9/25/2017 0 Comments Paths To A Green World 2Nd EditionDark Sun - Wikipedia. Dark Sun is an original Dungeons & Dragonscampaign setting set in the fictional, post- apocalyptic desert world of Athas.[1]Dark Sun is notable for its innovative metaplot, influential art work, dark themes, and its genre bending take on traditional fantasy role- playing game.[2] The product line began with the original Dark Sun Boxed Set released for AD& D in 1. TSR's most successful releases.[2] In 2. Wizards of the Coast released an updated version of the setting using the fourth edition rules. Dark Sun deviated from the feudalistic backdrops of its contemporaries, such as Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms, in favor of a composite of dark fantasy, planetary romance, and the Dying Earth subgenre.[1][3][4][5] Rather than create another pseudo- medieval,[1]Tolkienesque fantasy world, Dark Sun's designers presented a savage, magic- ravaged desert world where resources are scarce and survival is a daily struggle. The traditional fantasy races and character classes were altered or omitted to better suit the setting's darker themes. Dark Sun differs further in that the game has no deities, arcane magic is reviled for causing the planet's current ecological fragility, and psionics are extremely common due to a tie- in with the 1. Complete Psionics Handbook.[2]The artwork of Brom inspired the direction of the content and established a trend of game products produced under the direction of a single artist.[2][6] The second edition of the setting was supported by supplements as well as novels were closely tied into the game's metaplot.[2] It was the first TSR setting to come with an established metaplot out of the box.[2]Dark Sun's popularity endured long after the setting was no longer supported by Dungeons & Dragons' new parent company Wizards of the Coast with a lively online community developing in its place.[7] Material was produced for the third edition rules by fans at Athas. Paizo via open game license agreements.[2]A new edition of Dark Sun was released in 2. D& D. The game designers wanted to capture the feel of the original 1. Though not technically a reboot,[9] some of the characters, races, and setting details from the previous editions were changed or removed.[1. The new setting rules continued Dark Sun's tradition of innovation by introducing character themes which provided background, character elements, and additional powers to newly created characters. Many former variant classes such as elemental priests, gladiators, and templars were replaced with these character themes.[9]Development[edit]Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (2nd edition)[edit]. The original Dark Sun Boxed Set. TSR released the second edition of Battlesystem in 1. The working title of this setting was "War World."[1. Contributors to this project at its beginnings included Rich Baker, Gerald Brom, Tim Brown, Troy Denning, Mary Kirchoff, and Steve Winter. ![]() With the exception of Denning and Kirchoff, design veterans such as David "Zeb" Cook declined to join the conceptual team for "War World" (later on, Cook would write the first two adventure modules: Freedom and Road to Urik). The majority of project members were freshmen to TSR, though not necessarily to the industry (Winter having worked at GDW).[1. Steve Winter's inspiration drew partly from DEN comics by Richard Corben and the fiction of Clark Ashton Smith. Winter also suggested the idea of a desert landscape.[1. BibMe Free Bibliography & Citation Maker - MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard. Shop National Geographic for atlases, books, magazine, DVDs, travel clothing, outdoor gear, photography equipment, gifts and more at National Geographic Store. Includes product information and exhibit schedule.The team envisioned a post- apocalyptic world full of exotic monsters and no hallmark fantasy creatures whatsoever. TSR worried about this concept, wondering how to market a product that lacked any familiar elements. Eventually, elves, dwarves, and dragons returned but in warped variations of their standard AD& D 2nd Edition counterparts. The designers actually credit this reversion as a pivotal change that launched the project in a new direction.[1. By the time the name "Dark Sun" replaced "War World," Battlesystem integration was still considered important; and mass- combat statistics accompanied early modules. However, poor sales for Battlesystem soon stopped any further inclusion in Dark Sun products.[1. The original Dark Sun Boxed Set released in 1. Tyr Region is on the verge of revolution against the sorcerer- kings. Set a decade after the first boxed set, the Revised And Expanded boxed set released in 1. Prism Pentad novels. It featured an updated "Wanderer’s Chronicle" which included a summary of the material from "The Wanderer’s Journal" in the first boxed set, updates to the setting, events and characters introduced since the initial 1. Tyr Region. Tie- in with the Complete Psionics Handbook proved more successful, but designers regretted the extra time involved in attaching these rules to practically every living thing in the campaign world.[1. The Dark Sun setting drew much of its appeal from artist Brom's imagery: "I pretty much designed the look and feel of the Dark Sun campaign. I was doing paintings before they were even writing about the setting. I'd do a painting or a sketch, and the designers wrote those characters and ideas into the story. I was very involved in the development process."[6]Game designer Rick Swan described the Dark Sun setting: "Using the desert as a metaphor for struggle and despair, this presents a truly alien setting, bizarre even by AD& D game standards. From dragons to spell- casting, from character classes to gold pieces, this ties familiar AD& D conventions into knots, resulting in one of the most fascinating and original game worlds that TSR has ever produced."[1. The Dark Sun game line came to an end abruptly in late 1. When TSR released its product schedule in Dragon #2. December 1. 99. 6) no Dark Sun products were included.[1. The final release was Psionic Artifacts of Athas (1. Dregoth Ascending and Secrets of the Dead Lands were rumored to have been near completion to the point that early versions were reportedly given to some GMs at the 1. Gen Con Game Fair (1. Designer Kevin Melka claimed that another halfling product, a book on the dwarves, and a book on the Order were part of his official proposals for 1. An invasion of the Kreen Empire was also being considered, according to Melka, along with the mystery of the Messenger, and a product on the Silt Sea to expand the world further prior to the line's cancellation.[1. Dungeons & Dragons (3rd edition)[edit]Dark Sun was not supported by the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons but Paizo, and the fans at Athas. Wizards of the Coast.[2][1. David Noonan created an updated version of the setting for Paizo in 2. Dragon magazine and Dungeon magazine that presented rules for 3rd edition. This version took place three hundred years after the last published setting details and sought to return the setting's in- game metaplot to something closer to the original boxed set. This version also provided rules and setting details for the new third edition player character races such as elans and maenads.[1. Athas. org presented another update to the setting for 3. It was a rules only conversion that provided everything needed to play in the Dark Sun world through the non- epic levels.[1. The Athas. org version also condensed the metaplot information and presented a much broader view allowing players an opportunity to create campaigns in virtually any era of Athas, even going as far back as the Blue Age. Athas. org was also given permission to convert and release two unpublished second edition source books, Dregoth Ascending(2. Terrors of the Dead Lands (2. TSR's unpublished Secrets of the Deadlands.[1. Dungeons & Dragons (4th edition)[edit]In August 2. Wizards of the Coast announced at Gen Con Indy that Dark Sun would be the next campaign setting to be released for fourth edition.[1. The setting was chosen because designer James Wyatt felt that the setting's grittier, action oriented feel was a good fit for the fourth edition rules and because the setting demonstrated that imaginative possibilities of Dungeons and Dragons games could go beyond the tropes and themes of standard medieval fantasy.[1. This version was heralded as a return of the feel of the original 1. Prism Pentad.[1. 8] The metaplot's timeline is set back to just after the original Dark Sun's first adventure, Freedom (1. The sorcerer- king Kalak is dead and Tyr is a free city- state but the future of Athas beyond that is up to the players.
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