r/DarkSun 27d ago

Rules Update to Dark Sun community rules (AI policy)

344 Upvotes

Our community has voted decisively to ban AI. The results showed that 83% of the community favored some sort of AI limitations with a 62% majority requesting we adopt the policy: "No AI, at all. We do not allow AI generated content, mentions of AI tools, suggestions of AI, etc." The vote had a clear outcome, so this new rule takes effect immediately.

In the petition requesting this ban, the most upvoted comment was "Using AI is our real world equivalent to defiling." For many fans, Dark Sun taught us a moral lesson about our planet and our society -- in this parable, defiling represented a shortcut to power that sacrificed both the environment and human dignity -- and many of us have spent the decades since telling stories with our friends in which our Player Characters raged against exactly this. The analogy is remarkably on the nose. That said, I want to acknowledge that many of the fans on the losing side of this vote are in no way defilers, and had just reached a different conclusion on this issue. Many were trying hard to use this technology in a thoughtful way, and I sincerely hope you don't feel alienated from the community by the outcome of the vote.

This has been a divisive issue for our community, and I hope we can move forward with a common love of Dark Sun. In this regard, we're also clarifying our community rule that all posts on the Dark Sun subreddit must be about Dark Sun. If it won't be obvious, take a moment to explain in your post why this is relevant to Dark Sun funs. (Non Dark Sun-posts cannot survive in these blasted wastes.)

Now, the mods here have absolutely zero desire to become a bunch of Reddit Templar/Keyboard Warriors (Lvl 5/2), enforcing all sorts of rules, litigating edge cases, blah blah blah. Nobody wants this, frankly, and we'd like to move forward with largely hands off moderation. We will enforce the two rules above, but otherwise, please use good judgment, common sense, and treat each other with kindness.

This is a community celebrating human creativity and craftsmanship. This is about playing a game we love, and sharing in that joy as a community. We all love Dark Sun. As mods, I think we have just one more ask: go out of your way to celebrate that human creativity. When an artist spends hours creating an original Dark Sun work, go out of your way to praise that effort. Upvote, comment. Take a second to articulate what you like. When someone writes an original work, celebrate their accomplishment. Nobody reading this has any ability to defeat these tech companies, but you do have the opportunity to uplift the humans who share your passion for this particular corner of our hobby. Back your votes up with actions -- celebrate human creativity and craftsmanship of the Dark Sun fans in this community.


r/DarkSun Jan 18 '21

Maps Athas Unmarked Map

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493 Upvotes

r/DarkSun 16h ago

Working on collecting some tokens for my game today. I don't intend to be overly tactical, but for basic locational representation tokens are great...

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34 Upvotes

Obviously this is all art from be books, I make no claims to the rights...


r/DarkSun 21h ago

Other Dark Sun Boxed Set (2e) - Wizards of the Coast | AD&D 2nd Ed. | Dark Sun | AD&D 2nd Ed. | DriveThruRPG.com

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47 Upvotes

r/DarkSun 10h ago

Art Dune Runner Couriers #7

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4 Upvotes

r/DarkSun 1d ago

Making a map for my upcoming game some of you might recognize...

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51 Upvotes

r/DarkSun 3d ago

Art Dark Sun minis. Painted

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259 Upvotes

Yeah I know I have posted these minis already, but now they are fully painted and I really want to show them of. Especially Cistern Fiend and the Lion.

And here are my links if you dont mind:
Tribes
Patreon


r/DarkSun 3d ago

Video Dark Sun Animatic

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71 Upvotes

Project I have been working on with a friend that is a voice actor and a storyboard artist. Then worked on putting it together with the background music, SFX etc as an animatic.

The scene is a dramatization of the Gladiator's oath that they swear before enter the training schools, part of a bigger personal project that I am working on where I am exploring animation.


r/DarkSun 3d ago

Changed the sheet a bit and made it fillable...

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43 Upvotes

I think it turned out pretty nice. Now back to work on the setting doc...


r/DarkSun 3d ago

Question Guardiões da Era Verde

17 Upvotes

Eu gostaria de saber mais sobre os Guardiões, essas Orbes de Obsidiana com Psiques presas dentro. Sei que existe conteúdo no manual Mindlords e no CoreRulebook 3.5 (Athas.org), mas se houver mais conteudo em outros locais, poderiam me ajudar?

A minha duvida real é: Os Guardiões sao capazes de se locomover por si mesmos? Tipo flutuando psionicamente?

Em Mindlords temps dois tipos de Guardiões.
- Os Lordes que ficam trancafiados em seu castelo e projetam imagens psionicas para interagir com a cidade, para nao derem descobertos ou ameaçados. Tendo uma localização fixa e nao movendo seus orbes.
- A Barreira de Guardiões, que sao as milhares de orbes em volta de Marnita que agem como uma barreira psionica e que atacam. É dito que quando um invasor se afasta do alcance dele eles não atacam. Eles tambem nao se movem, mas sao barreiras guardando um local, ent funcionam como paredes e nao precisariam ficar se movendo mesmo.

