Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 DontEatRawHagis Oct 16, 2014 11:39:50	I was wondering if there were any plans for Ashes of Athas to come back to DnD for 5e?   I have run games for RPGA, but I'd like playing Dark Sun instead of Forgotten Realms.
#2 BRJN Nov 01, 2014 19:59:22	+1 to the idea.   But the 5e game system is not nearly ready yet.  How can I make a Thri-Kreen? for instance.  And a mechanic for psionics - not just stealing the Wizard spell list and saying, "you are special and don't defile.".   You may have to wait for another Dark Sun Campaign Guide before another DS campaign can be done well.  (I thought the 4e books were a highlight of that edition's output.)   Alas.
#3 Alphastream Nov 30, 2014 15:19:26	We are very glad to hear of continued interest in the campaign. Those of us who were admins for Ashes of Athas continue to be interested in a 5E campaign. The exact form isn't clear - it could be a continuation or a new story that relies upon some of the developments in the first campaign. It might be a similar format, or it could be a series of smaller events.    But, before that could happen we would want to see Wizards ask for this. It can be hard for us Dark Sun fans to accept this, but an RPG company can't go full throttle on a setting all the time. Even a setting as awesome as Dark Sun won't draw in sustained support endlessly - either from fans or company. It makes sense for Wizards to take some time before it looks to bolster Dark Sun once more. But, I do think it will happen at some point. When that time comes, and when it would be helpful to Wizards to have an organized play Dark Sun component, I would be super-excited to be a part of it.   Teos
#4 DontEatRawHagis Nov 30, 2014 19:57:15	I definitely hope that happens when they re-introduce psionics.   Right now I think it would be a disservice to try and push Dark Sun with the current ruleset, no matter how much I wish to run a Dark Sun game. Though if I ever get a chance to ask, I would ask if they(Wizards Design Team) have any feelings about continuing the storyline of Dark Sun or are they only interested in keeping to what they did with 4e, i.e. sticking to when Tyr became free.
#5 cowleymen Nov 30, 2014 22:00:17	Will mention that i cant wait to see this come around. But as for any orginized play and the story of Athas, I dont think you should be "save the world" stories. The world is already dead. Now its about just surviving. Though I agree that interesting things need to happen in the world, I think Athas really lends itself to being a really gritty, less auto good campaign for players. Instead of always being the hero, we can just be badasses that do what they need to while ensuring they get their next meal.
#6 Alphastream Dec 01, 2014 8:09:47	Many DMs do like to introduce "save the world" stories. I'm always surprised by how many like to reintroduce divinity, for example.    Personally, I like to see some change if it is a long campaign. But, it is more of a potential for change. In Ashes of Athas, the adventurers became heroes, preventing something very terrible from happening. But, they also were able to choose a potential way to influence the setting for the better. It is in no way a truly changed world at the end of the campaign, but there is a spark there. It is similar to Kalak's fall: the potential for the world to improve. A post-AoA campaign would still be gritty and have all of the great features of the Dark Sun world, because the setting wasn't overthrown.    That was the problem with the Prism Pentad being adopted by the second boxed set. Many of the changes were enormous changes that completely rewrote how the world worked and what areas still felt like the brutal world of Dark Sun. That was, for many, a less interesting world. Wizards could always change its collective mind, but for now it wants to avoid anything that would strip the world of its appealing unique (and brutal) flavor.
#7 BRJN Dec 22, 2014 14:16:41	AoA 4e was about the Veiled Alliance trying to change the world for the better (or more into its own image).  If another campaign is created, it should center on some other group.   A future (evil-oriented) DS campaign might be oriented around some servants of the State being sent by a Templar to investigate rumors: the sorcerer-kings' bribes - excuse me, taxes - are being stolen / diverted an independent merchant is trying to create a new caravan route; suborn his efforts peasants attacked a defiler in public; check identities and respond appropriately bandits / barbarians / silt pirates amass near the City; drive them off take out the 'voice crying in the wilderness' preacher-du-jour before he can collect a following Elves claim to have found a significant artifact from the deep desert; bring back accurate and useful information prevent a group of Tyrian abolitionists from threatening our City's social hierarchy   Another format might be a series of mini-campaigns that each explore an Athasian trope travel on the Sea of Silt; raiders attack along the way discover a water oasis and try to exploit it stranded in the killing desert psionic animals seeking to survive multiple Powers That Be want dominion over something valuable the PCs possess merchant caravan travelling from here to there City guard interferes in ordinary PC activity, oppressing you because they can City guard interferes in PC illegal activity the PCs will be made slaves unless they pull off a clever act Thri-Kreen nomads pass nearby.  Do they want to trade, attack, ignore you? Hungry halflings seem to be having a population boom lately IRON ingot has been discovered; track that down to its source some crazy desert hermit claims he has discovered secrets to un-defile the land (he also claims he can read Dwarven script)
#8 Alphastream Dec 23, 2014 11:20:08	Those are all fun ideas. We went with Veiled Alliance with AoA because it would rally the PCs together to a common cause and dissuade PCs from wanting to fight each other. The sudden attack on the VA was a further way to rally everyone to a joint cause. It worked very well.    I think a neat campaign could be a merchant campaign where the PCs have some opportunities to grow their small merchant house, all while learning some terrible secret and taking actions to prevent the bad stuff from happening. It could be compelling to have PCs in different merchant sub-groups and see those fortunes rise and fall.
#9 BRJN Dec 25, 2014 13:48:15	Sign me up ! In fact, sign me up twice - because my AoA character was trying to be a merchant, in between having adventures.
#10 DontEatRawHagis Dec 25, 2014 17:08:56	The Trading Houses were always an interesting patron to work for.    My campaign in Balic resulted in the players working for the democratic Veiled Alliance in the city. Where they voted on every issue and never got anything done.
#11 cowleymen Dec 29, 2014 15:44:42	I took full advantage of the players vavlue of money, and had them working for merchant houses. having something like that in orginized play is essiantial in my opinion, since its a quick and easy way to get all the PC's in a team that wont want to attack or undercut each other.