With the release of 4th ed, our home campaign will be changing quite drastically. In honor of the campaign I'm leaving behind, I thought I would the bulk of the work available. I used the Athas.org documents as a basis and spent more hours then I care to admit editing and re-writing it until its current form. Anyway, here is the file for those interested. Comments welcome 
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Endless Desert DM's Campaign Guide
This document includes Classes, Skill Variants, Feats, Weapons, Armor, Mounts, Equipment, Environments, Plants, Monster list, Heat Dangers, Magic, NPCs, Timeline, and Maps
Anyway, for those interested it is a late stone-age, early-bronze age, extremely low-magic setting. Its essentially my version of the far, far past of Athas (Dark Sun). It has all the environmental harshness of Dark Sun, but with none of the power. No psionicists, no incredibly powerful mages, no giants, no dragons, no elves... just humans, sand, and the things that eat humans. The handful of casters can only cast spells per week, rather than per day. And if you're lucky enough to actually find a magical item... it'll constantly drain the life from you and anything else around you.
Although it probably sounds miserable to most of you, it actually has become the most fulfilling campaign I've ever run. When the players overcome obstacles, there is a sense of accomplishment that is unrivaled. Just getting from one village to another is a major task... the heat and sand are a constant enemy, finding your way there, having enough food and water, and overcoming whatever you might meet on the way is a heck of a task.
Almost all the "loot" found in the game is what the players have made and invented themselves out of the available resources, be it rocks and plants, or the carcasses of the monsters and animals they have felled. The constant battle for survival also means that those they travel with become extremely close, relationships and alliances between the PCs and NPCs get center stage. Even a meeting with bandits in the open desert can lead to alliances... since there is no magical healing and resources are so low, few dare to open violence. So what would end up being a bloody encounter in a normal game, can lead to alliances or uneasy truces in this one. They simply can't afford to go into battle willy-nilly.
So in this extreme environment, when the players do succeed in overcoming a main "villain" or other plot element, there is massive rush of emotion. The difficulty of it all was so high, that it feels like you've truly done the impossible. Done it with flint-spears and bone daggers, wearing leather you've made yourself.
P.S.: All the text in purple is for the DM's, the players get a version of this document without the purple text.
P.S.S: The chronology in the back details how this setting is related to the Forgotten Realms, and my own previous campaigns therein.
:Endless Desert DM's Campaign Guide
This document includes Classes, Skill Variants, Feats, Weapons, Armor, Mounts, Equipment, Environments, Plants, Monster list, Heat Dangers, Magic, NPCs, Timeline, and Maps
Anyway, for those interested it is a late stone-age, early-bronze age, extremely low-magic setting. Its essentially my version of the far, far past of Athas (Dark Sun). It has all the environmental harshness of Dark Sun, but with none of the power. No psionicists, no incredibly powerful mages, no giants, no dragons, no elves... just humans, sand, and the things that eat humans. The handful of casters can only cast spells per week, rather than per day. And if you're lucky enough to actually find a magical item... it'll constantly drain the life from you and anything else around you.
Although it probably sounds miserable to most of you, it actually has become the most fulfilling campaign I've ever run. When the players overcome obstacles, there is a sense of accomplishment that is unrivaled. Just getting from one village to another is a major task... the heat and sand are a constant enemy, finding your way there, having enough food and water, and overcoming whatever you might meet on the way is a heck of a task.
Almost all the "loot" found in the game is what the players have made and invented themselves out of the available resources, be it rocks and plants, or the carcasses of the monsters and animals they have felled. The constant battle for survival also means that those they travel with become extremely close, relationships and alliances between the PCs and NPCs get center stage. Even a meeting with bandits in the open desert can lead to alliances... since there is no magical healing and resources are so low, few dare to open violence. So what would end up being a bloody encounter in a normal game, can lead to alliances or uneasy truces in this one. They simply can't afford to go into battle willy-nilly.
So in this extreme environment, when the players do succeed in overcoming a main "villain" or other plot element, there is massive rush of emotion. The difficulty of it all was so high, that it feels like you've truly done the impossible. Done it with flint-spears and bone daggers, wearing leather you've made yourself.
P.S.: All the text in purple is for the DM's, the players get a version of this document without the purple text.
P.S.S: The chronology in the back details how this setting is related to the Forgotten Realms, and my own previous campaigns therein.
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