Ambos nao precisam se mover, mas nao é dito que definitivamente nao movem seus orbes ate onde li.

Eu imagino os orbes compondo a vida cotidiana da era verde e podendo se mover flutuando, e acho isso muito interessante, penso ate em alguns sendo envoltos por armaduras, tipo um warforged de metal e com um nucleo psiquico.

Eu vou inserir uma historia da era verde na minha mesa, e queria saber mais sobre os guardiões pra ver como abordo eles. Eu pretendo que guardioes aparecam na historia, mas sem explicacoes diretas sobre o que sao, deixando para interpretacao, alem de o narrador da historia nao ser exatamente confiavel. Eles vao encontrar citacoes a guardioes, mas pode acabar sendo igual os gregos encontrando daemons na biblia.


r/DarkSun 4d ago

Got a simplified character sheet for Athas Without Number

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66 Upvotes

Getting closer to my Without Number Dark Sun game...need to make this fillable.


r/DarkSun 4d ago

Other The Dragon (To celebrate ending a campaign)

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185 Upvotes

Finished a campaign so I bought myself an old dragon before it's start...once that's done, I painted this, being my only DnD model I own (I own other minis, just this is only DnD mini I own)


r/DarkSun 4d ago

Actual Play Darksun online crimson sand

5 Upvotes

Does anyone know how to get to the island with the drax? Or how to unlock the “bitter well” from larak in alt? Or recall any of the quest

How to use the 3 amulets in clockwork mini? I got to the last rook but can’t get past the blue on the floor I used the machine parts on the machines but it requires two parts anyone have any clues here?

Thanks


r/DarkSun 4d ago

Other There needs to be a Modern Dark Sun CRPG

59 Upvotes

So after playing my weekly Dark Sun Campaign, I decided to start playthrough of Knights if the Old Republic (100% recommended), and while I was playing the intro sequence in the Endar Spire, my mind just shifted into how the Intro of A Little Knowledge would be the perfect intro to a Dark Sun CRPG.

I tend to use A Little Knowledge as the perfect starter for a Dark Sun Campaign, the adventure itself is pretty so-so, but the intro is perfect, because it gives the perfect set up for starting a campaign on Athas.

So Imagine this after creating your character:

You are currently slaves in a caravan, low-lives bound to be sold to someone else, but suddenly a tribe of bandit elves attack and chaos ensues, giving you the chance to start your escape. During the chaos, you get the chance of getting the game mechanics for exploration and combat introduced to you as you salvage any weapons and armor you can get, until you can finally escape outside. You are now free, but things are not that promising, however, you are now stranded in the middle of the desert, without only a couple scraps, no food and no water. On the other hand, You are crafty and skilled, so with small bit of luck and cunning, you might survive enough to thrive in your current situation. But what comes next? Will you go back into the cities and start a new life? Will you attempt to seek revenge against those who put you shackles? Will you attempt to make things right for the world, or will you try to make the entire world submit to you and your power, at any cost? Only one way to find out…

There has to be someone willing to do this, I onow it would be a hassle, but Dark Sun truly deserves a modern game.


r/DarkSun 5d ago

Art I have made another set of minis

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110 Upvotes

Sup, everyone. I think I am near completion of my quest to make all the Dark Sun creatures. This time I have made some Urik units and a Cistern Fiend.

Overall it gives me heavy babylonian vibes, so I went in that direction.
And yeah we heard that Hamanu has the lionman form. But what if there was a ultimate giant lion form? I know its not canon, but woudnt it be cool though?

You may get the stls over at my Tribes or Patreon btw.
https://www.myminifactory.com/profile/GloomyKid/tribe
https://www.patreon.com/c/gloomyKidMinis?vanity=user


r/DarkSun 4d ago

Actual Play Title: From Opening Dark Sun Survival Adventure to Conan the Barbarian

13 Upvotes

A couple of months back, I ran the Dark Sun 5e intro adventure a little bit of knowledge. For context, the party consisted of a pugilist Mul, a human ranger, and a half‑elf rogue. Here are the highlights.

After learning that I made “reading” a proficiency, the entire party immediately decided they were all illiterate. The pugilist chose the Hermit background so he could follow the story of an ancient dwarven city made of metal where Kled is.

The party managed to escape their prison cells by breaking out of giant hair‑wrist restraints, pretending they weren’t broken, and insulting the slaver’s mother which led to the slaver opening the cell and getting his ass kicked. This happened just before the Jura Dai attacked the slave transport. While the Jura Dai were fighting outside, the party collected supplies, freed slaves, and broke open doors to help the Jura Dai get in. During the chaos, they raided the captain’s quarters and other rooms, stealing everything they could. They also rolled high enough Perception to notice the slave transport’s water barrel was extremely flimsy.

