Best Era of Dark Sun?

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

It was really hard choosing between the original boxed set and 4e. I ended up picking 4e, but that's for rules... which is sort of against the rules of this poll.

The only thing I didn't like about 4e compared to the boxed set are a number of encounter suggestions in the 4e book... I don't care what you say, there should not be rakshashas on Athas. However, there were things I liked about 4e too (like having Tyr's templars not be totally nerfed). My players, incidentally, do not know this, so if they ever go near Tyr again...

 

[Dragonhelm]

Since my memories are Swiss cheese, would you be willing to remind me how Athas.org differed from the "Revised Boxed Set"?

Revised boxed set was towards the end of the Dark Sun run in 2e.

Athas.org is the official fan website, who did a 3.5 conversion prior to the Paizo conversion.

As for differences beyond that, it has been quite some time since I read any of that.

 

[Wik]

I'm disappointed that the Athas.org 3.5 conversion wasn't listed.

Anyway, I voted for the 4th edition version. I felt it held true to the feel of the original boxed set, while doing away with some of the rules that made the game not as fun. Overall, I'm very pleased.

I thought about it, but I decided that Athas.org was mostly just a "conversion", and didn't necessarily offer too much in the way of fluff that was new. Since this was a discussion that hoped to avoid rules mechanics, I didn't want to muddy the waters. Much of the fluff that WAS added was of a fan-based nature, too - there is definitely less of an overarching design goal in the athas.org stuff.

***

As for me, I'm going with the Prism Pentad era. I like the idea of Kalak being dead, and many of the pre-revised products are great additions to the game (Dune Trader, for example, or The Veiled Alliance - both are products I'd say are almost vital for a good Dark Sun campaign). The original boxed set is great, but it's definitely vague on the details and relies too much on the GM filling in details. I like a bit more detail (without the products going overboard, a la Forgotten Realms), so I went with the Pentad.

BEFORE any Sorcerer King beyond Kalak was offed, however. And before any of that halfling psionic green age mumbo jumbo.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Since my memories are Swiss cheese, would you be willing to remind me how Athas.org differed from the "Revised Boxed Set"?

Athas.org received from WotC the unreleased, unedited script of Kevin Melka's mega-adventure, Dregoth Ascending—as well as the unreleased, unedited script of Tim Brown's proposed Dead Lands accessory (the undead-infested obsidian plain to the south of the Tablelands)—with the task to polish those products for the 3e ruleset then release them for free to the public.

The Dead Lands material was to be repurposed in parts, releasing the undead material separately as a monster accessory and the rest as a regional accessory. The regional material was never released, to my awareness, but scattered references to the nations of the obsidian lands there were found in the monster accessory they released.

The Dregoth adventure was more or less given heavy rewriting. The adventure plays through

Spoiler

Dregoth's forces invading the Tablelands while Dregoth makes a play for godhood

.