Ah! Hello there. Grak! Be a good boy, and inform the Overcouncil that
we have visitors. Quickly now, you can finish your sweetmeats when you get
back.
You'll have to forgive him, he's a bit slow. Good help has been
impossible to find since Tithian freed all of our slaves. Now then, what is
it I can do for you?
What is Dark Sun?
Dark Sun is a campaign setting for the
Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.
Set on the desert world of Athas, Dark Sun
is about the struggle for survival.
Nine city-states cling to life in the Tablelands. Until recently, they
were ruled by powerful Sorcerer-Kings, both tyrants and protectors. Now,
only five remain; the other cities are cast into chaos and violent strife.
Soon, the desert may swallow them, as it has so many times before. The
wastes are riddled with the ruins of cities long dead.
It is a world where magic drains the very essence of life. Ancient wars
have left vast swaths of the planet sterile; even now, druids fight a losing
battle to preserve the environment. To practice magic is to tempt death at
the hands of the mob, yet the cities themselves are ruled by the most
powerful of defilers.
Originally released in 1991 by TSR for the 2nd edition of AD&D,
Athas.org has been the steward of the Dark Sun campaign setting since the
release of D&D 3rd edition in 2000. In that time, we have released
updated core rules, two
monstermanuals,
numerous setting supplements, such as
City State of Draj and
Wisdom of the Drylanders,
and the epic adventure
Dregoth Ascending.
You can see a list of all of our products
here
I’m pleased to announce that our first edition-agnostic adventure, The Chthonian Womb, is now available for free! Download it today, and discover what deadly beasts and ancient secrets lay buried beneath Athas’ past!
Rich Baker has been doing a retrospective on his time working on Dungeons and Dragons, in celebration of it’s 50th anniversary. He’s recently posted about the development of Dark Sun 4e, which includes the origins of what would eventually become the core 5e “Background” character pillar.
Our heroes are caught between opposing forces and old misdeeds as a fresh threat arises in Nibenay. Their decisions will shape the fate of their home - and their lives - for many years to come…
Deep in Nibenay’s Forbidden City, our heroes struggle to reach the Shadow-King’s citadel. But first they must face the sorcerer-monarch’s templar wives and roaming undead horrors!
Written by Azog the Defiler, and first published on 2025-01-05
What if the Dark Sun’s development team had eliminated all of the Tolkien-type races from the setting like they had originally wanted to? In fact, what if they had gone even further and eliminated humans as well? Could that be a possible vision of a future Athas?
