Memories of the old Dark Sun? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Memories of the old Dark Sun?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
cerberuspuppy
Jun 02, 2010 17:10:24 I thought I'd start a thread for us to swap stories about Dark Sun games we played back in the day.
#2
therion666
Jun 03, 2010 1:02:24
I ran a Dark Sun campaign in 2nd Ed which went really well. At around 5th level the group came across an old half buried ruin in a section of sandy rocky badlands( it was an old castle) were they came across a number of Iron objects.

As you can imagine, they became very rich with the discovery and began setting themselves up in Tyr as noblemen.

They did lose one member in the expedition, a half giant who stupidly and despite the whole rest of the party advise caution just marched up to the old walls. At that point the group saw two land sharks came streaking toward him through the dusty earth and he was litterally torn apart.

The group made their own gladiator school, the priests setup towers to the elements.

It was a great campaign.

Hoping to start over with DS when its released in 4E. One of my old school players has already said he'll buy me the books just to make sure I run it.
#3
phoffman
Jun 03, 2010 2:36:39 I took part in a 2nd Ed campaign where the party members set themselves up as a courier service delivering light cargo between city states. We delivered many things and sometimes people, and one time a herd of lizards and it was always an adventure what would be thrown in our way next.

What would try and stop us, or the working the local politics to get our cargo into the city or purely smuggling it in. It was a blast, because even though our group were not elves, we could still keep up a great pace out distancing many caravans and a few elves as long as it was light enough to be carried.
#4
BilopTheFleshwarper
Jun 03, 2010 2:38:36 i was very young in the days I played the old school darksun.... i remember the whole group being mircilessly killed by... traveling, and a loudmouth character getting us killed by insulting someone who could kill us all in one action... and did.
#5
Zardnaar
Jun 03, 2010 17:51:15 When we first played we only had the original boxed set nd that was it. Templar, Half Giant Gladiator, a Kreen and bard IIRC. Templar spent the kings gold stipend on living it up and parties in Tyr. No one wanted to be a cleric as they only got minor access to the cosmos sphere so Templars and Druids got played over them.

Suffice to say product like Dragon Kings, and the 2nd boxed set gave us some rather large shocks.
#6
xlorep_darkhelm
Jun 03, 2010 18:09:29 A recurring character in virtually any of my D&D campaigns was to take Dregoth, and the notion that he has a Planar Mirror that lets him wander the various worlds (something mostly forbidden in Athas, as it was severed from the Outer Planes and other worlds), masquerading as a wizened old man (with a somewhat sinister veneer), and having *him* be a quest-giver of sorts to different player groups -- often in search of some obscure relic connected to one god or another... and this usually worked, except for the occasional idiotic maneuver like casting "detect evil" on Dregoth-in-disguise. If the groups did what he wanted, and avoided trying to figure him out in any detail, they got what they wanted, he got what he wanted (more information about gods and such), and everyone parted mostly amicably, as Dregoth doesn't want to draw too much attention to himself in these foreign worlds.

Of course, I had to introduce my long-time players to Dregoth for real when we rolled around to an Athasian campaign ;)

But let's see... my first Dark Sun experience was as a player, with a group of us in Echo Company, 369th Batallion in training at Ft. Gordon, GA... I believe I was a thri-kreen. Been quite a while, and I just remember the campaign being over in 3 sessions (oops, we erm... kinda ticked off the templarate). From that experience back in '95, I have grabbed up everything I could about Dark Sun, dug relentlessly through the source materials, and have some (sometimes controversial) views about Athas in general ;) I guess you could say that very little 3-session "campaign" whetted my appetite.
#7
Pennarin
Jun 03, 2010 18:22:29 I hope there will be a robust build, and feats and paragon paths, for poisoner bards...as the standard spellcasting bard has never been a part of DS. Now it is...yet it'd be nice if they kept the tradition.
#8
kingdrew
Jun 03, 2010 22:20:14
I hope there will be a robust build, and feats and paragon paths, for poisoner bards...as the standard spellcasting bard has never been a part of DS. Now it is...yet it'd be nice if they kept the tradition.

I've been wondering about that myself, but considering they are straying from some of the other DS "traditions", I wouldn't be surprised if they changed it too.

