting of an apocalyptic world war that engulfs the entire planet, and sets off the destruction of the world's ecosystems in addition to the fall of just about every civilization in the world. Many of the classic tropes of world at war fiction makes for some rich adventuring possibilities here. Instead of atomic bombs wiping out cities, you've got defilers of epic proportions making entire regions of the world entirely barren of life for thousands of years. You've got resources dwindling, as the war efforts consume every last scrap of metal, every piece of grain, every drop of water, every man, woman and child. In the end, the good guys don't win. They lose. Horribly. The world is cast into a dark age the likes of which our own Earth has not seen whilst we humans have lived upon it (yet).
Then, onward to what we were given in the original boxed set. This would be the harsh desert world, with a limited number of city-states, and sorcerer-monarchs firmly entrenched in each. This is a broken world, in more ways than one. Gladiator games, slavery, tribes of escaped slaves, the rise of the merchant houses, and more, enrich this era. Some sorcerer-monarchs die along the way during this age. The end of this is the Pentad events, with upheaval, the first free city is millennia, and more.
Finally, the future, but more grim than the 2E Revised box made it out to be: Dregoth is more dangerous than Borys was, and much more ambitious; The Kreen Empire is an extraordinarily large threat, and only a sorcerer-monarch-less city-state stands between it and the rest of the Tyr Region; The Obsidian Wastes are likewise a newly discovered, very stark, harsh and unforgiving environment to explore, and can pull in the Shadow source material that will be added later on.
With this sort of layout, you have a much more inclusive setting, with the ability to fulfill the 4E objective of opening up the possibility of everything published fitting into the campaign setting. This layout also emphasizes a part of Dark Sun I've always felt was present, and I recall being expressed as being part of the setting by the original team: Athas is a world perpetually in change. Not just the countless minor changes eternally morphing the world like the beat of a butterfly's wings, but enormous, sweeping change that changes the entire face of the world. Sometimes, even the sun itself.
That sounds way too ambitious for a 2 book release. If i were you, Tectuktitlay, i would just hope they don't leave you killed off with your son in charge of your city-state. ;)
LOL. My son? What, you mean that vessel I've been hiding in, who isn't related to me at all? Yeah, I'll kill him in a massive blood ritual soon enough, muahahaha.
As for the idea? Nah. It's just a different layout. Instead on concentrating on multiple CONTINENTS worth of material, and on many, many nations, use that prodigious amount of room to highlight all of the wicked aspects of the various ages, and, in a nod to the original box, and the revised box, chronicle (wanderer's chronicle style, preferably) Athas through the ages, with detailed focus on each major civilization/city-state throughout the ages.
That would be great if they were doing a whole line of DS books but i cant imagine there being even close to enough room to scratch the surface of multiple ages. You'd need space to flesh out culture, technology and dozens of locations of each age to make it worthwhile. Given limited space, id rather just have a book with one fleshed out time period and maybe leave the other ages to Dragon articles (though i bet you there will be a series of articles on the city states).
Nah, I disagree. That's just not how they do things anymore. The exact same thing could be said about Eberron and each continent, or Faerun and each major nation. The amount of info they've left OUT of that could fill (and has filled) dozens of books for each of those two settings. Actually, those kinds of details would likely fill MORE space than a trip through Athas' ages. No, they now just touch on each major point, give SOME details, and leave the rest to the DMs and players.
Look through a Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide. There is SO much info. Take all the city-states and the extra areas we know of, and replace those with said city-states, et al. There is a LOT of space left over afterwards. It'll just be a different approach. Think about it. The Pristine Tower would have a blurb in EVERY age, Tyr and other major cities would have updated bits spanning each each from the Green on, other areas from the Brown on, and so forth. It will easily fit into the FRCG.
