Is it time for a new Dark Sun game?

[Sacred82]

some new Dark Sun-inspired system-agnostic setting book that even had a concept prog album to go with it

Spoiler

 

[Hobo Elf]

By the way, the original writer of the setting had kickstarted some new Dark Sun-inspired system-agnostic setting book that even had a concept prog album to go with it. What happened to that?

I have the book. It's pretty good. Fantastic art, interesting lore and world building. It shares lots of similarities with Dark Sun, but it's not a literal Dark Sun 2.0. A very well put together book imo. I'd be happy to see a cRPG done in that setting.

 

[xxxCatholicKillahxxx]

The Buck Rogers/John Carter of Mars -> Flash Gordon -> Star Wars way would be the best to follow. An aping homage that belongs to the developer and can be expanded upon if possible and/or necessary.

Though if it was the time for a new Dark Sun game in one form or another it would already be in development. Where there is a will there is a way.

 

[Theldaran]

Dark Sun doesn't draw much attention anymore.

Also we're at an all-time low on D&D videogames. With experiences like Sword Coast Legends, that's not strange at all.

 

[pippin]

Dark Sun doesn't draw much attention anymore.

There was a comic made a few years ago. Perhaps the average public is too used to FR as the "only" D&D setting.

 

[Theldaran]

Perhaps the average public is too used to FR as the "only" D&D setting.

I think Wizards themselves promote FR as the true and only setting. It's sad, because rather than buying endless rulebooks for munchkins I'd much prefer they sold actually well-done, interesting settings. Building a veritable world is hard and some of us don't have much talent as writers. Besides, there's always the temptation or the negligence to put really stupid things into the setting that a wiser GM would cut.

There are some genres that are very cool. I mourn the demise of Ravenloft myself, even though I'm aware that it didn't integrate too well with the mechanics (horror setting where you fearlessly cut down monsters -- the only way to make it a bit veritable is to make the monsters and villains horribly overpowered). Something could be tried in that vein, or maybe some hardcore Lovecraftian/Conan cosmic horror setting with high mortality, I dunno.

I only know that in TSR's times the imagination for new settings seemed boundless. Do capable writers care about D&D today?

 

[Neanderthal]

Past fucking time if you ask me. Them settings o 90s where they were trying to break mold of AD&D settings were brilliant, Planescape, Birthright, Ravenloft etc.

Ere were it true that Athas were Oerth but a loada years in future, kept hearing that rumour when it first came out but never saw it verified, never thought of Oerth as a Halfling ruled world either. Though admittedly I never went much beyond Flannaes an Sea of Dust.

 

[Wulfstand]

FUCK yes, I'm sick and tired of ye old Medieval European cRPGS. Give me more Arcanums, Planescapes, Dark Suns and Morrowinds!

 

[Keldryn]

I only know that in TSR's times the imagination for new settings seemed boundless. Do capable writers care about D&D today?

I think it has a lot more to do with financial concerns than a lack of imagination. By the mid-90s TSR was publishing full-fledged product lines for ten different campaign settings (Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Mystara, Planescape, Spelljammer, Birthright, Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Al-Qadim). This isn't even counting the small sub-lines within the Forgotten Realms brand (Mazitca, Kara-Tur, The Horde) and the D&D Gazetteers/Mystara (Hollow World, Savage Coast). Then there were a few one-off settings as well (each of the Historical Reference books would count, plus Council of Wyrms, etc).

The way I understand it, TSR was losing money on most of these. They were fragmenting their customer base with so many different product lines that were in competition with one another (to some degree; it's not like I didn't own stuff from most/all of them at the time). It was one poor financial decision among many made by TSR that sunk the company. Hence, after WotC bought out TSR, they axed most of the campaign settings and focused on books that were more generic in nature. Forgotten Realms was obviously the most popular and the most profitable, so they kept it and brought out the new book early in 3e's lifespan. I suspect that they kept Greyhawk more because people on the team wanted it than because it was especially popular or profitable at that point in time.

I agree that the settings of the early-mid 90s were fantastic (Dark Sun, Planescape, Birthright in particular), but they never seemed to get the traction as Forgotten Realms. And while I greatly dislike the FR, I do have a fondness for the original "grey box" campaign setting. Before the massive supplement bloat and reams of shitty novels.

Anyway, Dark Sun. Of all of TSR's settings, I would say that Dark Sun has the best chance of being brought back as a tabletop setting (which would make a CRPG based on it more likely). It's the only one from the list above that got an official 4e version. It's different enough from Forgotten Realms (and Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Mystara, Birthright) without being as weird as Planescape or Spelljammer. It would be a great candidate for a one-year focus from WotC: release a campaign setting book, an adventure path set in it, and then leave it alone.

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

TBH, as soon as I heard about Obsidian's Tyranny, and saw the early 'waste-landish' pics, I thought they were going for something vaguely along the lines of Dark Sun.

 

[Outlander]

Fuck no, is nothing sacred anymore to you people?

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

At this point in time, pretty much everything has been raped in the guts.

And it will continue.

On topic, I would totally love to get a new, turn based Dark Sun crpg as long as it was treated with respect.

 

[Latro]

Give it to an indie like Harebrained but make sure they aren't SJW euros.


wait a minute...

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

We know that Harebrained won't do romances at least.

 

[Excidium II]

We know that Harebrained won't do romances at least.

Well the only thing their shadowrun games are missing from romances is the fade-to-black sex. Because you already act as a counselor to help your maladjusted companions cope with their emoshunal issues.

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

Now that you put it that way, Harebrained is messed up! They force the player into being an emoshunal tampon.

