5e isn't moving away from alignment that much, it's just making it more of an individual thing. There's a huge difference between saying "many elves within this culture think goblins are all inherently inclined to be evil" and saying "many elves within this culture think goblins are all inherently inclined to be evil, and by the way, they are canonically confirmed to be right!" 5e hasn't shied away from bad people doing bad things. The only thing it has moved away from is saying that some people are born inherently bad/inclined to be bad.
I can go on. Kleptomaniac high elves, cannibal halflings and thri-kreen a harsh and unforgiving climate, alignment is important in Dark Sun.
The dragons and their Templars are Evil, most if not all the cities are under their control. Defilers are evil or become it by the further destruction of the environment.
The whole Xenocide is based on racism. The first Dragon wants to wipe out all races but one. The one original Athas race.
No gods, a truncated psionic system, no metal, a need to really improve 5e rules about heat and exhaustion.
When you combine all of this and my previous points, and you need to adapt it to 21st centuries sensibilities and expectations, nothing will remain off the setting but the desert setting and a limited magic system.
It's a lot easier to make a new setting.
And yes, it seems Mull were already adapted in 4e.
Since WotC has already opened this pandora's box, Id like to see more non-humanoid race options. Perhaps some gaint-kin races/lineages to fit in with the subclasses from the previous UA. I dont think we necessarily need more options at this point, but it seems odd that the Fey are the only non-humanoid options. I suppose we may be getting Ooze and Monstrosity options if the Plasmoid and Thri-Kreen make it to print
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Since WotC has already opened this pandora's box, Id like to see more non-humanoid race options. Perhaps some gaint-kin races/lineages to fit in with the subclasses from the previous UA. I dont think we necessarily need more options at this point, but it seems odd that the Fey are the only non-humanoid options. I suppose we may be getting Ooze and Monstrosity options if the Plasmoid and Thri-Kreen make it to print
I don't know if Thri-Kreen characters would be monstrosities. Their MM counterpart is a Humanoid. But yeah I would love to see some other options. Maybe a Voadkyn, that would be nice.
If the firbolgs are a PC race, the next step could be the verbeegs, or a half-blood lineage.
Maybe WotC could create a new "label" for potentially "no-kid-safe" titles, for example for Ravenloft and Dark Sun, for example for a future "Vecna's Book of Vile Darkness" and "Book of Exalted Deeds". Or a label as "no-kid-friendly" or "this may need supervision by an adult".
There was a Greyhawk module with the title "Slavers". Other title against "Against the slave lords". Please, let's recover the good sense. It would be funny or ironic if in the next years there is a sword & sandal movie mentioning slavery in the Roman empire, and this ending all potential controversy about slavery in the speculative fiction. The army of the unsullied (from Game of Thrones) were slave-soldiers, and Missandei was a slave.
Hasbro would rather to publish things not easily "proxied" by other companies.
I hope the Thri-kreen makes it to print, it’s my favorite race.
It's been confirmed to be a playable race in the upcoming Spelljammer books, so it will be. However, like all races that go UA-to-official, it might change quite a bit mechanically.
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Since WotC has already opened this pandora's box, Id like to see more non-humanoid race options. Perhaps some gaint-kin races/lineages to fit in with the subclasses from the previous UA. I dont think we necessarily need more options at this point, but it seems odd that the Fey are the only non-humanoid options. I suppose we may be getting Ooze and Monstrosity options if the Plasmoid and Thri-Kreen make it to print
I don't know if Thri-Kreen characters would be monstrosities. Their MM counterpart is a Humanoid. But yeah I would love to see some other options. Maybe a Voadkyn, that would be nice.
In the UA the Thri-Kreen were monstrosities.
There was also the Autognome (which I forgot about) which is a Construct. Honestly, I think I would rather just have them reprint a setting-agnostic Warforged as a race that can be Small or Medium, is a Construct in type, and has some mixture of its original abilities and the autognome's (for example, as a construct it would need the "true life" feature). Something about it only ever being "gnomish" by lore and flavor just seems a bit silly to me.
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I hope the Thri-kreen makes it to print, it’s my favorite race.
It's been confirmed to be a playable race in the upcoming Spelljammer books, so it will be. However, like all races that go UA-to-official, it might change quite a bit mechanically.
