“I live in a world of fire and sand. The crimson sun scorches the life from anything that crawls or flies, and storms of sand scour the foliage from the barren ground. This is a land of blood and dust, where tribes of feral elves sweep out of the salt plains to plunder lonely caravans, mysterious singing winds call travelers to slow suffocation in the Sea of Silt, and selfish kings squander their subjects’ lives building gaudy palaces and garish tombs. This bleak wasteland is Athas, and it is my home.” —The Wanderer’s Journal

Fight to survive a ravaged world.

Beneath a dying sun lie wastelands of majestic desolation and cities of cruel splendor, where sandal-clad heroes battle ancient sorcery and terrible monsters. This is Athas, a world of sand and fire, a desert planet laid waste by unchecked magic and ancient wars. Immortal sorcerer-kings reign over the cities that remain, celebrating their tyranny with bloody arena games and brutal oppression. Cruel slavers and fierce raiders roam the wastelands in search of captives and plunder.

Only the strongest heroes can endure the fury of the crimson sun. Life hangs by a thread in this barren land, and now it is up to you to write your story in blood and glory. A savage world waits to challenge you.

Can you survive?

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This is a Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition game set in Dark Sun. I will mostly draw from the original boxed set version of Dark Sun, though I will freely pull from the revised boxed set, the 4th Edition books, and any random bits that I think will fit the world of Athas. Kalak lives and Tyr is under his heel. Fair warning, I run most settings with at least some amount of influence from weird fiction so there will be influences from Call of Cthulhu, Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos, Grim Hollow, and Darkest Dungeon.

This will be a player-driven sandbox game with no predefined plot that takes place in a persistent world. I will fill the world with plot hooks and adventure seeds and it’s up to the players to engage with the ones they find most interesting. If interest is low (up to seven players), then that will be the regular group. If interest is higher (eight or more), then we will have two groups. My limit is 12-14 players in two six-to-seven person groups.

Would there be any interest in this?

Dark Sun? Added horror?!

Sounds great.

What level were you thinking to start PCs at?

And my big question: how are you going to handle psionics with 5e?

I have a PDF somewhere which is the playtest for psionic stuff for 5e, but I'm not sure how it holds up.

Dark Sun, open sandbox (see what I did there?) sign me up and make sure to call me for dinner. We shall feast on what the Tablelands provide!
This message was lightly edited by the user at 08:52, Thu 25 Mar 2021.

Dark Sun is always a good idea.  There are several versions of Psionic support for 5e any one or more of which could help build out that side of Dark Sun, but most of them are unusual or off balance in some way so need to be used carefully, the Mystic from Unearthed Arcana is likely the best.

Warlock can also be used as Templar quite easily.
This message was last edited by the user at 09:18, Thu 25 Mar 2021.

I am always interested in 5e and Dark Sun...
This message was last edited by the user at 15:15, Thu 25 Mar 2021.

I LOVE Dark Sun!  In 2nd ed it was my longest running campaign! 3rd-advanced being, :)

Count me interested. It has been a long time since I visited Dark Sun.
This message was last edited by the user at 18:53, Thu 25 Mar 2021.

I would also like to express my interest.

Sounds like fun. I hope it goes better than the last one and the al-qadim one. =)

We’ll draw from the AD&D 2E boxed set and start at 3rd level.

Psionics will be covered by the class options in Tasha’s. Full psionics will likely be reskinned Aberrant Mind sorcerers. Everyone will get one free feat to cover wild talents. I’m not really interested in trying to homebrew a whole class or worry about UA or 3rd party stuff.

Mesneaky. Yeah. I seem to have better luck with Call of Cthulhu or Ravenloft games. It’s weird.

This message was deleted by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 05:23, Fri 26 Mar 2021.

Okay. Game is open.

I’m still putting a few things together, but whoever’s interested, come on over and drop a RTJ...

link to another game

This message was deleted by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 04:55, Sun 28 Mar 2021.