Researching a bit about Dark Sun

[Evilhalfling]

also check out athas.org

This. it is a fan supported huge collection of info.

I assume you started with the Darksun 4e book? crucial so you don't have to reinvent the wheel -
defiling is one of the defining things about the setting, but the mechanics were always a little wonky.

Old adventures:
Don't play Freedom - the NPC heroes do all the work, leaving the PCs as spectators. I think Road to Urik was better, PCs got to assemble and army and it had good encounters as the army journeyed to attack/fight another city.

I liked the first of the novels - but the rest sucked. They did some neat things with the flavor/visualization of psionics, but 4e psionics left me bored. 3.5 was the best version of Psi.

 

[Dimuscul]

Thanks all!

Will come later if I have more doubts or to comment how it's going

 

[Thaumaturge]

My group really enjoyed City by the Silt Sea, which is available for purchase on dndclassics.com. In it, the PCs explore the ruins of a City-State and learn about Dregoth.

Depending on what you're doing about Dragonborn/Dray, some of the plot stuff would have to change. But the core arc of a Dragon-King Dracolich planning to take over the Tablelands is a good one.

And you're new to it, so maybe the mirror that broke the planar travel rules won't enrage you as much as it did some of us back in the day.

Also, it has the original Caller in Darkness. All subsequent ones have been pale, pale imitations.

Thaumaturge.

 

[Echohawk]

Also, it has the original Caller in Darkness. All subsequent ones have been pale, pale imitations.

The caller in darkness in the Athas.org publication Terrors of the Deadlands is a pretty decent reflection of the original, certainly more impressive than the [Expanded] Psionics Handbook version.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

I'm not sure if I am in the minority, but I would (and will) happily run Dark Sun with the 4E books plus 2E's Dune Trader and Slave Tribes. I don't think I would need too much else.

Edit: Oh, and the articles on coins in Polyhedron 99. How such a useful and flavoursome article got consigned to the wasteland which was Polyhedron is beyond me. That's the sort of article that should have been front and centre.

 

[Echohawk]

Just in case you missed it, both the 2nd edition boxed set and the 4e setting hardcover were released on DND Classics this morning: Dark Sun Boxed Set and Dark Sun Campaign Setting.

 

[the Jester]

Also, it has the original Caller in Darkness. All subsequent ones have been pale, pale imitations.

Wow, and here I always thought the 3e version of it was supposed to be a powered-down Vestige (from the City That Waits, in RttToH).

I learned something today!

 

[Yora]

Just in case you missed it, both the 2nd edition boxed set and the 4e setting hardcover were released on DND Classics this morning: Dark Sun Boxed Set and Dark Sun Campaign Setting.

And it's the original box set. Sweet.

 

[Thaumaturge]

The caller in darkness in the Athas.org publication Terrors of the Deadlands is a pretty decent reflection of the original, certainly more impressive than the [Expanded] Psionics Handbook version.

It does look better, but...

Wow, and here I always thought the 3e version of it was supposed to be a powered-down Vestige (from the City That Waits, in RttToH).

The original Caller was more a force of nature than a monster with hit points. I think that's what disappointed me about every subsequent version. It went from being statted out as an implacable undead force to being an undead creature with hit points. I just never liked the flavor difference that makes.

Of course, the fix was always easy enough—I used the powers and things that fit with the feel I liked and ignored the presence of hit points.

 

[Scorpio616]

Dark Sun is a great setting, I'll echo the suggestion of getting the first box set, even if PDF.

Few years back there was a Mcfarlane Dragons toy that would have been really cool for The Dragon of Dark Sun. It won't be cheap unless you are lucky, but it is a cool mini

[video=youtube;H3iZbSWh9X8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3iZbSWh9X8[/video]