Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Jun 27, 2004 10:52:09	Hi, I'm a new DM to Athas and besides Athas.org how do I start? I have the boxed set at my disposal and I'm running 3.5. Any suggestions?
#2 zombiegleemax Jun 27, 2004 11:13:11	Make me Sorcerer king of Tyr, your campaign will benefit from it. *steps aside and lets serious answers through*
#3 zombiegleemax Jun 27, 2004 11:18:33	Ok, if you fight Kalak for it :P
#4 zombiegleemax Jun 27, 2004 11:30:11	You DMs are too smart, you always name the one thing that is in my way. Pffff
#5 zombiegleemax Jun 27, 2004 11:48:07	Meh he's senile anyways. Just go epic and slay him.
#6 jon_oracle_of_athas Jun 27, 2004 11:57:42	Hi, I'm a new DM to Athas and besides Athas.org how do I start? Could you be a bit more specific?
#7 zombiegleemax Jun 27, 2004 12:15:22	Well, I've DMed before and I recently got the boxed set the world is simply freaking awesome in my opinion. And I'd like some advice on detailing the world and running the campaign. Encounters, begginings to campaigns, city roleplay, etc... Edit: I have alot of time off this summer because I'm in High School and I would like to build everything before playing. I'm the type of DM that likes to be really prepared.
#8 jon_oracle_of_athas Jun 27, 2004 12:45:28	And I'd like some advice on detailing the world and running the campaign. Take a look at the Athasian Game Master article on athas.org. http://www.athas.org/articles/dsgm.php Encounters, begginings to campaigns, city roleplay, etc... If you have the time to read through them, I'd recommend downloading City-State of Draj and its companion adventure Whispers of the Storm from athas.org. http://www.athas.org/releases/csod/
#9 zombiegleemax Jun 27, 2004 12:48:28	Thanks this helps alot.
#10 jon_oracle_of_athas Jun 27, 2004 13:26:10	No problem.
#11 zombiegleemax Jun 27, 2004 17:01:17	Just like normal campaigns have a classic and quite cliche' beginning where all the PCs meet up in a tavern, Dark Sun has its own cliche' start where all the PCs are slaves together (great for a first adventure, but it gets too stale to use more than once). As for intro adventures beyond what Athas.org has crafted up for 3.0/5, there are two intro adventures from the 2E AD&D days, Freedom and Black Flames that you could nab up from Ebay or other auction sites for paper versions, or from SVGames or RPGNow for the pdf versions. As for starting ideas, I guess it would depend upon the type of game you play. There are plenty of things to fight, politics galore, strange places to explore, awesome personalities for PCs to interact with, etc, depending upon what kind of focus your group leans towards. Once again, a little more info would be needed to really go on further. Anyhow, Jon's GM article is very a very nice, pragmatic guide for running any type of game well, not just DS. References for things such as music, background details, specific NPCs and such are scattered throughout these boards aplenty; a quick search should get you a decent amount of threads on any topic you could think of.
#12 zombiegleemax Jun 28, 2004 1:30:32	I no Im an out sider but I say teach your PC's respect for the game... Let PC's resolve their own conflicts, and if they dont kill some one, then you should.... Let them understand that a theif is as good a choice as the biggest mul, and that a half giants strength comes at the price of water. When I run it, If someone hasnt at least been serously injured, then I didnt do my job... Ahh those days when bruner threw an axe at the stupid elf... Oh and I really like to inforce Halfelves being shuned by both sides... Think 1950's and your a child of a Black/white couple...
