Thanks...
Can anyone here give me a short recap of where the setting was left since the last published supplement. I know about the Dark Sun website but I'm looking for a quick fix here.
Thanks...
Athas.org released some material but never really advanced the timeline.
but, you could always go on EBay and buy the Revised Dark Sun boxed set, and I think an online retailer sells the PDF?
http://dso.zidev.com/history.html
http://www.darksunwiki.com/darksun/index.php/Timeline_of_Athas
http://www.athasreborn.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=35324
Made Preservers more prominent
Introduce an area that still had a large body of water
Kill off some of the Sorcerer Kings
Other changes?
Dragon was killed and his valley became a giant storm that held the disembodied first mage Rajat
Several sorcerer kings killed, preservers more accepted in Tyr, earthquakes open route to thrikreen empire west of tyr on other side of mountains.
Undead sorcerer king dracolich tried to become a god, githyanki tried to invade from astral plane (supposedly this was their original home), new areas were revealed outside of the original map including a city by a small remaining sea run by disembodied psionic brains.
Really after the prism pentad and it's huge changes it was more info about individual areas and not advancing a huge central story.
Lets see, the high level off the top of my head:
Dragon was killed and his valley became a giant storm that held the disembodied first mage Rajat
Several sorcerer kings killed, preservers more accepted in Tyr, earthquakes open route to thrikreen empire west of tyr on other side of mountains.
Undead sorcerer king dracolich tried to become a god, githyanki tried to invade from astral plane (supposedly this was their original home), new areas were revealed outside of the original map including a city by a small remaining sea run by disembodied psionic brains.
Really after the prism pentad and it's huge changes it was more info about individual areas and not advancing a huge central story.
This was exactly what I was looking for. Do you (or anybody else) know the supplements/novels each of these events where detailed in. I have the ones about the Dracolich and the Githyanki.
Technically Dregoth is a kaisharga, not a dracolich.
Because anyone asking for an overview of the setting is of course going to know what a kaisharga is.
Also, we have actually advanced the time line in the adventure Dregoth Ascending, which is a joint production of Wizards of the Coast and Athas.org. However, in accessories we have made, the timeline remains as in the second boxed set. You will find information on Dark Sun products on the athas.org website and you can discuss these in the Arena (http://arena.athas.org).
No offense (because I appreciate you efforts in keeping the setting alive), but I really hope WotC just resets it. Its been out of circulation for so long except for some diehard fans and Athas.org that I really don't think it serves the players to try to be strictly beholden to something from 2e - especially since everyone (including WotC) has learned so much more and evolved since then.
Barthalas, to answer your other question, if you don't have it, try to find "Beyond the Prism Pentad". It's the RPG supplement that explained everything that happened in the Prisim Pentad fiction series, which was the main book line at the begining. I'd bet one of the online places that sell PDFs of old games would have it. It wasn't a huge book, but it explains/spoils everything that happened in the books to lead up to the revised setting.
Because anyone asking for an overview of the setting is of course going to know what a kaisharga is.
No offense (because I appreciate you efforts in keeping the setting alive), but I really hope WotC just resets it. Its been out of circulation for so long except for some diehard fans and Athas.org that I really don't think it serves the players to try to be strictly beholden to something from 2e - especially since everyone (including WotC) has learned so much more and evolved since then.
Barthalas, to answer your other question, if you don't have it, try to find "Beyond the Prism Pentad". It's the RPG supplement that explained everything that happened in the Prisim Pentad fiction series, which was the main book line at the begining. I'd bet one of the online places that sell PDFs of old games would have it. It wasn't a huge book, but it explains/spoils everything that happened in the books to lead up to the revised setting.
Buy the revised boxed set instead as a PDF. It has most of the information contained in Beyond the Prism Pentad and then some.
No offense (because I appreciate you efforts in keeping the setting alive), but I really hope WotC just resets it. Its been out of circulation for so long except for some diehard fans and Athas.org that I really don't think it serves the players to try to be strictly beholden to something from 2e - especially since everyone (including WotC) has learned so much more and evolved since then.
Then what's the point of calling it Darksun then?
better to just create a new setting from scratch. It's important to keep the history of the setting 'beholden' to the 2e past, otherwise it's just mucking up a great product. If WOTC don't think Darksun is good enough to re-release in a revised and updated (vastly different to changed) version, then they can just create a new setting. No biggy.Then what's the point of calling it Darksun then?
The Reals got hit with a massive reset button. Lotsa angry FR fns.
I've read through those timelines and looked at what I had at home but I still think I'm missing something. Didn't they release something which:
Introduce an area that still had a large body of water
That would be Mind Lords of the Last Sea.
