Recently, Wizards of the Coast released the newest incarnation of their Dark Sun campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons. I should preface this by saying – I am old. I was in college when Dark Sun first came out. I played a lot of other RPGs at the time, and D&D (then in its 2nd edition, for those keeping track) was ‘that other game’ that only a handful of die-hards played anymore.
When the first Dark Sun came out, the art (by Brom) drew me in almost immediately. This looked nothing like the Tolkein-esque generic fantasy realms to which I had become accustomed. Indeed, it looked like nothing else on the market. So I bought the box set, checked it out, and changed my world.
Dark Sun, more properly the world of Athas, was my first real exposure to the concept of post-apocalyptic fantasy. Magic has destroyed the land and rendered much of it to lifeless desert. A handful of city-states eke out an existence, ruled over by all-powerful sorcerer kings. The Gods themselves had turned their back on the world and no longer answered prayers. I had never thought of Fantasy in terms like these, and it shaped the way I would view fantasy and storytelling in the future – there are places in my stories to this day that I could point at and say “Without Dark Sun, I would never have thought of this”
Seeing Dark Sun on the shelves again brought back a great wave of nostalgia, and immediately set my mind churning for new ideas. I still love the setting, and am more excited than ever at the prospect of running a game set against its bleak, oppressive backdrop. I’ve talked to my group, and most of them are excited by the possibility. I only hope I can do it justice.
Tags: Dark Sun Rocks, Dungeons & Dragons, Fantasy, gaming, nerdPride
