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

Kyle Brink D&D Executive Producer comments on Dark Sun

Posted by Raddu 3 months ago

Kyle Brink the Executive Producer of Dungeons and Dragons at Wizards of the Coast was asked about Dark Sun in an interview with Bob the Worldbuilder concerning the recent OGL debacle. His response…“I’ll be frank here, the Dark Sun setting is problematic in a lot of ways. And that’s the main reason we haven’t come back to it. We know it’s got a huge fan following and we have standards today that make it extraordinarily hard to be true to the source material and also meet our ethical and inclusion standards. We know there’s love out there for it and god we would love to make those people happy, and also we gotta be responsible. “. https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxgQJoYPCE_NaV7OEhirMxS0hCSkCgXphD

Articles

Expanded Random Encounters Repost #3 - Sandy Wastes

first published on 2023-05-14

This Net Project was originally compiled by ArcoJedi. Many of the entries were taken from the Dark Sun Mailing list. The Expanded Random Encounters net.project brings otherwise sometimes boring random encounters to life. Giving them more realism than "you walk around the bend to see 4 gith standing in the middle of the road with weapons drawn".

This week, we feature encounters in Sandy Wastes.

Expanded Random Encounters Repost #2 - Mountains

first published on 1998-03-15

This Net Project was originally compiled by ArcoJedi. Many of the entries were taken from the Dark Sun Mailing list. The Expanded Random Encounters net.project brings otherwise sometimes boring random encounters to life. Giving them more realism than "you walk around the bend to see 4 gith standing in the middle of the road with weapons drawn".