I liked the UA version quite a bit. I hope it changes a little because it wasn’t quite right, but I hope the don’t drop the good parts.
Since WotC has already opened this pandora's box, Id like to see more non-humanoid race options. Perhaps some gaint-kin races/lineages to fit in with the subclasses from the previous UA. I dont think we necessarily need more options at this point, but it seems odd that the Fey are the only non-humanoid options. I suppose we may be getting Ooze and Monstrosity options if the Plasmoid and Thri-Kreen make it to print
I don't know if Thri-Kreen characters would be monstrosities. Their MM counterpart is a Humanoid. But yeah I would love to see some other options. Maybe a Voadkyn, that would be nice.
In the UA the Thri-Kreen were monstrosities.
There was also the Autognome (which I forgot about) which is a Construct. Honestly, I think I would rather just have them reprint a setting-agnostic Warforged as a race that can be Small or Medium, is a Construct in type, and has some mixture of its original abilities and the autognome's (for example, as a construct it would need the "true life" feature). Something about it only ever being "gnomish" by lore and flavor just seems a bit silly to me.
Since WotC has already opened this pandora's box, Id like to see more non-humanoid race options. Perhaps some gaint-kin races/lineages to fit in with the subclasses from the previous UA. I dont think we necessarily need more options at this point, but it seems odd that the Fey are the only non-humanoid options. I suppose we may be getting Ooze and Monstrosity options if the Plasmoid and Thri-Kreen make it to print
I don't know if Thri-Kreen characters would be monstrosities. Their MM counterpart is a Humanoid. But yeah I would love to see some other options. Maybe a Voadkyn, that would be nice.
In the UA the Thri-Kreen were monstrosities.
There was also the Autognome (which I forgot about) which is a Construct. Honestly, I think I would rather just have them reprint a setting-agnostic Warforged as a race that can be Small or Medium, is a Construct in type, and has some mixture of its original abilities and the autognome's (for example, as a construct it would need the "true life" feature). Something about it only ever being "gnomish" by lore and flavor just seems a bit silly to me.
I can go on. Kleptomaniac high elves, cannibal halflings and thri-kreen a harsh and unforgiving climate, alignment is important in Dark Sun.
Since when were "Kleptomaniac", or "Cannibal", or "Thri-Kreen" alignments?
Even if 5e were to remove alignment from Dark Sun (which it won't, because it's still a part of recent books), you can still have all of those things be exactly the same without alignment.
The dragons and their Templars are Evil, most if not all the cities are under their control. Defilers are evil or become it by the further destruction of the environment.
. . . So, you're saying that 5e can't have these things in Dark Sun, because the bad guys are fascists and making climate change worse gives you better magic. Yeah, no. That's just nonsense. If anything, the message about defiling/preserving is even more important now than it was back in AD&D 2e.
This isn't tied to alignment, and even if it was, they can make it clear that something is bad without listing it as "Chaotic Evil" or any other alignment.
The whole Xenocide is based on racism. The first Dragon wants to wipe out all races but one. The one original Athas race.
So, the bad guys are genocidal. Good. That makes the players feel even cooler when they kill them. This is not a problem.
No gods, a truncated psionic system, no metal, a need to really improve 5e rules about heat and exhaustion.
Ravnica doesn't have gods. Eberron may or may not have real gods.
Who cares about metal? Just make metal items way, way, way more expensive than usual. I don't see any reason why that would be a problem.
When you combine all of this and my previous points, and you need to adapt it to 21st centuries sensibilities and expectations, nothing will remain off the setting but the desert setting and a limited magic system.
"21st century sensibilities and expectations"? To me, "Fascists are genocidal monsters, people that destroy the environment to get power are bad, and atheism is normal" seem to be pretty freaking common "21st century sensibilities/expectations".
Yeah, none of these are problems. Like I said before, the biggest problems are mechanical. And even those aren't as big as what they had to do to translate Eberron to 5e.
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Dark Sun just feels really old school. While this is not necessarily a deal breaker, I remember feeling that way even when I ran it, which is why I homebrewed a lot of stuff. However, what Third Sundering says also makes a lot of sense, and those elements are things that WOTC could latch onto if they wanted to adapt Dark Sun to 5e and make it more palatable to contemporary tastes.
