The Dark Sun Own Zone (56k Likes Dragonlance)

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shotgunbadger: Nov 18, 2008; WEEK 4 - RETIRED

Actually yea, my first campaign I'm gonna run in Dark Sun when it's out is gonna be the quest for everlasting provisions hidden away in some horrible place.

There will be Fael.

# ? May 25, 2010 23:53

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# ? Jun 8, 2024 10:42

Kerison: Apr 9, 2004; by angerbot

shotgunbadger posted:

Actually yea, my first campaign I'm gonna run in Dark Sun when it's out is gonna be the quest for everlasting provisions hidden away in some horrible place.

There will be Fael.

I thought the shtick of the Mud Palace was an open decanter of endless water somewhere at the bottom? Clearly this is not a new idea, if I didn't just make that up whole-cloth.

# ? May 26, 2010 00:01

shotgunbadger: Nov 18, 2008; WEEK 4 - RETIRED

Kerison posted:

I thought the shtick of the Mud Palace was an open decanter of endless water somewhere at the bottom? Clearly this is not a new idea, if I didn't just make that up whole-cloth.

Um excuse me, this is FOOD not WATER, gah!

But yea, I think I know what ya mean, unless you mentioned that somewhere earlier in the thread and no one said it was wrong then I think I remember reading some area has a hidden endless water thing fueling it.

# ? May 26, 2010 01:26

Jeb Bush 2012: Apr 4, 2007; A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.

shotgunbadger posted:

I was going to compare it to an everburning torch, but no even then that's a perfectly reasonable 'well done you have found a very useful item to replace some annoying book-keeping!' thing that won't gently caress your game

well no not really, annoying book-keeping is a bad feature to have in your game in the first place

# ? May 26, 2010 03:11

Squizzle: Apr 24, 2008

ritorix posted:

By a Fael.

(Fat undead that never stop eating. gently caress, they thought of everything.)

Where the hell are you and ManMythLegend getting such awesome shots of from-book art? I crave these.

# ? May 26, 2010 03:28

BetterWeirdthanDead: Mar 7, 2006; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

I'm pretty sure MML scans from a personal Dark Sun collection.

# ? May 26, 2010 03:45

Malachamavet: Jan 12, 2009; Above the gigantic mouth is an eye as big as a shield that stares at you with pure hate

MML is the world of Dark Sun given sentience

# ? May 26, 2010 03:48

ManMythLegend: Aug 18, 2003; I don't believe in anything, I'm just here for the violence.

BetterWeirdthanDead posted:

I'm pretty sure MML scans from a personal Dark Sun collection.

Yes. It's me, I'm the uber-nerd.

Malachamavet posted:

MML is the world of Dark Sun given sentience

Mod petition to change my screen name to this.

# ? May 26, 2010 03:57

Malachamavet: Jan 12, 2009; Above the gigantic mouth is an eye as big as a shield that stares at you with pure hate

You get nothing for free on Athas :colbert:

# ? May 26, 2010 03:57

Malachamavet: Jan 12, 2009; Above the gigantic mouth is an eye as big as a shield that stares at you with pure hate

Besides if anything we should petition for me getting back

# ? May 26, 2010 04:00

ritorix: Jul 22, 2007; Vancian Roulette

Squizzle posted:

Where the hell are you and ManMythLegend getting such awesome shots of from-book art? I crave these.

I actually have Terrors Beyond Tyr and a bunch of other books. You can bet the old cloth map is coming out for a new campaign.

Also Mal where is your avatar.

# ? May 26, 2010 04:17

Malachamavet: Jan 12, 2009; Above the gigantic mouth is an eye as big as a shield that stares at you with pure hate

Breaking News: docevil is a big baby

# ? May 26, 2010 04:18

shotgunbadger: Nov 18, 2008; WEEK 4 - RETIRED

Jeb Bush 2012 posted:

well no not really, annoying book-keeping is a bad feature to have in your game in the first place

Yea but 'hey y'all got torches?' is kinda fair book-keeping, at least in my group, we don't track oil or anything dumb beyond 'and you notice the oil supplies are running low' type general statements, but we do keep a tab of 'we got a sunrod or spare torch in case this one goes out? We do? Cool.'

