Post by Gilvan Blight on Sept 16, 2010 20:00:08 GMT -5
Quickly: It still feels and plays like Dark Sun which is awesome.
Summary:
I'm still in shock that Dark Sun was re-released. Dark Sun was an AD&D 2nd edition setting that was released back in 1991. It was unique in that it broke all of the traditional fantasy molds. Instead of great heroes rescuing damsels and saving kingdoms you now had brutal Half Dwarf Muls and Insectoid Thri-Kreen trying to throw off the yoke of slavery and just survive in a world that barely supported life. It was completely different and I loved it!
Needless to say I was excited to hear that Dark Sun was getting the 4e treatment. I was also scared. 4e has a very different almost super heroic feel and is more about having fun and doing cool things then surviving near death experiences and being happy you lived though an adventure (save vs. Death anyone?). I was very worried I was about to see a new happy everyone has a good time no one dies and everyone gets lots of magic items Dark Sun. Thank the Gods (who still don't exist in DS) that is not what I got with the Dark Sun Campaign Setting.
The Dark Sun Campaign setting is 222 pages of brutal harshness in an unforgiving world. Exactly what Dark Sun was and should be. There are some changes from the original editions though, more about those later.
The book is divided into 7 chapters. This information is for both players and DMs and there is no clear distinction on which sections are for which type of player though it's pretty easy to figure that out. This diverts from the existing way 4e Campaign settings had been published. In the past there was always a Player's book and a Campaign guide for the DM. I really don't know why this was changed for Dark Sun. I can speculate that they wanted to only publish two books and felt the Monster Manual was needed more then separate player and DM books, though I don't actually know the real answer.
The first chapter, is just an introduction that introduces players and DM's into the setting. There's a great section called Eight Characteristics of Athas that really explains how this setting is different from your usual Fantasy RPG setting. In short it's a desert, it's brutal, metal is uber rare, magic messes up the world and life on it, big bad dudes rule the world from city states, there are no gods, there are monsters everywhere and the races have adapted to this world in interesting ways.
The second chapter talks about the World. This is a more detailed explanation on what makes this setting unique and details specifics about the game world. This is quickly followed by the Races of Athas which introduces the Mul and the Thri-Kreen to the 4th edition rules. Besides the new races and paragon paths for each there is also a lot of information on how existing races are different here. I'm still a fan of Cannibalistic head-hunting halflings.
Chapter three is, in my opinion the best chapter of the book. It introduces a new concept to 4th edition, Character Themes. Themes are an additional role or element you add to your character that better defines their place in Dark Sun. The interesting part is that all themes are open to all classes. So you may be a Fighter, but are also a Gladiator or perhaps a Dune Trader. Interestingly many of the old Classes from AD&D Dark Sun are now Themes, like the aforementioned Gladiator and the Templar. Themes give your character access to a specific encounter power at creation. In addition when leveling up you have the option of taking new powers from your class or your theme. I personally was amused to notice that the free encounter power buffs up the powers of first level characters to closer to 3rd level normal D&D characters and 3rd level used to be the level you start at in AD&D Dark Sun.
The 4th Chapter is titled Character Options and goes into distinct campaign based options for your new character. There are the rules for Defiling and Preserving, Psionic Wild Talents, new builds for the Battlemind, Fighter, Shaman and Warlock. Epic destinies, feats, rituals and unique Dark Sun equipment. The wild talents bring in the option of the 'everyone has a psionic power' that was a big part of the original Dark Sun. I was pleased to see the new 'weapon multiclass' rules used here. These are rules that first appeared in Dragon Magazine (and the Dragon Annual) that use the Multi-class rules to allow characters to specialize in a weapon or weapon type and gives them access to unique powers.
The 5th Chapter is confusing to me. I can't tell if it's for DMs or Players. Titled: Atlas of Athas, it contains information on the cities and wilderness of the world. What's odd here is the mix of information characters would probably know with adventure hooks and NPC information for DMs. Either way it's a very interesting chapter that gives a ton of adventure hooks and great encounter sites to use in your game.
