Dark Sun: Any great published adventures?

[Riley]

I've always loved Dark Sun as a setting, but never played any of the published adventures for the setting.

I do remember reading a couple of them back in the day - and thinking that they were serious railroads. Still, I'd like to think that I just picked a couple of bad ones, or that I was in a bad mood the day I read them.

My question is: are there any published Dark Sun adventures that stand out as being exceptionally good, and/or that truly embody all that is great about Dark Sun?

Thanks in advance for any recommendations or insight you can offer.

 

[arscott]

"A little Knowledge", the adventure that comes with the original boxed set, was great--complete opposite of railroad.

 

[ShadowDenizen]

Actually, although the setting was phenomenal (one of my favorites ever published), there were surprisingly few decent modules/adventures published, and while I enjoy having "Player Booklets" the format of the old 2E adventures was kinda terrible as well.

Personally, I found the "Freedom" series to be merely a companion to the novel series, and it was really heavy-handed and didn't give much leeway for unexpected plot developments.

That said, I do have a soft spot for "Black Flames". It's a bit railroady in the beginning [PC's are stuck in a sandstorm and their water is spoiled], but overall quite enjoyable [IMO.]

There was also a few Dungeon magazines with Dark Sun adventures. I forget the numbers, but IIRC they indexed all the adventure settings in the very last print issue. One was "Raiders of the Chanth", and another dealth with the extinction of the trolls from Athas. (Sorry, forget the name of that one.)

Alsoo, look at Athas.org; they've been supporting the setting for years, and deserve some attnetion for it!! IIRC, they've published several adventures as well.

If you like, I'll try to look through my old DS modules, see which other ones stand out.

 

[Riley]

Personally, I found the "Freedom" series to be merely a companion to the novel series, and it was really heavy-handed and didn't give much leeway for unexpected plot developments.

That said, I do have a soft spot for "Black Flames". It's a bit railroady in the beginning [PC's are stuck in a sandstorm and their water is spoiled], but overall quite enjoyable [IMO.]

Yeah, I think Freedom may be what I read (skimmed anyway). I'll be sure to check out Black Flames if I can get a copy cheap enough.

And thanks for the reminder about old Dungeons - I'll have to dig through my back issues and see what's there.

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

Black Spine...won't spoil the end

 

[Draloric]

My vote would be for Dragon's Crown, a super-adventure that pits the PCs against machinations of the Order, a shadowy group of powerful psionicists.

 

[Wik]

Dark Sun tended to release rather crappy Adventures, unfortunately. I happened to find Marauders of Nibenay had some salvageable parts, as did Arcane Shadows... but neither is particularly "Great".

 

[DemonKing]

My favourite was Road to Urik - part of the adventure required you to go off and coerce a number of factions into contributing forces to an army - but how you did it was completely open-ended - you could bully, blackmail, bribe, persuade etc etc.

If you want a straight out Epic, then you can't go far wrong with Dragon's Crown.

 

[Minicol]

Dragon's Crown was good. City by the Silt Sea too ...

But I never got to play or DM them. I remember the old video game was fantastic (for the time). up to par with a Baldur's Gate or Dragons Age IMO (again compared to the technical possibilities of the time).

 

[Wraith Form]

Was Ivory Triangle good at all?

Looking over the old adventures I have tucked away, those were some really great Brom covers...