D&D General Beginning under the Dark Sun (How to approach the setting ?)

[S3PTI4N77]

I've been reading some stuff recently on the Dark Sun setting from Advanced D&D 2nd Edition.

It seems to me that the setting is dark and savage, roleplay-wise and gameplay-wise. What is, in your opinion, the best way to introduce players used to the Forgotten Realms into Dark Sun? I'll consider any suggestions, from books, ideas, etc...

 

[aco175]

I would first be up front with them about the setting and see if they know anything or seen stuff online. It is a different setting and some people might not like it. I do not like it myself and would rather not play in that setting.

Things might also depend on what edition of D&D you want to play. There is some ideas and conversion stuff to make it from 2e into all the newer editions but might not be direct or your idea and players might have problems with it not more 'official'.

Starting at 3rd level was a coolish idea for 2e and helped show the idea that you need more to survive. It might not be needed in 5e with the increased power of the PCs already and that point that many campaigns already start with level 3.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

I've been reading some stuff recently on the Dark Sun setting from Advanced D&D 2nd Edition.

It seems to me that the setting is dark and savage, roleplay-wise and gameplay-wise. What is, in your opinion, the best way to introduce players used to the Forgotten Realms into Dark Sun? I'll consider any suggestions, from books, ideas, etc...

Dark Sun descends most directly from the "Dying Earth" subgenre of postapocalyptic fantasy popularized and named after the series by Jack Vance; it's where we get the term "Vancian magic" from to refer to D&D's style of spellcasting. There's not that much dying Earth fantasy out there aside from Vance's output and The Book of the New Sun (maybe you can add John Carter of Mars to this genre though it's not, obviously, postapocalyptic Earth) and what is out there is pretty old, so it's a good idea to supplement with classic post-apocalyptic science fiction like A Boy and his Dog, A Canticle for Liebowitz, Earth Abides and The Drowned World.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Dark Sun is like mixing Mad Max and Conan the barbarian, and adding psionic powers, to be explained in a softer way. It is a world where the villains won and the nature was destroyed by the defiler magic. The arcane spellcasters aren't wellcome and there aren't true gods although some sorcerer-kings proclaim to be gods themself.

The weak point is the metaplot is too limited to the region of Tyr and the city-states, and in 2nd Ed some classes and PC races were banned.

 

[pemerton]

To add a bit to what's been posted: I see Dark Sun as D&D's version of sword-and-planet fantasy. The overall vibe is S&S, but the substantial foregrounding of psionics adds a sci-fi twist. Sorcerer-Kings, their Templar servitors, etc can (in my view) be portrayed as if they just stepped out of the pages of a Conan story (or even a Flash Gordon story).

 

[sevenbastard]

Dark Sun is like mixing Mad Max and Conan the barbarian,

The Citadel in Fury Road would fit perfectly in Dark Sun. The War Boys and there devote worship of Immorten Joe mirrors how the Sorcerer Kings have established devoted servants.

 

[Stormonu]

Dark Sun is definitely designed to be a "Sword & Sandals"/Post-apocalyptic sort of game. As @sevenbastard notes, the feel is similar to the state of the world in Fury Road, sans the modern vehicles (though you could replace those with Erdlus and Melkillots...). The beginning of Black Adam (in the ancient world) and the Eternals (in the distant past) would probably fit as well for what the world would be like.

The original boxed set has the players starting out as slaves and getting freed in the wastes of the desert, while the old video game started you in an arena as slave pit fighters.

Personally, I'd start the game with the PCs as coming to one of the city-states on behalf of a desert community to gather/trade for items, and go from there (probably encountering a Templar who gives the characters grief, and then go from there).

 

[bloodtide]

The best way would be to just jump right it.

Ideally even more so if you could get the players to never look at the 'harsh rules' and just let things happen in the game.

The huge parts of Dark Sun are survival, harsh conditions, isolation, brutality, savageness, and evil. And this is backed up by a lot of 2E rules for food, water, equipment, survival, and death. The idea is your a worker and you kill some guards with a bone jaw you craved to be sharp and run off into the blazing desert where your character dies without water. That does not really go over well with the more modern "super hero" type mindset.


Dark Sun is definitely designed to be a "Sword & Sandals"/Post-apocalyptic sort of game. TV shows like: Rome, Spartacus, Black Sails, American Primeval, The Last Kingdom and Vikings. Xena is a bit 'fun', but does have a slight darker side. Movies like any Mad Max, any Conan, and really the typical 70/80 'barbarian movie". Some westerns fit too: Gunsmoke and the Rifleman. The authentic grimness and poverty of the frontier , ruthless hard people scratching out a subsistence , homesteaders dirt farming and busting sod. Matt Dillon wandering around the graveyard , ruminatin' on the wastrels he's put in the ground and Luke McCain spitting fire from his Winchester......

 

[Kannik]

I played a bit in Dark Sun back in the 2e days, and more recently as a one-shot at a convention, so my familiarity is not super high. From what I've heard though, from a world building/game running standpoint (putting the rules aside) 4e's treatment of it is well thought of and mitigates the metaplot issues that LuisCarlos mentioned above. That might be a good entry point to explore.

I do agree that once you get a sense of the setting and how you'd like to run it, it really needs to be discussed with the group beforehand and after every few sessions at the beginning. It can be tough to really grasp what a setting is like with just a shortish description and even harder to grasp the implications. Plus, shifting from one's 'default' playstyle, especially if that's the only one you've known so far, to a new one can be tough to overcome those habits. Going from a happy go lucky band of adventurer's in the Forgotten Realms where you can easily recover and find hospitality and make a big difference if that's your thing to one where making it over the next hill isn't guaranteed and you can fight a dozen templars and not make much of a dent in the status quo can be jarring. (On the last point, about making a difference, I think that's another place where the setup for the 4e Dark Sun with the fall of one of the Sorcerer Kings makes available, if that's something your group wants.) Checking in with them and tweaking things if need be to align everyone could be really valuable, as could if someone realizes they don't enjoy it and you choose to put it aside.

All the best! Dark Sun is a setting I'd like to get more of a chance to get into and play in.