There are 69 nations/regions/etc covered in the FRCG. 69. That is an awful lot of Athasian lore, using the same basic template. Even taking the 9 city-states (Balic, Draj, Eldaarich, Gulg, Kurn, Nibenay, Raam, Tyr, Urik), add the Kreen Empire, Saragar, Ur-Draxa, AND the Pristine Tower (making 13 sections total), and putting EACH though five full ages of lore (Blue, Green, Cleansing War, Brown, modern), which isn't the total number found in each age, mind you, still leaves 4 other sections. That's being extremely generous with regards to the city-states. Very much so, actually. Really, there would be a lot more room for each age preceding the Brown for non-city-state regions/civilizations.
Plus, the 11 page section on gods? Gone. Completely. More room for other stuff.
I seriously think there is ample room for this design, with an incredibly robust section for each describing how the age differs from all the rest.
Now, compare it to the Eberron Campaign Guide as well...
Although they will be hard pressed to make it as fun as 2e darksun, which had so many options it was amazingly fun. But no large halfgiant gladiators or thrikreen gladiator psionicists make me doubt it will live up to the older edition for us 2e fans. A Mtg/Wow mod of darksun for 4e won't do it justice.
But no large halfgiant gladiators or thrikreen gladiator psionicists make me doubt it will live up to the older edition for us 2e fans. A Mtg/Wow mod of darksun for 4e won't do it justice.
Why wouldnt there be thrikreen gladiator psionicists? Hell, you can already make a gladiator psionicist by the rules.
Why wouldnt there be thrikreen gladiator psionicists? Hell, you can already make a gladiator psionicist by the rules.
Examples please?
Examples please?
We got the Psion class previewed already and have Gladiator options in Dragon.
Examples please?
Dragon 368 has gladiator feats, items and a PP, as well as an article on how to run gladiatorial games.
The psion and monk are available in the character builder.
Psion or monk + gladiator options = gladiator psionicist.
Thanks again!
Dark Sun, on the other hand, seems to change a lot of the D&D assumptions. I'd be really curious to see what they do with the divine and arcane power source.
Of course, I'd really prefer it to be Planescape.;)
But, since I'm never getting that, then let's go with Dark Sun!:D
I love it in 2ed. It's all we played for a long long time and we fell in love with it. If they brought this back in 4ed, that would be the end of me. I'd have to drop out of school, start multiple gaming groups to feed my DS addiction, and quit my job to fit in more DS time into my day. Thankfully my wife is as much of an addict as I am, as long as I throw in some thri-kreen love sub plots to keep her happy my marriage would be safe until the day those thri-kreen lovers found themselves on opposite sides of a gladiatorial match...
Alright, I'll be serious for a moment. 3ed almost killed DnD for me. I've always liked playing small numbers of characters for an extremely long time. My first character (2ed), I played for 3 years before writting up a second and for another 6 years after until I retired him when 3ed came out. 3ed just had no roof for the power level of characters, so after a while everyone just got to the point of being unplayable. It also meant that settings like DS, where a constant plot concept has to be just trying to survive, fell by the way side to other worlds.
4ed could be exactly what DS needs to work again. I like the above quote, DS is DnD on hard mode. That's what I want to see, exactly. Monsters that are just plain cruel, a setting that forces players to sleep in shifts guard small ponds with their lives; gimme gimme gimme and make it hurt!
If you would all like to play around with some Dark Sun stuff, check out the link in my signature, it is most of the stuff Dark Sun 2nd ed had converted to 4th ed..
Apparently, Dark Sun was originally going to use very few races from core D&D (humans were the only ones coming over, everything else would be new). Furthermore, Psionics was totally going to replace magic. I don't see them doing that here, but it is interesting.
My guess is that if FR is the High Fantasy setting and Eberron is the Pulp Fantasy setting, then Dark Sun is probably going to be the gritty, sword & sorcery setting. Athas is inspired by Barsoom (from the John Carpenter of Mars books). That setting had an odd, gritty feel to it and that certainly carried over to Athas.
Some thoughts on the setting:
Races - They developers are probably going to try and include as much as they can from the PHB's (they seem less beholden to setting books). That means Athas will need to find a place for Eladrin, Dragonborn, Tieflings, Gnomes, Shifters, Goliaths, Devas, and Half-Orcs. Interestingly, the size of the Tablelands is helpful here (Darksun is probably one of the smallest campaign settings detailed in the last 20 years), as they can add in new geographical regions for these races to occupy.
