The DARK SUN campaign setting debuted as a boxed set in the fall of 1991. It was the work of many talented individuals, primarily designers Timothy B. Brown and Troy Denning. The duo decided to create a
Bill Slavicsek, Dragon Magazine 220 (August 1995)
world unlike anything ever done before for the AD&D game system. What they designed, and what artists like Brom and Tom Baxa depicted in marvelous detail, was a brutal world of savage adventure called Athas. The trademarked title comes from the worlds sun, a dark red orb that hangs high in the burning sky.
Dark Sun is the most alien AD&D campaign world TSR ever published. It drew its inspiration from the classic sci-fi pulps. Athas is a desolate, dying world, enervated by a lack of water and wizards defiling life. Usual Advanced Dungeons & Dragons conventions are all flipped. Elves are desert savages. Halflings are cannibals(!). Sorcerer-Kings rule cities with an iron grip. Slavery is commonplace.
For gamers that want a Grim Dark AD&D setting, Dark Sun is the place. The Player Characters not only must survive the unforgiving wastes, but are called to disrupt the miserable status quo in the cities. Revolution is brewing.
Taking a cue from the success of the Dragonlance novels, TSR planned for fiction to accompany the game setting. Also channeling Dragonlance, there was on ongoing “plot”, though Dark Sun was far less constrictive in the modules.
With the release of the 1991 core box, line developer Troy Denning soon took up the novel-writing with the Prism Pentad. These of course had a plot, which would be troublesome down the road, as the 1995 box set moved the setting forward in time. The revolution in the Prism Pentad series became baked into the “Expanded and Revised” setting, leading to disappointment among many players, who felt they were in the position of janitors cleaning up after the DMPCs.
See the entire AD&D Dark Sun product line over at my classic RPG Reference Site
Alas, Dark Sun 2nd Edition (I’ll call it DS2 going forward) had a dim future. TSR was doomed, with finances collapsing by the end of 1996.
AD&D 2e was definitely the high water mark for the Dark Sun campaign setting. D&D 3rd edition and 3.5 didn’t have an official release, but there were a number of articles in Dragon, Dungeon & Polyhedron magazines throughout 2004.
D&D 4e briefly flirted with DS, with a couple of hardcovers. Thus far, there has been no 5e support. It’s probably for the best, as I doubt current-iteration Wizards of the Coast would be faithful and mature with the Dark Sun world.
Returning back to the two box sets, they have a number of parts and pieces that tend to get lost, so let’s go over the components (including an optional piece in DS1). Then we’ll look at the art and artists, as they were critical in bringing Athas to life.
Dark Sun Campaign Setting [BOX SET]
1991 … Timothy B. Brown & Troy Denning … TSR 2400 … ISBN 1560761040 … Contents: Rules Book; Wanderer’s Journal; two flip adventure books; A Little Knowledge; 2 folded maps; Complete Psionics Handbook Errata Sheet; (sometimes) folded poster.
Check Wayne’s Books Inventory | Noble Knight | DriveThruRPG (PDF / Reprint)
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Dark Sun Campaign Setting Expanded and Revised [BOX SET]
1995 … Bill Slavicsek … TSR 2438 … ISBN 0786901624 … Contents: Wanderer’s Chronicle; Age of Heroes; Way of the Psionicist; Mystery of the Ancients; 2 poster maps; DM screen.
Check Wayne’s Books Inventory | Noble Knight | DriveThruRPG (PDF)
Dark Sun, 1st Edition
DS1 does something a little different here. Together, these items make up the adventure scenario in the set. The booklet has a short story prologue to set the atmosphere, followed by instructions for the DM, and a couple of monster pages. The flip books have the DM’s module info & art for the players, respectively.
It was only today I noticed this map is printed on both sides. On the back is a B&W hex map of the area, for the players to track their explorations. Spoiler: DS2 has this map, but in cloth.
A single sheet of paper. Dark Sun was designed from the start to lean heavily into the seldom-used psionic mind powers in AD&D. By now, AD&D 2e had revamped the old rules into a more cohesive system, and published as PHBR5 (not included in the DS1 set of course). The Complete Psionics Handbook was one in a long line of “optional” rules guides.
This poster was not sold with all sets. Not clear whether it was added initially, or later. It’s not mentioned on the back of the box. It made great use of Brom’s striking cover art.
Dark Sun, 2nd Edition
This book corresponds roughly to the Wanderer’s Journal in DS1, acting as a gazetteer of the area.
Likewise, this serves as the Rules Book of DS2.
DS2 did away with the required PHBR5 purchase, instead opting to include the psionics rules directly in the set. That’s the Psionicist book. The Ancients book is the DS2 set’s adventure scenario.
The cloth map was an interesting change in DS2. Not sure if I prefer it over paper, though.
Gone is the City of Tyr map. Instead, DS2 greatly expanded the range for the PCs, well beyond the DS1 set.
ART
I’m a visual guy, and neither Dark Sun set disappoints.
Brom created the DS1 color art covers. Brom and Tom Baxa inked the internal line drawings. This gave DS1 a very consistent “look”.
Stephen A. Daniele created the DS2 color art covers. Jim Crabtree, John Dollar, and Stephen A. Daniele inked the internal line drawings. I thought I’d prefer the DS1 art, but this is great too.
See also:
We played a huge amount of Dark Sun back then. I loved it as a setting although it was unforgiving on PCs. But that’s what the character tree was for! Never got the second edition of the setting. It looks pretty nice but we weren’t big into following along after the story in the novels.
I still have the first boxed set (although it’s battered and well-loved looking compared to yours!) along with a bunch of other sourcebooks and adventures.