Dark Sun: Game Day

The Apes for God play test Dark Sun and come to terms with the new,
and quite challenging, world of Athas

The Setup

by Mark Keating

The Dark Sun game day held an interesting promise for me as I was a fan of this particular setting from the days of 2nd edition so it would be good to once again visit this world but this time as the DM. This Game Day was played by experienced gamers who all were familiar, though one only slightly, with the 4th edition.

The module had the familiar format that Wizards have become familiar with, there was a group of characters, a decent little adventure with skill package and encounters (slightly variable with the addition of a possible encounter) and enough extra material (monster counters/map/booklet) to run the game.
The story itself was aided by not being a crawl underground, or a search the location for monsters/treasure. Instead we were treated with a piece of intrigue, and a challenge against the environment and a new magical location for the world.

As with the other adventures, and the pattern set up by the 4th Edition rules the skill challenge was going to cause issue to my players. There is nothing wrong in essence of having a challenge where players roll against a skill they have, but it is the manner in which it is presented to them. First they are told the event they face, then they are allowed to make rolls against appropriate skills, then ask them if they can modify those roles with a set of secondary rolls (pre-ordained) add up the successes and failures to determine outcome.

It is very sterile.

Also the intrigue that was set up by this adventure didn’t speak a great deal about the city of Tyr. Choose one of these encounters and let the players be employed, or choose one that they refuse and have a back-up offer! That was how it read (my interpretation).

I knew if I ran these as they were presented that there would be complaints from the players about the paucity of plot and the dullness of a skill challenge that was nothing more than an exercise in guesswork (for the skill to be used) and luck (for the rolls).

No one doubts that there is a certain amount of guessing and luck in any challenge, combat included, that involves random dice rolls and unexpected events or conditions. But in a combat the players can work out tactics and utilise combined gaming. Even this skill challenge that attempted to use “group” rolls this would still be poor.

So to alleviate this I made some small changes once again to the set module.

(I should note at this point that this is not a complaint about either the system or the module, both are produced to a high standard that I have come to enjoy from Wizards.)

The Changes

The first major change I made was to the intrigue element of the plot. I was instructed by the booklet to choose one of the “reasons” for the players to be engaged.

I thought this was flimsy in a world of spies and intrigue and everyone watching each others backs.

So I chose three.

I explained that their party had a history, they were mercenaries and revolutionaries who had helped to free Tyr. So on the start of the game they received a summons. They were engaged by officials from the Ministry of Defence to find this potential new water source.

On their way from the official quarters they were persuaded, by a polite man with some very large friends to attend another meeting. This was a private noble who wanted them to give him the information on the Cistern (whether it was real or not) first, on the quiet, so that he could arrive ahead of the army and claim the prize and make money from it.

The third encounter was a man representing the nobles who supported the revolution and the freeing of slaves. He requested they tell him, not first, or alone, but whatever the circumstance, even if they told others before him so that he could have the information released for the good of all. No one would be able to claim an absolute right if the citizens were made aware.

This gave the players more intrigue and a glimpse of the convoluted paths that may exist in a world where everyone watches each other and the aim is to gain the upper hand.

The next change I made was to the skill challenge. I decided to stretch out this encounter a little.

I gave the players an ample set of hints as to the challenge by forcing them to make the first endurance rolls. Then I presented them with the desert in three forms including a small area of badlands and some dunes to see how they faced this and what skills they chose to make. They used endurance, nature and history to learn more and help them.

Then I had them followed during the dune section, the first group they saw were figures on a far dune, they presumed this was a rival group so they started to run. They could have faced the threat and had they done so I would have used the Elven group from the optional encounters. Instead they decided to run to get to the cistern.

Knowing that the desert was harsh, and the sun a challenge is only part of the charm of Athas. Another component is the changes rent upon people and creatures. The shift in evolution from dark magics and environment that twist this world.

Their running therefore had the consequence of attracting some Silt Sharks in the soft dunes, so the players had to race away from these creatures. Because there were only five players I hung the threat of devouring over their heads, claiming that I had a handy spare character who would be in the same desert .

They escaped these sharks by the skin of a halflings behind (which almost didn’t escape, instead he lost his survival pack). One more environment of badlands to navigate and they reached the hidden valley with the Cistern

The Combat Challenge

All I can say to this is YAY to the designers of Athas.

Combat just got a new nasty edge as the lack of major healers and healing powers going off in all directions and the addition of a nasty (Tembo) creature made for three harder combat challenges. This forced the players to think in clever directions and the Ardent used a surprising taunting/bluff to get the Tembo to face him when he ran out of healing. Classic.

∞ § ∞

Players responses

Mikey

So then there was me tardy as usual putting of the actual writing of things because unless I can put it into a an excel reference right now I’m screwed.

Well as to the game what can I say the GM was back to his wonderful sadistic ways and kept us all jumping and thinking. I loved the setting and the darker side to the world. It was interesting playing the “healer” without many heals. The idea to add debuff to the enemies was interesting but in some ways with a standard saving throw the more powerful ones at times felt wasted but forced people to think outside the box to get through an encounter.