Classes - All power sources need a place here, so they willl have to deal with the Divine Classes. I have two thoughts here. One is that they tie the Divine Power source to "astral energies" or simple faith (no gods needed). The other is to make all Divine classes empowered by the Sorcerer-Kings. If the Sorc-Kings are more distant this shouldn't create too many problems. Also, once empowered, perhaps these characters cannot have the power revoked - this would make room for "templars" that are now opposed to their sovereign.
In general, I think Dark Sun will see significant revisions. I'm interested to see how it turns out.
Dark Sun was the first campaign setting I purchased, and so I have lots of nostalgia bound up in the setting. I'm not a purist when it comes to campaigns, however, and so I wouldn't mind a reboot for Dark Sun.
Apparently, Dark Sun was originally going to use very few races from core D&D (humans were the only ones coming over, everything else would be new). Furthermore, Psionics was totally going to replace magic. I don't see them doing that here, but it is interesting.
My guess is that if FR is the High Fantasy setting and Eberron is the Pulp Fantasy setting, then Dark Sun is probably going to be the gritty, sword & sorcery setting. Athas is inspired by Barsoom (from the John Carter of Mars books). That setting had an odd, gritty feel to it and that certainly carried over to Athas.
Some thoughts on the setting:
Races - They developers are probably going to try and include as much as they can from the PHB's (they seem less beholden to setting books). That means Athas will need to find a place for Eladrin, Dragonborn, Tieflings, Gnomes, Shifters, Goliaths, Devas, and Half-Orcs. Interestingly, the size of the Tablelands is helpful here (Darksun is probably one of the smallest campaign settings detailed in the last 20 years), as they can add in new geographical regions for these races to occupy.
Classes - All power sources need a place here, so they willl have to deal with the Divine Classes. I have two thoughts here. One is that they tie the Divine Power source to "astral energies" or simple faith (no gods needed). The other is to make all Divine classes empowered by the Sorcerer-Kings. If the Sorc-Kings are more distant this shouldn't create too many problems. Also, once empowered, perhaps these characters cannot have the power revoked - this would make room for "templars" that are now opposed to their sovereign.
In general, I think Dark Sun will see significant revisions. I'm interested to see how it turns out.
Fixed that for you. Interesting take on DS, might have to go back and take another look.
Bel
Personally I hope it isn't DS next year, and I also hope it isn't DL next year. If it is one or the other then it will be two years in a row that I won't be buying a CS book. I think it is lame that they are limiting it to one setting a year. Especially if all they are doing is one players book and one DM book. If all they are going to do it rehash some old settings, then get them all out soon so we can get something new.
It its DS there would have to be something to really captivate me in the new 4th edition version of it. I dont like or dislike the setting from before but wouldnt rush out and spend the money unless there is something that catches my eye for it. So that could make it two years in a row that I didnt purchase any of the settings books.
And I would buy DL just for the nostalgia.
My other concern is that, be it that the author of the worst version of the setting, is one of the people in charge of D&D, they might keep a lot of the crap they added in the 1995 version of the setting. People complain about FR being a haven for NPCs doing all the dirty work and the players sitting back and watching, but from what I understand, Dark Sun's last incarnation was even worse.
Most of the people saying that are both wildly over-reacting, and not taking into account the size of the Table Lands vs how big a regular world would be.
I figured as much, but it seems to be a widely regarded belief.
Dark Sun was Great. Dragonlance......nah
Thats your opinion and their is nothing wrong with having different tastes but I'm sure some DL fans say the same about DS. I'm a fan of both settings so I hope to see both released.
Both have unique aspects and if you know more than just the top layers of the story, both are very good.
I could see dragonborn being fit into the DS world as Dray, but fitting Tieflings and some of the others would be a hard, if not impossible fit and keep with the original setup. It would either require a fairly major retcon (for one, gnomes were wiped out) or a willingness to say "Athas is a bit different. Use these races instead of these." I don't think WotC is brave enough to do the latter, and I'm sure there would be hatred towards WotC either way.