The Final Chapter is called Running a Dark Sun Game. This chapter is pretty much DM only. There are tips on creating adventures that fit the Dark Sun theme along with rules for travel, survival and encounter building. There is a rather interesting section on rewards that modifies the normal "parcel" system to fit in better with the low magic campaign setting. Interestingly the Inherent Bonus system is strongly suggested and a modified progression chart is given. To go along with this rules for non-item based magic are given that really fit the feel of the world.
The end of the book finishes with an excellent index (thank you!) and a really nice fold out map of The Tyr Region.
So how have things held up over 2 edition changes? The feel of the world is still there. Athas is still just as brutal and unforgiving as ever. Things have been changed to fit the more heroic feel of 4e though. You won't be making higher level characters (though the free encounter power from your theme will make it feel like it), you won't be making 4 characters so you have backups for when your characters die, you won't be a psionic master (unless you choose a psionic character class) and you won't be playing an evil Templar. The 4th edition theme of larger then life heroic characters still stands here, as does the points of light setting. The background was updated to fit 4e as well and I thought it was brilliant to do an 'alternate reality' of the core setting by having the Primordials win the battle vs. the Gods. You also won't be worrying about all the little things anymore. Piecemeal armor is gone, weapon breakage has been significantly simplified, starvation thirst and exposure have been converted to a simple 'survival day' system, defiling is almost glazed over and only affects daily powers (feats and paragon paths can modify this) and preserving is now the default.
The Good:
It still feels and looks like Dark Sun. There are minor changes to the setting and rules but overall it still has the feel and look of the world I grew to love. Pretty much everything that made Dark Sun cool and different is still here and all of it adapted well to the 4th edition rules.
The new Theme rules are brilliant and I seriously hope we see these rules expand out to other campaign settings include the core setting. They are an excellent way to add extra customization and flavour to a character and remind me fondly of the old AD&D "Complete books" which made that system for me. The new character options are all great and I love the new weapon specialization feats. I thought they were brilliant when I first read about them in Dragon and I'm happy to see them ported into Dark Sun.
The way treasure and magic is handled along with the inherent bonus system really works for the setting. This was something I was worried about with 4e and Dark Sun and they made it work. Some of the new magic items that aren't items are great. I love the idea of a Gladiatorial Arena Glory Boon as a magic item.
The Bad:
I wasn't a huge fan of how almost all of the existing 4e races were worked into the setting. In the old version there were many races that had been wiped out from Athas completely this is worked in as an optional rule but there are less restrictions to character race. Personally I just don't see Dark Sun as a place for Dragonborn and Teiflings. I was also disappointed that we didn't see more new races or actual mechanic changes to existing races. For example where are the rules for playing Aarakocra and Pterran and why don't Elves now run faster? I think most disappointing was the loss of the Half Giant as a playable race, the Goliath is a logical but so much less cool substitute.
I was somewhat disappointed with some of the simplifications. I love the fact that there are rules for Psionic Wild talents but was very disappointed to only have 10 or so new ones and all of them being about as useful as the Mage Cantrips (Mage Hand, Light, etc). For a setting that used to scream psionics this was a bit of a let down. The rules for Survival Days abstract desert survival too much for me as well. I guess I'm old school but I liked having to calculate how much water the party had left to the ounce and checking the encumbrance when the party decided to add a Half-Giant to the group and had to bring 4 times the amount of supplies to keep him healthy.
The last minor disappointment was the fact this book was created with both players and DMs in mind. I would have preferred the two book system we saw with Forgotten Realms and Ebberon. The Atlas chapter is especially conflicting as it seems to have information that is most definitely DM only (like telling you a certain high ranking person is a member of the Veiled Alliance) combined with information any inhabitant of Athas should know (Kalak is dead, and there is Freedom in Tyr).
