Feeling a little in over my head. - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Feeling a little in over my head.

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
AdenB
Mar 15, 2012 13:17:13 Hi all. I'm planning on running a Dark Sun campaign soon. I have some experience as a DM, but this will be my first campaign in a setting not of my own creation. I love the themes and feel of Dark Sun and have been doing as much as I can to familiarize myself with the world, but I'm becoming overwhelmed with the amount of material available. Most importantly, I suddenly feel very unsure about how much of the written material I should regard as "canon", and where my own story should fit in.

If we are playing in my own setting, I can simply make up new details as the need arises; canon is simply whatever I say it is. With Dark Sun, however, I now feel nervous about inventing new details that might conflict with some "official" source and creating a contradiction later on.

So, I could use some advice on how to approach this situation. When do you rely on pre-written material, and when do you improvise your own details? How much to you regard as canon, and how closely do you try to adhere to it? Have you ever changed some major detail about the world, and how did that impact your game?

Thanks!
#2
jespley
Mar 15, 2012 14:45:56 Obviously, you already know the classic advice that it's your campaign and hence your world so canon is what you say it is.

That said, I think that the 4e campaign guide is a good place to start. It offers plenty of existing details to draw from but does not carry the same weight as using 2e Dark Sun material. The 2e stuff was great but in my opinion there was so much "canon" that it was starting to feel a little constraining.

Also, start with a limited geographic area if possible. This way you don't have to decide what's canon or not about any of the other locations in the world until much later in the campaign. For example, while the PCs might hear about the terrible Dragon you don't need to decide what its origin really is (i.e. if you want to deal with the Rajaat backstory, etc.) until much later.

Good luck and have fun!
#3
waxwingslain
Mar 15, 2012 18:47:52 I feel you. Although I know I can make things up because it's "my game", I hate when I spend a bunch of time detailing stuff and then after the players visit I find that there's a whole published adventure that already detailed it, so from that point on I have to keep my details separate in my mind from the published ones...and half the time, there are a ton of great ideas in the published stuff I would've liked to have used.

My advice is to read as much as possible, but then use spot Google checks to fill in details before making your own up. A lot of Obsidian Portal wikis are really good resources for that. Also, get PDFs of the 2E stuff and spend 5 minutes doing judicious ctrl+fs in relevant documents before pushing ahead.
#4
Palladinae
Mar 16, 2012 11:11:42 I have twofold advice. First, it is your Athas and your game, if you want Tyr to be former dwarven outpost or shady human minng facility, go ahead. Second one is: start small. Create a village or city district and populate it with your inventions. Larn about official surrounding and move on, when you master it. Piece by piece tyou will learn whole world.
#5
AdenB
Mar 16, 2012 13:38:14 This is exactly what I needed to hear, and sounds like solid advice. Thank you!
#6
Ozmodious
Mar 17, 2012 13:12:26 Also keep in mind that villages can sprout up at any time and they can disappear just as fast. Making up a little village somewhere is great and doesn't hurt any cannon. Breaking cannon can be fun too. Since 4th ed stops after the first main book from the original series I like changing up things so that my players won't see it coming...for you anything not in print gives you the element of suprise because your players can't read about it anywhere else....
#7
DontEatRawHagis
Mar 18, 2012 10:34:25 When I was listening to the DND podcast with Penny Arcade, one of the guys mentioned that the original Boxed Set of Dark Sun was very open to interpretation. I think he said he didn't even know what the Sorcerer King's were trying to do until they came out with the Dragon King's supplement.

I just had a game where I had templars of Gulg bind an Elemental to their body so that they could destroy altaruk in a bid to destory Tyr. And an Eladrin Templar that wants to use the power to recreate the Eladrin Empire. I don't think there are that many people who would say this would fall under any canon in Dark Sun.
#8
Alphastream
Mar 31, 2012 0:23:06 I liked the advice of keeping things confined initially. It works best, especially if the players are relatively new to the setting too - you can otherwise overwhelm them. Pick a small village or trade town (Altaruk works well), where you have just a few factors (merchant houses, Veiled Alliance) or start in just one small part of a city and quickly do some wilderness encounters.