Or could WotC say "these races don't exist in Dark Sun, only use with DM permission." Isn't that what they did for Dragonmarks on the wrong race in Eberron?
I have friends that have less scruples than I do that were capable of finding Divine Power within a day or 2 of its release. But had to wait weeks after the EPG was released to be able to find a torrent for one. And as of this last weekend they had not found the EPG yet as well.
I know that FR books were out within days of release as well. And I wonder how FR sold as well. It is too bad that Hasbro doesnt release sales statistics.
The reason I always felt it would be DL was because they know they have a large built in fan base that is likely to purchase the books. With DS or something unknown they have no way to know how the books would sell.
1. Dark Sun will be fully compatible - There won't be any special rules that make Dark Sun creatures, items, or characters underpowered or overpowered in other settings, and vice versa.
2. No core races will be excluded - Some might be listed as very rare, but in the process of fleshing out the whole world, WOTC will find a place for every core race to fit in.
3. No core classes will be excluded - The storyline will either be advanced, retconned, or expanded to leave room for every core class. Perhaps the return of the gods will be written in, or some substitute that can provide divine power will be provided.
4. The book formats will match the formats of previous books - Wizards isn't going to change things up by covering multiple eras in the world or anything like that.
5. Gladiator will be the new class in the Player's Guide - The biggest reason for Wizards to pick Dark Sun as the new campaign setting is simply the name recognition of the setting. I'd be willing to bet that the number of 4th edition costomers who actually played 2e Dark Sun and actually know much if anything about the setting is quite miniscule. However, a lot of people are at least familiar with the name, and if you ask them what dark sun is about, the two most common answers you'll get is that its about a desert and gladiators.
Sounds perfectly reasonable. I would also wager that the world will be expanded quite a bit. The old world of Athas is absolutely tiny compared to any other published setting. It's like Pennsylvania. It could easily be expanded on and the new races/classes/whatever by having them come from just over the next ridge that no on ever goes past because of short supplies.
thats my take as well. I also would not mind seeing the timeline set forward a little bit.
Part of Eberron's attraction is that the world has a place for everything in D&D; but in Dark Sun, that just isn't so. It would require an overhaul of some mechanics, and a lot of information in other books just wouldn't be compatible with this new world and its lack of metals, its emphasis on psionics, etc.
And what if one wants to run a heavily-armoured knight-type character. 4E is already heavily biased in favor of lightly-armoured warriors, and I'd rather not see that bias get any worse as it undoubtedly would with the release of Dark Sun.
No, please. I'd rather see Dragonlance updated for 4th Edition.
The real problem with a 4e conversion is that there are no standard knights or paladins or standard wizards on athas. There are no divine clerics and you don't gain spells from "belief" on athas.
My only reason for wanting a 4e dragonlance or darksun is so I can snag the ideas I like from the newest books and reverse engineer them. Playing a 4e version of either setting puts a bad taste in my mouth.
4e to me is a junkyard. Salvage what I like and discard the rest.;)
There are heavy armor units on athas but most often it isn't metal armor. The only time armies don their metal armor is just before battle. The heat would either kill them or leave them so exhausted they would be unable to fight let alone win.
The real problem with a 4e conversion is that there are no standard knights or paladins or standard wizards on athas. There are no divine clerics and you don't gain spells from "belief" on athas.
My only reason for wanting a 4e dragonlance or darksun is so I can snag the ideas I like from the newest books and reverse engineer them. Playing a 4e version of either setting puts a bad taste in my mouth.
4e to me is a junkyard. Salvage what I like and discard the rest.;)
QFT And Im sure they will move the timeline forward and mess with it a bit. Its been out of print for a long time so I expect to see changes to the setting.
The real problem with a 4e conversion is that there are no standard knights or paladins or standard wizards on athas. There are no divine clerics and you don't gain spells from "belief" on athas.