Back on Topic

The last Dark Sun campaign I ran was quite intriguing, I had an Human Trader, a Human Perserver (pretending to be a trader), a Human Templar, an H/G Gladiator, a human Ranger, and an Elf Fire Cleric. I had a few other players pop in and out of the campaign but these were the core members

The 2 trader's were hired to take the Templar from Draj to Tyr. The gladiator was owned by the Templar and the cleric was hired healer. Also, as hidden agenda, the preserver was recruited by the Veiled alliance to also deliver a child to Draj, there he was to undergo extensive training. The VA believed that under the nose of a templar was one of the best ways to smuggle the child, and besides, this particular Templar was known to "bend" the rules sometimes. So during the course of the trip the Preserver was tasked with convincing the Templar, and any others, to trust the preserver and bring no harm to the child.

The whole campaign was a blade to run all of the players and characters brought that campaign to life.

Some highlights were when a new player thought his Thrikreen Gladiator was the badest thing on the planet only to enter a small arena, his opponent offer to shake hands, and what him squim as he was racked with the Double Pain psionic power.

When the party was attacked by some slavers and 2 of the "transient" members of the group were caught. The escape plan and rescue attempt were priceless.

Fire cleric lost his steel long sword in the Sea of Silt. I thought he was going to jump in and try and retrieve it.

That's enough for now, I could go on and on and on.
#9
Grummore
Jun 04, 2010 7:30:46 Aaah old memories...

I started playing DS as a player (while one of my younger brother was GM) in 1992. We runned the original adventure from the 1st boxed set (Tujedaï (spelling) been the bad elf guy). It was my first RPG experience and I decided to put it at maximum in doing a nice Half-elf Psion/Preserver! Wuzzzzah! The group was composed of a HG fighter, TK water cleric, HLing Ranger and 2 others I dont remember. What a blast!!!!!
#10
vallaurax
Jun 07, 2010 10:42:39 My original 2nd Ed campaign lasted for about 6 years, and included many player-conceived changes to the cities and wastelands of Athas. Most of the official modules were played through, except Black Flames and the one that involved the players participating in attacks against Urik (I never really liked where the Pentad went after the 2nd book).

Kalak was slain by the Dragon who then installed a puppet monarch named 'the Magnate', who acted as the Dragon's liaison between the Tyr region and Ur Draxa. Fleeing the chaos of Tyr, the party participated in a mercenray capacity in the various skirmishes in and around Altaruk, which was fought over by many rival Merchant Houses. Eventually it was sacked and laid waste, first by the giants of Ledo, then ultimately by a Nightmare Beast that was drawn to the concentrated violence in the region. In turn, the giants of Ledo were exterminated by loot-crazed players, which allowed the unhampered completion of the epic bridge that linked North and South Ledopolus by the industrious dwarves.

The bridge's construction and the security of the Tyr region was threatened, however, by a cult of silt clerics called the Dust Lords who were lead by a powerful elemental advanced being called Ulon. This threat was partially dealt with, as Ulon was driven back into the depths of the Silt Sea, his cadre of priests slain - though not before several game years had passed, and not without a considerable PC bodycount!

The party's dramatic and far-reaching actions had by this stage attracted the attention of several sorcerer-kings or their templars, who coerced the party into running various errands for them. First Tektuctitlay personally made them several 'offers they could not refuse' (trapping portions of their souls in a secret crystal garden he tended for such purposes). Once obtaining several powerful artifacts, they 'aided' Nibenay when his city was almost destroyed by the Zwuun in exchange for 'protection' from further indentured quests for Tektuctitlay. For their troubles they were captured in the Crescent Forest by agents of the Oba and ran for their lives in the jungle during the Red Moon Hunt.

Tiring of being the pawns of the sorcerer-monarchs, the party pooled their resources, bought and freed as many slaves as they could afford (both skilled and otherwise) and struck north in a mass exodus to carve out their own empire in Athas. Needless to say many other adventures took place, but I've beenr rambling on for too long already! :P

By the end, one player - a half-giant gladiator - had created a fledgling half-giant-centered culture built on the ruins of an ancient city founded by the noble but extinct lion-headed giants of old who were masters of the Way. The other player - a ridiculously tweaked power-gamer half-elf psionicist/preserver/cleric - had taken over the Order's old headquarters, the tower of Dasaraches, and founded an academy dedicated to training morally sound wizards-to-be in the arcane arts.

