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Where to Begin

(AOA1-1 The Worth of a Slave)

Good news! Wizards of the Coast has allowed the campaign admins to share the Ashes of Athas campaign adventures (20 adventures organized into 7 chapters). To order the adventures, just send me a PM with your e-mail address. We can't begin to describe how glad we are to be able to share the campaign with you!

Now, back to the purpose of this blog series. I wanted to review each adventure from a design perspective, sharing some insight into how the adventure was created, highlighting areas where we tried new things, and sharing what we learned in going from concept to draft to actual play. 

In the Beginning

Note: As with all parts of this blog series, there are spoilers within!

I've shared how the campaign started up both on ...

This article drifts into an esoteric aspect of worldbuilding. Some articles in this series are neutral in regards to Bottom-Up or Top-Down worldbuilding, applying equally to both. Then there’s trade and economics, a subject that quickly gets finicky and OCD even when building a Top-Down world for mass consumption.

Regardless, it can be handy to know some of the major trade routes of the region as well has how towns and nations support themselves. It’s also useful to keep in mind the economics of the world and the game.

As this is such an esoteric topic, I’ll be covering a couple topics at once to keep things short.

Chapters

Below are links to the other chapters in this series.

Introduction

Part 1: The Hook

Part 1.5: Factors

Part 2: Conflict

Part

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I'm gearing up to run a play-by-post set in the Dark Sun setting's green age.  It's something I've always wanted to run and never got around to.  

For now I'm nailing down the basic feel of what the world is like.  After that I will unleash some players and see what they come up with.  A lot of the details are fuzzy at best; the Green Age was always a lost time, mere background for the wastelands of Dark Sun.  

The age is hinted at in some material but never fleshed out.  In Mind Lords of the Last Sea we got the best view, and even that is an isolated city.  There, psionic guardian stones hold the psyches of criminals and unfortunates, which watch over the city of Saragar and perform many menial tasks.  They also have technology beyond that of typical

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I spent a lot of 3rd Edition playing Living Greyhawk before it ending at the onset of 4th Edition to make way for Living Forgotten Realms. With 4e winding down I wonder what will replace LFR. In an ENWorld discussion on potential replacements one idea was suggested that really resonated: a brand new world. A new setting exclusively for the living campaign.

A New World? Why?!

At first, making another new campaign setting for D&D seems like adding an extra nipple to a male cat: it’s not getting use out of multitudes already in its possession. At last count we have twelve and six half Campaign settings (Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Mystara, Spelljammer, Planescape, Blackmoor, Dark Sun, Birthright, Greyhawk, Ravenloft, Eberron, and the Nentir Vale plus the quasi-settings of Al Qadim,

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Ashes of Athas:
Looking Back on the Dark Sun Organized Play Campaign

On March 1st Mike Shea (operating the site Sly Flourish) invited me to chat about the Dark Sun organized play campaign called Ashes of Athas. You can watch our chat here.

I was also fortunate to be on the Misdirected Mark Podcast #48, where I chatted about Winter Fantasy and the conclusion of the Ashes of Athas campaign.

The campaign spanned 7 Chapters, 20 adventures, 84 hours of play time, and a ton of sleepless nights as Chad Brown, Derek Guder, and I worked to create the campaign. Now that it has concluded, I would like to take some time to discuss a few of the individual adventures and the approach we took to design and develop them.

I thought I might start by asking whether there are any particular encounters...

ORC Character: [spoiler=URTURR POONDRAGYN, Reaver Warden]

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
URTURR POONDRAGYN, level 16
Orc, Warden, Scion of the All-Spirit
Build: Earth Warden
Guardian Might Option: Earthstrength
Dark Sun
Muscle (+2 to Athletics)
Theme: Reaver

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
STR 24, CON 20, DEX 11, INT 10, WIS 11, CHA 11

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
STR 18, CON 14, DEX 10, INT 9, WIS 10, CHA 10


AC: 30 Fort: 34 Ref: 21 Will: 22
HP: 157 Surges: 14 Surge Value: 39

TRAINED SKILLS
Athletics +21, Endurance +17, Heal +13, Nature +13

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +8, Arcana +8, Bluff +8, Diplomacy +8, Dungeoneering +8, History +8, Insight +8, Intimidate +8, Perception +8, Religion +8, Stealth +7, Streetwise +8, Thievery +7

POWERS
Basic Attack: Melee Basic Attack
Basic Attack:

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Backstory

I've recently been reading the Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding, a book that isn't so much a step-by-step guide to building a fantasy world (like this blog series) and instead essays on a variety of topics related to Worldbuilding. While I feel comfortable that my blog doesn't overlap entirely with the book, I was reminded a huge foundational topic I overlooked. Oops.

So I'm writing this and squishing it in between the first Part I: The Hook and Part II: Conflict.

Introduction

The continent of Westeros and Faerun are both fantasy settings. As are the Tablelands of Athas and the ringed city of Sigil. All have similarities: people earning a living, falling in love, fighting, dying. And yet, the differences between A Song of Ice and Fire, the Forgotten Realms, Dark

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An often overlooked element of world building are organizations. Even if they are included, organizations are often limited to the role of antagonists. This might be to avoid heroic groups that might be seen as deus ex machina (or a dreaded Dungeon Master PC). This does a disservice to groups as they can play multiple roles in a campaign setting and have varied benefits for a setting.

There are innumerable examples of organizations in official worlds. Dragonlance is especially known for its organizations with the Knights of Solamnia, Knights of Takhisis/Neraka, the Legion of Steel, and the Wizards of High Sorcery. Dark Sun has the Veiled Alliance, Eberron has the Order of the Emerald Claw, and the Forgotten Realms has several such as the Red Wizards,

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Who is Rajaat?

That’s a broad question that requires a bit of an explanation.

I’m sure you’ve all heard that Athas used to be a green planet. Oceans and forests and vast plains covered the world beneath a blue sun. This was known as the Blue Age, and the world was at peace.

Something happened…history is unclear on this. But the Sun turned yellow, the oceans receded,  and the great beings that watched and protected our world became silent. Oh, I could go into the whole philosophical aspect and theories that mention that The Grey appeared at this time, but overall, that is irrelevant to the story.

This was known as the Green Age. This is the first that we know of our written history, and this is also the first known instance of the power of The Way. It was

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