xlorepdarkhelm;13932561 wrote:
Pretty much everything in 2e. Immortal super powerful Sorcererkings rumored to be dragons.
Distrust or open hatred of wizardry.
No doing good for goods sake. survival outweighs morality.
the continual risk of becoming a slave.
the feeling that no matter how hard you try, the world is doomed to die.
Nomadic tribal wars and warrior-slave clans.
man eating halflings and elf eating thrikreen
Halfgiants.
2e psionics in athas, common wild talent traits.
Mutated creatures, athasian monsters. dark societies.
Villains becoming heroes. heroes becoming villains
religion of rumors (written word is outlawed)
Sea of Silt, Whispers of a green paradise.
Metal being rare. Using odd materials for weapons, then psionically or magically strengthened to not break as often or become razor sharp.
Merchant houses with gladiator stables.
gladiator games, arenas
Ability to become an Advanced Being. (need more types of AB's beyond Wizard/Psi and Cleric/Psi.)
very cool methods of transportation. odd insect and lizard animals and warlike vehicals. (not forgetting undead creatures of burden)
Preservers and defilers and the constant war between them.
like i said, everything about Athas.
I play in basic fantasy worlds. like DL,FR,GH. athas gives me the option no other world does (except maybe Planescape)
things i would like to see changed are the limitations set forth by 3.5.
I would like Darksun to be its OWN GAME. not bound by the rules of editions.(but i know this wont happen until i win the lotto)
It is the only setting where a hero is shunned for what he does.
Where none of the races fit their stereotypes.
Where Dragons are rarer than Eberron.
Where finding a chest full of gold in an underground tomb isn't necessarily a good thing.
Defeating the evil ruler of an empire isn't really the right thing to do.
Traveling in a caravan is more important.
Druids are more important than wizards.
Wizards are as sneaky as rogues.
Magic-less Bards.
Monster bone swords.
Psionics takes main stage.
Ceramic coins are the primary currency.
All in all, my favorite thing about Athas is this: In a normal DnD game, the party travels because a multitude of reasons; greed, heroism, duty, fear. In Darksun, they travel because they must, to keep the hope of one day an easier life alive.
That is why I love darksun.
Everyone bigger than you has agends, otherwise they wouldn't be bigger - there's no upper level NPC just hanging aroung to see how things go (Elminster). The fact that practally all authority is corupt in one way or another, make some choises easer than other (Good alinged character finding a body in the ally: Grayhawk - I check his pockets, then maybe I'll get the guard... Dark Sun - I have the elf check his pockets then sneak away to steal from the elf, if his doesn't die first...).
Well said, with that, this is what I love about Darksun.
It is the only setting where a hero is shunned for what he does.
Where none of the races fit their stereotypes.
Where Dragons are rarer than Eberron.
Where finding a chest full of gold in an underground tomb isn't necessarily a good thing.
Defeating the evil ruler of an empire isn't really the right thing to do.
Traveling in a caravan is more important.
Nicely said. I'd take your second statement farther -- I enjoy Athas as a world where many of the races actually mock their stereotypes.
I'd also add a line from the short story in "Forest Maker" that hope is the most dangerous thing.
I also have a love for post-apocalyptic settings, and Athas is just post-apoc fantasy.
Also, the options to transcend mortal existence (without falling in the trap of silly divine rank rules that make a deity "merely" a superhuman) is a huge plus.
The original Wanderer's Journal is what shaped the setting for me.
I like the fact that it's hard to be a hero - but there's a real need for heroes. And heroes can make a real difference.
The twists on all the races.
Psionics.
) flavour of its history. I say this because it seems to me that, in DS, the consequences of human nature (not to forget Rajaat) have had far more tangible and weighty consequences than spawning another series of supplements or spurious PrC's (FR, Im looking in your direction). The choices made by the 'uber-powerful mages' have changed both them and the world in ways that no one can ignore. I find this much more fitting than having ultra powerful magisters sitting around, still heartily human, sane and humblish (dont know if thats a word) after god knows how many centuries, sampling cheese and chuckling over a pipe when they arent rescuing people from the abyss or saving the world yet again (despair, ye unworthy PCs!!!)... Power changes people, sometimes beyond all recognition. DS never needed scary monsters (though there were plenty of those) to evoke fear, since humanity managed that all too well on its own. I feel that if real people were given FR, they would turn it into DS. (guess im kinda pessimistic that way;) )Also, DS (pre-surfing druids and other nonsense) was/is focused in a way all too few campaign settings are. DS knows what it is, and it knows what it is not. Whereas Eberron goes out of its way to include everything in D&D, DS doesnt. It focuses, and in doing so manages to offer so much more than a cookie-cutter, one size fits all setting. Flavour. Brutal elegance. A world that really needs heroes.
