Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Jun 03, 2004 22:16:00	Is it just me? When Dark Sun first came out, it was fun. The players and I didn't know everything about Dark Sun. There were many, many mysteries. However, since the new Dark Sun came out, the fun is sort of gone. It has lost its uniqueness. The players know all this stuff about Dark Sun. There is little left to the imagination. We feared the SK more because they were uknown, not because they were 21st level dragons etc.
#2 xlorepdarkhelm_dup Jun 03, 2004 22:42:11	Same could be said about any setting. I like to do things like rewrite parts of a setting I've reused with the same group of players. Of course, I don't run into that very often, as I run Dark Sun, Dragonlance, Star Wars, d20 Modern, and my own homebrew setting for thi game system. As my campaigns tend to last easily over a year, if not more, the players become quite familiar with the intracasies of a setting, then I switch out in the next game to a different setting all together. My suggestion is this - switch things around, mix things up, don't use the same world each time - it makes it harder for players to use their "player knowledge" on it, and makes the whole thing more fun, i believe, over all.
#3 zombiegleemax Jun 05, 2004 4:58:32	There is little left to the imagination. So, the innitial releases gave your imagination a wild ride. Eventually, the mysteries unfolded, the puzzle pieces were slowly filled in, and now you and your players can see the big picture. Now comes the most challenging part of any game. Creating new mysteries to be solved. As any setting gets fleshed out, whether by the product line or by the individual gaming group, it is going to eventually run its course. Just like any good book, or even series of books, eventually comes to a close, so do many game settings. Unless of course you step in and take more creative control over the game. Its an incredible amount of work, but its more than worth the effort. So your players know that all the SKs are merely high level wizard/psionicists. Either change their perspective of them (let one of the SKs vent his or her frustrations on a nearby village and watch the players cringe in fear of power that borders on divine), or move on to something else. SKs were a fine focal point for adventures, but if the majesty of them is truly lost on the group, give it up and find something (or create something) more interesting for the group to focus on. Before I moved, my group had taken to exploring other areas of Athas in search of true gods. So I simply created a region with a small handful of beings that were worshiped in one way or another by the people of the area. When that had run its course, the group moved on to exploring the various planes of the Athasian multi-verse, which led me to flesh out the Black a lot more, and even create two new planes for the party to delve into (one a Dream-like plane, the other a cthulhu inspired far realm). Its simply up to YOU to put the fun back into your game. If you can't, move on to another setting. Personally, I'm staying put on Athas for a long time. I simply have far too many stories left to tell.