So... Dark Sun

Well, as the title says, i'm thinking about running Dark Sun with DW. Obviously there are a ton of things to do (Psionics, Races), but i think that it can work really well.

What do you think? Do you have any ideas? I have a few of my own, will post them when i have the time...

I have never played Dark Sun and have nothing to offer but my encouragement.  I think it would be a worthy endeavor.

Encouragement from me too!

My advice is don't overcook the goose when planning this one. Just think about the distinctive elements of Dark Sun and check the rules cover these.

My list would be:
- Cannibal Halflings, running Elves, Tri-kreen, Mul and Half Giants. Sounds like a few race moves for the classes would cover this. (But don't go to the trouble of making rules for the giants size.)
- Psionics. I think about 10 specific psionic abilities would do it with a random assignment. If you're a purist you might want the Psionic class as well.
- Variable quality weapons. So we could add a couple of tags, like maybe flimsy, wooden or stone that make cheap weapons suck a little more. Re-flavouring the armour types down would also solve the metal problem.
- Journey's without water. The journey rules cover rations which could be refocussed to water pretty well. But we need to make water much harder to get. This plus the weapons, suggests an adjusted equipment list.
- I wouldn't go overboard on the distinctive classes. Poisoning Bards: If we hack the Thief poisoning into Bard we'd have to hack up something new for the Thief so I wouldn't bother. A quick re-write of the flavour of Clerics or Paladins could get you Templars. Addition of something "Defile the surrounding land" to the 7-9 for Cast a Spell would cover Defilers and tempt Preservers. I'd call the Gladiator a type of Fighter and call that a day.
- Tougher characters: I'd leave this as the current rules should be fine.

What else?

Number Appearing's lumbering races (I forget the exact name and I'm mobile at the moment) can perfectly represent half-giants.  I also agree that you shouldn't bother making rules for their size(no mechanics, no bonuses, no penalties), but it should definitely be fictional.

Called them Towering Brutes.

Happy to hit people up with an advanced copy if it helps them make other hacks. Just send me a message.

Great ideas all... i was thinking the same for bards, just giving them all the poison abilities from the thief. For weapon materials i was just thinking of adding a new choice for Hack & Slash 7-9: if your weapon isnt made of metal, it breaks.

I was thinking of giving 1 extra move (the wild talents) to every class, and make a list of them so everyone can choose... minor telekinesis, precognition etc...

Keep it up!

So you have seen the two AW hacks of Dark Sun, right?

Dark Sol and Dark Sol II. There's certainly ideas to be found in them.

 

For weapon materials i was just thinking of adding a new choice for Hack & Slash 7-9: if your weapon isnt made of metal, it breaks.

Wouldn't that be something that happens on a miss? I could easily see a tag "non-metal" with the rule: "on a miss, your weapon breaks".

Yeah, I'd say makeshift or non-metal as a tag is easiest.

So you have seen the two AW hacks of Dark Sun, right?

Dark Sol and Dark Sol II. There's certainly ideas to be found in them.

So many good hacks. I keep forgetting to trawl the history here.

This does raise the question though, would starting with AW get closer to a non-D&D but more powerful version of Dark Sun?

I think it's a matter of theme. If you want to underline the apocalyptic theme, start hacking AW until you get to Dark Sun. If you want to underline the fantasy theme, start with DW and add apocalyptica.

Both approaches have their strengths and weaknesses. If you start with AW, you have to basically re-iterate the whole process of DW to come up with races and classes. If you start with DW, you have to add apocalyptica. But you could follow in the footsteps of the original Dark Sun boxed set.

The design question is: what seems to be easier? Or just take AW and DW and produce their love child: Dungeon Apocalypse.

The core of the game are the playbooks. With DW, you already have those. With AW, you have to start from scratch. But AW describes the necessities of apocalypse fronts better. So, I would go with both.

Yeah, this is what I was thinking.

Not sure you'd need to hack that much to get AW playbooks to Dark Sun. We played Space Hulk style apocalypse with zero changes to AW recently and it worked fine. The playbooks in AW are right set for 'political' Dark Sun you might just need to hack on gear and change some move names.

However, I'd probably play it with DW as Dark Sun and I have Hx I doubt I could get over.

Quote from: javierk on July 01, 2012, 12:41:39 AM

For weapon materials i was just thinking of adding a new choice for Hack & Slash 7-9: if your weapon isnt made of metal, it breaks.

Wouldn't that be something that happens on a miss? I could easily see a tag "non-metal" with the rule: "on a miss, your weapon breaks".

You're right, but i'd prefer the breaking of the weapon to be a choice (like DnD 4e does), than you know, missing AND breaking.

I see. I was thinking of "weapon breaks" as part of a hard move or golden opportunity on a 6-. Maybe like this:

6-: either the GM gets a golden opportunity or your weapon breaks.

I see. I was thinking of "weapon breaks" as part of a hard move or golden opportunity on a 6-. Maybe like this:

6-: either the GM gets a golden opportunity or your weapon breaks.

I dont see why we cant have both. Your version also keeps a choice, and i like it

I don't think stone/wood/bone weapons and breakage needs any fiddling with the rules, just a tag.  And your stone/wood/bone weapon breaking is just an easy (and encouraged) thing to invoke on a 7-9 Defy Danger or Hack & Slash result.