Not yet anyway. I agree with William that the best way to do Dark Sun would be to advance the story a little. This would give WotC some room to add stuff to the setting while preserving as much as possible of the existing lore. I don't think it would be impossible to add the new elements in to make the setting inclusive, however the process should be handled very carefully. I'd like to see them take a shot to get it right because the setting has so much potential. Of course, I reserve the right to say that they screwed it up, but not until having seen the actual product. :D
Assuming Darksun is the next setting, here's a few things that I think will be true about it.
1. Dark Sun will be fully compatible - There won't be any special rules that make Dark Sun creatures, items, or characters underpowered or overpowered in other settings, and vice versa.
2. No core races will be excluded - Some might be listed as very rare, but in the process of fleshing out the whole world, WOTC will find a place for every core race to fit in.
3. No core classes will be excluded - The storyline will either be advanced, retconned, or expanded to leave room for every core class. Perhaps the return of the gods will be written in, or some substitute that can provide divine power will be provided.
4. The book formats will match the formats of previous books - Wizards isn't going to change things up by covering multiple eras in the world or anything like that.
5. Gladiator will be the new class in the Player's Guide - The biggest reason for Wizards to pick Dark Sun as the new campaign setting is simply the name recognition of the setting. I'd be willing to bet that the number of 4th edition costomers who actually played 2e Dark Sun and actually know much if anything about the setting is quite miniscule. However, a lot of people are at least familiar with the name, and if you ask them what dark sun is about, the two most common answers you'll get is that its about a desert and gladiators.
completely agree...
so here is my question...
how do you think the designers would advance the story line? and what would you do in order to fit all these races, classes, power sources... etc. into Dark Sun?
But that can't be done with the races. Gnomes are supposed to be wiped out. Same for orcs. What I would prefer is that they attempt to stick as close to the old fluff of Dark Sun as possible, but then add in side bars on "how to add such and such race." For example, the sidebar on gnomes might give the option to add them back in. The vast majority of the population of Dark Sun thinks they have been wiped out/doesn't know what a gnome is, because back when the purge against gnomes started gnomes adapted by learning how to hide. Since then, for generations, they have hidden in the shadows of the desert attempting to hide their existence from others.
This way, those of us who want to have a more "pure" Dark Sun could. And those of us who want the option to play and D&D core race could as well, as long as the rest of the group is ok with it.
completely agree...
so here is my question...
how do you think the designers would advance the story line? and what would you do in order to fit all these races, classes, power sources... etc. into Dark Sun?
The simplest method would probably be to have Dregoth succeed in his goal to become the first true god of Athas. With that power he could create true Dragonborn - some of whom may rebel against his tyranny. Dregoth's ascension would allow other deities to connect to Athas. The backlash would rearrange the planar network, allowing the beings of the feywild and shadowfell to return (remember, gnomes are fey).
I can see Dregoth ascending. I think that's what will happen.
I would bet that the inclusion of the Minotaur is a good sign that we will see DL in the near future, however with the release of the Psion as a class in PH3 confirmed, a 2nd Martial Power book (probably including the Gladiator) on the horizon I am betting that DS will be our next setting. I am not sure why they would bother with psionics early next year if the new setting for 2010 was DL. Not to mention that PoL setting, DL, FR are all basic fantasy settings with some fluff differences and fan base differences. Ebberon at least is a slightly different take, despite that I am not a huge fan. We need something which radically alters the play style and story tone to keep 4th ed. fresh. DS is a perfect way to do that, however to me DS was always D&D for adults. I don't want them to "clean it up" to sell more books to kiddies, I want it to retain it's dark, violent and oppressive tone. This is why it stood out. It was the only D&D setting to officially address slavery, environmental destruction and extreme violence.
With the state of the real world as far as poverty, hunger, active environmentalism and severe economic turmoil, DS would be a way for gamers to deal with these issues, not to mention that there was a similar social environment when the first DS was published in 1990-91.
Honestly I am also very concerned as to how they would advance the setting or reboot it. IMO the original box set and it's supplements combined with the artwork of BROM was the DS setting. The later, revised box and its supplements lost something of the "edge" that was present when DS was first released to the public.
Make my vote for a rated R or at least 17+ Dark Sun setting.
