D&D General Dark Sun as a Lovecraftian Setting

[Epic Meepo]

A random idea inspired by the Dark Sun campaign setting and by the works of H.P. Lovecraft:

The Nighted Sun

“[Darkness almost material] burst forth like smoke from its aeon-long imprisonment, visibly darkening the sun as it slunk away into the shrunken and gibbous sky...”
- H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

Before the children of bygone days lost their great cities to the Crawling Chaos, the world was a place bright and verdant. Today, clouds of dust obscure the sun, and noisome tides pollute the sea. In some wild places, primal nature yet rages against this doom. Elsewhere, more crops fail with every passing season. Sunset falls on a world of plenty, despite all efforts to turn the tide.

Invoking secret knowledge older than humankind, witch cults revive species last seen in elder aeons. The same arcane forces which work these miracles draw nightmares down from the stars and awaken dreamscapes in sensitive minds. Somewhere in those worlds beyond matter, ethereal music lulls cruel and terrible gods to sleep, but the melody grow quieter by the day.


Setting Themes

A dying planet orbits the Nighted Sun. Dark magic slows the world’s decline, even as that magic attracts the attention of alien beings. The following are some themes present in this setting:

Ecological Collapse. Modern humans have damaged the world’s ecosystems. Cyclical cosmic forces have amplified this damage, triggering a global extinction event.

Corrupting Magic. Witch cults preserve eldritch lore predating the dawn of humankind. They use their arcane knowledge to sustain the dying world, but their efforts come at a price.

Intrusive Alien Realities. Mass extinctions are lullabies for terrible alien entities. Efforts to revive the dying world disturb the slumber of beings whose mere thoughts can warp reality.

Psionic Dreamscapes. As the dying world collides with realities beyond, sensitive minds awaken to shared dreamscapes that extend into higher planes of existence.


Character Origins

Beneath the Nighted Sun, efforts to restore life to the dying world have turned the story of a single humanoid species into a tale of many different peoples.

Modern Humans. The human species evolved in recent aeons. For a time, humankind was the only sapient species active in the world. Humans now dwindle in number, their population supplemented in some areas by other humanoid peoples new to the modern age. Despite this demographic shift, humans remain one of the most populous humanoid species in the world, if not the most populous.

Prehistoric Humanoids. In past aeons, other humanoids played the role of humankind. Each of these prehistoric peoples later went extinct. Using powerful but dangerous ritual magic, witch cults have revived several of these once-extinct species. These species include dwarves, halflings, and orcs. Each of these peoples was the world’s predominant humanoid species in a different bygone era.

Metamorphoses. Humanoids with non-humanoid ancestors sometimes change species as they age, becoming more like their non-humanoid forebears. This process can produce species which wouldn’t otherwise exist, including: aasimar (of celestial ancestry); dragonborn (of dragon ancestry); elves and gnomes (of fey ancestry); goliaths (of giant ancestry); and tieflings (of fiendish ancestry).

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Thoughts? Questions? Critiques?

 

[Ath'kethin]

It all looks good/workable to me. I love inserting cosmic horror into most any campaign, and you're right - Dark Sun is pretty well primed for it.

 

[Autumnal]

Oh wow. I love this. I’d need to reread William Hope Hodgson’s The Night Land and loot heavily from it. This grabs my imagination hard.

 

[Epic Meepo]

Oh wow. I love this. I’d need to reread William Hope Hodgson’s The Night Land and loot heavily from it. This grabs my imagination hard.

I'll have to give William Hope Hodgson a look. I'm not familiar with The Night Land.

 

[Autumnal]

It’s long, dense, and in need of a lot of editing. But so much of it is so fantastically weird. If you’re unfamiliar with Hodgson, I suggest warming up with The House On The Borderlands or The Ghost Pirates. And I suggest looking at some reviews to help spot places in The Night Land where it is okay to skim. Then you’re set to journey into the far future where the Sun is too dim to shine, all of surviving humanity lives in a metal pyramid miles high, and silent watchers just as tall sit motionless on the horizon in the cardinal directions.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I would rather "grimmdark" in the cover but hopepunk in the deep. Lovecraftian monsters can be fun for a time, but after you would rather to face another type of challeges. You don't want Batman to face only against joker but different villains, and even space for new criminals.

Some players would rather to can repair the damage to return to the golden age.

 

[DragonLancer]

As someone who loved Dark Sun in second edition before TSR ruined it, this sounds a lot better than the original concept to me. If you ever flesh it out further I'd be interested to read it.

 

[Epic Meepo]

I would rather "grimmdark" in the cover but hopepunk in the deep. Lovecraftian monsters can be fun for a time, but after you would rather to face another type of challeges. You don't want Batman to face only against joker but different villains, and even space for new criminals.

Some players would rather to can repair the damage to return to the golden age.

Thanks for your feedback.

I've seen another Dark Sun thread on this forum dedicated to hopeful themes. I don't want to detract from the work posters are doing in that other thread by creating redundant material, so I'll to stick to Lovecraftian themes in this thread.

 

[Epic Meepo]

As someone who loved Dark Sun in second edition before TSR ruined it, this sounds a lot better than the original concept to me. If you ever flesh it out further I'd be interested to read it.

Thanks for the kind words.

At the moment, I'm finishing up a Forgotten Realms project, but I'll make time to drop some more notes in this Dark Sun thread for anyone who's interested in reading a few more of my thoughts.

 

[Epic Meepo]

Monstrous Creatures

Most monsters in the D&D game can be found under the Nighted Sun, although relatively few of them are native to that setting. Various magical effects—including efforts to repopulate the dying world—have brought a wide variety of monsters from different times and places into the world.

Archaic Monstrosities. Some of the witch cults whose magic has revived prehistoric humanoids in modern times have also revived a number of Dragons and Monstrosities from past aeons. These creatures out of time now lurk in wild places rarely traversed by humans.

Daemons of the Land. The same forces which produce psionic dreamscapes in sensitive minds have awakened the land itself. Animistic spirits of nature now manifest as physical guardians of world’s surviving wilderness. Foremost among these spirits are Elementals, Fey, and Giants.

Encased Spirits. With the right magic, one can bind spirits to bodies fashioned from inanimate, alchemically-treated matter. Likewise, one can transplant organic brains into mechanical bodies. These methods can create most Constructs aside from modrons (which are a type of star spawn).

Fungoid Creatures. Drifting spores from distant worlds contribute to the dust clouds that obscure the Nighted Sun. These spores occasionally rain down on the world below, infecting vegetation with parasitic fungus that can transform normal plants into monstrous Plant creatures.

Luminous Beings. In starlit spaces beyond the dark clouds of interstellar space, luminous beings drift through the void. On rare occasions, these benevolent entities produce physical bodies to house their spirits so they can walk amongst mortals as tangible Celestial beings.

Shadows that Stride. Dark counterparts of the luminous beings that inhabit the starlit void, Fiends are shadows that stride from world to world, sowing death and destruction. Some Fiends engage in this behavior for their own amusement. Others do so at the behest of various terrible masters.

Star Spawn. Alien beings from beyond the stars, entities known as star spawn periodically descend upon unsuspecting worlds, pursuing drives and goals not fully comprehensible to humans. Examples of star spawn include most Aberrations and Oozes, plus the Constructs called modrons.

Tomb Legions. When witch cults attempt to restore life to the dead, they sometimes fail. These failures produce most of the Undead creatures in the world. Populations of undead are sometimes called tomb legions, especially when their members are bound in service to a powerful master.