It's been awhile. As you may or may not know, the team at athas.org had dwindled to almost nothing. Our updates had been few and very far between. I want to thank all of you that have stayed with us through these difficult times. On a very positive note, I've done some recruiting and have managed to pull together a small but talented group of creators. All of them are huge fans of the game - some are long time fans who have been with the site before and are, after a long hiatus, coming back with new-found enthusiasm; we also have a couple of newcomers to the site.
Perhaps more importantly to you, the fans, we have been able to make some decent progress, despite the impedement of real life obstacles (and the time spent recruiting), on some very long-awaited Dark Sun projects. On that note, I'd like to give an update on the proposed project list for our site. In the months to come, you will notice a shift in focus - from large scale projects (ie. Secrets of the Dead Lands) that take months/years to complete, to a much more frequent release schedule of small projects and articles. As of now, the projects and articles on the table are as follows:
Secrets of the Dead Lands – campaign expansion describing the Dead Lands in detail; needs art and a couple of maps. (PRIORITY – NEARLY FINISHED)
3 interior maps and 2 pieces of art remain and are being worked on (6/19)
The Emissary - companion adventure to SotDL; working on layout, needs some stat block conversion, art and a couple of maps. (PRIORITY – NEARLY FINISHED)
layout and editing nearing completion; 1 piece of art being worked on (with a minimum of 6 needed), 1 encounter map being worked on (with a number still to go) (6/19)
The Anattan Wastes – campaign expansion describing the Anattan Wastes in detail; rough idea, no details; has usable map
The Bandit States - supplement describing the Bandit States in detail; needs to be converted to electronic format; completion information pending
information pending (6/19)
City-State of Balic – supplement describing Balic in detail; appears to be roughly 3/4 of the way done writing-wise but needs editing; needs art; has usable map that needs minor alterations.
City-State of Celik - supplement describing Celik in detail; basically just an outline of ideas, and a bare bones map.
City-State of Kurn - supplement describing Kurn in detail; needs to be reformatted; 3/4 of the way done at most (much smaller than PSoE, so could use more); has unfinished map as possible reference and needs art.
City-State of Raam – supplement describing Raam in detail: rough idea, no details
City-State of Urik - supplement describing Urik in detail; basically just an outline of ideas.
Dark Sun Resource List - expansion on the site list already available to include information from every single product, in regards to locations AND people, plants and creature information, and cultural notations (ie. clothing, customs, laws, etc) - with page references.
information is being compiled with several products still remaining (6/19)
Empire of the Kreen – campaign expansion describing the Kreen Empire in detail; rough idea, no details
Faces of the Dead Lands – supplement describing the personalities of the Dead Lands; needs massive overhaul of stat block information (conversion to 3.5); needs art.
Lost Cities of the Trembling Plains (aka Secrets of the Trembling Plains)- supplement describing the Trembling Plains region in detail; a little more than 3/4 of the way done; has a lot of usable art and a really good map (needs slight modification).
Prison-State of Eldaarich - supplement describing Eldaarich in detail; needs to be reformatted, otherwise writing is roughly 3/4 of the way done; some art is available (though not much), as is a pretty decent map.
document is being edited for errors (6/19)
Regional Rules information - reformatting and massively expanding on the present incarnation to conform more to current models; slightly more than 1/2 complete.
The Scorched Plateau - supplement describing the Scorched Plateau region in detail; completion information pending
information pending (6/19)
Terrors of Athas - reformatting the current release to comply with the most current standard; needs extensive editing; need to add in creatures that were missed last time around; less than 1/4 has been reformatted.
Unseen Ways - an expansion of the psionic rules; not too far off from having been finished, but it needs to be heavily modified, as it pertains to 3.0 rules, if it is to be of any relevance for 3.5.
*at some point, extensive editing is needed on all of our previous releases.
ARTICLE IDEAS
Athasian Hazards – information on using geological events and environmental dangers in a Dark Sun campaign; one-shot or mini-series.
nearing completion, partially edited (6/19)
Classes of Athas - information on adding non-core classes and prestige classes to Dark Sun (modeled after the articles on WotC for FR); limited series to cover available class/prestige class options.
Faces of Athas - updating all official NPCs (from all previous editions, as well as our article material) to the most current 3.5 format, as well as providing additional NPCs, relating to locales or groups; on-going series.
Locales of Athas – expanding on knowledge pertaining to existing sites; on-going series.
New Terrors (working title) - more creatures, with a focus on a more complete ecology (ie. smaller creatures/base life forms; possibly adding information on different species – snakes, lizards, insects, etc.); on-going series.
Plot Hooks – adventure ideas with varying degrees of detail; on-going series.
Racial Substitution/Alternative Class Abilities - as it sounds, but customized for Dark Sun use; limited series (this might be subsumed into the Classes of Athas article series).
Treasures of Athas – more magic items and gear; on-going series.
4e ARTICLE IDEAS
Egoists – new psionic striker class; half complete.
writing in progress (6/19)
Pterrans – racial write-up, feats, and utility powers for pterran characters; 2/3 complete.
writing in progress (6/19)
Thri-kreen Feats – feats for thri-kreen characters; complete; needs uploading.
preparing to be uploaded to site (6/19)
At this time, I would also like to reiterate our request to those who would like to help creating this material. We are still in need of solid writers and map-makers, though our absolute greatest need is for artists. If you, or someone you know, is interested post here on the boards, and I'll get back to you with further details.
Good job on pulling people together. That is not an easy feat.
With WotC putting up all the Dark Sun material on DriveThruRPG, this should give more support to the campaign setting and attract more people.
I am moving on to the 5th edition of D&D myself. As such, I don't really have any interest in writing 3e or 4e material. I, however, already have a full set of rules written up (15 pages, point form, single spaced, calibri font, size 11, Microsoft Word) for a 5e of D&D Dark Sun game (set around the same period as what is described in the 1e boxed set/4e campaign setting). It includes rules for Athasian dwarves, elves, and halfings (new subraces); thri-kreen, half-giants, and mul (new races); templars (which I designed as a sub-class of the warlock); avangion and dragon bloodline sorcerers (a personal touch to my version of the 5e setting); defiling rules for all arcane magic (other than that cast by warlock-templars); a full 5e Athasian weapon write up (for pretty much every weapon ever released in an official product); rules for metal armor worn during Athas's arid days; rules for wood, bone, and obsidian weapons; and, finally, a few new Athasian feats. It pretty much has everything except for wild talent rules (if they are not in the DMG I will write a set) and psionic class rules (which I will not write--I will wait for an official release to cover that).
Cyber-Dave,
Can you check your inbox please?
I really applaud you guys trying to keep this going. I don't really want to work on 3e mechanics but if you ever need help generating some fluff content for some of these I'd be happy to help when possible.
Thank you Squidfur for these informations! I think this kind of informations is very important to join together the community around athas.org team. Such a list shows that people at athas.org are very active! I'd put this list on first page of the website with regular actualizations. It helps too to recruit new fans to do one thing or another. Very good idea!
OskarOisinson wrote:
Forgot to announce that we've added the following to the site (and it's actually been there for a bit 
):
Daniel Bandera revisited the DS 4 monster index, updating for the final time a list of all 4th edition Dark Sun specific monsters, and where to find them.
You can find it here:
http://athas.org/articles/4e-dark-sun-monster-index