Of course, as Thorgrimr said, there are the Psions in PH3. I´m yet to believe in the whole Gladiator build for Martial Power 2 (let´s wait and see), but it would be a good thing. I´ll really start believing (rather than simply hoping) in DS as an official campaign setting, when I see something as a Mul or a Half-Giant as an official race.
Then again, those races could be showing up on the official DS book.
Cheers!
Marcio
My guess is that if FR is the High Fantasy setting and Eberron is the Pulp Fantasy setting, then Dark Sun is probably going to be the gritty, sword & sorcery setting.
By that reasoning, the next setting should be Conan or Lankhmar. ;)
Actually, now that I think about it... the rights for Conan are elsewhere ATM, but Lankhmar should be doable. Can't think of any hints that point that way, though.
for now here is what I see as + for DS:
1. Githyanki race seems to be confirmed for PHB3 (suggested by psion write-up)
2. Psion confirmed as a class in PHB3 (does DL do psionics? I don't think so)
3. DS opens up room for post Epic play (old Dragon Kings book if rehashed), which is something that has been hinted at in posts and articles, ie 31-40th level play.....however, I believe that would break the system, the options in DK book could be an alternate way to play the Epic levels.
4. Possible (non-confirmed) for Gladiator to be in Martial Power 2, which is on the schedule for early next year.
5. DS also addresses a new issue for Paragon and Epic play, that on Athas if you have had several experiences, you are known and what you gain in power and riches is quickly targeted by those below you....in FR, DL, etc. you could be an Epic character and still go unnoticed by the general public across the land....on Athas you would be well known and probably have some military/political pull as well.
6. PSIONICS - ok, this is the big one for me....there is virtually no other setting (unless it is new and unseen) which uses psionics en mass. Psionic classes, races which are well suited to psionics, and psionic artifacts are the realm of DS like no other. IF not DS, then why bother with the Psion class when they could do so many other things?
7. They published a article in Dragon not too long ago featuring a couple of deadly plants from Athas and its desert domain. These have 4th ed stats....why go to the trouble to put out a teaser so early if we aren't getting DS until 2011 or later? Seems like they could have made some DL related teaser.
OK, for now that is it....in general, I am just wanting it to be Dark Sun....however, I would like to stick to my guns and say that it needs to retain something of the original box set, not the revised/ watered down version.
thanks for listening/reading my rant.
pleasant gaming everyone.
Where did this rumor about a "gladiator" build showing up in Martial Power 2 start?
In someones fevered imagination. First we need a gladiator class, which we might see if DS is the next CS, but will probably be out after MP2.
Bel
Where did this rumor about a "gladiator" build showing up in Martial Power 2 start?
I have seen this mentioned a couple of other places on this forum and others online. It is a rumor (why I said it was unconfirmed), actually all of the topics in relation to the next setting would be classified as rumor until Wizards announces their intent.
I merely was suggesting that it could be a possibility, because if it were to be a new class build it would likely be featured in a PHB or a Martial Power product or in the DS Players Guide, should Wizards produce the setting.
However, that being said, there are a few 4e conversions already out for DS, or at least being worked on. My biggest concern about the possibility of DS in 2010 is the fate of Athas.org. They are the officially recognized source for DS by WotC. IF DS was the next setting would Athas.org only be permitted to publish 3 and 3.5 ed material or would its status be revoked? I assume it would be treated like any other fan site though.
IF DS was the next setting would Athas.org only be permitted to publish 3 and 3.5 ed material or would its status be revoked? I assume it would be treated like any other fan site though.
Don't take this as fact, but if 4e DS is released, I don't think wotc would allow anyone to continue to release "offical" 3e material. It doesn't support the current money maker, so its a potential competitor. Wotc would put an end to it, or Athas.org would no longer be considered offical and would become fan contributers much like DLN does for dragonlance.
I certainly hope Athas.org gets treated right, they are awesome and I'm a fan of their material for the most part. Over all a cool bunch of dudes too.
Both released the week after Gen Con.
DUN: Oasis of the Golden Peacock (19th)
DRA: Bazaar of the Bizarre: Primal (21st)
These seem to have a Deserty feel to them, I wonder if this is another hint....unless they really are going to do Al-Quadim...or whatever the Arabian setting was called.