 

[Keldryn]

This. 4e's Dark Sun was awesome. Fuck the books raping the goddamn canon, entertaining as they are. People think OWoD had a stupid metaplot, try Dark Sun killing off almost all of the sorceror kings in 9 novels. And then the official adventures reflecting that. Disgusting.

I think that I read the first four Prism Pentad novels way back when they first came out, and then never bothered with the fifth. I gave upon on TSR D&D-based novels entirely by around 1994. I don't have a problem with a line of novels supporting a campaign setting, but they should be treated as a self-contained entity and not be incorporated into future official game products for the setting.

We were thinking that Eberron would be next but it looks like that's gonna be Storm King's Thunder, another FR book. That being said: Dark Sun and Eberron consistently top the polls when people ask for a new setting on WotC website. So they should know that the market is there, and they are "focusing" on developing a full psionicist class....(again, might just mean eberron tho)

Note that I did say "TSR's settings" and not "D&D settings."

Eberron is of course one of the most likely settings to get an official 5e version within the next couple of years. Which is cool, because I really like the setting and I would rank it up there with the best of TSR's settings from the 90s. Considering that Eberron and Dark Sun were the next (and only) two settings to get an official 4e update after the Forgotten Realms, I think it's very likely that those will be the first two that we see for 5e as well. A single-player Eberron CRPG would be pretty damn cool, come to think of it. A Greyhawk or Dragonlance CRPG wouldn't really look that visually distinct from a Forgotten Realms one, but a Dark Sun game definitely would, and an Eberron game could look pretty distinct if it really focused on the noir aesthetic and featured locations like Sharn, the lightning rail, etc.

 

[Jaesun]

Turn-Based D&D games, or get the fuck out.

 

[Theldaran]

Dragonlance CRPG? I thought even Weis & Hickman got tired of writing for it. Dragonlance is in a ghastly state. Here, Dragonlance is known among fantasy readers than in some cases don't know shit about D&D. But, come to think of it, they would probably buy the CRPG, but probably they'd expect a storyfag game. I mean, with heavy lore, since Dragonlance's plotlines are hardly innovative; the characters are better, though, seeing as the writers are somewhat accomplished.

In the end, companies feel compelled to milk the old cow time and time again. Heck, even Black Isle didn't deplete the Sword Coast and did a refreshing change of pace and place with the Icewind Dales. Nah, I fear we'll be having FR for quite some time. Me, I'd prefer some swashbuckling with something like Freeport or Pathfinder's Razor Coast, it would be a delightful change. Besides, with Sea of Thieves and whatnot, that thing will be popular soon.

 

[Keldryn]

Dragonlance CRPG? I thought even Weis & Hickman got tired of writing for it. Dragonlance is in a ghastly state. Here, Dragonlance is known among fantasy readers than in some cases don't know shit about D&D. But, come to think of it, they would probably buy the CRPG, but probably they'd expect a storyfag game. I mean, with heavy lore, since Dragonlance's plotlines are hardly innovative; the characters are better, though, seeing as the writers are somewhat accomplished.

Dragonlance was fine for the original series of novels and game adventures (DL1 through 12; the "War of the Lance" proto Adventure Path). The world was pretty much designed for that storyline, and in my opinion the world was just too small to really support much else. Pretty much every major location in Ansalon played a role in the War of the Lance storyline. Taladas, the "other side of the world" (as detailed in the Time of the Dragon set and in Dark Queen of Krynn) was much more interesting as a campaign setting and also much better suited for open-ended RPG play. Ansalon always just felt too narrow in scope for me.

And while I very much enjoyed the original Chronicles series when I first read them (1987, so I would have been 13), I re-read them about 10 years ago and ... wow are they poorly written and amateurish. Legends was a tremendous improvement in the quality of the writing. And pretty much everything published after Legends completely ruined the setting over and over again.

 

[Theldaran]

I agree. War of the Lance was fine, for what it was: a self-contained story about Good vanquishing Evil and some interesting characters like Raistlin. But since it was successful, they decided to milk it off with more novels than you can count, till everybody was fucking tired of it all and it died unceremoniously. Most novels were crap anyway (Jean Rabe huh).

I guess Dragonlance would have to conquer a new audience. Back then, adolescents dug it (I was 10 when my brother got the first Chronicles book for a trip). The thing is, would today's adolescents care for it? They sure would need another batch of tolerable writers like Weis & Hickman. In fact, Dragonlance was the Twilight of 15-20 years before, but Twilight is far too bad. It just proves the general decline of Western civilisation. From The Lord of the Rings, to 50 Shades of Grey. Real neat.

 

[Neanderthal]

I read Twins trilogy first, one Chrimbo while I had flu, lied downstairs on settee half delirious an wi all decorations an tree lights givin me a fairly good trip. Best Christmas i've ever had. Read three Dragons of yadda yadda a few months later an thought they were utter shit in comparison. Laurana is most fuckin blatant Mary Sue theres ever been, Sturm one o few likeable characters dies, an nobody slaughters that fuckin thievin hobbit.

After that setting seemed to degenerate into cataclysm of the week.

Wouldn't mind an RPG set in Greyhawk, in actual Greyhawk City, Jewel o Flannaes an all that. They've got city all mapped out in boxed campaign setting they released, an you could do someat like first Witcher game, perhaps take inspiration from Falcon series of adventures or Gygax' Saga of Old City. Could be stonking, probably never happen though.

 

[Theldaran]

Greyhawk was named in the local jargon translation "Falcongrís" (almost literal with a nice olden touch), I took a liking to calling it Falcon Crest

 

[Azalin]

Laurana is most fuckin blatant Mary Sue theres ever been,

What did you expect,she was based on Hickman's wife Laura after all

 

[DarkArcher]

Nothing wrong with Dark Sun, but Hasbro won't be doing it any time soon.