I can go on. Kleptomaniac high elves, cannibal halflings and thri-kreen a harsh and unforgiving climate, alignment is important in Dark Sun.
Since when were "Kleptomaniac", or "Cannibal", or "Thri-Kreen" alignments?
Even if 5e were to remove alignment from Dark Sun (which it won't, because it's still a part of recent books), you can still have all of those things be exactly the same without alignment.
The dragons and their Templars are Evil, most if not all the cities are under their control. Defilers are evil or become it by the further destruction of the environment.
. . . So, you're saying that 5e can't have these things in Dark Sun, because the bad guys are fascists and making climate change worse gives you better magic. Yeah, no. That's just nonsense. If anything, the message about defiling/preserving is even more important now than it was back in AD&D 2e.
This isn't tied to alignment, and even if it was, they can make it clear that something is bad without listing it as "Chaotic Evil" or any other alignment.
The whole Xenocide is based on racism. The first Dragon wants to wipe out all races but one. The one original Athas race.
So, the bad guys are genocidal. Good. That makes the players feel even cooler when they kill them. This is not a problem.
No gods, a truncated psionic system, no metal, a need to really improve 5e rules about heat and exhaustion.
Ravnica doesn't have gods. Eberron may or may not have real gods.
Who cares about metal? Just make metal items way, way, way more expensive than usual. I don't see any reason why that would be a problem.
When you combine all of this and my previous points, and you need to adapt it to 21st centuries sensibilities and expectations, nothing will remain off the setting but the desert setting and a limited magic system.
"21st century sensibilities and expectations"? To me, "Fascists are genocidal monsters, people that destroy the environment to get power are bad, and atheism is normal" seem to be pretty freaking common "21st century sensibilities/expectations".
Yeah, none of these are problems. Like I said before, the biggest problems are mechanical. And even those aren't as big as what they had to do to translate Eberron to 5e.
I still can't use the forum software without shouting at my screen, my appologies.
I agree with your reasoning. I just don't agree with your hope that WoTC will do it justice. For example: remember the way they handled the Vistani? The Elves in Dark Sun have the same problematic background. They are that worlds' version of the Roma with all the negative stereotypes WoTC, finally removed from the Vistani.
The setting is extremely limiting, for some this is a huge dealbreaker, for others not. For me, coming from 2nd, it wouldn't be. Yes we have the environmental rules, most of the time they're not necessary as 5e, mostly, ignores the exploration part. Here it will become front and centre. Death by heatstroke.
Remember how they removed the mention of slaves from the module with the Giants? How do you think that's going to work in Dark Sun?
How are they going to deal with cities and their economy, when that's based on the slave trade and gladiatorial combat. Where people are bred for slavery with no way out? Yes, they're evil, but that hasn't stopped WoTC in the past to try to remove that component of the game. In this case of the whole of civilization, something they have changed for most if not all species like the Drow and Orcs. Ignoring this comes perilously close to the "wir haben das nicht gewusst" defense after WWII.
The controversy this will/could create can and will have enormous negative consequences. And HASBRO doesn't like controversy.
Again, I agree with your idea of fighting Fascists and the environmental Apocalypse, but I don't think it's going to work without, or destroying the setting completely or causing an outcry that will cause damage to the DnD brand.
PS: Although, after rereading your points, I'm moderately more optimistic that maybe they can pull off the trick.
I still can't use the forum software without shouting at my screen, my appologies.
No problem. The quote-system of this site's forums is one of the worst I've ever used. It took me forever to get used to it.
I agree with your reasoning. I just don't agree with your hope that WoTC will do it justice.
Oh, I don't hope/believe that they'll do it justice. I just think it's possible, and that if it's not "done justice", it probably won't be because of the reasons you listed.
For example: remember the way they handled the Vistani? The Elves in Dark Sun have the same problematic background. They are that worlds' version of the Roma with all the negative stereotypes WoTC, finally removed from the Vistani.
They changed the Vistani because they were racist. If the Elves of Dark Sun are too similar to the cultural stereotypes of the Romani people, they definitely should change.