The Ugly
The biggest disappointment to me both rules and flavour wise were the rules for preserving and defiling. The old system made preserving hard and actually rewarded you for defiling even in a small amount. This made the system feel somewhat Star Wars like with the constant temptation to use Defiling. The rules now assume preserving by default and it is no harder then using Arcane Powers as written. Defiling only comes up when you miss on a daily power and then when it does come up the price is far too high to be tempting. Your only benefit is a re-roll (which could miss again) and you have to damage all of your allies (to the tune of their surge value). Now there is a feat that extends this power to Encounter powers and there is a Paragon Path that adds even more benefit to defiling but to me that's too little too late. I've been considering giving the encounter based defiling feat free just to encourage more defiling or at least increase the temptation to use defiling.
My last complaint is one of editing. See page (XX) is just unacceptable to me, and it's in there at least two times (I seem to remember 4 but haven't went back to check). Oddly this is all in the last chapter, which makes me think someone forgot to Select all and hit Ctrl-F on that file before it was compiled into the book. Then right after getting past all the references to the Malkavian Clanbook by White Wolf, the next section has a 3 encounter adventure in which it tells you to place the characters near the X on two maps... two maps with no X's on them. Come on WotC? Don't you give these books out to people to playtest and read? I'm sure you have editors, use them. I don't know how much this bugs the average person but for some reason it drives me nuts.
Overall:
Dark Sun was by far my favourite setting for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition, and the release of an updated 4th edition filled me with excitement and dread. Thankfully most of that dread was misplaced. This is still the Dark Sun I knew and loved. Sure there are minor changes but it still feels the same and that's what matters most to me. Some of the changes like the new Theme system are totally brilliant and make me hope they spread to other settings. Others I wasn't a fan of, especially the way Preserving and Defiling are handled. If you played and liked the old setting there's a lot to love here and very little to complain about. If you missed out on the original and want a unique setting that's unlike anything else in Heroic Fantasy I strongly suggest checking this title out.
Summary:
I'm still in shock that Dark Sun was re-released. Dark Sun was an AD&D 2nd edition setting that was released back in 1991. It was unique in that it broke all of the traditional fantasy molds. Instead of great heroes rescuing damsels and saving kingdoms you now had brutal Half Dwarf Muls and Insectoid Thri-Kreen trying to throw off the yoke of slavery and just survive in a world that barely supported life. It was completely different and I loved it!
Needless to say I was excited to hear that Dark Sun was getting the 4e treatment. I was also scared. 4e has a very different almost super heroic feel and is more about having fun and doing cool things then surviving near death experiences and being happy you lived though an adventure (save vs. Death anyone?). I was very worried I was about to see a new happy everyone has a good time no one dies and everyone gets lots of magic items Dark Sun. Thank the Gods (who still don't exist in DS) that is not what I got with the Dark Sun Campaign Setting.
The Dark Sun Campaign setting is 222 pages of brutal harshness in an unforgiving world. Exactly what Dark Sun was and should be. There are some changes from the original editions though, more about those later.
The book is divided into 7 chapters. This information is for both players and DMs and there is no clear distinction on which sections are for which type of player though it's pretty easy to figure that out. This diverts from the existing way 4e Campaign settings had been published. In the past there was always a Player's book and a Campaign guide for the DM. I really don't know why this was changed for Dark Sun. I can speculate that they wanted to only publish two books and felt the Monster Manual was needed more then separate player and DM books, though I don't actually know the real answer.
The first chapter, is just an introduction that introduces players and DM's into the setting. There's a great section called Eight Characteristics of Athas that really explains how this setting is different from your usual Fantasy RPG setting. In short it's a desert, it's brutal, metal is uber rare, magic messes up the world and life on it, big bad dudes rule the world from city states, there are no gods, there are monsters everywhere and the races have adapted to this world in interesting ways.
