The Burnt World of Athas

The official Dark Sun website

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 monster manuals, 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

Announcements

Dark Sun 3.5 v8

After several years of work and contributions by members of athas.org, the pristine tower project, and others in the community, we are pleased to announce an updated release of the DS3 core rules!

The latest version has the following changes:

  • updated easier to read layout
  • new organisational system with clickable table of contents links, and a more thorough index.
  • separate Player and DM Sections, and separate chapters for the timeline and inner planes respectively
  • new prologue discussing how to handle sensitive game topics with new generations of players
  • countless small refinements and expanded explanations/illustrations of rules and lore.
  • fully illustrated pages full of great art created by the Dark Sun community over the past 20 years

Outpost 3 from Dungeon #110 Map

Here’s a map created for the Outpost 3 adventure from Dungeon #110. https://athas.org/manage/resources/0759cc63-4ed5-4b03-bad5-48b4e1afaa0a

Articles