Chahir
DS knows what it is, and it knows what it is not. Whereas Eberron goes out of its way to include everything in D&D, DS doesnt. It focuses, and in doing so manages to offer so much more than a cookie-cutter, one size fits all setting. Flavour. Brutal elegance. A world that really needs heroes.
Chahir
Well said, well said!
Power changes people, sometimes beyond all recognition. DS never needed scary monsters (though there were plenty of those) to evoke fear, since humanity managed that all too well on its own. )
Bravo. A few years ago, I replied to an early WotC survey, and in response to the question of what my favorite monster was, I said "human." I don't know if many others said the same thing, but I was surpised a few months later when Peter A wrote a scathing article in Dragon Magazine attacking the idea that D&D could treat humans as a type of monster. He was pretty passionate about it. I think that's a point of view that works well enough for designing a number of other fantasy worlds, but I prefer Dark Sun.
Bravo. A few years ago, I replied to an early WotC survey, and in response to the question of what my favorite monster was, I said "human." I don't know if many others said the same thing, but I was surpised a few months later when Peter A wrote a scathing article in Dragon Magazine attacking the idea that D&D could treat humans as a type of monster. He was pretty passionate about it. I think that's a point of view that works well enough for designing a number of other fantasy worlds, but I prefer Dark Sun.
That is funny, because I remember a recent Dragon article that was titled "The Ecology of the Adventurer" and it was written from the point of view of a goblin. Hilarious. Just some tribe, chilling off in the woods or a cave or something, and then these adventurers come and attack the tribe. So funny (because it's true).
That is funny, because I remember a recent Dragon article that was titled "The Ecology of the Adventurer" and it was written from the point of view of a goblin. Hilarious. Just some tribe, chilling off in the woods or a cave or something, and then these adventurers come and attack the tribe. So funny (because it's true).
Cool! Which Dragon # is that?
Not to mention this campaign always brought out the worst in our group. I remember in one of the first times we played the game we forgot to purchase foodstuffs when we went travelling. During my watch I ended up taking what remained and headed back to town while the rest of the party starved to death. You may get that urge to watch your back in other games, but in this one you also watched your allies.
Another great thing about this game though was the sheer raise in difficulty. In other campaigns every villager didn't even have character levels, while in this one you started at 3rd and were considered average, even though your stats were technically 2 higher on average than they were in other worlds! Even though our fighter had the power to graft things to each other, he wasn't special for it. We were constantly struggling for money, even when we found treasure (how do you sell the one magic item you have found, when everyone in town hates magic?). Not to mention that it seemed every creature, from the livestock to the riding animal and further down, were usually large enough to kill you by themselves.
Overall, the best part was the scope. Every other world had a glimmer of hope. No matter how grim you knew the good guys will win. This was different. An endless desert with little life, where you spent all you had looking for that one oasis from which you could escape the world, while deep in your heart you knew the truth. In the end, the desert would consume you, just as it had consumed everyone before you, and it would consume everything inevitably. And as depressing as that would sound about a real world, it was what made Dark Sun so damn awesome!
What do I love about Athas? Let me count the ways...
Fire and sand, stone and blood, sun and steel, life and death and the desperation between.
Ancient cities slumbering under the dark sun.
Immortal god kings and their corrupt minions.
Carnivorous cacti that are smarter than you are.
A king one day, a slave the next.
Vast dynastic merchant houses.
Peals of thunder rolling unexplained across the Tablelands.
Most of all, though, I love this community. Been away too long
Kamelion, I just wanted to say I LOVED your campaign journals in a long ago thread called who's DMing: Athasian stories or some such. Very well written.
Wow, thanks
Glad you liked them - those were some fun games. I ran some more earlier this year (Faro Blossom and Merchant House of Amketch) and keep meaning to add the writeups for those sessions as well. I should get around to it someday soon. Thanks again for the words of appreciation Dark Sun was the first campaign I played in that had the almost tangible quality of being a real place. A place where consequences were all to plain to see.
In other D&D worlds, wizards throw fireballs with abandon and nothing comes of it. In Dark Sun, not only would the surrounding area be affected, but anyone who saw such a display would likely react.
but I started playing again with the 3.5 rules and got into a Fearun campaign (never played it before) Well, our entire party just got wiped out, so our weary DM has asked to step down and be a lowly player again. Our new DM who has stepped up to the plate is organizing a DS campaign and I am freakin' pumped about it.
I have just started to explore this realm and cannot wait to play it, so in answer to your question I guess would be for me the NEWNESS of it.
Beau Barnett
threebrownbooks - I hear there's this place called Bodach that's supposed to be full of treasure! :angelhide
You are an evil, evil man.
The maps, the trip was as important as the adventure.
Psionics. Nuff said.