The second chapter talks about the World. This is a more detailed explanation on what makes this setting unique and details specifics about the game world. This is quickly followed by the Races of Athas which introduces the Mul and the Thri-Kreen to the 4th edition rules. Besides the new races and paragon paths for each there is also a lot of information on how existing races are different here. I'm still a fan of Cannibalistic head-hunting halflings.
Chapter three is, in my opinion the best chapter of the book. It introduces a new concept to 4th edition, Character Themes. Themes are an additional role or element you add to your character that better defines their place in Dark Sun. The interesting part is that all themes are open to all classes. So you may be a Fighter, but are also a Gladiator or perhaps a Dune Trader. Interestingly many of the old Classes from AD&D Dark Sun are now Themes, like the aforementioned Gladiator and the Templar. Themes give your character access to a specific encounter power at creation. In addition when leveling up you have the option of taking new powers from your class or your theme. I personally was amused to notice that the free encounter power buffs up the powers of first level characters to closer to 3rd level normal D&D characters and 3rd level used to be the level you start at in AD&D Dark Sun.
The 4th Chapter is titled Character Options and goes into distinct campaign based options for your new character. There are the rules for Defiling and Preserving, Psionic Wild Talents, new builds for the Battlemind, Fighter, Shaman and Warlock. Epic destinies, feats, rituals and unique Dark Sun equipment. The wild talents bring in the option of the 'everyone has a psionic power' that was a big part of the original Dark Sun. I was pleased to see the new 'weapon multiclass' rules used here. These are rules that first appeared in Dragon Magazine (and the Dragon Annual) that use the Multi-class rules to allow characters to specialize in a weapon or weapon type and gives them access to unique powers.
The 5th Chapter is confusing to me. I can't tell if it's for DMs or Players. Titled: Atlas of Athas, it contains information on the cities and wilderness of the world. What's odd here is the mix of information characters would probably know with adventure hooks and NPC information for DMs. Either way it's a very interesting chapter that gives a ton of adventure hooks and great encounter sites to use in your game.
The Final Chapter is called Running a Dark Sun Game. This chapter is pretty much DM only. There are tips on creating adventures that fit the Dark Sun theme along with rules for travel, survival and encounter building. There is a rather interesting section on rewards that modifies the normal "parcel" system to fit in better with the low magic campaign setting. Interestingly the Inherent Bonus system is strongly suggested and a modified progression chart is given. To go along with this rules for non-item based magic are given that really fit the feel of the world.
The end of the book finishes with an excellent index (thank you!) and a really nice fold out map of The Tyr Region.
So how have things held up over 2 edition changes? The feel of the world is still there. Athas is still just as brutal and unforgiving as ever. Things have been changed to fit the more heroic feel of 4e though. You won't be making higher level characters (though the free encounter power from your theme will make it feel like it), you won't be making 4 characters so you have backups for when your characters die, you won't be a psionic master (unless you choose a psionic character class) and you won't be playing an evil Templar. The 4th edition theme of larger then life heroic characters still stands here, as does the points of light setting. The background was updated to fit 4e as well and I thought it was brilliant to do an 'alternate reality' of the core setting by having the Primordials win the battle vs. the Gods. You also won't be worrying about all the little things anymore. Piecemeal armor is gone, weapon breakage has been significantly simplified, starvation thirst and exposure have been converted to a simple 'survival day' system, defiling is almost glazed over and only affects daily powers (feats and paragon paths can modify this) and preserving is now the default.
The Good:
It still feels and looks like Dark Sun. There are minor changes to the setting and rules but overall it still has the feel and look of the world I grew to love. Pretty much everything that made Dark Sun cool and different is still here and all of it adapted well to the 4th edition rules.
