Greetings.
I am considering adapting the 1E game module I3: Pharaoh for my 4E Dark Sun campaign. If it works I might run the party through the rest of the Desert of Desolation series. My campaign is based largely in Balic. To the south of Balic lies the Endless Sand Dunes. In Pharaoh, the characters are also sent south into the Desert of Desolation. In the Endless Sand Dunes, there are Tamwar Dervishes. In Pharaoh, in the Desert of Desolation there are Thune Dervishes. The Endless Sand Dunes are known for buried cities and treasure just like in the module. It is almost perfect.
I recently looked at classic desert modules I could refresh for 4E. The Desert of Desolation series seemed far superior to the Desert Nomads series (X4 & X5). I3: Pharaoh has an Egyptian setup and feel. It is part of the charm of the module but I don't want to over power the "Dark Sun World" aspects. Lots of Balician names are supposedly Greek and Egyptian but Balic has always seemed far more Roman to me.
So, before I start work on this, has anyone DMed, played, seen or done a 4E conversion of I3: Pharaoh or the Desert of Desolation series? Any thoughts or suggestions?
PS: If your curious I am aiming this at high-end heroic tier levels, 8 to 10.
Thanks.
I've always been a fan of cross-over games; my fav. character was a Mul Ranger who fought in the Evil-Dragon Army in Dragon-Lance.
Why not use the "Star-Gate" effect; the players are from Balic, perhaps escaped Slaves etc. and they find an ancient ruin from the Green-Age that transports them to the 1E modual's location. There, they have to adapt to a new world that isn't Athas....
Example, the part with the sheik's camp can be changed to be either a merchant caravan or a tribe of elves. Anything non-Athasian can be switched with something to make it feel, taste, and smell like DS.
Not aware of any 4e conversions. There are 3.0/3.5 conversions which might help with converting it to 4e. I'd try looking over at ENworld for it.
For Dark Sun, what could work well is to strip out the Arabian-knights feel and add the brutality feel. For example, rather than trapped efreet, put in a swarm of horrid insects that fly out of the bottle and disappear. Now a plague is upon the land... and when the insects feast, they lay eggs... and what hatches... Or, make it some horrid undead being... like a lost Sorcerer King or Champion. And the cities/tomb can all be around tales of despair of what befell these people. Tragic works well as backstory.
The traps can be modified. Make them rusty, more harmful, grizzly in aspect. Make even the good guys seem untrustworthy - villages of slavers or ex-slaves, hungry elven tribes, etc.
And, when you finish, I want a copy!!!
For a slightly different flavor the pharaoh was a powerful preserver that was attempting to overthrow the SK's and lost. All the murals and even the traps themselves could hold preserving secrets.
Good luck with the conversion.
I am basing this more on the classic scenario than the Forgotten Realms version (although I do have a copy of it as well).
Introduction
A group of legionaries stands huddled at the base of a range of craggy, dry mountains, the red light of a dying day casting long shadows behind them. A parched wind, still alive with the desert heat, rustles their capes over their sweat soaked leather armor. The legionaries have formed a circle astride their crodlus and hunch down sadly against the sandy wind. Standing near the circle is a Praetor of Balic.
It is your party that stands within this circle of grizzled soldiers. The last thing you recall is being surrounded by the Balician legionaries lead by a Praetor Legate-one of the special Templars of Balic.
But now you are awake, confused amid these heavily shadowed faces under a deep red sunset. The weathered face of the Praetor turns toward you, leather-brown skin setting off his steel-blue eyes. He pulls from his saddle pouch an elegant water skin and drinks. He clears his throat and begins to speak loudly over the rustling wind.
"By the orders of the duly elected Dictator Andropinis, the ruler and trustee of Balic:"
"It has been reported of late to the Dictator that certain dark and vile desert raiders have crossed the terrible wastes of the south, over long and forgotten paths through the hill lands of the southern wastes, to raid and pillage the grain fields, vineyards, olive groves, and outposts of the great city-state of Balic."
"The legionaries have tracked these vile dervishes through the rough hill lands of the southern wastes to the very borders of the accursed lands of the endless sand dunes, known by many as the Desert of Desolation. The Praetor Legate that accompanied the legionaries knew much about the curses of the Dead Lands that lied beyond and about those that haunt the obsidian plain that is near. He decided wisely to halt their pursuit of those Tamwar dervishes and return to Balic."
"That’s where your group comes becomes involved. Your group was seen in the vicinity of abhorrent and destructive unsanctioned use of arcane magic. Since none in your group has a license or dispensation to practice arcane magic you are all sentenced to death."
"However, I have it among my authority as a Praetor of Balic, to give you all an opportunity to start over without prejudice. This incident which occurred far from the eyes of the common folk could be perhaps forgiven, but never forgotten. All you must do is volunteer and become special forces serving Balic. You must track the course of the raiders from the Desert of Desolation. Search out their hiding place and bring us back proof of the location of their hidden camp in the desert and if possible their heads. "
"Your citizenship, lands, and monies in Balic have been forfeit and seized by decree of Dictator Andropinis. You are ceramic-less. I can pull some strings and get that all back for you. It can be further arranged that any valuables you discover in that fabled land of treasure and death may become your property. If you prefer not this quest you may choose death in the Criterion or death by hanging with public stoning as a known defilers."
The Praetor’s soulless blue eyes stares hard at you.
"It does not matter if you poor bastards are innocent of the charges. You have been chosen to enter that cursed land to the south of here. It does not matter if you can cast spells or not. It does not matter if you are defilers or not. The Dictator needs us Templars to do something about these issues due to unrest with the Patricians and we have picked you to be that something. We have brought you certain supplies and mounts from which you may choose. There is no water within a weeks tortured ride through the wastes from this spot, and those hills are full of beast headed giants that kill for the sheer joy of it. Without this armed escort, it would be suicide to attempt crossing back from whence we have come. Your only hope, for what it may be worth, will be to follow those tracks and hope that they lead to water."
His lifted arm points southward, and all eyes follow its direction. There in the desert sands, a trail mars the surface and leads straight into hell.
