Best Era of Dark Sun?

[Wik]

Simple question. Beyond the rulesets used, which era of the Dark Sun gameline is the best to play in/run?

Note that I'm talking about the setting itself, and NOT the games rules associated with it. The choices are described in a bit more detail below:

Original Boxed Set: The setting included in the original boxed set, and maybe a few of the earlier splat books. Kalak is still a sorcerer king, Dregoth doesn't exist, etc.

Prism Pentad: This is the setting during the Prism Pentad novel series, and the splat books associated with that. Kalak has been killed (and a few sorcerer kings are about to follow), but the world is still dark and mysterious.

Revised Boxed Set: Ten years after the events of the Prism Pentad (or some such). There's a limited greening process in the world, the Dragon is dead, more than half of the sorcerer kings are dead, and the world has become much larger in scope.

Dragon Magazine: The version from the Dragon remake of Dark Sun. It's three hundred years after the Tyrian revolution. All of the non-Tyrian city-states now have Sorcerer Kings again. A few new psionic races (like Maenadi and Elan) have been introduced. The Veiled Alliance and The Order are both gone.

Fourth Edition: A reset of sorts, though Kalak has just died a few weeks before the campaign starts. Dragonborn and Tieflings both exist, as do Eladrin (and a Feywild). Half-giants are now Goliaths. The world is otherwise similar to the original boxed set, with perhaps a bit more comic-book style fantasy as opposed to sword and sandal, and the areas are given a bit more detail.

 

[Siberys]

This may be colored by my experiences, but I have had a much better time grokking DS after the release of the 4e material. Maybe it's just that it's been hard to find the 2e books, but it seems much more accessible, and even complete as a setting, even with only access to the books plus DDI.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

The Revised Box - more meat on the bones, a somewhat more coherent psionics system, a somewhat more mature game mechanic over all.

The magazine did not have enough to chew, and the systems of 4e have wandered too far for it to be quite the same world. (For those who like 4e, this is likely a good thing - the things we old timers miss would likely annoy you. Enjoy what you have. For those of us who like 3.X/Pathfinder... we were the real losers, like it or not, 4e at least got a full release that was tailored to their edition. The magazine really didn't cut it.)

The Auld Grump

 

[frankthedm]

1st box set. When it was Dark Sun. No penalties for defilers, Slaves are up for sale and sorcerer kings are all untoppled.

One thing that bothers me about later products was the attempt shoehorn taint / punishments for defiling in.

The Taint of a defiler is that they have blasted Athas to barren wasteland, can never be good, and cause all wizards to be hated. Dark sun was not about using supernatural punishments for the unheroic, that was Ravenloft. Brom era Dark sun was about survival in a blasted land ruled by wicked sorcerer kings where the very concept of paladin had gone extinct long ago.

Defilers even earned XP notably faster than preservers to boot. What balances that out? Nothing other than how much your allies are willing to put up / be seen with you.

Being a preserver means you are taking the moral high road on a world where that is not rewarded.

 

[Spatula]

I voted the original box set. I might have gone with 4e if it was a complete reset, but they seem to have retained the history laid out in the Prism Pentad novels, which gets big thumb down from me (as does the Prism Pentad itself and any products that incorporate its events into the setting, like the revised set). Aside from that, I think the 4e setting book is a better campaign guide than the original box set. And there's a lot to be said for not having to use the 2e psionics rules. Well, I guess I would have voted for 4e too if it was a multiple choice poll...

 

[GreyLord]

I almost voted for 4e. I actually think the 4e campaign is the best put together.

However, I prefer to game with an older RPG type game (if I was able to choose my preference...the preference being AD&D and such which are compatible), so I had to go with the original release instead of the 4e version.

 

[Pentius]

I'm not voting, because I only have the 4e books, and thus can't really judge them in comparison to others. I will say that while I like the 4e books on it very much, a lot of the older art seems to fit in better with the flavor.

 

[Dice4Hire]

I went with 4E, though I have most of the Dark Sun stuff (Actually a friend leaves it at my house) and the 4E book is very clear and tells what is going on in simple, but understandable prose. The monsters are also awesome.

 

[Mark Hope]

Nominally, the Prism Pentad-era. Specifically, after the fall of Kalak but before the death of the Dragon and all that nonsense with Rajaat. In this period, the sorcerer-kings are dominant, the Dragon is still rampaging around, but there is a (supposedly) free city as well. Free Tyr allows the DM to show how difficult (impossible?) true freedom is on Athas and highlight the failings of the revolutionary government. Free Tyr makes Nibenay look like an attractive place to live.

That said, all eras of the game have something to offer. The original boxed set had some of the best general flavour, with vast stretches of mystery and a really unique approach to the game. The revised boxed set introduces some great new areas of play (Bandit Kingdoms, Obsidian Plains, Lava Gorge) as well as some fun player races (pterrans are just great). The Paizo remake has some neat artwork and a fantastic take on the elan, as well as some other fun stuff like blood obsidian. DS4e is a decent overview of the base setting with a pleasantly relentless approach to cramming adventure hooks in everywhere. Pick and choose the best from each to make your own DS .

 

[Corathon]

I voted for the original boxed set. I loved the picture of Athas portrayed in it. I also imagined how that world could've become a bleak dying world. Since the past was largely a mystery, my imagination had free play.

The first adventures (in which the PCs are spectators to the events of a novel) were not at all appealing to me. And the history, when revealed, was almost nothing like what I had imagined.

Were I ever to run Darksun I'd rely almost entirely on the original boxed set, and just ignore the novels and official history. I'd also make a slew or rules modifications, but that's OT I think.