D&D 4e - Dark Sun Campaign Setting Review

Let's take to the gorgeous, lush and sandy beaches of the utopian world of Athas!

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Dark Sun
• D&D 4e
• Roleplaying Games
• D20

[ikkeheltvanlig]

I personally was turned off by the dual book thing, became too pricy which held me off for too long. I got them now, but didn't buy them.

I absolutely love Dark Sun. It's gritty, and punishing - especially for a good-aligned arcane user ;-)

[NuclearClown]

@ikkeheltvanlig It's a really nice change from the standard Lord of the RIngs fantasy rip off world. This is what I loved about the old D&D settings, a few of them had some really great flavors to them.

Ravenloft, Birthright, Dark Sun...all unique and different. For me, Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk were just too damn generic for my taste. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[Thaumatolgist]

On things you did not review... I think the addition of "Theme" to character generation was welcome and brilliant, and I believe that was a great source of campaign specific flavor without having to rewrite stats for Elves. Does it change things that much if you said Athasian Elves get +2 Con instead of Dex or whatever?

[NuclearClown]

@Thaumatolgist Funny you should mention the Themes! When recorded this review was about a half hour long and I had to do some heavy editing to fit it into youtube. On the full version I do go into themes, and while I like the idea in theory, I dislike that you get powers based on your theme, particularly because 95% of all powers are damage/movement/miniature based.

I really miss the flavor powers and stuff. Now everything is reduced to "How does this help me kill". Thanks for commenting!

[xferalhumanx]

I think the reason they made the creature catalog and the setting are 2 different books is the player and DM would have to go back and forth with the book. that might be it?

[willdoseago]

Dark Sun = Dune - Frank Herbert books.

[PseudoCentaur]

Dark Sun sounds really neat, especially since you mentioned the Elves are like Gypsies, (of course keeping their stats and junk the same is weird), I'd do a Elf Psionicist definately if i ever had the chance.

[Thaumatolgist]

@NuclearClown I agree with the sentiment, but if we accept that the core "engine" of 4E is an encounter-centric tactical miniatures combat... It is the way it has to be. There is no reason at all you can't have as many "flavor" powers as you like. Those should be run with the DM ad hoc. But from a rules sense, why have "flavor" and "Kill things" powers compete for the same slot? I at least give them props for throwing in the Psionic Wild Talent "cantrips" for flavor/fun.

[Thaumatolgist]

On Weapon Breakage, I agree it is somewhat weak and probably won't see much use, but remember that Equipment is really integral to encounter balance. Adding a "positive" benefit to rolling a 1 is not bad here because of what it does... It tempts you to gamble your +3 Flaming Obsidian Sword. Too bad so sad it is gone.

[Thaumatolgist]

On using "stock" race stats like Elves... They didn't want to invalidate the PHB and otehr books. If they rewrote everything it would be a standalone game instead of a setting.

On Magic Items, again they are so integral to the game mechanics (not the setting) that it would have been very hard to remove them. As is they employ the optional advancement rules so that you retain balance with fewer Magic Items than usual.