The setting is extremely limiting, for some this is a huge dealbreaker, for others not. For me, coming from 2nd, it wouldn't be. Yes we have the environmental rules, most of the time they're not necessary as 5e, mostly, ignores the exploration part. Here it will become front and centre. Death by heatstroke.
Theros is an extremely limiting setting. There are less playable races available in the setting than there are in the PHB, a lot of the classes have to have their flavor changed quite a bit to justify them in the setting (monks and artificers, mainly), and the world is quite small compared to most others.
Also, WotC has proved in adventures before that they can make 5e unforgiving to adventurers in the adventure's setting. Descent into Avernus, Tomb of Annihilation, and Rime of the Frostmaiden come to mind, mainly.
Remember how they removed the mention of slaves from the module with the Giants? How do you think that's going to work in Dark Sun?
How are they going to deal with cities and their economy, when that's based on the slave trade and gladiatorial combat. Where people are bred for slavery with no way out? Yes, they're evil, but that hasn't stopped WoTC in the past to try to remove that component of the game. In this case of the whole of civilization, something they have changed for most if not all species like the Drow and Orcs. Ignoring this comes perilously close to the "wir haben das nicht gewusst" defense after WWII.
shrug
I don't know. I don't know if WotC will go to far, like they have some times, but, from what I've seen, no one is asking them to remove slavery from Dark Sun.
As for the changes to Drow and Orcs, those were mainly to make the races more setting-agnostic and work better in 5e for Eberron, Exandria, and similar settings that don't have always/mostly-evil-Orcs/Drow.
The controversy this will/could create can and will have enormous negative consequences. And HASBRO doesn't like controversy. Again, I agree with your idea of fighting Fascists and the environmental Apocalypse, but I don't think it's going to work without, or destroying the setting completely or causing an outcry that will cause damage to the DnD brand.
I doubt that they'd change more than they did for Ravenloft, and that setting had quite a few genuine problems that needed changing in order to make the content less bigoted (Vistani particularly, but also the Caliban). Sure, they did make some changes that weren't based on the problematic parts of the setting, but those were what they thought would enhance the horror-aspects of the setting (separating the domains of dread, changing the gender of a few Dark Lords to make them be ripping off their source material a bit less, adding more lore to make the setting scarier).
PS: Although, after rereading your points, I'm moderately more optimistic that maybe they can pull off the trick.
You're welcome.
Don't misunderstand me, WotC will make at least one change that will anger older fans of the setting. They've done that with every updated setting in 5e so far. They changed Siberys Dragonmarks and Warforged and kept Dragonborn and Tieflings in Eberron, Ravenloft changed the Vistani, warped the Caliban into the Hexblood, gender-swapped multiple dark lords, got rid of the Core, and a few other changes that angered older fans of the setting, and Spelljammer is getting rid of the Phlogiston (and probably Crystal Spheres) and replacing it with the Astral Sea, like from 4e.
If/When Dark Sun gets updated to 5e, there will be at least one big change that angers older fans of the setting. It will probably be changing Half-Giants to Goliaths, or using the subclasses from Tasha's to represent Psionics in Tasha's, or keeping the Shadowfell and Feywild from 4e a part of the setting (even though I thought they were quite cool), or making Mul not always the product of r*pe. Or all of the above, and maybe some more.
Because WotC will change the setting, and some of the changes will probably be unnecessary. That is inevitable. And older players will complain about any changes to the setting, even if the majority of people prefer the changes. That is also inevitable. But the changes will probably be relatively minor and easy to ignore (except maybe Psionics), and the setting getting updated to 5e with minor changes is better than it not getting updated at all for most people (including me).
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Dark Sun just feels really old school. While this is not necessarily a deal breaker, I remember feeling that way even when I ran it, which is why I homebrewed a lot of stuff. However, what Third Sundering says also makes a lot of sense, and those elements are things that WOTC could latch onto if they wanted to adapt Dark Sun to 5e and make it more palatable to contemporary tastes.
Yes, but spelljammer is as old school as darksun. People who traveled on flying ships, space clowns and pirate vampires? Pure 90's gritted teeth. But I imagine they will modernize it.
The problem with Dark Sun is that its core is based on topics that are controversial today. But you can also work around that, and come up with a setting that doesn't create controversy. Well, that would also create controversy among the nostalgic offended by the changes, but I think you get what I mean.
