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).