Though I'm not going to continue that story arc with my new 4th Ed group, I definitely will pick up chronologically where I left off. Too much rich history to simply ignore... besides, it gives the newbies something to aspire to.

:D
#11
LordMorbien
Jun 08, 2010 12:35:55 I'm looking forward to the new Dark Sun precisely because I never got to play in the old one! When DS came out, I was in transition from the military to civilian life and looking for work - - I had neither the time nor the budget for a new campaign setting. My Dark Sun memories are tantalizing images and articles in Dragon Magazine - - my one gaming indulgence at the time - - and a couple of game day events. Don't know if I'll be DMing or playing, but I'm definately making the purchase this time around.
#12
aegishjalmur
Jun 08, 2010 15:36:40 Memories of Athas:

Tembo, Tembo, and oh yes those damn Tembo

Getting psionically dominated by something... continuously

Running away from Halflings... continuously

Hanging out in the Ivory Triangle and more specifically Nibenay

A friend with a Dwarven Fighter who was level 5 on three seperate occasions due to level draining enemies (see #1)

Having characters die... continuously; loving each and every one of the gruesome fatalities

Last but not least, the best times I ever had roleplaying

#13
sigfried
Jul 09, 2010 15:46:40 Our party consisted of a dwarven fighter/cleric/psionicicst, a thri-kreen ranger, a human defiler, and some others I don't recall.

The party found a temporal pootal that allowed them to travel briefly to the green age. There, they aquired large amounts of gold and steel weapons, and buried these deep in the widlerness. Upon returning to the modern day, they dug up the loot (most had been lotted by a dwarven slave tribe). They then proceeded to Balic, where the dwarf began buying people's loyalty by throwing handfuls of silver and gold coins into crowds of commoners. He soon made himself King of Balic.

