Originally posted by SirKalamon
Hi everyone I'd just like to start out that i always have found DarkSun to be the most unique game world in D&D and have always loved it.I however never had known much about the world in depth cause i never had the box sets and with all the talk of DarkSun 3 I want to run a DS game.
Welcome to the forums. I'll try to answer your questions the best I can.
First, is there going to be any published DS books?
Actual, physical books? Not very likely, unless WotC changes their view on it drasticaly, or someone gets the money together to get permisson from them to release it. However, the folks at athas.org have been working on converting Dark Sun to 3rd Ed (and now 3.5e) rules for the last four years. They have the core material, as well as monsters done, and a couple adventures are there as well. check it out. there also was a (IMHO) poorly-done conversion found in various recent Dungeon/Dragon magazines, of which there is only a couple real, useful ideas possibly from them, while the rest simply contradicts Dark sun material so much that I personally cannot stand it.
Second, since I do not have the box sets and no knowledge to get any...where could i find info on the world or atleast a series of adventures to run a few players through Darksun around mid levels?
You can get all of the 2e Dark Sun materials, in PDF format from SVGames.com, as well as being able to possibly get the physical copies from sites like eBay from time to time.
Lastly, what are the best DS adventures any of you have ever played and where could i find them?
Ones I make up on the fly. I usually don't use any pre-canned adventures for any game/campaign setting. It seems to rigid and structured for my liking. But that's just me. However, the Tyrian Conspiracy one on athas.org is kinda cool, as I used that as a starting-point for one campaign I ran.
Any help or advice would be much appreciated. I loved DS's BRUTALITY and the fact EVIL has won and the world with its scarce resources would be nice change to challenge my gaming groups pampared FR or DL arse's. Thank you all for your help 8)
I like it for the fact that it isn't your typical campaign world. The Tolkien-esque (which I have no problem with the Tolkien-esque style, FYI) style is discarded for a world that is menacing and deadly.
There are several things I really love about DS source material.
First, the designers seemed to hit just the right mix when it came to developement vs leaving it up to the gm. They gave plenty of organizations and possible plots but very little structure, letting the gm fit these elements in as he saw fit. I would wager that each DS campaign out there has a different feel and look.
Secondly, I love the little sentences from the sources that give rise to whole campaign ideas: "Raam has two police forces", VA pg 70. The conflict and political machinations of that one sentence sparked an idea for a campaign that lasted 6 months of steady play. (a secret war between the two, each trying to set the other up for failure and disgrace as they attempted to increase their own influence with the templars. spies, double agents, turned double agents- massive paranoia set in the disease riddled city-state of polite but cautious masses on the edge- my players loved it!)
Factions Factions Factions- DS has the most convoluted and complex politics of any world. the source material lays out great structures with rivals and all the trimmings. in that same campaign I had the VA set against two merchant houses who were themselves set against a subset of templars aided by a slave tribe. As it turned out, each of these "movers and shakers" was being manipulated by a different faction within the police forces. Layers and layers and layers and layers and layers........