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Darksun 2K5?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
Zardnaar
Oct 17, 2005 2:50:00 I briefly DMed a Darksun campaign in the mid 90's. I never really knew that much about Athas as back then we only had the original boxed set. Eventually I read the revised boxed set and Dragon Kings and the elemental cleric book. I've read the prism pentad novels and 1 or 2 novels with Pavek in it and the Rise and Fall of a Dragon King novel. I love Darksun but have barely played it. I seem to know alot about the setting though but are vague on some of the details.

I'm thinking of playing a game nowdays and have downloaded the 3.5 guide and monster PDF from Athas.org and the followig items in PDF format from RPGnow.com

Darkun Revised Boxed set
Beyond the Prism Penatad
Mindlords of the Last Sea
Valley of Dust and Fire
City by the Silt Sea

Most of my players are only vaguely familar with Darksun- Sorceror Kings, Templars, Defilers sort of knowlege.I'm not even sure if they know the Sorceror Kings are Dragons. What other products would people here recommend buying in PDF form or on Ebay. Boxed sets are more or less out of the question as I live in New Zealand and postage from the US is around $20 not counting the purchase price of boxed set.

Also what timeline would you recommend? The 1st boxed set seems grittier and more DS. The revised one seemed to be the springboard of a new style of Athas but the product line got canned shortly thereafter.
#2
Kamelion
Oct 17, 2005 3:39:10 Hi there Zardnaar - welcome to the DS boards

I'd definitely pick up Earth, Air, Fire and Water, Dune Trader, Veiled Alliance, Elves of Athas and Thri-Kreen of Athas - they're all quality supplements. If you are setting your games in Tyr, City-State of Tyr is also an excellent purchase and The Ivory Triangle is likewise invaluable for games set in Nibenay or Gulg. Beyond that, it depends on your needs. Defilers and Preservers and Will and the Way are interesting for fluff content, but have largely been superceded by 3e releases. Slave Tribes is also good, but very focused in content.

You might also want to consider some of the adventures - they were all of a very high standard. A personal top five would include Merchant House of Amketch, Dragon's Crown, Black Spine , Marauders of Nibenay and Arcane Shadows.

Athas.org also has some additional products that you might find of use. Terrors of the Deadlands covers the undead of Athas. The prestige class document supplements the rules in the core release with a whole slew of nifty prestige classes for your players (be aware, though, that it contains post-Prism Pentad spoilers). For lower level characters, the adventures Tyrian Conspiracy and Whispers of the Storm are good, with Dregoth Ascending being aimed at a much higher level group. City-State of Draj covers that location in considerable detail, which is obviously of use if your games are set there.

As for the timeline, I'd say that you can give your games whatever feel you like in either period. A post-Prism Pentad campaign can be just as gritty as an earlier period - instead of focusing on the hope inspired by the sweeping changes to the Tablelands, for example, you could concentrate on the idea that little has actually changed for most Athasians depsite the events of the last 10 years. Either way, don't be constrained by the contents of either boxed set. As you'll see from these boards, the one thing that unifies all Dark Sun DMs is the desire to customise Athas to suit our own individual needs, and canon be damned ;)
#3
Zardnaar
Nov 05, 2005 21:57:53 Played my 1st game of Darksun in just about 10 years yesterday. As per the old 2nd ed rules I let them start at level 3 and roll dice for ability scores instead of point buy. I have downloaded and printed the DS 3rd edition update from Athas.org. Started them in Tyr 4 months after the events of the Prism Pentad. We started late and I had to wing it but I had the PCs report to some nobles estate to investigate some servents (former slaves) disappearence.

One of the PCs is using a varient Druid class from unearthed arcana (pg 58) that doesn't get wild track or armor/shields but gains some ranger and monk abilities. They tracked some raiders tracks into the rocky badlands north of Tyr. The raiders had retreated into a gully and left behind a half giant guard. The PCs Preserver/Fighter using the bluff skill told the giant to go and patrol like he was supposed to. The giant believed them and wandered off muttering "Don't remember those orders"- he wasn't to bright.