When the dwarf first arrived in Balic, people essentially ignored him, until cash began raining down on their heads. They would always then ask "What'd he say his name was?" This phrase has been an enduring joke with my gaming group since.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 cerberuspuppy Jun 02, 2010 17:10:24	I thought I'd start a thread for us to swap stories about Dark Sun games we played back in the day.
#2 therion666 Jun 03, 2010 1:02:24	I ran a Dark Sun campaign in 2nd Ed which went really well. At around 5th level the group came across an old half buried ruin in a section of sandy rocky badlands( it was an old castle) were they came across a number of Iron objects. As you can imagine, they became very rich with the discovery and began setting themselves up in Tyr as noblemen. They did lose one member in the expedition, a half giant who stupidly and despite the whole rest of the party advise caution just marched up to the old walls. At that point the group saw two land sharks came streaking toward him through the dusty earth and he was litterally torn apart. The group made their own gladiator school, the priests setup towers to the elements. It was a great campaign. Hoping to start over with DS when its released in 4E. One of my old school players has already said he'll buy me the books just to make sure I run it.
#3 phoffman Jun 03, 2010 2:36:39	I took part in a 2nd Ed campaign where the party members set themselves up as a courier service delivering light cargo between city states. We delivered many things and sometimes people, and one time a herd of lizards and it was always an adventure what would be thrown in our way next. What would try and stop us, or the working the local politics to get our cargo into the city or purely smuggling it in. It was a blast, because even though our group were not elves, we could still keep up a great pace out distancing many caravans and a few elves as long as it was light enough to be carried.
#4 BilopTheFleshwarper Jun 03, 2010 2:38:36	i was very young in the days I played the old school darksun.... i remember the whole group being mircilessly killed by... traveling, and a loudmouth character getting us killed by insulting someone who could kill us all in one action... and did.
#5 Zardnaar Jun 03, 2010 17:51:15	When we first played we only had the original boxed set nd that was it. Templar, Half Giant Gladiator, a Kreen and bard IIRC. Templar spent the kings gold stipend on living it up and parties in Tyr. No one wanted to be a cleric as they only got minor access to the cosmos sphere so Templars and Druids got played over them. Suffice to say product like Dragon Kings, and the 2nd boxed set gave us some rather large shocks.
#6 xlorep_darkhelm Jun 03, 2010 18:09:29	A recurring character in virtually any of my D&D campaigns was to take Dregoth, and the notion that he has a Planar Mirror that lets him wander the various worlds (something mostly forbidden in Athas, as it was severed from the Outer Planes and other worlds), masquerading as a wizened old man (with a somewhat sinister veneer), and having him be a quest-giver of sorts to different player groups -- often in search of some obscure relic connected to one god or another... and this usually worked, except for the occasional idiotic maneuver like casting "detect evil" on Dregoth-in-disguise. If the groups did what he wanted, and avoided trying to figure him out in any detail, they got what they wanted, he got what he wanted (more information about gods and such), and everyone parted mostly amicably, as Dregoth doesn't want to draw too much attention to himself in these foreign worlds. Of course, I had to introduce my long-time players to Dregoth for real when we rolled around to an Athasian campaign ;) But let's see... my first Dark Sun experience was as a player, with a group of us in Echo Company, 369th Batallion in training at Ft. Gordon, GA... I believe I was a thri-kreen. Been quite a while, and I just remember the campaign being over in 3 sessions (oops, we erm... kinda ticked off the templarate). From that experience back in '95, I have grabbed up everything I could about Dark Sun, dug relentlessly through the source materials, and have some (sometimes controversial) views about Athas in general ;) I guess you could say that very little 3-session "campaign" whetted my appetite.
#7 Pennarin Jun 03, 2010 18:22:29	I hope there will be a robust build, and feats and paragon paths, for poisoner bards...as the standard spellcasting bard has never been a part of DS. Now it is...yet it'd be nice if they kept the tradition.
#8 kingdrew Jun 03, 2010 22:20:14	I hope there will be a robust build, and feats and paragon paths, for poisoner bards...as the standard spellcasting bard has never been a part of DS. Now it is...yet it'd be nice if they kept the tradition. I've been wondering about that myself, but considering they are straying from some of the other DS "traditions", I wouldn't be surprised if they changed it too. Back on Topic The last Dark Sun campaign I ran was quite intriguing, I had an Human Trader, a Human Perserver (pretending to be a trader), a Human Templar, an H/G Gladiator, a human Ranger, and an Elf Fire Cleric. I had a few other players pop in and out of the campaign but these were the core members The 2 trader's were hired to take the Templar from Draj to Tyr. The gladiator was owned by the Templar and the cleric was hired healer. Also, as hidden agenda, the preserver was recruited by the Veiled alliance to also deliver a child to Draj, there he was to undergo extensive training. The VA believed that under the nose of a templar was one of the best ways to smuggle the child, and besides, this particular Templar was known to "bend" the rules sometimes. So during the course of the trip the Preserver was tasked with convincing the Templar, and any others, to trust the preserver and bring no harm to the child. The whole campaign was a blade to run all of the players and characters brought that campaign to life. Some highlights were when a new player thought his Thrikreen Gladiator was the badest thing on the planet only to enter a small arena, his opponent offer to shake hands, and what him squim as he was racked with the Double Pain psionic power. When the party was attacked by some slavers and 2 of the "transient" members of the group were caught. The escape plan and rescue attempt were priceless. Fire cleric lost his steel long sword in the Sea of Silt. I thought he was going to jump in and try and retrieve it. That's enough for now, I could go on and on and on.