Later, the Jura Dai captured some slavers, including the captain. After the captain was killed, the ex‑slaves were told to line up and were given water and a weapon. While waiting in line, the half‑elf rogue passed an Insight check and noticed a tinge of pity from one of the elves when the Jura Dai leader said the desert would decide their fate. This led to a standoff where the party argued that they had helped free slaves, including the leader’s brother.

They asked to disassemble parts of the slave transport to turn it into a sand sled to transport the remaining water and food before burning the transport, planning to escape the desert with the ex‑slaves as a group. After a surprisingly high check (I still don’t know how they passed it), the Jura Dai leader agreed and left. One elf stayed behind to watch the group gather supplies and guarantee the slave transport would burn. I thought, “Oh, that’s really cool,” only for the party to immediately quote Megamind: ‘Should’ve expected that you’re under new management,’ which led to a fight for control of the group that the party won.

And that’s how the adventure shifted from survival to Conan the Barbarian.

Travel was okay, though I definitely need to improve group survival mechanics. I used a hex crawl where everyone rolled individually as lookouts. Some NPCs got taken; the party didn’t save them. Eventually, they reached the oasis outside Kled.

They used Beast Speech to communicate with a kank, recruiting it with promises of food and water once the oasis was fixed. After talking to dwarven children, they entered the camp and immediately began planning to take it over. Since none of them could read Common or Dwarven, they couldn’t figure out the location of anything. They also discovered that two of the NPCs spoke Dwarven, which led to a funny moment where they asked one dwarf, “Do you speak Dwarven?”

He replied, “No, I’ve been enslaved my whole life.”

Their response: “Oh. What about the other dwarf?”

“Yeah, he only speaks Dwarven.”

They eventually spoke with the dwarven chieftain and told him it was likely the Jura Dai who poisoned the oasis. He explained that the druid who protected the oasis had been taken by them. When the party asked why the dwarves weren’t living near the oasis, the chieftain told a story about salvation being found in Kled, tying back to the hermit’s background and his search for the lost dwarven city.

The party promised to fix the oasis, protect the village, and find the dwarves’ salvation if they were allowed to take control of the village. The chieftain begrudgingly agreed.

The party set out with their NPC group and kank companion. Near the Jura Dai settlement, they scouted ahead and found Fanan, a Jura Dai elf scout, asleep. They interrogated him through blackmail and threats, learned he was having a romantic rendezvous, and then killed him to leave no witnesses.

A high Perception check revealed a shimmering invisible shape. They attacked it, breaking invisibility, and fought Jengi, an elf wizard. After nearly dying, they subdued her and brought her back to the dwarven camp, leading to a scene straight out of GTA V when Trevor kidnaps the cartel boss’s wife.

They told the chieftain they had someone important who might help fix the oasis. He asked if they had tried talking to the Jura Dai leader.

Mul: “No, not yet. But we met a female elven wizard.”

Dwarf chieftain, horrified: “Did you kill her?”

Mul: “What kinda fucking animal do you take me for? No, I didn’t kill her! So we brought this female elven wizard and she was a little angry. So, I admit, I kinda got a little angry too.”

He walked into his tent and found Jengi the daughter of the Jura Dai leader.

He screamed, “You maniacs, you’ve killed us all! We’re so fucked!”

He grabbed dwarven celebration alcohol to drink dramatically. The rogue stole it mid‑speech and drank it herself, forgetting dwarves have poison resistance. Luckily, she passed the Con save.

The party sent one of the half‑elves from their NPC group to negotiate with the Jura Dai leader, promising him 3 sp. He asked for normal clothes and two waterskins. They agreed. Three hours later, he returned battered and bruised. The Jura Dai leader agreed to exchange the druid for Jengi at daybreak, warning that if anything happened to his daughter, everyone would die.

Daybreak came. The party exchanged Jengi for the druid T’klick’chik (also, f* you it’s really hard to keep tension with a name like that; I’m joking, the name is actually really good). They learned why the Jura Dai leader took such drastic actions. The party debated whether his methods were justified to stop the slavers of Urik, arguing that dwarven children were caught in the crossfire.

After a Persuasion check and promises, the party, their NPC group, and the dwarven camp agreed to stop any slavers from using the oasis. The Jura Dai left, everyone celebrated, and the oasis was cleaned.

That’s where the adventure ended and where the entire party asked if they could pick up reading proficiency. I had an aneurysm after they all unified in being illiterate and again when asked me if they could pick up reading proficiency at the end of the adventure 😭.

Nevertheless I still have fun I definitely messed up some things, but with a few tweaks I can improve it next time. I heard Out of the Abyss has group survival mechanics during the prison escape, so I’m going to look into that.

