Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Phobos Aug 23, 2010 9:49:18	So, moved my players into the DS setting last night.  Actually, as the title implies, the world of Eberron covered in sand, and a big fat hot red sun! They had a great time, did the cliff hanger style ending.  Pulled out all the cheese, and movie references I could. The dragon they have been chasing for the past x adventures, has been misreading the draconic prophecy.  It speaks of a great transformation and rise to power, to become the sole leader of dragonkind!  Too bad it means sole dragon (of Tyr).  Too bad also it was not the dragon who came to power but a young male whelp that came through with her. If you saw my other posts, I pulled out the Stargate in all it's glory.  Powered by Khyber shards, built of obsidian and covered in glyphs.  It didn't take them across galaxies however, it took them across time.  Eberron in the far far future, a world after war, civilizations gone, the land burnt by magic, and the sun turned red due to wild magic. I ever threw in the Planet of the Apes.   The tomb they chased the dragon to ended up being a Dhakaani temple. The ruins were up in the mountains, outside stood two large king statues carved of stone.  They awoke in a tomb, the gate on that end still whole, but without power.  Khyber shards have not been seen in thousands of years. After the transfer, they emerge from the tomb into the sun, and there, the land covered in sand, all that remains visible is the head and broken arm from one of the statues, protruding from the sand. I even pulled out the Thunderdome (although they don't know it yet).   The heat over takes them in their metal gear, the sun and sand in their faces... all they see in the far distance is the smoke from a small desert barter town. Yes, I am the cheese, but I swear it was one of the best adventure nights we have had in a long time!!
#2 smeej Aug 23, 2010 12:13:11	Haha, I had considered doing the two because a magical train stretching across Athas amused me, but then I realized that's basically just the plot of Final Fantasy 7 (trade company running technology that saps the land's lifeforce). Combining the two is really a fun setting, though.
#3 mcbraggart Aug 23, 2010 15:43:26	Reminds me of Thundarr the Barbarian.  I like it and I'm curious to hear more. /subscribe to your newsletter, etc.
#4 naxel Aug 23, 2010 15:47:08	Although it'd make Dark Sun rather odd, I like that lil' FF7 bit. I also think hurling the PCs into the future is great, too; it's sort of relates to a campaign I'm planning for my roommate. My roommate is more into high fantasy, but seeing as all he's ever experienced (to my knowledge) is Baldur's Gate games, Dragonlance, and Eragon I figure he hasn't gotten much in the way of subverted fantasy tropes, like Eberron or Dark Sun has. I plan on having his character be in the past of Dark Sun and experiencing how everything went down. I'm picking and choosing from the revised edition's history, though. He'll be playing in Eberron and the new king of Karnaath is a powerful defiler who's re-igniting the Last War as a genocide. The Cleansing Wars. My roommate's character will have to go searching for four pre-Age of Demons colossi that are bound with elemental powers, the might of the primordials. The elemental forces will be resurrected, granting him the strength to defeat the defiling king but also allowing the primordials to finally overcome the gods in combat. Leading to the godless, desert, scorched, genocided world of Athas...
#5 theomnipotentsco Aug 25, 2010 18:55:08	I actually had this idea too, however I decided to just go with standard Dark Sun, as there's just so much to explore there anyway. Below was the basic into write up for my idea: 100 years after the end of the last war, the mists from the Mournlands began to spread across the countryside. No one knows what caused the mists to flare up and begin to slowly roll across the plains. As the mists moved across the land, it began to kill plan and animal life in its wake. Once a person was touched by the mists, it often spelled certain death. This caused entire nations to panic, and infight with each other as they looked for a way to stop the mists. In the chaos, the countries monarchies fell or were severely weakened. In this void, the Dragonmarked houses stepped in and began to provide goods and services to those who would ally themselves with the house. Now, the Dragonmarked houses hold most of the power, and once mighty kingdoms are now shadows of their former selves, if they even exist at all. Research was conducted by members of the houses, and found that the use of arcane magic was causing the mists to continue to spread, and in areas that had been abandoned, the mists were beginning to recede. It was with this decree that the Dragonmarked houses began to use their power, instituting bans on the use of Arcane magic. However, those members of Dragonmarked houses were deemed responsible enough that they were given a reprieve from this ban, showing an obvious favoritism. There were those who did not agree with the edict. Many of them were executed publicly, however some were able to escape. Eberron’s reliance on magic was so strong that they needed another force to fill in the void. Dragonmarked houses had been working on harnessing the energy from within people. With the right techniques, it became quite easy to teach people how to draw from this inner reserve of psychic energy and use it in much the same way that arcane magic had been used in the past. Dragonmarked houses often look down on this as peasant magic, however every Dragonmarked house holds members who are masters of the Psionic arts. That wasn’t all that changed over time as well. With many lands lost to the mists, resources became very scarce, to the point where common goods such as grains and metals became extremely rare. Society changed and began to look to other materials to fulfill their needs now. Weapons of bone and crystalline substances became more common, while armors were treated with new Alchemical substances to accommodate the lack of metal. Over the centuries, the mists began to weaken their grasp over the land, leaving vast desert wastelands in their wake. Lifeless areas now exist between large cities and citadels of power. Some ventured beyond the city walls on foot. Less made it to their destinations. Survivors often spoke of roving bands of cannibals, insane warforged creations, and warped versions of what used to be common animals. There were also stories of bands of undead who shambled through the mists, and shadows that attacked people as they walked by. The other continents were largely unaffected by the mists, however the crisis on the mainland has put pressures on the other continents. Xen’drik has now become a haven for refugees who did not want to bow down to the powers of the Dragonmarked houses. The attitude on the island is very close to lawlessness, and is a wretched hive of scum and villany. Life on Xen’drik is hard, and civilization sticks close to the coast for fear of the Drow and other unknown beasts in the Jungles.
#6 coffeegoblin Aug 25, 2010 19:08:04	Reminds me of Thundarr the Barbarian.  I like it and I'm curious to hear more. /subscribe to your newsletter, etc. ahh,thundaar the barbarian.very cool barbarian with a flaming magic sword.very d&d. ARIEL,OOKLA,RIIIIIIIIDE!
#7 jahatch28 Aug 29, 2010 17:07:04	Although you took it a step further than I was planning, I'd always wanted to start a regular D&D game (or eberron, FR, whatever) and after 3 levels or so (since starting DS characters used to be 3rd level) have the players wake up in a slave caravan having "shared" the same dream about their adventures, that strange, green world they had been in, and awake to the reality that they are on athas, in chains, and have the campaign go from there... however, I thought it might be mean to do something so earth shattering to them without their knowledge and consent... of course, with their consent, it wouldnt nearly be as much fun... lol