More 4th edition

[nar]

very nice ^^

[SageGenesis]

New round of errata here: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/updates

And oh my god there's some good changes here. Some of the most broken abuses are fixed. Here's a small selection of other interesting changes:
* Marked conditions explicitly end now when the creator falls unconscious, which is good for all those poor defenders who encouraged monsters to coup de grace them.
* Tiefling's Infernal Wrath now is an instant retribution (which happens to have great synergy with Darkspiral Aura, ha!).
* The stacking rule for auras now only counts for penalties, meaning the damage now adds up for all auras!
* You can now explicitly take free actions after a charge, which is good news for Wardens.
* Many movement-related skills are now part of any kind of movement. This means you can now jump while charging (which Jeroen's Fighter did yesterday, but technically was an illegal move).

[SageGenesis]

Hmmm... Dark Sun...

[MaszaH]

damn that looks good!

[voh]

Dark Sun

[JLT*]

That mul is armed to the teeth ^_^ chin is a bit small, tho..

[SageGenesis]

If Bruce Campbell were to play a Mul, you'd still think the chin was too small...

[SageGenesis]

To follow up on a promise I made last night to Ben, here's my version of what's up with Dark Sun.

Previous D&D settings were fairly typical "magic medieval Europe" affairs where one common sentiment was always present:

"More"

There was always another ruin to explore, another arch-fiend to thwart, but also more treasures to be found and more wonders to be seen. This is most apparent in the Forgotten Realms, which in its most infamous TSR days had a literal surplus of heroes. If you stumble across a threat to some big city, you should essentially be able to leave it alone, knowing that Elminster will take care of it. Or Drizzt. Or one of the Seven Sisters. Or Khelben Blackstaff. Or the Harpers. Or...

The theme of Dark Sun was unprecedented:

"Not enough"

Not enough life. Not enough water. Not enough iron. Not enough heroes. Not enough hope.

It also reversed many of the common expectations of D&D game play;
* Gods don't exist, replaced by raw primal forces in the wilderness or capricious Sorcerer-Kings in the cities.
* Magic is regarded as dangerous and vile - and this perception is correct.
* Psychic powers instead are widespread.
* Many classical D&D entities are absent. There are no gnomes, no orcs, no horses, no ogres, no goblins, no kobolds, etc.
* Replacing these are bizarre desert mutant insects, lizards, and creepy-crawlies.
* Some of the D&D elements that remained are vastly different. Halflings are more pygmy cannibals than hobbits. Elves are gypsy-nomads instead of wise fairy princesses. Dwarves are stocky, tough people - but not particularly mountainous or even beardy.
* With the shortage of metal and magic, even enchanted swords were not an option. You're far more likely to fashion some kind of axe by strapping a flint edge onto a bone handle. Your armor is chitin stripped from some kind of wasteland scorpion. Gold coins? An absurd dream, you'll have to make do with bartering and coins made from baked clay.
* Magic medieval Europe? Nope. More a cross between magical Egypt, Babylon, and Tenochtitlan. It's all ziggurats and sandy dunes.
* And, my personal favorite, literacy is a skill restricted to nobles, templars, and merchant princes. If by some bizarre twist of fate your rugged mercenary can read, he can be executed for that crime.

In short, it was the most awesome balls-out heavy metal (correction: heavy obsidian) setting ever made. It was a world of mutant marauders being put into gladiatorial combat with captured mantis-people. Psychic barbarians prowling the dusk, under the light of two moons, stalking a herd of scarab-gecko monsters.

Fuck yeah!

And then... the revised edition of Dark Sun came along. Also known as, "that one version that fucked it all up."

The secret past of the world was ret-conned into some bullshit about halflings being benevolent bio-technicians who accidentally caused the apocalypse of their ocean world. By literally turning the sun dark and covering the whole damn place with red-brown algae. The most badass tyrants of the setting were killed by NPC heroes, and one city became a free democracy where magic was allowed and welcomed and slavery was abolished overnight (god only knows how their economic system survived that one). The absence of races like orcs was revealed to be because of one halfling who discovered magic in order to save his dying world (their bio-mancer accident had caused halflings to mutate into other species, previously only they existed), went on a genocide with human cohorts, and ultimately he was betrayed. Why he thought that taking on human henchmen was a good idea for his nazi halfling crusade, nobody knows. Or why he thought that developing a skill that parasited life from the world, could somehow benefit the environment. Oh, and there were space-faring grasshopper people who established an empire just beyond the edge of the map.