This brings up another thought.....I wonder how primal would affect a DS reboot. I bet it would make quite a few things possible, or at least create an environment where Primal Power 2 could have some content....because you know they can't resist publishing that...
I just checked out the August editorial calendar....I have noticed a couple of things:
Both released the week after Gen Con.
DUN: Oasis of the Golden Peacock (19th)
DRA: Bazaar of the Bizarre: Primal (21st)
These seem to have a Deserty feel to them, I wonder if this is another hint....unless they really are going to do Al-Quadim...or whatever the Arabian setting was called.
This brings up another thought.....I wonder how primal would affect a DS reboot. I bet it would make quite a few things possible, or at least create an environment where Primal Power 2 could have some content....because you know they can't resist publishing that...
Bazaar of the Bizarre is a regular (if infrequent) feature in Dragon that covers unique items. So, no joy there.
However the Oasis of the Golden Peacock is a good clue.
Bel
DARK SUN 2010!!!!!
;)
Stay safe,
I wish I could contribute something meaningful to this thread, but I can't. It's all speculation. So, I will leave you with this waste of bytes...
DARK SUN 2010!!!!!
;)
Stay safe,
+1
I also would just like to add that if the next setting is Al-Quadim, I'm going to seriously wonder about wotc. I mean, Mystara is way more popular than Al-Quadim ever was (I'v yet to meet anyone in real life who was an actual fan of Al-Quadim, but I'v met many mystara fans.) We have 4e FR and EB, so we need settings people would actually play. I feel Al-Quadim would be ignored by most D&D gamers. FR and EB have genies, flying carpets and anything else Al-Quadim can offer can be found in either setting. If not, simple houserules can fix that.
Its either going to be darksun or dragonlance. Those are the strongest two choices. We have tons of darksun fans voicing their desire for a 4e setting, we have tons of dragonlance fans voicing their desire for a 4e setting.
I liked Al-Quadim back in 2e. It was fun, but I'm pretty sure its not the next setting.
I think we are finding connection where none are. Finding anything that could be a connection to fuel the rumors and hopes. The only thing that actually does support DS possibly being the next setting is the inclusion of psionics. Besides that its all ghost chasing.
Don't forget the fact that WotC is apparently going to start printing Dark Sun novels in the near future since they have an editor for Dark Sun novels.
I guess several of the posters to this thread had it right the first time...
GO DARK SUN GO!!!
2010
Don't forget the fact that WotC is apparently going to start printing Dark Sun novels in the near future since they have an editor for Dark Sun novels.
Yup, I forgot about that. I'm very much looking forward to new novels for DS. Dark sun never had many novels to begin with so I hope they come out with new stuff to progress the time period and events after the pendant series.
Thats the really great thing about this. No matter what happens, I get a setting I really love. Darksun or dragonlance. I win either way.:D
(not that it really matters since I'm just gonna rip out the parts I like and convert it to 3.5 anyways.
)I just checked out the August editorial calendar....I have noticed a couple of things:
Both released the week after Gen Con.
DUN: Oasis of the Golden Peacock (19th)
DRA: Bazaar of the Bizarre: Primal (21st)
These seem to have a Deserty feel to them, I wonder if this is another hint....unless they really are going to do Al-Quadim...or whatever the Arabian setting was called.
Hi guys, sorry to burst your bubble, but I wrote Oasis of the Golden Peacock and though its set in a desert, its not a Dark Sun adventure (or an Al-Qadim adventure for that matter). However, I hope you still like it.
There are no peacocks on athas anyway. ;)
Pffft, of course there are! It's just on Athas, they're fan-tailed psionic reptiles whose colored "plumage" masks them in with the desert rock, where they hide in wait for their favorite prey - Thri-kreen.
:P
Pffft, of course there are! It's just on Athas, they're fan-tailed psionic reptiles whose colored "plumage" masks them in with the desert rock, where they hide in wait for their favorite prey - Thri-kreen.
:P
I lol'd :3