# ? May 26, 2010 04:38

Squizzle: Apr 24, 2008

I'm just terribly bad at scanning, or I'd be bustin' out random shots of crap from the books, too.

# ? May 26, 2010 04:52

Drox: Aug 9, 2007; by Y Kant Ozma Post

shotgunbadger posted:

Yea but 'hey y'all got torches?' is kinda fair book-keeping, at least in my group, we don't track oil or anything dumb beyond 'and you notice the oil supplies are running low' type general statements, but we do keep a tab of 'we got a sunrod or spare torch in case this one goes out? We do? Cool.'

THis is why a wizard is standard equipment for a party. Light.

# ? May 26, 2010 05:17

Strontosaurus: Sep 11, 2001

Jeb Bush 2012 posted:

well no not really, annoying book-keeping is a bad feature to have in your game in the first place

Apparently you've never played HackMaster :kamina:

# ? May 26, 2010 07:46

BetterWeirdthanDead: Mar 7, 2006; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

ManMythLegend posted:

Yes. It's me, I'm the uber-nerd.

I'd post a bunch more Athasian imagery if I actually felt like scanning them.

# ? May 26, 2010 13:34

ManMythLegend: Aug 18, 2003; I don't believe in anything, I'm just here for the violence.

BetterWeirdthanDead posted:

I'd post a bunch more Athasian imagery if I actually felt like scanning them.

I scanned a bunch of random crap a few months ago when I was recruiting for my Dark Sun game. I haven't really bothered with it since then though because I'm lazy.

# ? May 26, 2010 16:13

counterspin: Apr 2, 2010

One of my players had the spoon of everlasting gruel, and its sole use, since I don't give a drat about food provisions, was as a punchline.

"I don't know guys. Rather than facing the wrath of the gods, let's hide in the mountains and survive off my spoon of gruel!"

"Hey guys, rather than explaining our actions to hostile government officials using the Neurenberg defense, let's go up into the hills and survive off my spoon of gruel!"

# ? May 26, 2010 16:16

Helena P Blavatsky: Oct 17, 2003; onward to victory

Today I went to the local nerd store to see if they had any Dark Sun stuff sitting around. They did, and I bought The Valley of Dust and Fire - but that's not why I'm posting this. While there I found a tiny recreation of the original Dark Sun boxed set. It is a small box, and inside this small box are scaled-down recreations of the setting books with tiny (but legible) text. The poster maps are the size of a single sheet of paper, but folded the same number of times. There are even tiny recreated flip books. It is now sitting on my desk - AD&D's harshest setting in the most adorable package. If you can't tell, I think this is fantastic.

# ? May 27, 2010 05:05

Asimo: Sep 23, 2007

Tolervi posted:

Today I went to the local nerd store to see if they had any Dark Sun stuff sitting around. They did, and I bought The Valley of Dust and Fire - but that's not why I'm posting this. While there I found a tiny recreation of the original Dark Sun boxed set. It is a small box, and inside this small box are scaled-down recreations of the setting books with tiny (but legible) text. The poster maps are the size of a single sheet of paper, but folded the same number of times. There are even tiny recreated flip books. It is now sitting on my desk - AD&D's harshest setting in the most adorable package. If you can't tell, I think this is fantastic.

Hah, I forgot all about that. I forget exactly when, but TSR (or was it WoTC by then?) did minature reproductions of the 1st edition AD&D books and some other selected things for... ... actually, I have no loving idea. Was like, what, fifteen years ago now? Anyone have any idea what the hell that was about? :psyduck:

# ? May 27, 2010 10:13

BetterWeirdthanDead: Mar 7, 2006; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

I think it was one of TSR's last grasps at viability.

