Dark Sun: Let's Talk About It!

**Phelix-Mu** · 2014-02-08, 12:57 AM (ISO 8601)

Dark Sun! Athas! I really have loved this setting to bits, but almost never played there, alas. If there had ever been a nice, published, 3e version, then perhaps things would have been different, and perhaps it's not too late.

Anyway, thoughts on the setting, the various conversions (Dragon Magz...boo, hiss!), and anything else are all game.

**Vanitas** · 2014-02-08, 01:07 AM (ISO 8601)

I'm really curious on the decision behind Dark Sun bards. What does poison have to do with music? Does anyone know why they went with that?

**Nihilarian** · 2014-02-08, 01:14 AM (ISO 8601)

Not sure if you know this, but Athas.org has 3e rules. Apparently it was approved by WOTC? I don't really know much about it (I recall really liking the gladiator class though, I should go back and check it out).

**Vanitas** · 2014-02-08, 01:17 AM (ISO 8601)

Btw, Phelix-Mu: Killua > all.

**Phelix-Mu** · 2014-02-08, 01:19 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Nihilarian

Not sure if you know this, but Athas.org has 3e rules. Apparently it was approved by WOTC? I don't really know much about it (I recall really liking the gladiator class though, I should go back and check it out).

I know about Athas.org, and it is some pretty darn good stuff. The reason I said "published" was that books really would have helped me pitch the setting to my normal group several years ago when 3.5 was still in print (and we were more regularly playing it). Several guys in my group love print, and I myself am rather partial to it, and as it is, even .pdfs or rules other than the Athas.org have been sparse/hard to come by (though, again, this has improved since my group largely moved on...doh).

Personally, my setting adopts aspects of other settings (like orphans), as the Overgod likes variety. So many bits of Dark Sun wandered over to the least hospitable areas of my world. Things like the halflings, the elves, and subsystems like Lifeshaping are extremely poachable.

EDIT: Yes, Killua is basically what made that whole series for me. Not that it was bad to start with; HunterXHunter is a really good manga/anime (especially the manga). But Killua really boosts the whole thing for me. Reminds me to go back and reread the manga...lol, way too much stuff to do on that front.

**Ravian** · 2014-02-08, 01:21 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Vanitas

I'm really curious on the decision behind Dark Sun bards. What does poison have to do with music? Does anyone know why they went with that?

I suppose they wondered what a group of minstrels would do in a world as brutal as Athas. Obviously they wouldn't just be singers (especially since they probably wanted to remove any trace of magic from them considering how defilers operated in setting). So they wondered, what is the scariest thing a traveling musician could do to you. The answer they came up with? That he could be an assassin, sent to poison your drinks as he performed.

It's weird yes but definitely a lot less weird then cannibal halflings. Don't get me wrong I love the halfling headhunters especially since halflings so often just seem like a boring race of short plucky thieves.

The short races always seem to have such problems in D&D. Which is why Dark Sun and Eberron are my favorite settings since they can give everything a nice twist. Especially since Forgotten Realms is mostly just the core setting with a ton more metaplot and powerful NPCs taked on, without doing anything interesting or different.

**LibraryOgre** · 2014-02-08, 01:24 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Vanitas

I'm really curious on the decision behind Dark Sun bards. What does poison have to do with music? Does anyone know why they went with that?

Social roulette. Bards are frequently assassins. If someone hires bards for your party, chances are, they're trying to kill you. But social rules are constructed so you can't turn down the gift of entertainers.

**BWR** · 2014-02-08, 06:26 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Vanitas

I'm really curious on the decision behind Dark Sun bards. What does poison have to do with music? Does anyone know why they went with that?

You have to immobilize your unwilling audience somehow.

**Brookshw** · 2014-02-08, 07:58 AM (ISO 8601)

I was really excited when the lost sea expansion came out. Felt like it really created more options for the setting. Plus surfer druids, Freaking surfer druids.

**Gemini476** · 2014-02-08, 09:52 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Brookshw

I was really excited when the lost sea expansion came out. Felt like it really created more options for the setting. Plus surfer druids, Freaking surfer druids.

On the other hand, Metaplot! and an adventure that starts with a no-save instant death as the BBEG teleports one of the PCs brains out of his skull. Mind Lords of the Last Sea was kind of weird.

Gotta love the surfers, though.

**Vanitas** · 2014-02-08, 04:16 PM (ISO 8601)

Tell me more about surfer druids!

**Chronos** · 2014-02-08, 06:36 PM (ISO 8601)

Did anyone else play the Dark Sun: Shattered Lands computer game back in the day? 1994, I believe. I discovered some epic exploits in that game.

**Vanitas** · 2014-02-08, 06:57 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Chronos

Did anyone else play the Dark Sun: Shattered Lands computer game back in the day? 1994, I believe. I discovered some epic exploits in that game.

I tried recently, but couldn't get past character generation. Hope they make an Enhanced edition for it like they did with Baldur's Gate.

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