So was wondering what people thought of these or if there was any must haves/ God Don't gets that are not on my list.
Thanks for any imput you can give
I'd stay away from Dune Trader. While some of the info is very good, some of it is way off (The part that mentions that the Oba was only the most recent one, and so on).
City by the Silt Sea, on the other hand, is great. It's kind of a must-have. Valley of Dust and Fire, too, if not just for the cover art. Defilers and Preservers confuses more than it solves, but it's still an interesting read. Instead of buying that last one, just use the rules in the Athas Online rules.
That's my take. Flame away.
Defilers and Preservers and Will and the Way are both rules-heavy products. D&P, as Dawnstealer says, confused almost as much as it helped.
Earth, Air, Fire and Water is good, if you care about clerics (while it touches on druids and templars, it's comparitaively scant there)
Personally, I'd recommend the more flavor oriented products, as those are going to have the highest ratio of still-relevant material. City State of Tyr. Elves of Athas. Slave Tribes. Veiled Alliance. All are comparitavely light on the rules, but do a wonderful job of putting the fine details on various areas of the Tablelands.
Avoid Mind Lords of the Last Sea like the plauge.
Thri-kreen of Athas and Windriders of the Jagged Cliffs are good, but they're not essential ... the areas they deal with are beyond the Hinterlands.
I'll pass on weighing in on the modules....
Was is badly paced, or was it the basic concepts behind the story that you didn't like? Wondering cause so far all I have is the one paragraph ad text to go off of
"I'd stay away from Dune Trader. While some of the info is very good, some of it is way off (The part that mentions that the Oba was only the most recent one, and so on). "
Thanks for the heads up. I was thinking about this one, maybe later then.
"City by the Silt Sea, on the other hand, is great. It's kind of a must-have. Valley of Dust and Fire, too, if not just for the cover art. "
Glad to hear that. Any other must haves you can think of
"Defilers and Preservers confuses more than it solves, but it's still an interesting read. Instead of buying that last one, just use the rules in the Athas Online rules."
Mya I ask why, was is rules issues or background material conflicting? Cause I wasn't planning on getting it for rules per say, more for 'magic theory' of Athas. YOu know more of the why's then the how's.
That's my take. Flame away.
If you just want the sole essence of Athas and the basics, then get the first box set, City State of Tyr, Ivory Triangle, Dragon's Crown, Dune Trader. City by the Silt Sea, Elves of Athas, and Veiled Alliance.
Oh and don't forget the first MC. That's if you are looking more for how it was than what it is currently.
That's my 2 ceramic bits anyways.
I tend to agree with Nyt: depending on how hard-core you are, you might want to own all the books just so that you can say: "Hey! I own all the DS books!" That's what I do.
Originally posted by Dawnstealer
Since most of the adventures I run are about 20+ years before Kalak falls, VDF is pretty good. If you're running adventures beyond the fall of the Dragon, Borys, might as well let that book sit.
Yeah, I forgot VoDaF, and despite it being pretty useless if you run while the Curealen Storm is active, it's still useable, or at least I found it to be, as far as the info and some of the islands that escaped the cataclysm.
I tend to agree with Nyt: depending on how hard-core you are, you might want to own all the books just so that you can say: "Hey! I own all the DS books!" That's what I do.
Only missing in my collection is two polyhedron and a few dragons. :D
Merchant House of Amketch I haven't ran or read, but I have it, so I will take your word for it and add it to the list as well.
Dune Traders was one of my favorite books. It dealt with the trade aspect of Dark Sun. When I ran Dark Sun, I enjoyed watching my players get rich, and try to survive on Athas. I really wish I had not sold it to one of my friends.
I have not bought any Dark Sun product since 1993.
The books that are good to have are Slave Tribes, Dune Traders and the Veiled Alliance. Basically, you should look only at source books. The Valley of Dust and Fire is a source book though, but unless you are going there, you do not need it. General source books is what you should be looking for.
I'm looking to run my first DS game every in a month or 2 and this has been great help. Odds are that I will end up getting most of the books after a while- But I got a couple more questions.
Psionic books- I'm using 3.5 rules so pretty useless , correct?
And why is the Valley of Fire and aDust gone, did it get the ax during the storms and quakes? If so how hard would it be to relocated (none of my players have played DS either - so they wouldn't know either). To some point past the "known" map?
thanks
Originally posted by Bayushi Tai
Psionic books- I'm using 3.5 rules so pretty useless , correct?
The rules, yes. The idea of the way Athasians treat psionics ... is worth it for that much at least. But most of the book is devoted new Sciences and Disicplines, with a kits thrown in as well.
And why is the Valley of Fire and aDust gone, did it get the ax during the storms and quakes? If so how hard would it be to relocated (none of my players have played DS either - so they wouldn't know either). To some point past the "known" map?
The quake barely touched it ... however, the VoDaF is dead smack in the middle of the storms. It became the Cerulian storm. And it was a showdown that was specifically in the valley that caused the creation of the CS. And that showdown really couldn't have happened anywhere else.
So, while you can technically move the valley (it is, after all, your campaign) you're introducing a hefty inconstancy with the events of the PP.
Of course, you also have the option -- and many people take this option -- of starting your campaign pre FY10, when the Valley was still perfectly intact. There's nothing in the 3.5 rules system that cares what year you run in.
When I ran a later campaign, with new players that had never seen DS before or heard of Kalak, Borys, etc. At first, I was going to run it much as I had run previous campaigns - follow the Pentad. Then I decided "What the hell" and made the assault on Ur Draxa a failure, albeit a heroic one, that the players participated in.
The players worked under the radar and had a great time with it, thwarting the SKs' plans where they could, but more just trying to survive. I feel that's a little more in line with the original design of the game world than the "Bring water and freedom to Arakis...er, Athas" themes that cropped up in later sourcebooks.
Tyr, Raam, Balic and Draj are now unprotected.
.... And Urik has this tendancy to keep refugee's locked out.
I love being a GM.
Thanks for the advice on the products.