Dark Sun Campaign Guide – D&D Roleplaying Game Supplement
One of the biggest announcements at GenCon Indy 2009 was of the next campaign book for Wizard of the Coast’s Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. They made the official announcement that the Dark Sun world of Athas would be the next campaign book for the game and that it would be released in 2010. This decision was made to the delight of many fans, as it is considered one of Wizard of the Coast’s more fan friendly decisions to date.
The world of Athas is different than the fantasy settings you typically see in Dungeons & Dragons, like Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, and Dragonlance. In the world of Athas you have a bleak desert that is more like a ‘Dying Earth’ setting than a fantasy setting.
Magic is much less common in the world of Athas. The world has negatively altered by the destructive forces of magic. Due to this, magic is much less common among the regular population. The replacement for magic in society is psionics. Psionics are more common and accepted among the populace of Athas.
Although the Dark Sun campaign setting has many of the traditional races you’ll see in a fantasy setting, it does have a lot of unique races as well. The setting has the traditional Human, Elf, Dwarf, Half-Elf, and Halfling make-up that you will see in other D&D games. But they also have Half-Giants, Muls (half Dwarf Half Human), and Thri-Kreen (Mantis men).
The classes in Dark Sun are very different than other settings. Priests don’t worship deities in the traditional sense; they derive their powers from other sources. Spell casters are altered due to the fact that magic is less common in the world. Most spell casters are divided up between either Defilers or Preservers. And, there isn’t any true equivalent to Sorcerers, Monks, or Paladins in the game.
For anyone not familiar with the Dark Sun setting, it may be good for them (especially the game master) to get leg up on learning the world. The Tribe of One is a short three book series by Simon Hawke that is a great starter series. Also, the Chronicles of Athas is a five book series with multiple authors, so you can get a variety of writing styles.
Some of the Dark Sun resources currently available on the Internet are: a Dark Sun interactive atlas of the World of Atlas, the Official Dark Sun Discussion Forum, The Unofficial Dark Sun Wiki, and the Next Campaign Setting Announcement from Wizards of the Coast. Each of the resources provides a lot of information for those interested in studying the world of Athas.
Wizards of the Coast made a great selection by choosing Dark Sun as their next campaign setting. They have pleased many of the fans with this decision and the choice should prove to be a great success for the company. The world is very different from other settings currently offered. Look for the Dark Sun Campaign Guide in 2010.
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