Researching a bit about Dark Sun

[Dimuscul]

Hi all,

I'm a bit of a lurker but I need a bit of a help

I'm beginning a campaign on the Dark Sun setting. While I didn't get to play on prior editions, it always seemed quite fun and I'm finally trying to DM it (in D&D4e ruleset) ... but it's 4e campaign setting book it's a bit scarce in content and I feel a bit lost on the big scheme of things.

So I'm searching for two things mainly, Art/Illustrations (I been looking on Pinterest mainly, but it doesn't seem to be a lot out there about this setting) and Lore, do you know which books I should look for? (If they are published PDF it would be better), setting books? Maybe an iconic novel I should read?

Also, modules ... right now my players are playing the introductory adventure in the book (Sand Raiders), Silt Runners are quite deadly and I have already killed two players. But they are managing to work better cooperatively and improve his defenses while having a lot of fun ... they have regrouped on the stairs and are laying dead upon it's remaining enemies (map id 1429 in SkCombat program).

After the Sand Raiders I will probably play Vault of Darom Madar ... but later? Do you know iconic modules? Great adventures in the setting that are a must play? I don't care which edition it is.

And well ... any advice you can give me about Dark Sun will be appreciated.

 

[Crothian]

Wikipedia has a pretty good overview that might help with some things. It might give you an idea about what you like best and then you can try to find more info on that topic. For art I'd just use the net again as many of the classic pictures can be found with a google search.

Are you in the US? If so if you don't mind PM your address and I can send you a few books that might help you out.

 

[Yora]

I think the original Box Set is the best source for Dark Sun there is. There's also a revised edition, but that has a rather poor reputation for some reason. I'm not very familiar with the 4th Edition books, but what I've seen of them, they seem to be very brief on actual setting information. While some information may be duplicate, the box set should also have a very big amount of info that is not in the 4th Ed. book.
For unknown reasons, it's currently not among the Dragonlance books WotC is selling for download, so you'd have to look for it elsewhere. There's 25 of it second-hand on amazon right now, and I got some results from ebay, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find.

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

Here is all the Dark Sun PDFs currently available on dndclassics.com. Fury of the Wastewalker may be of particular interest.

 

[radja]

also check out athas.org

 

[Dimuscul]

Are you in the US? If so if you don't mind PM your address and I can send you a few books that might help you out.

Nop, I'm from Spain.

Fury of the Wastewalker may be of particular interest.

It should be of particular interest because it is 4e or because the adventure is good? If it's the former, it's not necessary, I don't have any problem reusing old content in 4e, the DM tools are quite easy to work with. Also, there don't seem to be much content in the store for Dark Sun

also check out athas.org
Wikipedia has a pretty good overview that might help with some things. It might give you an idea about what you like best and then you can try to find more info on that topic.

I will check them ... I would be too much wishful thinking to found a guide ala Adventurer's Guide to Eberron right?

What terms I should search for the original box of dark sun? Just "original box of darksun"? XD

 

[Kinak]

The only novels I'm aware of are the Prism Pentad. They might help give a bit more of the flavor, but they're also regarded by many as having ruined the setting so...

Running Dark Sun back in 2e, the only books I felt like I really wanted were the original boxed set, the Will and the Way, Dragon Kings, Windriders of the Jagged Cliffs, and Psionic Artifacts of Athas.

• The Boxed Set is still 100% worth getting.
• Will and the Way was a book with more psionic options, which were mostly just mechanical. You probably don't need it.
• Dragon Kings were basically epic rules specific to Dark Sun. Again, you probably don't need it.
• Windriders of the Jagged Cliffs gives the prehistory of the setting and introduces lifeshaping.
• Psionic Artifacts of Athas includes fun plot artifacts and a bunch more lifeshaping.

As you can probably guess, I really liked lifeshaping I wouldn't include that stuff if you're planning on a more political or mercantile campaign, but it's great for high weirdness or epic campaigns.

There was also a chain of adventures, starting with the boxed set, then Freedom, then the Road to Urik. I can't speak to them other than the boxed set one, which was a fairly good way to start a campaign.

What terms I should search for the original box of dark sun? Just "original box of darksun"? XD

"Dark Sun boxed set" should bring it right up.

I'll second that it's the definitive source for Dark Sun information. It's complicated slightly by the fact that 4e occurs after the Prism Pentad, so some of the information may be contradictory (in the original boxed set, Tyr is still ruled by Kalak, for example).

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Yora]

The revised version says "Dark Sun Campaign Setting - Expanded and Revised" on the cover. That's the one with the poor reputation from 1995.

The original one is just plain "Dark Sun Boxed Set" and looks like this from 1991. However, I wouldn't be suprised if it gets simply lables as "Dark Sun Campaign Setting" as well, so you should still take a look to check which of the two it is.

 

[diaglo]

besides the novels, the campaign source books and modules; dark sun had some computer games available too. that was back in the days of floppy discs.

 

[Henry]

Dimuscul, for your art needs, you need do no more than search Google for "dark sun Brom" - Gerald Brom was the artist who defined the look of Dark Sun more than any other artist, much like Tony DiTerlizzi defined the Planescape setting.

Iconic modules are a bit tougher, because a lot of people felt that everything after the original 1991 boxed set went further away from the original vision of a grim oppressive world on the brink of disaster, and spoiled a lot of mysteries for the setting (even to the point of detailing which species and races that each Sorcerer King was responsible for committing genocide on). "Road to Urik" is a rather iconic one, though.