#9 Grummore Jun 04, 2010 7:30:46	Aaah old memories... I started playing DS as a player (while one of my younger brother was GM) in 1992. We runned the original adventure from the 1st boxed set (Tujedaï (spelling) been the bad elf guy). It was my first RPG experience and I decided to put it at maximum in doing a nice Half-elf Psion/Preserver! Wuzzzzah! The group was composed of a HG fighter, TK water cleric, HLing Ranger and 2 others I dont remember. What a blast!!!!!
#10 vallaurax Jun 07, 2010 10:42:39	My original 2nd Ed campaign lasted for about 6 years, and included many player-conceived changes to the cities and wastelands of Athas. Most of the official modules were played through, except Black Flames and the one that involved the players participating in attacks against Urik (I never really liked where the Pentad went after the 2nd book). Kalak was slain by the Dragon who then installed a puppet monarch named 'the Magnate', who acted as the Dragon's liaison between the Tyr region and Ur Draxa. Fleeing the chaos of Tyr, the party participated in a mercenray capacity in the various skirmishes in and around Altaruk, which was fought over by many rival Merchant Houses. Eventually it was sacked and laid waste, first by the giants of Ledo, then ultimately by a Nightmare Beast that was drawn to the concentrated violence in the region. In turn, the giants of Ledo were exterminated by loot-crazed players, which allowed the unhampered completion of the epic bridge that linked North and South Ledopolus by the industrious dwarves. The bridge's construction and the security of the Tyr region was threatened, however, by a cult of silt clerics called the Dust Lords who were lead by a powerful elemental advanced being called Ulon. This threat was partially dealt with, as Ulon was driven back into the depths of the Silt Sea, his cadre of priests slain - though not before several game years had passed, and not without a considerable PC bodycount! The party's dramatic and far-reaching actions had by this stage attracted the attention of several sorcerer-kings or their templars, who coerced the party into running various errands for them. First Tektuctitlay personally made them several 'offers they could not refuse' (trapping portions of their souls in a secret crystal garden he tended for such purposes). Once obtaining several powerful artifacts, they 'aided' Nibenay when his city was almost destroyed by the Zwuun in exchange for 'protection' from further indentured quests for Tektuctitlay. For their troubles they were captured in the Crescent Forest by agents of the Oba and ran for their lives in the jungle during the Red Moon Hunt. Tiring of being the pawns of the sorcerer-monarchs, the party pooled their resources, bought and freed as many slaves as they could afford (both skilled and otherwise) and struck north in a mass exodus to carve out their own empire in Athas. Needless to say many other adventures took place, but I've beenr rambling on for too long already! :P By the end, one player - a half-giant gladiator - had created a fledgling half-giant-centered culture built on the ruins of an ancient city founded by the noble but extinct lion-headed giants of old who were masters of the Way. The other player - a ridiculously tweaked power-gamer half-elf psionicist/preserver/cleric - had taken over the Order's old headquarters, the tower of Dasaraches, and founded an academy dedicated to training morally sound wizards-to-be in the arcane arts. Though I'm not going to continue that story arc with my new 4th Ed group, I definitely will pick up chronologically where I left off. Too much rich history to simply ignore... besides, it gives the newbies something to aspire to. :D
#11 LordMorbien Jun 08, 2010 12:35:55	I'm looking forward to the new Dark Sun precisely because I never got to play in the old one! When DS came out, I was in transition from the military to civilian life and looking for work - - I had neither the time nor the budget for a new campaign setting. My Dark Sun memories are tantalizing images and articles in Dragon Magazine - - my one gaming indulgence at the time - - and a couple of game day events. Don't know if I'll be DMing or playing, but I'm definately making the purchase this time around.
#12 aegishjalmur Jun 08, 2010 15:36:40	Memories of Athas: Tembo, Tembo, and oh yes those damn Tembo Getting psionically dominated by something... continuously Running away from Halflings... continuously Hanging out in the Ivory Triangle and more specifically Nibenay A friend with a Dwarven Fighter who was level 5 on three seperate occasions due to level draining enemies (see #1) Having characters die... continuously; loving each and every one of the gruesome fatalities Last but not least, the best times I ever had roleplaying
#13 sigfried Jul 09, 2010 15:46:40	Our party consisted of a dwarven fighter/cleric/psionicicst, a thri-kreen ranger, a human defiler, and some others I don't recall. The party found a temporal pootal that allowed them to travel briefly to the green age. There, they aquired large amounts of gold and steel weapons, and buried these deep in the widlerness. Upon returning to the modern day, they dug up the loot (most had been lotted by a dwarven slave tribe). They then proceeded to Balic, where the dwarf began buying people's loyalty by throwing handfuls of silver and gold coins into crowds of commoners. He soon made himself King of Balic. When the dwarf first arrived in Balic, people essentially ignored him, until cash began raining down on their heads. They would always then ask "What'd he say his name was?" This phrase has been an enduring joke with my gaming group since.