They reprinted classic books and boxed sets in the tiny format. It was cute, and they're kind of rare now, but I sure as hell didn't want to try gaming with one of those.

# ? May 27, 2010 14:14

CoolCab: Apr 17, 2005; glem

Dark Sun podcast from Penny Arcade is up

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Product.aspx?x=dnd_4pod_20100527

I don't know enough about the setting to know if this reveals anything cool, but it's a good listen.

# ? May 27, 2010 14:45

Drox: Aug 9, 2007; by Y Kant Ozma Post

So. Dark Sun Encounters. Next week, your local gaming store. Anyone else gonna go? My group is going to Dark Sun the gently caress out of it.

# ? May 27, 2010 16:43

shotgunbadger: Nov 18, 2008; WEEK 4 - RETIRED

Drox posted:

So. Dark Sun Encounters. Next week, your local gaming store. Anyone else gonna go? My group is going to Dark Sun the gently caress out of it.

I'm the designated Dark Sun dork of my group, so I've spent the past two weeksish preaching the good word and getting them super pumped for this, so yea me too.

# ? May 27, 2010 16:47

enigma105: Mar 16, 2004; His record...it's over 9-7!!!

Drox posted:

So. Dark Sun Encounters. Next week, your local gaming store. Anyone else gonna go? My group is going to Dark Sun the gently caress out of it.

next week is the finale of the first season, Dark Sun begins June 9th. If you want to get in the last session of season 1, bring a level 2 character.

I still haven't gotten my kits in (they should show up soon), but here's what I know:

6 pregens:
Barcan: human cosmic sorceror (veiled alliance)
Phye: human enlightened ardent (noble adept
Castri: elf marauder ranger (gladiator)
Shikirr: thrikeen quick battlemind (wilder)
Jarvix: teifling telephatic psion (veiled alliance)
Yuka: mul brawling fighter (wasteland nomad)

It'll be 3 5-week "chapters" with leveling between each chapter (we're given the stats/skills to pick)

Here's the "Athas Primer" included in the preview stuff:

Athas Primer posted:

The world of the DARK SUN Campaign Setting is unique in several ways. Many familiar trappings of the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game are missing or turned on their heads. Athas is not a place of shining knights and robed wizards, of deep forests and divine pantheons. To venture over the sands of Athas is to enter a world of savagery and splendor that draws on different traditions of fantasy and storytelling. Simple survival beneath the deep red sun is often its own adventure.

Newcomers to Athas have many things to learn about the world, its people, and its monsters, but the following eight characteristics encapsulate the most important features of the DARK SUN campaign setting.

The World is a Desert: Athas is a hot, arid planet covered with endless seas of dunes, lifeless salt flats, stony wastes, rocky badlands, thorny scrublands, and worse. From the first moments of dawn, the crimson sun beats down from an olive-tinged sky. Temperatures routinely exceed 100 degrees by midmorning and can reach 130 degrees or more by late afternoon. The wind is like the blast of a furnace, offering no relief from the oppressive heat. Dust and sand borne on the breeze coat everything with yellow-orange silt. In this forbidding world, cities and villages exist only in a few oases or verdant plains. The world beyond these islands of civilization is a barren wasteland roamed by nomads, raiders, and hungry monsters.

The World is Savage: Life on Athas is brutal and short. Bloodthirsty raiders, greedy slavers, and hordes of inhuman savages overrun the deserts and wastelands. The cities are little better; each chokes in the grip of an immortal tyrant. The vile institution of slavery is widespread on Athas, and many unfortunates spend their lives in chains, toiling for brutal taskmasters. Every year hundreds of slaves, perhaps thousands, are sent to their deaths in bloody arena spectacles. Charity, compassion, kindness�these qualities exist, but they are rare and precious blooms. Only a fool hopes for such riches.