Barthalas, to answer your other question, if you don't have it, try to find "Beyond the Prism Pentad". It's the RPG supplement that explained everything that happened in the Prisim Pentad fiction series, which was the main book line at the begining. I'd bet one of the online places that sell PDFs of old games would have it. It wasn't a huge book, but it explains/spoils everything that happened in the books to lead up to the revised setting.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This was just what I was looking for.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This was just what I was looking for.
To tag onto what Zardnaar said, I'd recommend the revised setting info also if you don't have it.
There is a significant difference between the two though - while the Revised setting will explain that the valley of dust and fire is now the cerulean storm, Beyond the Prism Pentad explains who killed the dragon, how, and how Rajaat got trapped in the storm.
Basically the Beyond the Prism Pentad is really only useful if you want to know what happened to Rikus, Ageis, etc. and what they did behind the scenes. If you only care about the facts of how the setting is changed from the original box, the revised set would do you fine.
Then what's the point of calling it Darksun then?
I think you misunderstand me - personally I'd like to see things taken back to the start (Tyr under a sorcerer king, etc...) and advance from there.
Personally (and I do think there are others who would agree with me) I don't think dropping the completely fleshed out history including the blue age and rajaat would be mucking things up.
Part of the appeal of DS to me was the post-apocalyptic world and all the lost knowledge. As soon as the history got completely codified, I think that took some of the luster off things.
More importantly, I think that some of today's better D&D writers and designers could take Freedom, Road to Urik, and Arcane Shadows, revamp those adventures for 4E (with skill challenges and all) and knock them out of the freaking park. I think the Dragon Crown Mountain adventure would also be great to convert. I'd rather give new players the opportunities to experience those adventures than stick with an incredibly convoluted official/semi-official history and backstory that only a fraction of the 4E player base is familliar with.
We don't need another gigantic setting with all sorts of kingdoms and regions and such - even with FR going all "points of light", FR and Eberron have more than enough of that.
I'd like to see a DS setting that wasn't cluttered up with "stuff" and the stuff that is there matters - like the trading houses in major cities, the camps of the elf tribes, the slaves tribes, slavers, and other villages. Personally I'd rather have a back to basics DS setting the gives me tons of play opportunities just within and between the cities of Tyr and Urik than a gigantic map with obsidian undead cities, mind lords, and lifeshaping halflings.
Of course this is all jst my opinion, but I think a clean slate approach would draw in a lot more people and launch the setting to the same level as FR or Eberron.
I think you misunderstand me - personally I'd like to see things taken back to the start (Tyr under a sorcerer king, etc...) and advance from there.
Personally (and I do think there are others who would agree with me) I don't think dropping the completely fleshed out history including the blue age and rajaat would be mucking things up.
Part of the appeal of DS to me was the post-apocalyptic world and all the lost knowledge. As soon as the history got completely codified, I think that took some of the luster off things.
More importantly, I think that some of today's better D&D writers and designers could take Freedom, Road to Urik, and Arcane Shadows, revamp those adventures for 4E (with skill challenges and all) and knock them out of the freaking park. I think the Dragon Crown Mountain adventure would also be great to convert. I'd rather give new players the opportunities to experience those adventures than stick with an incredibly convoluted official/semi-official history and backstory that only a fraction of the 4E player base is familliar with.
We don't need another gigantic setting with all sorts of kingdoms and regions and such - even with FR going all "points of light", FR and Eberron have more than enough of that.
I'd like to see a DS setting that wasn't cluttered up with "stuff" and the stuff that is there matters - like the trading houses in major cities, the camps of the elf tribes, the slaves tribes, slavers, and other villages. Personally I'd rather have a back to basics DS setting the gives me tons of play opportunities just within and between the cities of Tyr and Urik than a gigantic map with obsidian undead cities, mind lords, and lifeshaping halflings.
Of course this is all jst my opinion, but I think a clean slate approach would draw in a lot more people and launch the setting to the same level as FR or Eberron.
Would you like a copy of my Athas FY1015 setting. Its a 16 page give or take word document set 1000 years after the Prism Pentad. I designed it as a reset buttn but tried to progress the timeline in a logical way (ie 1000+ years of increased rainfall via the Cerulean Storm. It has.
8 city states- the 7 original plus a rebuilt Waverly
8 Sorcerer Kings- 4 original ones + Azetek, Dregoth, Razia and Sadira
Focus on the Tyr region
"The Dragon" is back. May or may not be Borys.
Kinda a work in progress. Eventually I want it written up to include the area beyond the Tyr region.
Would you like a copy of my Athas FY1015 setting. Its a 16 page give or take word document set 1000 years after the Prism Pentad. I designed it as a reset buttn but tried to progress the timeline in a logical way (ie 1000+ years of increased rainfall via the Cerulean Storm. It has.
8 city states- the 7 original plus a rebuilt Waverly
8 Sorcerer Kings- 4 original ones + Azetek, Dregoth, Razia and Sadira
Focus on the Tyr region
"The Dragon" is back. May or may not be Borys.