Focus on one aspect at a time. One game session might focus on merchant houses and name two of them (one friendly, one opposed), allowing everyone to keep things simple. In the next session you might add a minor complication, such as a templar, and over several sessions bring in more information about templars and a city-state. A few sessions later you might add another aspect.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 AdenB Mar 15, 2012 13:17:13	Hi all. I'm planning on running a Dark Sun campaign soon. I have some experience as a DM, but this will be my first campaign in a setting not of my own creation. I love the themes and feel of Dark Sun and have been doing as much as I can to familiarize myself with the world, but I'm becoming overwhelmed with the amount of material available. Most importantly, I suddenly feel very unsure about how much of the written material I should regard as "canon", and where my own story should fit in. If we are playing in my own setting, I can simply make up new details as the need arises; canon is simply whatever I say it is. With Dark Sun, however, I now feel nervous about inventing new details that might conflict with some "official" source and creating a contradiction later on. So, I could use some advice on how to approach this situation. When do you rely on pre-written material, and when do you improvise your own details? How much to you regard as canon, and how closely do you try to adhere to it? Have you ever changed some major detail about the world, and how did that impact your game? Thanks!
#2 jespley Mar 15, 2012 14:45:56	Obviously, you already know the classic advice that it's your campaign and hence your world so canon is what you say it is. That said, I think that the 4e campaign guide is a good place to start. It offers plenty of existing details to draw from but does not carry the same weight as using 2e Dark Sun material. The 2e stuff was great but in my opinion there was so much "canon" that it was starting to feel a little constraining. Also, start with a limited geographic area if possible. This way you don't have to decide what's canon or not about any of the other locations in the world until much later in the campaign. For example, while the PCs might hear about the terrible Dragon you don't need to decide what its origin really is (i.e. if you want to deal with the Rajaat backstory, etc.) until much later. Good luck and have fun!
#3 waxwingslain Mar 15, 2012 18:47:52	I feel you. Although I know I can make things up because it's "my game", I hate when I spend a bunch of time detailing stuff and then after the players visit I find that there's a whole published adventure that already detailed it, so from that point on I have to keep my details separate in my mind from the published ones...and half the time, there are a ton of great ideas in the published stuff I would've liked to have used. My advice is to read as much as possible, but then use spot Google checks to fill in details before making your own up. A lot of Obsidian Portal wikis are really good resources for that. Also, get PDFs of the 2E stuff and spend 5 minutes doing judicious ctrl+fs in relevant documents before pushing ahead.
#4 Palladinae Mar 16, 2012 11:11:42	I have twofold advice. First, it is your Athas and your game, if you want Tyr to be former dwarven outpost or shady human minng facility, go ahead. Second one is: start small. Create a village or city district and populate it with your inventions. Larn about official surrounding and move on, when you master it. Piece by piece tyou will learn whole world.
#5 AdenB Mar 16, 2012 13:38:14	This is exactly what I needed to hear, and sounds like solid advice. Thank you!
#6 Ozmodious Mar 17, 2012 13:12:26	Also keep in mind that villages can sprout up at any time and they can disappear just as fast. Making up a little village somewhere is great and doesn't hurt any cannon. Breaking cannon can be fun too. Since 4th ed stops after the first main book from the original series I like changing up things so that my players won't see it coming...for you anything not in print gives you the element of suprise because your players can't read about it anywhere else....
#7 DontEatRawHagis Mar 18, 2012 10:34:25	When I was listening to the DND podcast with Penny Arcade, one of the guys mentioned that the original Boxed Set of Dark Sun was very open to interpretation. I think he said he didn't even know what the Sorcerer King's were trying to do until they came out with the Dragon King's supplement. I just had a game where I had templars of Gulg bind an Elemental to their body so that they could destroy altaruk in a bid to destory Tyr. And an Eladrin Templar that wants to use the power to recreate the Eladrin Empire. I don't think there are that many people who would say this would fall under any canon in Dark Sun.
#8 Alphastream Mar 31, 2012 0:23:06	I liked the advice of keeping things confined initially. It works best, especially if the players are relatively new to the setting too - you can otherwise overwhelm them. Pick a small village or trade town (Altaruk works well), where you have just a few factors (merchant houses, Veiled Alliance) or start in just one small part of a city and quickly do some wilderness encounters. Focus on one aspect at a time. One game session might focus on merchant houses and name two of them (one friendly, one opposed), allowing everyone to keep things simple. In the next session you might add a minor complication, such as a templar, and over several sessions bring in more information about templars and a city-state. A few sessions later you might add another aspect.