Anyway, I was wanting to know if anyone had any cool ideas for introducing a Tarrasque into the Dark Sun World.
DON"T FREAK OUT YET!
introducing it as a set piece and not a living creature.
I was thinking the Tarrasque, like Athas, would be dead....just not undead. I'm looking to use it's remains as a set piece is what I'm trying to say, just to show the PCs how stuff got done in Athas' Green Age. Now I've heard that the Tarrasque would just wake up after its thousand year slumber (1oo years?) and would see that there is nothing to eat and would just go back into slumber. Well that's boring. I had a different thought. I'd think that, even though a Tarrasque is so hard to kill, what with having to kill it, then wish it to die and then wish it to stay dead and all, but with Athas being dead and the beast's master is dead, (assuming I'm going with the Tarrasque is a god's fammiliar) I'd say that the Tarrasque died too from natural causes, like starving to death after two thousand years of not eating.
Unless a Tarrasque would indeed eat sand, in wich case It'll still be alive, but I was under the assumption they ate all vegitation and animals, both of wich are so scarce on Athas. Anyway, my idea was to have the Party at some point stumble across the remains of Athas' Tarrasque so they could get that "Oh ****" feeling, maybe during a fight or a skill challenge or something. Then if I do that, how much of the Tarrasuqe do I inevitably let the party scavenge?
Or even worse, they find a dead one, only to discover that Athas is the victim of more than one Tarrasque, perhaps even more than two.
That being said, on the thought of the dead one, I'd let the players salvage about 25-30%, only that much of it not being ruined due to exposure from the red sun.
Happy Gaming
However, even though it's a magical beast, I still think it would die out from exposure or starvation. I could easily throw in a living Tarrasque and make the party squeel, but I want something different. I feel that the Tarrasque was a monster created as be like a mystery to the D&D world, that they aren't normally seen. To find a dead one would lend to a bit of the mystery being solved, "Ya, Athas had a Tarrasque, so what" but then they're faced with..."Om my gods how did it die?!"
I'd rather play up the mysery side of a Tarrasque then have it become just another fight. A hard fight, but in 4e I don't think the party would really worry like they used to in 2e. That's my intent anyway.
Though I do have to say, I liked the idea of having multiple Tarrasque on the planet..but what to do with them?
Though I do have to say, I liked the idea of having multiple Tarrasque on the planet..but what to do with them?
Well, that really depends on if you want the Tarrasques to be mindless beasts of destruction, or to have a more sinister intent and purpose. Something forgotten by time among most, if not all, of the current denizens of Athas. The whole "God's Avatars" approach idea you had before is an easy way to do it, or maybe something like the titans from greek myth, making each "Tarrasque" the child of a primordial, and perhaps not each of them similar in power and appearance.
Heck, the sudden revival of even a single Tarrasque doesn't automatically need to devolve into a fight to stop it, especially when the potential of "where" it came from is a more pressing issue than where it's going and what it's doing. Imagine a Tarrasque or two unearthing whole cities with still living inhabitants. The beast will probably draw direct attention from the big time players on Athas, so its roaming and destruction might not catch on immediately just because the Sorcerer Kings are all a bunch of secretive jerks trying to save face, but tales through the trade grapevine of a brand new city or two could bring all new trouble and fortune towards the PCs should they investigate, as well as potentially cause some Sorcerer Kings to try and establish control in them amidst the confusion that came with their unearthing. The PCs might even learn a little something about Athas before all of the defiling turned it into a sand bucket.
All in all, the idea can work with really anything that could shift the power balance in the Dark Sun world, so it need not be a Tarrasque. Demon lords of great power, aberrant beings of wicked intelligence, forgotten undead lost to legends (such as Kyuss), other dragons of intelligence to rival the Dragon of Tyr, Torog or a similar being crawling around downstairs and caving in land... anything could really spark such a story line if it serves your campaign, so don't feel that the Tarrasque needs to be the trigger. The mystery of the dead carcass of a Tarrasque could even serve as the catalyst to set the PCs on the path towards discovering any of this stuff.
Hope this helps. Happy Gaming
I still think it would die out from exposure or starvation.
I feel that the Tarrasque was a monster created as be like a mystery to the D&D world, that they aren't normally seen. To find a dead one would lend to a bit of the mystery being solved, "Ya, Athas had a Tarrasque, so what" but then they're faced with..."Om my gods how did it die?!"
Though I do have to say, I liked the idea of having multiple Tarrasque on the planet..but what to do with them?
It's got resist 10 to all damage. It isn't going to die from exposure. And I don't see how it could die of starvation.
I'm not sure players would ask how it died. Even the knowledge that it's immortal would be something only a few people would know. Especially if it's supposed to be a mystery. If I was a player who came across a dead tarrasque in dark sun, I would just assume it died because of lack of magic.
The Tarrasque is nature's way of ridding itself of all the destructive beings on the planet. Each one covers a certain territory. Heck, a 'clutch of eggs' might have recently hatched for this purpose.
Thank you for the feed back, that all sounds good.
However, even though it's a magical beast, I still think it would die out from exposure or starvation. I could easily throw in a living Tarrasque and make the party squeel, but I want something different. I feel that the Tarrasque was a monster created as be like a mystery to the D&D world, that they aren't normally seen. To find a dead one would lend to a bit of the mystery being solved, "Ya, Athas had a Tarrasque, so what" but then they're faced with..."Om my gods how did it die?!"
I'd rather play up the mysery side of a Tarrasque then have it become just another fight. A hard fight, but in 4e I don't think the party would really worry like they used to in 2e. That's my intent anyway.
Though I do have to say, I liked the idea of having multiple Tarrasque on the planet..but what to do with them?
Multiple dead Tarrasques could have cities within the confines of their bones. Or maybe someone has animated one of these skeletons part way but to move it need to defile life around it and got buried deep in the Sea of Silt?