D&D 5E Need advice with Dark Sun Campaign

[Ezequielramone]

Hi all.
I'm running the "original dark sun campaign" with 5e. We played Freedom! and now my group is about to have the last battle in Road to Urik. So far the campaign is great mostly because my players are awesome. I didn't need to force things like the campaign book suggests (things like "players must think they can success but actually they can't" is not my style).
I'm reading only one adventure at the time because of real life time. I've read some reviews about the next adventures. These are not really tied, it seems. So I was wondering if I can skip Arcane Shadows and Asticlian Gambit and jump right to Dragon's Crowns.
My first meh is the Avangion thing in Arcane Shadows. I know it plays a part in the last campaign but idk if it is worth. The Avangion is one of those secrets that IMHO players must ignore at lvl 7.
Have you played those adventures or some of them? Do you recommend me to run every one in order or jump directly to DC? Are there some nice encounters that I can use? If I run Arcane Shadows is it possible to avoid spoiling that wizard is becoming an Avangion?
I'm also thinking that maybe I can run Arcane Shadows skipping some parts but I haven't read it.

Thank you in advance for your time.

Note: I have pdfs and I use glasses. I can consult something on the computer but can't read an entire campaign. It's bad for my eyes, OTOH printing the entirety campaign is a lot of waste if I'm not using it.

 

[CapnZapp]

Advise me. Give me advice.

Sent from my C6603 using EN World mobile app

 

[Ezequielramone]

Advise me. Give me advice.

Fixed, thank you. English is not my native language

 

[Zardnaar]

The links between the adventures are not that strong and the Darksun adventures are not actually that good either. Dragons Crown is more of a grand tour of the Tyr region than an actual adventure.

To get that Darksun feeling I think you do need to be a bit more brutal on the players than most setting. Doesn't mean you have to kill them just if they mess up take no prisoners for example and bump up DCs a bit especially on survival type rolls.

 

[Najo]

The key to dark sun is focus on the various groups of power players, intrugue and politics with the occasional gritty fight or war or arena spectacle. I actually wrote Tim Brown at one point when I didn't know how to dm dark sun. He told me to read dune.

I think game of thrones and star wars both have a lot to offer too. Essentially, dark sun is about the merchant families, raider tribes, noble houses, wastelanders, and secret groups like the veiled alliance. All of that under the shadow of the sorcerer kings and their stormtrooper like Templars. There is a lot of interaction and all types of adventure there.

Dark sun took off for me when I didn't focus on the desert survival and instead on secrets and agendas. But when you do go into the wild, pull from mad max or conan and make it an experience that shows the brutality of the world.