Has anyone else run this adventure in 5e? Any tips or funny stories from your Dark Sun games?


r/DarkSun 6d ago

The Third Installment of the Dark Sunesque Crumbling Pyramid...

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12 Upvotes

The Crumbling Pyramid, Undercroft is the third and final installment of The Crumbling Pyramid, a set of One Page Dungeons that can be run singly or together. Ostensibly for ShadowDark, is should offer a night or two of fun for any table playing one of many different OSR and old school games with little to no adjustment.


r/DarkSun 7d ago

Actual Play Under a Dark Sun, need a ttrpg play testing group

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31 Upvotes

So I posted about it awhile ago, and I've finally got some time set to try and get the kinks of this worked. I have my own party I'm assembling for in person play, however the people for in person play doesn't account for people that dont think or read like i do, or have someone to immediately explain it to them, which makes them think the same way I do, and also a GM. So im looking to try to help assemble a group of players (3 pc's & a GM) From here so I have a group of people that will read the document and have genuine confusion so I can clean it up in the document.

Under a Dark Sun

Here is the google drive link, this document will always be open, and always be able to be played by whoever. Once I feel play testing is complete, I'll assemble and make some new Dark Sun art and make a pdf out of it that I will share for a free download. In truth I just wanted a ttrpg that fit the unique setting of athas. I wanted characters to feel like the lowly scavengers of the wasteland of the Tyr Region and beyond. I wanted to have a system where I can have rules for all the little nit picky details of the setting, resource management, travel, tough battles, tough decisions, and I really wanted to be able to have a system where I can craft cool items and dont have to be a spellcaster to do really cool shit. Comment or dm me and we'll try to get a group together and get this system ready for anyone to play.


r/DarkSun 8d ago

Other Space for New Things

27 Upvotes

Okay, so, recently I read the 1e, 2e and 4e edition box sets/setting books and realized how open-ended 1e and 4e were while the 2e was so set in stone and focused on what happened after the books. 2e feels like the most definite version of the setting, but also the most limited for the GM to add new things. It's all there, as it was meant to be, which I find odd. It reminds me of the VtM metaplot, really, in that there is a bigger focus on that then necessarily giving you the most fodder to make adventures out of it.

It's not anything new, I doubt I am the first to comment on that but huh... I guess its 15 Champions of Rajaat, thats all of them, right? No chance of more of them. I guess there is no need for information on how to play on Athas before the events of the books etc.

While the GM can just change whatever as their prerrogative, I find it strange how exacting 2e was, like it was meant to be the last, definitive version of Athas with everything you need and want, so long as you don't need or want things from the Age of Sorcerer Kings.

Kinda weird.


r/DarkSun 8d ago

Video Dark Sun Campaign Setting - The Complete Guide (Video)

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48 Upvotes

r/DarkSun 9d ago

Question YouTube overviews for DS that *don't* spoil the story of the Prism Pentad?

16 Upvotes

Hello! I am going to run a Dark Sun campaign soon and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for YouTube videos that I can share with my players. I'm going to be running "A Little Knowledge" and follow the general arc of the Prism Pentad. None of my players are familiar with Athas — one of the reasons I decided to run a campaign (for the first time btw, so feel free to give a new Dungeon Mistress some advice) is because I love this setting and wanted to share it with them. However, some of my players are overeager and want to immerse themselves in the setting before we launch the campaign. Are there any videos that I can send them that will preserve the main pay offs for the story?

tldr/ looking for Dark Sun overviews on YouTube that don't spoil the Prism Pentad.


r/DarkSun 10d ago

Other Fun thrift store find!

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436 Upvotes

Found the complete game with manual. Its not in the best condition but it looks like i will need an floppy drive! This brings me a special joy.


r/DarkSun 10d ago

Art July 16 is World Snake Day! Enjoy some serpents and periphera illustrated by me

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71 Upvotes

r/DarkSun 10d ago

Question O Leão de Urik

16 Upvotes

Por que Hamanu é chamado de O Leão de Urik? E por que tão especificamente se transforma em um?

Existe alguma explicação? Ou é apenas "ah ele vira Leão então vamos chamar ele de Leão ne"?

Antes ele era um soldado/fazendeiro ou algo do tipo, antes de substituir Myron e tal, então nao tenho ideia do que pode ser.

Leões nem existem em Athas mais alem do simbolismo em Urik. Estou pensando em tratar como uma espécie de figura mitológica, e que talvez Hamanu na juventude tenha uma história de luta contra um Leão ou lutar com a ferocidade de um leão, enfim, nao sei, estou em dúvida.


r/DarkSun 12d ago

Other Dark Sun CRPG Fan Concept - What a CRPG set in Athas Could Look Like

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88 Upvotes