Calling all Darksun DMs!

[gfunk]

So, I've got 4 players ready to run a Dark Sun campaign. I've picked up a lot of old modules and sources secondhand through Ebay and such (all are 2nd edition of course). I also picked up the excellent 3rd ed conversion that they created on Athas.org.

Where do you guys think I should go next? My PCs are starting at 5th level so intro modules are out the window. Do you think converting modules from 2nd to 3E is a good idea?

Quick note: all my players are new to Dark Sun so I should probably gear up the first adventure to "break 'em in."

Alternatively, any modules with a desert motif (a la Necropolis) would be cool. Suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Left-handed Hummingbird]

But why are your PC's starting at level 5?

Start them at Level 3 and run some of the introductory modules.

Or, if you wish to get them (and yourself) used to the Dark Sun-setting, you could run one of the introductory modules using temporary 3rd Level Characters - THEN return to their 5th level main characters (I suddenly remember the "Character Tree"-concept in Dark Sun - that would make it easy to integrate the characters or having simultaneous adventures going on in different places). Plus, after you've run an introductory module, it'll probably be easier to decide where to begin the campaign proper.

Have fun! Don't forget to show them what a cruel and inhospitable place Athas is: No place is safe; everybody distrusts everybody - especially if they are of a different race. Cities are filled with assasins, secret police, spies, decadence, poverty and secret subcultures - the countryside are filled with horribly twisted monsters, merciless raiders and devoid of sustenance.

 

[SteelDraco]

I didn't read any of the modules for DS. I'm not much of a module person, so I can't offer any useful suggestions there.

A few questions, to get you thinking.

Are you planning on having an overarcing campaign plotline? I usually try to start games so that they at least hint at my over-plot. Where is the game going to be set? Do you want to have the PCs work with the VA? Against one of the sorcerer-kings? What time period is the game set in (Age of Heroes or Age of the Sorcerer-Kings?)

Also, what do you have for PCs? How do their histories relate, and what kind of position are they currently in?

If I was to run a DS game today, it'd be set in Raam, during the Age of Heroes. The main antagonist would be one of the former templars, who was trying to resurrect the power of the s-ks by breaking the seals on the Pristine Tower and re-enacting the ritual that Rajaat used to create them in the first place. PCs would have to foil his attempts, all the while dealing with the political unrest, wars, plagues, and other fun stuff that can happen in Raam.

 

[KingCroMag]

To introduce Darksun I would start pre age of heros (start at a lower level). I always thought it would be fun to run the campaign into the age of heroes but have the party be higher level and not from tyr (Nibanay sp would be my choice).
-KCM

 

[megamania]

Freedom is best choice but designed for level 3. Black Flames was good also (another level 3) but may require much more convertion work as it includes several dragons and high level golems.

If you can- go with Freedom and pump up the volume a bit

 

[Najo]

Dark sun advice

My first two games of Dark Sun flopped, then the third ran smoothe growing into a two campaign with two sub groups that branched off, by the time I was done I had over 45 different players through the two years and three game nights and Dark Sun had become my favorite D&D setting. I found that the mistakes of the first was that the party was enslaved, in fact I ran freedom...where they begin as escaped slaves. This was bad because they felt right from the start that they were being railroaded and setup and in turn, it hurt the game. THe second game put to much focus on the environment and desert, lakc of water etc.. it flopped, it was too hard and depressing. The third they were a group of mercenaries brought together by one of Nibenays templars (which are all his wives and they wear less cltohing the higher their rank), she hired the group to go into the forest near the city and exlpore these elven ruins. They hada nice adventure, exploring, learning of some elven secrets from before the current age and then when they found the item she sent them for and were coming out of the ruins, she attacked them with her underlings (lower level templars, milita and city troops). She had framed them as traitors to King Nibenay and they were forced to fight their way back into the ruins, lookingfor another way out...which was in a secret passage lead through mountains north of them and out into the desert, standed together with only the supplies on their backs and noway to return to nibenay. The real secret of this game, besides the way it opened was that the game got very political and some realistic goals established for the party. Eventual they were entwined against three city states, had allies wihtin the veiled alliance and a number of other resistance groups and contacts in numerous villages, merchant outposts and cities. Very good game, wonderful stuff. FOcus on the confilcts in darksun, but I would state that it isn't as brutal as left-wing hummingbird says, it is surivival of the fittest, but not to the extent that societies are not bound together. Smaller tribes, commnities and city sectors trust each other, juts in the city the people are oppressed and played against each other by the templars and the laws of the Sorcerer king (or queen) there. Good luck with your game.

Nate

 

[physicscarp]

No SK's!

SteelDraco said

If I was to run a DS game today, it'd be set in Raam, during the Age of Heroes. The main antagonist would be one of the former templars, who was trying to resurrect the power of the s-ks by breaking the seals on the Pristine Tower and re-enacting the ritual that Rajaat used to create them in the first place. PCs would have to foil his attempts, all the while dealing with the political unrest, wars, plagues, and other fun stuff that can happen in Raam

Ahh, Raam. A delicious slice of hell for any DM to torture their players with. Almost a King's Age ago, I ran an entire campaign based on this city, which covered two individual players and one group. the group worked for House Ianto, a small trading house based in Tyr, and were trying to open the market in Raam. This let the PC's interact with everybody in the city, not to mention trips into the wilderness on caravan runs, seeking rare goods, etc.

If your really interested, I even still have a map of the city that was done for GenCon 97.

I personally think that campaigns based around the SK's and Rajaat are just over done. It's to similar to basing a DL campaign on the War of the Lance, or Ravenloft on Strahd. Athas is a rich world with a lot going on. Ditch the common villians and come up with some of your own. My players still get nervous whenever I mention the name Sask!

Carp

 

[Golandrinel]

My advice after a long time DMing darksun is nNOT to give any thought to the chronology set out in the novels. Don't be lured into killing off the sorcerer kings prematurely!!!

I broke my 3rd level chars in on a bespoke adventure ... now a lost and forgotten paper relic somewhere in a massively overpopulated garage ... which introduced them to all of the different terrain types of athas. Give them a taste of the common deserts, the sea of silt and the rainforest where the halfling munch ..... Be sure to get them involved with a psionically endowed foe to stress how important psionics are to the planet. Also a good hook it to have them become involved in the power stuggles of the Templars and Noble houses of their local city state... And DON'T let them get their hands on any METAL straight away .. nice bone weapons....

What material do you have?

 

[Henry]

I agree. I prefer playing to the campaign world's strengths, which is its alien atmosphere of starkly contrasting landscapes and lack of metal, as well as the seamless integration of psionics into the game. for this, Athas.org's conversion streamlines the parts that most capture the flavor (though the timeline of the Prism Pentad series is SERIOUSLY not to my liking. The height of the Sorcerer Kings is my favorite era.

 

[theT0rmented]

There's an adventure for 5th-level PCs available at athas.org, called Tyrian Conspiracy.