Time went on, my friends and I graduated from high school, and I moved out of the country. Somehow, all my D&D books including my beloved Dark Sun belongings were lost when I moved. At this time, all the second edition materials were going out of print, and I thought my Dark Sun days were finished.
A few years passed and I moved back home. My friends and I talked wistfully of the days of yore when we would spend countless hours huddled around our table, armed only with our pencils, our dice, and our imagination. But alas, all of the books were lost and, furthermore, everything was in Third Edition now. Thoughts of another Dark Sun campaign were always appended with an "I wish" or "wouldn't that be cool...".
Three years later found me sitting in front of my computer and, on a whim, looking at Ebay. Lo and behold there was a lot of 10 Dark Sun books, including the expanded version of the box set. I HAD to have it, of course, and I did. My box of Dark Sun Goodness arrived a week later.
Talk of starting an actual Dark Sun campaign began again, but this time with more urgency. This was reality, it could actually work. But how exactly would we do it? Would we try to find core materials for the 2nd Edition (the only one we were familiar with)? Or would we try to brave a conversion to 3.5, which we had never played? The general consensus was that we would try for 3.5, but the task was daunting. Not only did we have to learn a completely new system, but then we had to go back and convert everything over. With everyone busy with work, school, and family, the prospect of an actual Dark Sun campaign was only a far-off glimmer.
Until, one night, staring blearily at my computer monitor after finishing a particuarly nasty work-related project, I stumbled upon a website, www.athas.org. Here before me was a PDF of the Dark Sun conversion rules to 3.5. Here was the last piece I needed to make a campaign a reality. Quickly scanning through the document, I saw that it was very professionaly done, all the base rules were converted over. Everything was set, we had everything we needed.
That following weekend, after being absent for nearly a decade, armed with obsidian and bone, psionics and spells, we once more ventured into the harsh world of the crimson sun.
And is it ever good to be back.
I want to say thanks to all the hard work that has obviously been put into Dark Sun 3. I'm too new here to know the names of everyone that has contributed, but you know who you are. To anyone who has put time and effort into all new Dark Sun material, whether it be converting rules and monsters from the second edition, writing new content, making illustrations, or anything else - Thank you!
Welcome back, the community's better for having you (the fact that you actually found Athas.org before posting is proof of that).
Look forward to hearing more from you.
)Welcome back!
Welcome to the boards Porkchop. You've managed to successfully make an introduction post that avoided any and all of the most common flames and believe me, that's one heck of a feat around here.
There's a great deal of DS goodies in the threads here from maps, artwork, fluff out the wazoo, and more number crunching than you can handle (well, at least far more than I can handle, anyway). The more, ther merrier.
BUT, you may call me as per "Silly frog" as everyone does and you should, of course, go see my web site (link in signature). Why ? Well well well... WHY ? Because I have some nice things and the HUGEST ... did I said it? the HUGEST !!! :D Darksun links page around here. yeah. I know I am cool. 
As it turns out, Sovereign Press gained the license to DL gaming prior to us releasing anything. We were very lucky that a lot of our materials were incorporated. Still, a part of me regrets not having put out those rules online.
Dark Sun is a setting I like to visit from time to time (although I wouldn't want to live there!). There are some great elements (pun intended) to it.
Kudos to Athas.org for the great work they've done in keeping Dark Sun alive, and in updating it to 3e. You guys are the best.