The new Theme rules are brilliant and I seriously hope we see these rules expand out to other campaign settings include the core setting. They are an excellent way to add extra customization and flavour to a character and remind me fondly of the old AD&D "Complete books" which made that system for me. The new character options are all great and I love the new weapon specialization feats. I thought they were brilliant when I first read about them in Dragon and I'm happy to see them ported into Dark Sun.
The way treasure and magic is handled along with the inherent bonus system really works for the setting. This was something I was worried about with 4e and Dark Sun and they made it work. Some of the new magic items that aren't items are great. I love the idea of a Gladiatorial Arena Glory Boon as a magic item.
The Bad:
I wasn't a huge fan of how almost all of the existing 4e races were worked into the setting. In the old version there were many races that had been wiped out from Athas completely this is worked in as an optional rule but there are less restrictions to character race. Personally I just don't see Dark Sun as a place for Dragonborn and Teiflings. I was also disappointed that we didn't see more new races or actual mechanic changes to existing races. For example where are the rules for playing Aarakocra and Pterran and why don't Elves now run faster? I think most disappointing was the loss of the Half Giant as a playable race, the Goliath is a logical but so much less cool substitute.
I was somewhat disappointed with some of the simplifications. I love the fact that there are rules for Psionic Wild talents but was very disappointed to only have 10 or so new ones and all of them being about as useful as the Mage Cantrips (Mage Hand, Light, etc). For a setting that used to scream psionics this was a bit of a let down. The rules for Survival Days abstract desert survival too much for me as well. I guess I'm old school but I liked having to calculate how much water the party had left to the ounce and checking the encumbrance when the party decided to add a Half-Giant to the group and had to bring 4 times the amount of supplies to keep him healthy.
The last minor disappointment was the fact this book was created with both players and DMs in mind. I would have preferred the two book system we saw with Forgotten Realms and Ebberon. The Atlas chapter is especially conflicting as it seems to have information that is most definitely DM only (like telling you a certain high ranking person is a member of the Veiled Alliance) combined with information any inhabitant of Athas should know (Kalak is dead, and there is Freedom in Tyr).
The Ugly
The biggest disappointment to me both rules and flavour wise were the rules for preserving and defiling. The old system made preserving hard and actually rewarded you for defiling even in a small amount. This made the system feel somewhat Star Wars like with the constant temptation to use Defiling. The rules now assume preserving by default and it is no harder then using Arcane Powers as written. Defiling only comes up when you miss on a daily power and then when it does come up the price is far too high to be tempting. Your only benefit is a re-roll (which could miss again) and you have to damage all of your allies (to the tune of their surge value). Now there is a feat that extends this power to Encounter powers and there is a Paragon Path that adds even more benefit to defiling but to me that's too little too late. I've been considering giving the encounter based defiling feat free just to encourage more defiling or at least increase the temptation to use defiling.
My last complaint is one of editing. See page (XX) is just unacceptable to me, and it's in there at least two times (I seem to remember 4 but haven't went back to check). Oddly this is all in the last chapter, which makes me think someone forgot to Select all and hit Ctrl-F on that file before it was compiled into the book. Then right after getting past all the references to the Malkavian Clanbook by White Wolf, the next section has a 3 encounter adventure in which it tells you to place the characters near the X on two maps... two maps with no X's on them. Come on WotC? Don't you give these books out to people to playtest and read? I'm sure you have editors, use them. I don't know how much this bugs the average person but for some reason it drives me nuts.
Overall:
Dark Sun was by far my favourite setting for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition, and the release of an updated 4th edition filled me with excitement and dread. Thankfully most of that dread was misplaced. This is still the Dark Sun I knew and loved. Sure there are minor changes but it still feels the same and that's what matters most to me. Some of the changes like the new Theme system are totally brilliant and make me hope they spread to other settings. Others I wasn't a fan of, especially the way Preserving and Defiling are handled. If you played and liked the old setting there's a lot to love here and very little to complain about. If you missed out on the original and want a unique setting that's unlike anything else in Heroic Fantasy I strongly suggest checking this title out.