Contribute to SyDarkSun!

“Superplus fantastic—rife with peril, PC killing, and disembowelment.”

You trudge slowly through the harsh Athasian desert. Out of water and food, you feel the desert heat sapping the remaining moisture from your body. The crimson sun glints harshly off the broken shard of your obsidian sword. You stumble on through the hot sand, finally collapsing on the slope of a dune in sheer exhaustion. Moments later, you hear the unnerving sound of screeching voices. You look up to see a gang of hungry Gith approaching.

Suddenly, you realize that this is not going to be one of your better days…

SyDarkSun is a 4th Edition D&D Dark Sun (a.k.a. DS4) campaign, set in the Tyr region of Athas, and beginning in the year of Priest’s Defiance, 190th King’s Age, before the events chronicled in The Verdant Passage, and in general attempting to retain the flavor of the original Dark Sun Boxed Set. We play in Carbondale, Illinois every other weekend.

For those unfamiliar with the campaign setting, Dark Sun is quite different from standard fantasy fare; it’s a harsh, gritty world of sand, blood, psionics, and defiling magic. More details about the world are available in the setting information and the campaign map.

Newcomers to D&D are welcome. The Dungeon Master has everything you’ll need to play, including pencils, paper, dice and books. If you’ve never played D&D (or any tabletop roleplaying game), we’ll be happy to walk you through how to play. The DM prides himself on being newbie-friendly.

Nota Bene: This is a hardcore roleplaying campaign in a harsh, unforgiving world. Only serious roleplayers need apply, and I will be ruthless in-game and out. In-game: This is Athas. Nothing is fair. Characters will die, or worse, and you have to be able to handle that with aplomb. Out-of-game: I expect dedicated roleplaying and character development. In addition, you will be expected to spend some time between sessions on this website, posting character details, adventure logs, and the like. If I don’t think you can handle that, you won’t be invited to play. If you are in the game and not living up to the standards, you will be kicked out of the campaign, with no apologies in either case.

This does not mean that you can never miss a session. We are all adults with busy lives, and I plan on having more players than we need to compensate for the inevitable absences. It does mean that you will need to put a reasonable amount of work into character development both in-game and between sessions.

Knowledge of 4th Edition (or any edition) Dungeons & Dragons is helpful but not required; as stated above, newbies are welcome. Knowledge of the Dark Sun setting is actively discouraged. I will tell you what you need to know, and besides, SyDarkSun is different enough from the published Dark Sun materials that such knowledge will be largely useless anyway.

If you think you’re ready for the fires of Dark Sun, click the “Want to Join?” button in the right sidebar of the home page and write a paragraph answering the following three questions:

• Why do you like roleplaying a character?
• Why do you want to join this game?
• What is your experience with Dark Sun?

After that, you may wish to take a look at our New Player Info.

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DMs: Anything in this campaign created by me is available for use in your campaigns provided you don’t make money off of it. Attribution is not required. However, if you use anything, I would appreciate it if you would leave a comment saying so. (If you do want to make money off of these materials, message me.)

“Dark Sun of Athas” graphic © 2012 Matthew Lind