In the next UA? I think they've been focusing on themes last few times. So, we had dragons, undead, space jam, the latest is giants. So if going with themes as their new style... Dark Sun sounds good but they might also have a Construct theme. Get our gears, lightning guns, and robots going. There would be some interesting options for subclasses for all the classes and they could add some new options for Artificers.
In the next UA? I think they've been focusing on themes last few times. So, we had dragons, undead, space jam, the latest is giants. So if going with themes as their new style... Dark Sun sounds good but they might also have a Construct theme. Get our gears, lightning guns, and robots going. There would be some interesting options for subclasses for all the classes and they could add some new options for Artificers.
I really hope they have a construct focused UA.
And we are seriously overdue for more Artificer builds
In the next UA? I think they've been focusing on themes last few times. So, we had dragons, undead, space jam, the latest is giants. So if going with themes as their new style... Dark Sun sounds good but they might also have a Construct theme. Get our gears, lightning guns, and robots going. There would be some interesting options for subclasses for all the classes and they could add some new options for Artificers.
I really hope they have a construct focused UA.
And we are seriously overdue for more Artificer builds
In the same way, I wouldnt mind seeing an Ooze focused UA. The plasmoid was just a taste of what could be.
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Speaking of thematic expansions (type Fizban's), I would like one of elementals. As creatures, they could include many different elementals. As character options, they could include elemental races. Not half elementals, which is what the genasi are for, but to play with an elemental of fire, earth, etc... Elemental subclasses could also be included, such as a fighter who can summon an elemental weapon (or infuse it, or whatever). Or a Wizard or Sorcerer who specializes in one element. As well as elemental patrons for the warlock, an elemental circle for the druid, various Divine Domains for the cleric, etc... I think thematically it could go a long way.
A thematic expansion based on divine/infernal creatures would also be interesting.
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5e isn't moving away from alignment that much, it's just making it more of an individual thing. There's a huge difference between saying "many elves within this culture think goblins are all inherently inclined to be evil" and saying "many elves within this culture think goblins are all inherently inclined to be evil, and by the way, they are canonically confirmed to be right!" 5e hasn't shied away from bad people doing bad things. The only thing it has moved away from is saying that some people are born inherently bad/inclined to be bad.
I can go on. Kleptomaniac high elves, cannibal halflings and thri-kreen a harsh and unforgiving climate, alignment is important in Dark Sun.
The dragons and their Templars are Evil, most if not all the cities are under their control. Defilers are evil or become it by the further destruction of the environment.
The whole Xenocide is based on racism. The first Dragon wants to wipe out all races but one. The one original Athas race.
No gods, a truncated psionic system, no metal, a need to really improve 5e rules about heat and exhaustion.
When you combine all of this and my previous points, and you need to adapt it to 21st centuries sensibilities and expectations, nothing will remain off the setting but the desert setting and a limited magic system.
It's a lot easier to make a new setting.
And yes, it seems Mull were already adapted in 4e.
Since WotC has already opened this pandora's box, Id like to see more non-humanoid race options. Perhaps some gaint-kin races/lineages to fit in with the subclasses from the previous UA. I dont think we necessarily need more options at this point, but it seems odd that the Fey are the only non-humanoid options. I suppose we may be getting Ooze and Monstrosity options if the Plasmoid and Thri-Kreen make it to print
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I hope the Thri-kreen makes it to print, it’s my favorite race.
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I don't know if Thri-Kreen characters would be monstrosities. Their MM counterpart is a Humanoid. But yeah I would love to see some other options. Maybe a Voadkyn, that would be nice.
If the firbolgs are a PC race, the next step could be the verbeegs, or a half-blood lineage.
Maybe WotC could create a new "label" for potentially "no-kid-safe" titles, for example for Ravenloft and Dark Sun, for example for a future "Vecna's Book of Vile Darkness" and "Book of Exalted Deeds". Or a label as "no-kid-friendly" or "this may need supervision by an adult".
There was a Greyhawk module with the title "Slavers". Other title against "Against the slave lords". Please, let's recover the good sense. It would be funny or ironic if in the next years there is a sword & sandal movie mentioning slavery in the Roman empire, and this ending all potential controversy about slavery in the speculative fiction. The army of the unsullied (from Game of Thrones) were slave-soldiers, and Missandei was a slave.