The only encounter they had was with an elven raiding party-a 5th level Defiler and some 8 1st level warriors who manaed to surprise them with a fireball. Since I was running the game "on the fly" I made 2 mistakes in planning the encounter.

1. I forgot the Elves would gain -1 to hit if they stood to close to the Defiler (oops)
2. Due to the curve of the gully 4 of the elven archers couldn't hit the PCs(double oops).

At the end of the day one of the PCs asked me something like "Isn't fireballing the party at level 3 in the 1st encounter a bit mean? My reply was simple "Its Darksun". Survival will be your reward here.
#4
jon_oracle_of_athas
Nov 06, 2005 3:40:27
1. I forgot the Elves would gain -1 to hit if they stood to close to the Defiler (oops)

Just give the Defiler the Distance Raze feat and no one needs to know. ;)
#5
Zardnaar
Nov 06, 2005 4:00:51 Well the Defiler had the efficient raze feat and improved initiative+ bonus wizzie feats. Not sure how I'm going to sew it up but I suspect the Elves are collecting slaves for Makla obsidian mines and well sell them to slave traders from Urik.
#6
jon_oracle_of_athas
Nov 07, 2005 1:03:33 Oh, and regarding your whining player about the fireball - tell them you went easy on them and didn't give the defiler Destructive Raze. :P
#7
Zardnaar
Nov 07, 2005 1:25:36
Oh, and regarding your whining player about the fireball - tell them you went easy on them and didn't give the defiler Destructive Raze. :P