#13 dawnstealer Jun 28, 2004 13:16:52	My one piece of advice for new Dark Sun GMs is to start small. You need to get used to the world before you can really introduce it to your players. Also, your players need to understand the world in the way their characters would - Athas is different from any other world and players will, inevitably, try to act the same way they have in any other campaign. Start in a small trade village, small section of a city-state, in a small slave tribe, or so on. Break them in slowly. Once they understand what they're dealing with (really understand it), then you can crack the doors open and unleash the glorious destruction that is Dark Sun on them. :D
#14 zombiegleemax Jul 10, 2004 5:35:15	to jon and deaths-warden: I'm an old hand at Dming Dark Sun, and I recommend scouting around for old DS products where you find them- check the used section of your local game shop. EVERYTHING you can find is helpful. Of note, Elves of Athas, Slave tribes, Psionic Artifacts of Athas, and the revised Boxed Set. Also get the Will and the Way if you find it, the best book of them all, and so is Air, earth, fire and Water. Dragon Kings Hardcover is good, and so is Defilers and Preservers. 2 classes to recommend to your players are the sensei from Will and the way and the shadow Mage from D & P. Easy enough to convert over to 3.5 with a little work. Read the Prism Pentad series to get a feel of the world, about folks' mindset, and think DnD meets Mad Max and you've got a great campaign in the making. Have fun. My favorite campaign setting, hands down.
#15 zombiegleemax Jul 10, 2004 6:37:15	Moscone said to use the sensai, and the shadow mage. I assume those are kits. If you are going the second ed route. I recommend that you dont use any kits to start... for two reasons. 1.) to new players it is cool enuff already. Were they might be tired of standard fighter mages, I bet they havent played, a human eating halfling. 2.) If your like me, and you want some balance, Collect as many books as you can, in whatever format. These books have kits: Complet Thrikreen of Athas, C Elves of Athas, Pre... never mind there are many... Then what you cant find for darksun, look up in other complete books, Find the kits that you can see existing, Make a list, and let your players know there options. This will help keep from having a detailed gladiater, and a "standard" fighter. (I could send you those I deemed DS worthy if you like) Also if you are running second ed, and others my disagree, But limit in one way or another a halflings theiving ability. Why would, aborigany like people, be good with picking locks, picking pockets etc... (I know everyone will have an answer) I limited them to 8th level as theif.
#16 zombiegleemax Jul 10, 2004 10:14:44	Thanks alot. Other than the traditional "You are all slaves and your on a caravan and it gets ransacked" beggining what ways could i start the campaign?
#17 Grummore Jul 10, 2004 10:28:24	Originally posted by Deaths-Warden Thanks alot. Other than the traditional "You are all slaves and your on a caravan and it gets ransacked" beggining what ways could i start the campaign? Well, in my last campaign, they were bought by a dwarven merchant in a slave auction in Fort Inix (House shom).
#18 zombiegleemax Jul 10, 2004 10:48:11	Hmmm cool I'll try it. Man Athas just leaves so much more to the imagination in my opinion... I keep picturing the new elves cause I run track :inlove:
#19 zombiegleemax Jul 10, 2004 14:45:40	Other than the traditional "You are all slaves and your on a caravan and it gets ransacked" beggining what ways could i start the campaign There's plenty of power groups and political struggles that can bring together a group of varied PCs easily enough (and do it in ways that are not so cliche' as the 'your all slaves together start'). The PCs could be being blackmailed by a templar into grouping up and performing a few tasks for his self-centered benefit (which would likely end up with them being killed to get rid of the 'bothersome evidence'); the PCs could be military conscripts, forced together into a unit of irregulars because of their own lack of formal military training (several city states have manadatory military membership like Nibenay and Draj, and you thought being an escaped slave was bad, imagine being tracked down by an entire well trained and focused army unit for desertion [think of The A-Team without laughing ;)). There's also non standard starting places like the Bandit States or the city of Celik, both of which cater to a variey of racial mixes, where after an innitial adventure or two sends the PCs off into the Tablelands proper. In short, the Everyone Is a Slave Together intro is the best pick for a brand new RP group that is unfamiliar with Dark Sun, but it does get quite old to begin every group after that as slaves.
#20 korvar Jul 10, 2004 20:11:44	Originally posted by Deaths-Warden Thanks alot. Other than the traditional "You are all slaves and your on a caravan and it gets ransacked" beggining what ways could i start the campaign? "You are all agents of the Veiled Alliance and..."
#21 xlorepdarkhelm_dup Jul 11, 2004 1:58:54	Originally posted by Deaths-Warden Thanks alot. Other than the traditional "You are all slaves and your on a caravan and it gets ransacked" beggining what ways could i start the campaign? "you are all left in the den of Tembos as food...."