Hasbro would rather to publish things not easily "proxied" by other companies.
It's been confirmed to be a playable race in the upcoming Spelljammer books, so it will be. However, like all races that go UA-to-official, it might change quite a bit mechanically.
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In the UA the Thri-Kreen were monstrosities.
There was also the Autognome (which I forgot about) which is a Construct. Honestly, I think I would rather just have them reprint a setting-agnostic Warforged as a race that can be Small or Medium, is a Construct in type, and has some mixture of its original abilities and the autognome's (for example, as a construct it would need the "true life" feature). Something about it only ever being "gnomish" by lore and flavor just seems a bit silly to me.
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I liked the UA version quite a bit. I hope it changes a little because it wasn’t quite right, but I hope the don’t drop the good parts.
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I love the Autognome.
It was just a small Warforged.
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Since when were "Kleptomaniac", or "Cannibal", or "Thri-Kreen" alignments?
Even if 5e were to remove alignment from Dark Sun (which it won't, because it's still a part of recent books), you can still have all of those things be exactly the same without alignment.
. . . So, you're saying that 5e can't have these things in Dark Sun, because the bad guys are fascists and making climate change worse gives you better magic. Yeah, no. That's just nonsense. If anything, the message about defiling/preserving is even more important now than it was back in AD&D 2e.
This isn't tied to alignment, and even if it was, they can make it clear that something is bad without listing it as "Chaotic Evil" or any other alignment.
So, the bad guys are genocidal. Good. That makes the players feel even cooler when they kill them. This is not a problem.
Ravnica doesn't have gods. Eberron may or may not have real gods.
Who cares about metal? Just make metal items way, way, way more expensive than usual. I don't see any reason why that would be a problem.
5e already has suitable rules for heat/exhaustion. They can just reprint those from the DMG into the book, like they did for the arctic-exploration rules in Icewind Dale.
"21st century sensibilities and expectations"? To me, "Fascists are genocidal monsters, people that destroy the environment to get power are bad, and atheism is normal" seem to be pretty freaking common "21st century sensibilities/expectations".
Yeah, none of these are problems. Like I said before, the biggest problems are mechanical. And even those aren't as big as what they had to do to translate Eberron to 5e.
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Dark Sun just feels really old school. While this is not necessarily a deal breaker, I remember feeling that way even when I ran it, which is why I homebrewed a lot of stuff. However, what Third Sundering says also makes a lot of sense, and those elements are things that WOTC could latch onto if they wanted to adapt Dark Sun to 5e and make it more palatable to contemporary tastes.
I still can't use the forum software without shouting at my screen, my appologies.
I agree with your reasoning. I just don't agree with your hope that WoTC will do it justice. For example: remember the way they handled the Vistani? The Elves in Dark Sun have the same problematic background. They are that worlds' version of the Roma with all the negative stereotypes WoTC, finally removed from the Vistani.
The setting is extremely limiting, for some this is a huge dealbreaker, for others not. For me, coming from 2nd, it wouldn't be. Yes we have the environmental rules, most of the time they're not necessary as 5e, mostly, ignores the exploration part. Here it will become front and centre. Death by heatstroke.
Remember how they removed the mention of slaves from the module with the Giants? How do you think that's going to work in Dark Sun?
How are they going to deal with cities and their economy, when that's based on the slave trade and gladiatorial combat. Where people are bred for slavery with no way out? Yes, they're evil, but that hasn't stopped WoTC in the past to try to remove that component of the game. In this case of the whole of civilization, something they have changed for most if not all species like the Drow and Orcs. Ignoring this comes perilously close to the "wir haben das nicht gewusst" defense after WWII.
The controversy this will/could create can and will have enormous negative consequences. And HASBRO doesn't like controversy.
Again, I agree with your idea of fighting Fascists and the environmental Apocalypse, but I don't think it's going to work without, or destroying the setting completely or causing an outcry that will cause damage to the DnD brand.
PS: Although, after rereading your points, I'm moderately more optimistic that maybe they can pull off the trick.
No problem. The quote-system of this site's forums is one of the worst I've ever used. It took me forever to get used to it.
