DarkSun / Sandstorm; viable?

[Lobo Lurker]

Hello Lay-dees & Gents,

I was a fan of the Dark Sun campaign setting back in the day and would be interested in maybe getting together a current version of that setting that works with the new 3.5 ruleset.
Yes, I've seen the 'official' Athas.org rules... I'm not happy with them.

I noticed that WotC came out with a desert/wasteland book called Sandstorm a while back. Do any of that books owners think that it could be used as a good starting point for building a Dark Sun type of fantasy/post-apocolyptic setting?

Thanks for your time.

 

[EricNoah]

It's good for the conditions of a desert, badlands, salt flats and other wasteland types of terrain. It has some nifty spells on those themes (and psionic powers too). But it doesn't really go much further than that toward the Dark Sun idea -- it won't help you with defiling (a key component to the DS storyline), it won't really help you with the races, it won't help you with rules for non-metal weapons. So its use for Dark Sun would be limited.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's good for the conditions of a desert, badlands, salt flats and other wasteland types of terrain. It has some nifty spells on those themes (and psionic powers too). But it doesn't really go much further than that toward the Dark Sun idea -- it won't help you with defiling (a key component to the DS storyline), it won't really help you with the races, it won't help you with rules for non-metal weapons. So its use for Dark Sun would be limited.

Having said that, I'd think the desert rules would be so useful to depicting adventures on Athas, that it's close to a must-buy. But obviously, it's less important than 2E Dark Sun material and the XPH.

 

[Taluron]

There was info on Athas in a Dragon/Dungeon combo some months back. I'm not sure if it's the same info as on Athas.org or not.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

You might consider buying From Stone to Steel, a book on primitive weapons and armor.

I don't have FStS or any Dark Sun books, though, so I'm unsure.

 

[Lobo Lurker]

Thanks for the advice everyone. It's really too bad I don't like the 'official' DS rules... they'd be much cheaper to use as I don't actually own any of these books (other than the DC campaign setting for 2nd edition... which is currently 1,553 miles away from my current location and unlikely to get any closer.

 

[DragonLancer]

While Sandstorm won't help you with Dark Sun specific material, I would say that Sandstorm is an excellent companion for the setting.

 

[Tarangil]

Dragon magazine #315 covers many out-of-print worlds in 3-3.5 edition.

There's a article on Dark sun there that gives the latest edition stats for the Defiler class.

You might find that interesting.

 

[Lobo Lurker]

Eh, I can't really get Dragon down here, and haven't found any place that will deliver/special order back issues. Back issues of dragon would be GREAT as PDFs.

[rant] Magazines make GREAT electronic documents as the articles are generally "short" and don't force the reader to stare at a computer screen for extended periods of time. Books make terrible electronic documents... really, who wants to star at a computer monitor reading text without end? I bought an e-book and read it on my home computer. That's the last e-book (novel) that I'll buy.[/rant]​

I just wanted to pipe up and say that I picked up Iron Heroes last night (pdf version) and from a once over, it looks great! Diverse fighting classes, a thief class, and an arcanist that works well for either templars, clerics, druids, or preserver/defilers. The Arcanist class would need some tweaking to fit these roles, but it can be done fairly easily.

The only thing I was having trouble figuring in was Psionics... I *think* that Psi would best be handled via feats (actually, a feat mastery tree that everyone has access too based on character level). The only situation that this doesn't cover are those Psionicists who only do psionics (not fighting or magic).

That's it from me at the moment.

 

[Mark Hope]

Hey there, Lobo Lurker. Sorry to hear that you don't like the athas.org material. Oh well, can't please 'em all

I have gotten a fair bit of use out of Sandstorm, but, as a couple of other posters have pointed out, its main utility lies in its presentation of the environment, rather than any flavour issues that are specific to Athas. As for representing a desert enviroment, it is highly useful in a DS game, moreso than the stuff in the DMG or in the athas.org material. It features a couple of types of sinking sand, for example, that double up extremely well as silt (one where you sink slowly, one where you sink like a rock - good for loose or impacted silt, for example). The spells are all closely keyed to the desert-based game and, especially for rangers, add a great level of utility and diversity to the spell lists. The monsters are also very cool (any book that features a giant cactus treant gets my vote ...) Some of the locations (many peeled from the old Desert of Desolation trilogy) are also touchstones and make fun additions to the DS game. There is even a magical Black Sand terrain type that I have imported and adapted to Athas' Black Sand region (even though the DS region wasn't a magical sand, I liked the Sandstorm version so much that I just had to use it). Taken as a whole, there is no single element of the book that makes it a must-have for the Dark Sun DM, but you will certainly find that it is filled with nuggets of deserty goodness that you can plug and play with right away.