Kinda a work in progress. Eventually I want it written up to include the area beyond the Tyr region.
So its completely done by you? Fanfiction or from offical sources?
I think you misunderstand me - personally I'd like to see things taken back to the start (Tyr under a sorcerer king, etc...) and advance from there.
Personally (and I do think there are others who would agree with me) I don't think dropping the completely fleshed out history including the blue age and rajaat would be mucking things up.
Part of the appeal of DS to me was the post-apocalyptic world and all the lost knowledge. As soon as the history got completely codified, I think that took some of the luster off things.
I see the appeal but do not necessarily agree.
There was this old SF/action movie (can't remember the name), 80s, post-apocaliptic, about a bunch of fighters walking through a post-nuclear desert to reach a city (read giant fundry) where they can exercise their bloodsport and win citizenship. Never in the movie do they reveal why the world is this way, nor do we care, and it works. It's appealing, yet IMO innapropriate for a D&D setting where questions are at the core of the world.
And DS is far from completly codified like FR has become. Everyone and every place isn't named, and the known world stops beyond the official map.
So its completely done by you? Fanfiction or from offical sources?
Fanfic. Pure me and my ideas influenced by various posts over the years.
I'm a sponge:D
I see the appeal but do not necessarily agree.
There was this old SF/action movie (can't remember the name), 80s, post-apocaliptic, about a bunch of fighters walking through a post-nuclear desert to reach a city (read giant fundry) where they can exercise their bloodsport and win citizenship. Never in the movie do they reveal why the world is this way, nor do we care, and it works. It's appealing, yet IMO innapropriate for a D&D setting where questions are at the core of the world.
And DS is far from completly codified like FR has become. Everyone and every place isn't named, and the known world stops beyond the official map.
Sounds like mad max and the thunderdome. Which is the idea that fallout was based on I believe, though no one involved in that game ever admitted to it.
I like how darksun is mostly a mystery, leaving plenty of questions to be asked. What lies under the tablelands? What is in the south of the deadlands? Whats to the north of the jagged cliffs region? What lies to the east of the ring of fire? Plenty of open area for DM's to include their own touches of creativity.
Fanfic. Pure me and my ideas influenced by various posts over the years.
I'm a sponge:D
Sounds interesting either way. You should post it on the forums for my reading pleasure!:D
I'v got plenty of stuff done, but its probably so far off from the offical canon that it would make hardcore DS fans heads explode from the amount of made of crap, like defiled paraelemental lords and true dragons forgotten in their psionic hybernation.
Sounds interesting either way. You should post it on the forums for my reading pleasure!:D
I'v got plenty of stuff done, but its probably so far off from the offical canon that it would make hardcore DS fans heads explode from the amount of made of crap, like defiled paraelemental lords and true dragons forgotten in their psionic hybernation.
It was on the old forums so I might repost it later.
Also what info can be given on Atzetuk? I know he's the new king of draj, what level defiler dragon is he? Is he really the son of the old king of draj?
Any info on those two would be great, thanks.
Who is Razia? What state does he control and what level defiler dragon is he (if he is one).
Also what info can be given on Atzetuk? I know he's the new king of draj, what level defiler dragon is he? Is he really the son of the old king of draj?
Any info on those two would be great, thanks.
In my rules or officially.
Razia is a female BTW. I sed a different version of 3.5 Dragons than the Athas.org ones.
If Atzetuk was a Dragon for arguements sake I would have made him a CR23ish unique individual. On 4th ed rules a level 21 or 22 solo custom build dragon with wizard and psion templates. Officially he isn't the real son of the old king of Draj IIRC. I redesigned my FY 1015 campaign to remove any mechanics related to 3rd or 4th ed.
What about razia? is she a defiler dragon or what?
Ok I found Atzetuks stats in the city state of draj pdf. He's really low level, not quite what I expected. But he does have some neat items.
What about razia? is she a defiler dragon or what?
Atzetuk was a puppet but Paizo's version of DS upped him to full Sorcerer King so I just kept their idea. His name is alot easier to pronounce than old Tectik whatever.
Is Razia a dragon queen? I haven't 100% decided my original idea was she was "The Dragon" as FY 1015 has a new Dragon, and was the other hand of Rajaat that survived.
What Razia is would be a personal DM decision if anyone else wanted to base a campaign on my notes. I do have a couple of short stories based on her and posted one here.
http://arena.athas.org/forums/the-pit/topics/razia-fy1015
No one seemed interested so I didn't follow it up. Both the stories were going to be put towards my campaign arc when I get around to running Dark Sun again as I think I'll incorporate the Kreen invsion into my FY1015 campaign arc storyline.
I have 3.5 rules for the Crystal Born of Saragar and I'm going to update them to 4th ed at some point.