As fucking grade-A LSD as that all sounds, the setting was never really quite the same. It's sort of hard to feel gritty desperation when you've got a benevolent magical utopia where you can hang out.

[nar]

that's an excellent synopsis! i liked the sound of a lot of what i see here and the rest is very interesting from a historical point of view

so what's it like now? have they effected a return to older themes or are they staying the course more?

[SageGenesis]

Well, what it really is like we'll have to find out later this year.

But so far I heard good things. They're bringing back the grit and the nastiness. That free city I mentioned is still in, they haven't reversed that event - but the fallout is very different. The place is practically in a state of civil war, with multiple factions trying to fill the power vacuum. They have freedom, perhaps, but no more certainties. Their life is now anarchy.

In other cities, news of this event is only just starting to reach people. Travel is far and dangerous, and thus not very common. Many can simply not believe it. Those who do are very worried: the other Sorcerer-Kings will not allow a repeat of that event in their own cities, and to squash anybody even thinking about it (remember: psionics is common) they'll likely get increasingly draconian.

In short: The tyrant has been killed, the people have been freed. And now everything sucks even more.

[SageGenesis]

Ah and just as I give my history of Dark Sun, WotC gives their own. Copy-pasta from their site;


Core Concepts of the Setting

Rich: The first step of the design process was to hold a big concept meeting and examine the core concepts of the Dark Sun setting. It was a crowded room; we have a lot of Dark Sun fans around the office. Anyway, we started throwing questions and statements up on the big white board, trying to get at the key concepts. What is it that makes Dark Sun what it is? What *had* to be true in our 4th Edition version to make our new release a Dark Sun setting? Many of the answers were obvious: it

[SageGenesis]

All them conditions too hard to remember? Consider using Weem's condition cards:
http://www.theweem.com/2010/06/20/weems-...ion-cards/

[goldylox]

Want me to print out 9 sets of them on cardboard for dorkfest™?

[SageGenesis]

9 sets might be a bit much, but a few sets on good cardboard could be useful. And then we can keep using them on mondays.

[goldylox]

It will be arranged

[SageGenesis]

And it's another new round of updates, just in time for Dorkfest too.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/updates

Some real nasty abuses have been cleaned up. Always nice. Most important changes:
* Tumble now lets you shift up to your speed, instead of up to one-half your speed.
* Magic Missile is restored to former glory, and now auto-hits without needing an attack roll. Damage is reduced though.

[SageGenesis]

Dark Sun!











Also check out this preview article, that really describes how fucking metal the setting is.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?...x/20100716

[JLT*]

This is awesome

Wanneer beginnen we? 18 augustus? ^_^

[JLT*]

geen idee waar de oude darksun spullen gebleven zijn trouwens...

[nar]

lol, i know i'm waiting with bated breath for my DS books to arrive

[SageGenesis]

JLT* Wrote:geen idee waar de oude darksun spullen gebleven zijn trouwens...

Ik zou eens bij Mark zoeken als ik jou was.

[scroipt]

Belphanior Wrote:JLT* wrote:

geen idee waar de oude darksun spullen gebleven zijn trouwens...

Ik zou eens bij Mark zoeken als ik jou was.

Ik ook :-)

Ik heb iig nog een paar stukken ervan.

[SageGenesis]

With monster design getting better and better with each year, the original MM is starting to show its age. Especially when it comes to solos. But now it appears those beasties will get some upgrades. From the previous Gen Con:




Edit:

To compare, the old version.

[SageGenesis]

WotC updates their generic skill difficulties (again).
http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?...0September


But, the explanations for the math is sound, so it would seem that the third time's the charm.

[SageGenesis]

WotC released the "Red Box", a new introduction piece to the D&D game. Apparently this is being celebrated with flash videos.

Red Box Ninjas