Yeah I notied that later. Seems a few Defiler feats combo togather rather well. It seems they can get +3 or 4 caster levels beyond their normal caster level. Also forgot Defilers can take raze feats from bonus wizard feats
#8
jon_oracle_of_athas
Nov 07, 2005 11:53:02 That's how the Raze feats work. Don't forget to take levels in Arch Defiler. Casting time metamagic rocks.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Zardnaar Oct 17, 2005 2:50:00	I briefly DMed a Darksun campaign in the mid 90's. I never really knew that much about Athas as back then we only had the original boxed set. Eventually I read the revised boxed set and Dragon Kings and the elemental cleric book. I've read the prism pentad novels and 1 or 2 novels with Pavek in it and the Rise and Fall of a Dragon King novel. I love Darksun but have barely played it. I seem to know alot about the setting though but are vague on some of the details. I'm thinking of playing a game nowdays and have downloaded the 3.5 guide and monster PDF from Athas.org and the followig items in PDF format from RPGnow.com Darkun Revised Boxed set Beyond the Prism Penatad Mindlords of the Last Sea Valley of Dust and Fire City by the Silt Sea Most of my players are only vaguely familar with Darksun- Sorceror Kings, Templars, Defilers sort of knowlege.I'm not even sure if they know the Sorceror Kings are Dragons. What other products would people here recommend buying in PDF form or on Ebay. Boxed sets are more or less out of the question as I live in New Zealand and postage from the US is around $20 not counting the purchase price of boxed set. Also what timeline would you recommend? The 1st boxed set seems grittier and more DS. The revised one seemed to be the springboard of a new style of Athas but the product line got canned shortly thereafter.
#2 Kamelion Oct 17, 2005 3:39:10	Hi there Zardnaar - welcome to the DS boards I'd definitely pick up Earth, Air, Fire and Water, Dune Trader, Veiled Alliance, Elves of Athas and Thri-Kreen of Athas - they're all quality supplements. If you are setting your games in Tyr, City-State of Tyr is also an excellent purchase and The Ivory Triangle is likewise invaluable for games set in Nibenay or Gulg. Beyond that, it depends on your needs. Defilers and Preservers and Will and the Way are interesting for fluff content, but have largely been superceded by 3e releases. Slave Tribes is also good, but very focused in content. You might also want to consider some of the adventures - they were all of a very high standard. A personal top five would include Merchant House of Amketch, Dragon's Crown, Black Spine , Marauders of Nibenay and Arcane Shadows. Athas.org also has some additional products that you might find of use. Terrors of the Deadlands covers the undead of Athas. The prestige class document supplements the rules in the core release with a whole slew of nifty prestige classes for your players (be aware, though, that it contains post-Prism Pentad spoilers). For lower level characters, the adventures Tyrian Conspiracy and Whispers of the Storm are good, with Dregoth Ascending being aimed at a much higher level group. City-State of Draj covers that location in considerable detail, which is obviously of use if your games are set there. As for the timeline, I'd say that you can give your games whatever feel you like in either period. A post-Prism Pentad campaign can be just as gritty as an earlier period - instead of focusing on the hope inspired by the sweeping changes to the Tablelands, for example, you could concentrate on the idea that little has actually changed for most Athasians depsite the events of the last 10 years. Either way, don't be constrained by the contents of either boxed set. As you'll see from these boards, the one thing that unifies all Dark Sun DMs is the desire to customise Athas to suit our own individual needs, and canon be damned ;)
#3 Zardnaar Nov 05, 2005 21:57:53	Played my 1st game of Darksun in just about 10 years yesterday. As per the old 2nd ed rules I let them start at level 3 and roll dice for ability scores instead of point buy. I have downloaded and printed the DS 3rd edition update from Athas.org. Started them in Tyr 4 months after the events of the Prism Pentad. We started late and I had to wing it but I had the PCs report to some nobles estate to investigate some servents (former slaves) disappearence. One of the PCs is using a varient Druid class from unearthed arcana (pg 58) that doesn't get wild track or armor/shields but gains some ranger and monk abilities. They tracked some raiders tracks into the rocky badlands north of Tyr. The raiders had retreated into a gully and left behind a half giant guard. The PCs Preserver/Fighter using the bluff skill told the giant to go and patrol like he was supposed to. The giant believed them and wandered off muttering "Don't remember those orders"- he wasn't to bright. The only encounter they had was with an elven raiding party-a 5th level Defiler and some 8 1st level warriors who manaed to surprise them with a fireball. Since I was running the game "on the fly" I made 2 mistakes in planning the encounter. 1. I forgot the Elves would gain -1 to hit if they stood to close to the Defiler (oops) 2. Due to the curve of the gully 4 of the elven archers couldn't hit the PCs(double oops). At the end of the day one of the PCs asked me something like "Isn't fireballing the party at level 3 in the 1st encounter a bit mean? My reply was simple "Its Darksun". Survival will be your reward here.
#4 jon_oracle_of_athas Nov 06, 2005 3:40:27	1. I forgot the Elves would gain -1 to hit if they stood to close to the Defiler (oops) Just give the Defiler the Distance Raze feat and no one needs to know. ;)
#5 Zardnaar Nov 06, 2005 4:00:51	Well the Defiler had the efficient raze feat and improved initiative+ bonus wizzie feats. Not sure how I'm going to sew it up but I suspect the Elves are collecting slaves for Makla obsidian mines and well sell them to slave traders from Urik.
#6 jon_oracle_of_athas Nov 07, 2005 1:03:33	Oh, and regarding your whining player about the fireball - tell them you went easy on them and didn't give the defiler Destructive Raze. :P
#7 Zardnaar Nov 07, 2005 1:25:36	Oh, and regarding your whining player about the fireball - tell them you went easy on them and didn't give the defiler Destructive Raze. :P Yeah I notied that later. Seems a few Defiler feats combo togather rather well. It seems they can get +3 or 4 caster levels beyond their normal caster level. Also forgot Defilers can take raze feats from bonus wizard feats
#8 jon_oracle_of_athas Nov 07, 2005 11:53:02	That's how the Raze feats work. Don't forget to take levels in Arch Defiler. Casting time metamagic rocks.