Metal is Scarce: Most arms and armor are made of bone, stone, wood, and other such materials. Mail or plate armor exists only in the treasuries of the sorcerer-kings. Steel blades are almost priceless, weapons that many heroes never see during their lifetimes.

Arcane Magic Defiles the World: The reckless use of arcane magic during ancient wars reduced Athas to a wasteland. To cast an arcane spell, one must gather power from the living world nearby. Plants wither to black ash, crippling pain wracks animals and people, and the soil is sterilized; nothing can grow in that spot again. It is possible to cast spells with care, avoiding any more damage to the world, but defiling is more potent than preserving. As a result, sorcerers, wizards, and other wielders of arcane magic are generally reviled and persecuted across Athas regardless of whether they preserve or defile. Only the most powerful spellcasters can wield arcane might without fear of reprisals.

Sorcerer-Kings Rule the City-States: Terrible defilers of immense power rule all but one of the city-states. These mighty spellcasters have held their thrones for centuries; no one alive remembers a time before the sorcerer-kings. Some claim to be gods, and some claim to serve gods. Some are brutal oppressors, where others are more subtle in their tyranny. The sorcerer-kings govern through priesthoods or bureaucracies of greedy, ambitious templars, lesser defilers who can call upon the kings� powers.

The Gods are Silent: Long ago, when the planet was green, the brutal might of the primordials overcame the gods. Today, Athas is a world without deities. There are no clerics, no paladins, and no prophets or religious orders. In the absence of divine influence, other powers have come to prominence in the world. Psionic power is well known and widely practiced on Athas; even unintelligent desert monsters can have deadly psionic abilities. Shamans and druids call upon the primal powers of the world, which are often sculpted by the influence of elemental power.

Fierce Monsters Roam the World: The desert planet has its own deadly ecology. Many creatures that are familiar sights on milder worlds have long since died out or never existed at all. Athas has no cattle, swine, or horses; instead, people tend flocks of erdlus, ride on kanks or crodlus, and draw wagons with inixes and mekillots. Wild creatures such as lions, bears, and wolves are almost nonexistent. In their place are terrors such as the id fiend, the baazrag, and the tembo.

Familiar Races Aren�t What You Expect: Typical fantasy stereotypes don�t apply to Athasian heroes. In many DUNGEONS & DRAGONS settings, elves are wise, benevolent forest-dwellers who guard their homelands from intrusions of evil. On Athas, elves are a nomadic race of herders, raiders, peddlers, and thieves. Halflings aren�t amiable river-folk; they�re xenophobic headhunters and cannibals who hunt and kill trespassers in their mountain forests. Goliaths�or half-giants, as they are commonly known�are brutal mercenaries that serve as elite guards and enforcers for the sorcerer-kings and their templars in many city-states.

enigma105 fucked around with this message at 17:48 on May 27, 2010

# ? May 27, 2010 17:45

Riidi WW: Sep 16, 2002; by angerbeet

Argh! The halflings are man-eaters, not cannibals!!!

# ? May 27, 2010 18:02

Anisotropic Shader: Nov 25, 2005; You're talkin' about what would basically be the most important model train layout of all time you realize.

Has there been any official word by WOTC about elemental clerics or what the primordials did next^tm? I am sort of worried that they're just going to be folded into the primal power source and written out.

Also Gabe does a great job as a half-giant in that podcast.

# ? May 27, 2010 18:21

palecur: Nov 3, 2002; not too simple and not too kind; Fallen Rib

Anisotropic Shader posted:

Has there been any official word by WOTC about elemental clerics or what the primordials did next^tm? I am sort of ~~worried~~ hoping that they're just going to be folded into the primal power source and written out.

There you go.

# ? May 27, 2010 18:30

Infinite Oregano: Dec 31, 2007; I'm going to make my friends eat infinite oregano and they'll have to do it because the recipe says so!

Aren't "Elemental Priests" a theme?