Oh, I don't hope/believe that they'll do it justice. I just think it's possible, and that if it's not "done justice", it probably won't be because of the reasons you listed.
They changed the Vistani because they were racist. If the Elves of Dark Sun are too similar to the cultural stereotypes of the Romani people, they definitely should change.
Theros is an extremely limiting setting. There are less playable races available in the setting than there are in the PHB, a lot of the classes have to have their flavor changed quite a bit to justify them in the setting (monks and artificers, mainly), and the world is quite small compared to most others.
Also, WotC has proved in adventures before that they can make 5e unforgiving to adventurers in the adventure's setting. Descent into Avernus, Tomb of Annihilation, and Rime of the Frostmaiden come to mind, mainly.
shrug
I don't know. I don't know if WotC will go to far, like they have some times, but, from what I've seen, no one is asking them to remove slavery from Dark Sun.
As for the changes to Drow and Orcs, those were mainly to make the races more setting-agnostic and work better in 5e for Eberron, Exandria, and similar settings that don't have always/mostly-evil-Orcs/Drow.
I doubt that they'd change more than they did for Ravenloft, and that setting had quite a few genuine problems that needed changing in order to make the content less bigoted (Vistani particularly, but also the Caliban). Sure, they did make some changes that weren't based on the problematic parts of the setting, but those were what they thought would enhance the horror-aspects of the setting (separating the domains of dread, changing the gender of a few Dark Lords to make them be ripping off their source material a bit less, adding more lore to make the setting scarier).
You're welcome.
Don't misunderstand me, WotC will make at least one change that will anger older fans of the setting. They've done that with every updated setting in 5e so far. They changed Siberys Dragonmarks and Warforged and kept Dragonborn and Tieflings in Eberron, Ravenloft changed the Vistani, warped the Caliban into the Hexblood, gender-swapped multiple dark lords, got rid of the Core, and a few other changes that angered older fans of the setting, and Spelljammer is getting rid of the Phlogiston (and probably Crystal Spheres) and replacing it with the Astral Sea, like from 4e.
If/When Dark Sun gets updated to 5e, there will be at least one big change that angers older fans of the setting. It will probably be changing Half-Giants to Goliaths, or using the subclasses from Tasha's to represent Psionics in Tasha's, or keeping the Shadowfell and Feywild from 4e a part of the setting (even though I thought they were quite cool), or making Mul not always the product of r*pe. Or all of the above, and maybe some more.
Because WotC will change the setting, and some of the changes will probably be unnecessary. That is inevitable. And older players will complain about any changes to the setting, even if the majority of people prefer the changes. That is also inevitable. But the changes will probably be relatively minor and easy to ignore (except maybe Psionics), and the setting getting updated to 5e with minor changes is better than it not getting updated at all for most people (including me).
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Yes, but spelljammer is as old school as darksun. People who traveled on flying ships, space clowns and pirate vampires? Pure 90's gritted teeth. But I imagine they will modernize it.
The problem with Dark Sun is that its core is based on topics that are controversial today. But you can also work around that, and come up with a setting that doesn't create controversy. Well, that would also create controversy among the nostalgic offended by the changes, but I think you get what I mean.
In the next UA? I think they've been focusing on themes last few times. So, we had dragons, undead, space jam, the latest is giants. So if going with themes as their new style... Dark Sun sounds good but they might also have a Construct theme. Get our gears, lightning guns, and robots going. There would be some interesting options for subclasses for all the classes and they could add some new options for Artificers.
I really hope they have a construct focused UA.
And we are seriously overdue for more Artificer builds
In the same way, I wouldnt mind seeing an Ooze focused UA. The plasmoid was just a taste of what could be.
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Speaking of thematic expansions (type Fizban's), I would like one of elementals.
As creatures, they could include many different elementals.
As character options, they could include elemental races. Not half elementals, which is what the genasi are for, but to play with an elemental of fire, earth, etc... Elemental subclasses could also be included, such as a fighter who can summon an elemental weapon (or infuse it, or whatever). Or a Wizard or Sorcerer who specializes in one element. As well as elemental patrons for the warlock, an elemental circle for the druid, various Divine Domains for the cleric, etc...
I think thematically it could go a long way.
A thematic expansion based on divine/infernal creatures would also be interesting.