So, due to some home reorganization, I was in a position where my old dark sun boxed sets were right next to my pretty new Iron Heroes books.. and the idea struck!
Dark Sun would make a great alternate campaign world for Iron Heroes. the Psionic focus from Dark sun would have to be re-worked for IH, but I think it's doable.
anyone else think it's a good idea, or am I off my rocker here?
I think you might be on to something.
It certainly has promise...
-O
ok, so what kind of psionics would be appropriate? Lifting the psi classes right out of the XPH wouldn't work, since they aren't balanced right for IH. I'm still worried about balance, since IH is so magic-item light.
An interesting problem.
Well, that's where you kind of got me stumped. Both magic and psionics are very integral to the setting.
-O
I think one of the problems with dark sun as a D&D setting is that magic should be rarer than it was. Defilers were scarey but rarer, and preservers were lumped in with all of them. Psionics, on the other hand, while it was integral to the setting, never played the full role that it was played up to, so it isn't as integral either.
the real grit (sand, grit, haha... yeah bad pun) of the setting comes from it's attitudes about magic - attitudes mirrored in IH almost perfectly.
Maybe some kind of lessened but "safe" psionics variant would fit into the setting better. hmm.. the templars have never really been as focused on magic as they are on the administrative details of a city-state.
I'm not adverse to changing the setting basics around a bit to suit IH better either, honestly, since I think the flavor would be really easy to maintain.
I'll ponder more...
I think IH can be a great system for dark sun. As for psionics, I'd try to make it fit the feat chains from IH and I'd add progressions for every class.
In order to balance the psionics with the rest, maybe I'd use something skill-based. I had found a feat and skills based psionic system but I can't find it anymore :(
Chacal
Quote from: ChacalI had found a feat and skills based psionic system but I can't find it anymore :(
There are at least two such systems. One was put out by Green Ronin -- the Psychic's Handbook -- and was reissued in the Advanced Player's Manual. It was written by Steve Kenison, we believe.
The other is Mind over Matter, by Nothingland's very own Steve Miller:
http://e23.sjgames.com/credits.html?t=author&n=Steve%20Miller
Both are excellent.
We are not entirely sure a Dark Iron Sun Heroes campaign would even need psionics, though. Psionics always seemed tacked on to the setting. Iron Heroes are powerful enough as-is to handle the villians of the setting, anyway.
But adding a skill-and-feat based psionics system should not disrupt Iron Heroes. We have more experience with Green Ronin's product and it did not increase power levels -- you have to put so many skill points and feats in that you end up at the same power level as other characters.
Quote from: Redcap
We are not entirely sure a Dark Iron Sun Heroes campaign would even need psionics, though. Psionics always seemed tacked on to the setting. Iron Heroes are powerful enough as-is to handle the villians of the setting, anyway.
I think psionics add a flavor to dark sun when they're not considered as a power tool (which admitedly was quite hard given the system) but rather as a way to enforce both alienness and the reliance on inner powers in a world where you can trust everything else to be hostile.
Quote from: Redcap
But adding a skill-and-feat based psionics system should not disrupt Iron Heroes. We have more experience with Green Ronin's product and it did not increase power levels -- you have to put so many skill points and feats in that you end up at the same power level as other characters.[/B]
I have no experience with this but that was what I hoped. I might have a look at that, now. Thanks.
Chacal
One of my first thoughts when I saw the announcement about Iron Heroes was "Yay! Finally something that might fit Dark Sun."
I'd like to keep Dark Sun's magic/psionic classes around though.
The more I think about this, the more it seems like a perfect fit. Dark Sun is a setting almost tailor-made for Iron Heroes, as are Hyboria or Nehwon.
I think the prevalence of psionics in Dark Sun is what put me off that setting. I guess you could ignore psionics or put it in the background, but it always seemed an integral part of the setting to me.
Hmm. I think Iron Heroes with skill/feat psionics could do Dark Sun pretty well. It would be short on the defiling magic (the preserving magic never really seemed important, since the whole setting was already totally fucked), but that could be pasted on as an NPC-only option.
The more I think about it, the more I think it would keep the feel of both things -- it would be Iron Heroes *and* Dark Sun, without compromising either.