Riddle of the Dark Sun

[Judd]

Okay, some day I'd love to run Planescape with the Riddle but right now I am intrigued with Riddling the ole boxed set, Dark Sun.

I'll have to tinker with the races, figure out how I want psionics and magic to operate and come up with rules for obsidian weapons but it should be fun.

Anyone who wants to put stat numbers, and which priority slot each race would be, please go head...what was there?  Half-Giant, Thri-Kreen, feral, cannabalistic Halflings, long-striding Elves, hairless Dwarves, sterile, brutal Muls.

Just seems like it'd be fun.

[prophet118]

that ones going to be a fairly hard convert, though not as rough as converting snd ed AD&D DS, to 3rd ed....lol

[prophet118]

i also hope to see conversions of the weapons...lol, i love to see a chatcka, or gythka in ROS rules.....lol

[arxhon]

Well, from what i recall of Dark Sun, the thri-kreen and mul were the more powerful races. Therefore, they should be priority A, while the rest should be B or C.

Everyone would have sorceror abilities, in keeping with the whole "everyone is psionic"..

I'd be afraid to GM this game, but  by all means, let us know how it goes!

[Judd]

Well, from what i recall of Dark Sun, the thri-kreen and mul were the more powerful races. Therefore, they should be priority A, while the rest should be B or C.

I would say that Half-Giants might be Priority A too...they'd be nasty.

Everyone would have sorceror abilities, in keeping with the whole "everyone is psionic"..

Just one power per person, their Wild Talent or whatever.  Not quite sure yet how i'm going to deal with that, we'll see.

At this point this campaign idea is just idle speculation, if it happens I'll post it in Actual Play, no doubt.

Thanks.

[prophet118]

see the problems is dark sun, is tha there are too many races to do in a priority system such as this....

you had Elves, Halflings, Humans, Muls, Dwarves, Pterrans, Aarakocra, half-giants, and thri kreens.....

it would take a bit to do it

[Drew Stevens]

Well...
I don't have the core rulebook yet, but there is a Gifts/Flaws system, yes?  Would it be possible to turn the Racial choice from 'Chose a race' to 'Get some number of freebie bonus Gift points' which can be used to purchase a Race?

[Judd]

I probably wouldn't use Aaracroka, just the races inthe first boxed set.  

I think the priority system could work really well with this.  I dunno.  

Half-Giants, Wizards, and Thri-Kreen in A.

Muls, Dwarves, and Elves in B

Halflings and Humans from C on down.

Could work...

[prophet118]

im actually not quite sure which box set i have, mine has the cloth map, the way of pscionics book, the main race/class book, and one other book, though i cant remember which......also has the normal wall map

[Judd]

Oooh, cloth map.

That must be the second edition.  

If a player really wanted to play an Aaracroka, I probably woulnd't forbid it...

[Judd]

Well...
I don't have the core rulebook yet, but there is a Gifts/Flaws system, yes?  Would it be possible to turn the Racial choice from 'Chose a race' to 'Get some number of freebie bonus Gift points' which can be used to purchase a Race?

It would probably just be easier to plug each race into a priority bracket.  But thanks!

A friend of mine just got out of the hospital and we might get together and Riddle our way through Dark Sun this week some time.  Neat.

[Clinton R. Nixon]

I think you could rock some Dark Sun with the Riddle of Steel, although I'd suggest changing the setting around some.

First, the magic is already ready for Dark Sun. Change the aging to be that everything around you ages, including you. Have the radius be equal to the ATN of the spell x 10 yards. For example, a character is casting an ATN 8 spell, and ends up having 3 months of aging. That character, all other characters around, trees, grass, plants, animals, and whatever else is within 80 yards ages three months. Voila! The Defiler.

If you want psionics - and that's a big if for me - make it a set of skills, dealt with as a priority. (Priority A - all skills at 7; B - all at 8; C - all at 9; D - two at 9, rest at 12; E - one at 9, rest at 12; F - all at 12.) The skills should be wide: Telekinesis, Mental Combat, Thermokinesis, Telepathy, Clairvoyence, etc. Make easy charts for modifiers to the skill based on certain actions. Voila! Psionics.

If you want to go that extra step and have the elemental priests - set a magic priority (B perhaps) to play one of these people, and limit Vagaries to appropriate ones, as well as declare that all effects must incorporate the character's element. Eliminate aging as is, and instead have aging effects be a temporary bit of damage to the character - Pain and Shock equal to the number of months the character would age normally. This Pain heals at the rate one point/hour. Voila! Priests.

(Personally, I'd drop the priests, never have Preservers - which you notice I didn't put in - and make Defilers real rare.)

The races shouldn't be too hard, actually, but I'll not do them here, as I don't own the boxed set anymore.

[Judd]

Psionics as skills, that is a brilliant touch.  Thanks.

I also like the everyone ages thing...that is awesome.

Yeah, I think getting rid of preservers might be kinda neat, makes all magic evil and makes the Veiled Alliance a bunch of underground Witch-Hunters.  

Nice.

Thanks again, if I get to run this I'll post it in the Actual Play forum and letcha know how it ran.

[Drew Stevens]

I would actually, just to make the defiler Really Evil (and the preserver an actual, meaningful difference- as opposed to casting or advancing slower) that plantlife around the Defiler ages- But Not the Defiler Himself.  Whereas the preserver ages /only/ themself- preserving the planet, but at a cost.

The main disadvantage of Defiling (that people hate, fear, and lynch you- and it's /really/ hard to cover up those patches of ancient dust you tend to leave around) is still fully intact, but it's a much more interesting moral decision.  Further, it allows a wizard to cross back and forth between the two, as seemed to be the thinking early on (at least, from the way I remember the Prism Pentad.)

[Judd]

Fantastic idea, making it a moral decision about the aging and further destruction of everything around you.  NICE.

Thanks.

All great ideas, neat.