# ? May 27, 2010 18:44

Squizzle: Apr 24, 2008

Indeed they are.

# ? May 27, 2010 18:47

Anisotropic Shader: Nov 25, 2005; You're talkin' about what would basically be the most important model train layout of all time you realize.

Gomi posted:

There you go.

The fact that elementalists gained their power by making pacts(?) with the last few, desperate elementals of athas, was a really cool concept. They might not even respect or like the powers they made these pacts with, but by furthering these extra-planar being's goals (usually expanding their domain in the material plane) they were granted great power.

Being split between obeying the hungry demands of their dwindling masters and their own desires was cool. I guess it could still be done by using the existing primal classes. So long water clerics

# ? May 27, 2010 19:03

Drox: Aug 9, 2007; by Y Kant Ozma Post

enigma105 posted:

next week is the finale of the first season, Dark Sun begins June 9th. If you want to get in the last session of season 1, bring a level 2 character.

I still haven't gotten my kits in (they should show up soon), but here's what I know:

6 pregens:
Barcan: human cosmic sorceror (veiled alliance)
Phye: human enlightened ardent (noble adept
Castri: elf marauder ranger (gladiator)
Shikirr: thrikeen quick battlemind (wilder)
Jarvix: teifling telephatic psion (veiled alliance)
Yuka: mul brawling fighter (wasteland nomad)

It'll be 3 5-week "chapters" with leveling between each chapter (we're given the stats/skills to pick)

Here's the "Athas Primer" included in the preview stuff:

Nice info, I will forward this to my group. My nerd store has different information, so I wonder who is right.

# ? May 27, 2010 19:10

enigma105: Mar 16, 2004; His record...it's over 9-7!!!

Drox posted:

Nice info, I will forward this to my group. My nerd store has different information, so I wonder who is right.

This is from some guy on twitter that apparently got his kit. The classes match up with what we already knew, beyond that it's a crapshoot.

I'll verify once my kits arrive.

# ? May 27, 2010 21:33

Drox: Aug 9, 2007; by Y Kant Ozma Post

I'm sorry, I should have been more clear. I meant the info on the scheduling. My store swears up and down (and has it on their website) that the new season starts on the 2nd.

# ? May 28, 2010 02:06

Jarofmoldymayo: Mar 5, 2008

Just listened to teh PA podcast.

Darksun sounds like fun!

# ? May 28, 2010 02:16

Android Blues: Nov 22, 2008

Jarofmoldymayo posted:

Just listened to teh PA podcast.

Darksun sounds like fun!

Dark...fun?

# ? May 28, 2010 03:06

Sad Mammal: Feb 5, 2008; You see me laughin

I really like the sounds of Dark Sun based on what I've read in this thread and the podcast. I think I'm going to pick up the new edition when it drops this summer. Would anyone recommend older edition Dark Sun material I should pick up?

# ? May 28, 2010 03:08

Jarofmoldymayo: Mar 5, 2008

Android Blues posted:

Dark...fun?

Torturous Darkfun will be my character's name.

# ? May 28, 2010 03:21

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# ? Jun 8, 2024 10:42

shotgunbadger: Nov 18, 2008; WEEK 4 - RETIRED

Sad Mammal posted:

I really like the sounds of Dark Sun based on what I've read in this thread and the podcast. I think I'm going to pick up the new edition when it drops this summer. Would anyone recommend older edition Dark Sun material I should pick up?

Expanded Setting

City by the Silt Sea

Thri-Kreen of Athas (I am a whore for Thri-Kreen, YMMV)

Elves of Athas (see above)

and the Monster books.

I'm assuming this is all to get you 'prepped' for 4th ed Dark Sun, so all that poo poo is great for setting the flavor perfectly for you and your group. No idea how easy it is to get these, I got a giant box of nearly all the Dark Sun books from my LGS in one of those 'get this poo poo out of my store for dirt cheap' sales.

# ? May 28, 2010 03:57

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