http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20090814

Dark Sun is the best kind of sun. Everything about this setting owned. The modules, the novels, the PC games. So much fun. So at least if every mmo coming out in 2010 sucks dick, I have one guaranteed thing not to suck in which to look forward to.

I never played in this campaign setting, but I did try to run my own setting in a 2E game back in college. A couple of the players kept wanting to import the rules for Thri-kreen and psionics into the game. All I remember is it made a huge, confusing mess of things. But that could have been because they were min/maxing rules lawyers to begin with, and killed the pace of the game.

psionics in second and third editions was... well, munchkin.

so far from what I've read about fourth edition is that the munchkin factor is low, and that you can concentrate more on the story.

I loved Dark Sun. The very fact that you had to create your characters at fourth level because otherwise you'd die of environmental hazards was kind of cool. Along with cannibal halflings, psionic plants, and the sorcerer-kings. We ran a high level campaign in Dark Sun and once we all got max level, the various things we had to do to increase in level and power was freaking awesome.

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World of Warcraft: Kallaystra, Gweila, Steakumn, Tarathia [ Feathermoon/Horde ]

Is this what Dark Sun Online was based on? I played that when it was beta shortly before the UOL beta was released. I remember playing it on a 14,400 modem the graphics were not the greatest, but it was damn interesting playing an online video game with other players back then, this must of been around 1993~

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Jake Rivers - Senex Legio
Get off my Lawn alliance

It's still D&D4e so fuck that...

4e will make for better PC games, and probably a better MMO with Neverwinter Nights Online.

4e actually makes for better tabletop too. more story, less monty haul/dungeon crawl/hack and slash required, and combat is resolved rather quickly.

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World of Warcraft: Kallaystra, Gweila, Steakumn, Tarathia [ Feathermoon/Horde ]

It just feels that 4E goes towards that "miniatures required" thing. Not as in you have to buy blister packs to play, but you have to set up a clear space and organize every battle map.

I just remember playing 2E where at times we barely had enough room to roll dice. Of course it's all moot now since I haven't found a group to play pnp in a decade. le sigh.

Not a fan of minitaures, Bz? Grid-oriented combat is my favorite aspect of the game (4E, 3E, or otherwise). Not only does it allow players to explore a new type of strategy, but - at least for me - it makes the game a little more tangible and engrossing.

I've no experience with Dark Sun, but it sounds awesome. I look forward to running a campaign in this setting when it's released.

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I have recently gotten back in to D&D w/ 4E because my totally awesome Girlfriend of the last 6 months said to me one day a phrase that told me she was a keeper ;"I have always wanted to play D&D." God Bless Her!

Anyway, the only things I am not too crazy about are a couple of the races (dragonborn, eladrin and teiflings). But I like the rules. And I agree with those above that said it will make for a good PC game or even an MMO.

As for the miniature game, well doesn't this just get back to D&D's roots with chainmail miniatures?

I didn't care for the version of D&D that had all those different books for character options.

As far as rules are concerned, so what if it is D20, all your d6s (Shadowrun, Mechwarrior/Battletech) just percentile (Star Frontiers) or Diceless (Amber). Its a game. Play and enjoy or go to the Used Book Store and find some lost treasures.

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Damn. That's about as awesome (and rare) as "let's watch a porno". Congrats!

It's mostly just nostalgia, really. I was introduced to D&D with those boxed sets, but it was 2nd Ed. D&D that hooked me and I worked with. No miniatures required and THAC0 would pinpoint the retards in your group. (Seriously, it's not that hard!) There was no reason for miniatures and I could keep my combat as fast and loose as I wanted, but the option to grid a table for an epic battle was still there.

Now I'm not saying this is a bad move, it looks pretty decent and all that, but from past experience, every time I've had to deal with miniatures in any game, it's essentially a tedious drawn out experience that I usually only had to deal with for the really important battles. Not my cup of tea. *shrug*

we never use miniatures, we just use a grid on a dry erase board ;P

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World of Warcraft: Kallaystra, Gweila, Steakumn, Tarathia [ Feathermoon/Horde ]

Aw, c'mon. Minis deserve more love.

The groups I play with have taken to using a projector in lieu of a traditional battle map. An example. It looks good, there's no cleanup, and it makes for faster turnaround when you adjust the map (assuming the software you're using is adequate, and MapTool is).

Of course, this requires an invest in a projector. You also need to either spend time getting your hands on maps, be it through mooching (there are a number of free, online sources and communities for this) or creating your own. I took a crack at map-making for a recent module (gigantic pics: one, two). I was and remain so very proud of the railway in the second map. Incidentally, 'paths' in Photoshop are amazing (once you've learnt what they do).

We've also had success experimenting with rendering MapTool directly to a big, upright television. Instead of using physical minis (confounded gravity!), we just overlay tokens - a feature of MapTool. Visually speaking, the television is far superior to a projected map, and players can enjoy the reclaimed table space.

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Correction: this is map number two. I linked to the same map twice.