The new cardboard counters are great because they can provide more of the map packs at lower cost but it was nice to have all the monster figures on the maps in the previous games.

All in all another well though out scenario provided by the GM. I’m looking forward to the campaign to come.

And = if(A1>10,”Great Game Day”,”") the output of the cell will be Great Game Day.

CHUCK

So after a bit of a break the group has dived into Dark Sun with the help of the gameday for a taster session.  I had the Thrikeen Seeker for the day and off we went with snacks loaded.

We had a quick taste of the intrigue of the world as we moved through the city of Tyr heading out to our quest (apparently its a secret – but everyone seemed to know about it).

We had an entertaining little encounter in replacement of the standard roll and go skill challenges (it was determined in a previous game that the alternative skill challenge was far more suitable to our group) which ended in a narrow, very narrow,  victory for the halfling over the sand shark.

Moving into the encounter with the gith we got our first taste of the abilities our group possessed and we rapidly realised healing wasn’t our strong point   so a brief but brutal combat ended with the Gith down but 3 of our party down as well.   I should have stayed with the Warlock and not come.   Picking up our comrades we pootled down into the fresh waters – well I say pootled – the halfing decided it was best to dive head first.

The fight with the creature was a very entertaining encounter and got my heart pumping (a bit to much probably – sorry bout that boss) but with some clever tactics and a sacrificial manouveur from the healer (who was out of healing spells) to allow the damage dealers an extra round or two to kill the beast it was subdued – leaving the defender with out healing surges and still bloodied.

The final combat with the templar and his mates went exceptionally well with the enemies subdued within three or rounds with minimal damage to the party with the fighter, barbarian and myself targeting the templar and gladiator whilst the monk and ardent removed the lesser thugs.

And after a nice cool night in the shade we headed back to town to get our spoils and gather a few political enemies on the way.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the game day and possibly think it was one of the best so far.  It was a good insight into the struggles we face once our Dark Sun campaign starts and the intrigue that will surround our every move.  The encounters were tough (probably the toughest ever) but we managed to adapt and overcome them using everything we had available.  I look forward to exploring the deserts of Athas!

STARKITTEN

I have taken part in every 4th edition D&D game day so far and can honestly say that the latest offering, marking the release of the Dark Sun campaign setting, is the first time I felt the character was in real danger of not surviving .

Taking a change from my usual character preferences I went for the goliath barbarian gladiator, mostly because the picture looked cool. All the characters had one of the new themes which was great because they came with a bit of a background so we had an idea who they were, which can be a problem with the one-off games when you don’t have time to build up a good idea of your character. I’m not sure what difference the themes made to the mechanics of the characters as it wasn’t clear which – if any – of the features were granted by them from the little character sheets. We also got to see both of the new races in action. They worked well, though it would have been nice to have the minis like we used to since we had a little trouble finding something bug-like for the thri-kreen .

But back to my first point: this game was hard! Not in a bad way, I throughly enjoyed it, but we had three combat encounters without a rest (and I know our DM took at least one out) and healing powers were not something we had in abundance since the group leader only had the basic Ardent surge. One player managed to use all their healing surges so I’m pretty sure we would have lost a few people if we’d done all the combats. The fight with the tembo provided a particularly good challenge. Also, we didn’t use the warlock character due to numbers and quit a few time on the skill challenges we realised they had the skills that would have been useful (whoops!), but we did manage to get through the desert without getting eaten by sand sharks (though two characters did try) so I think we did pretty well.

All in all I really enjoyed the game and what I saw of the campaign setting, which is obviously darker and harsher than the other settings we’ve played in. I’m looking forward to the Dark Sun campaign that our DM is going to be starting soon, so thanks for another great game day!

STEELY

Character: Mul Fighter

This is a new race which is built for strength and melee fighting but also has the ability to use psychic powers, this particular character having one such ranged attack. The balance of the attacks worked well and I’d probably use this build as a template for a new character when we start playing our own campaigns. I decided to play this character as a change to my usual ‘spells & healing’ type so that I could just get in to the fight and bash things, the result was a very enjoyable game.

The new races and classes in Dark Sun are great fun to play with and the party now appears to be more specialised in what they do – in 4th edition healing seems to be available from all corners of the battle field and, especially at higher levels, damage doesn’t stack up for too long (this isn’t an invitation for our DM to bring out the big monsters). Dark Sun restricts the healing ability and makes for very interesting game play with non-healing players relying on the healers.

The new monsters are also an improvement, the encounters were varied and challenging with a few surprises thrown in – giving a creature multiple attacks really caught us out but we got there in the end.

PUPPETMASTER

I thought the new big monsters were nails. I wasn’t the only one to die. (mostly) The characters seemed to meld well together and not having a magic user meant we had to rely on our strength and wits.
The new characters were interesting and the quest well thought out. We knew which characters were blooded, which helped. I liked Chuck’s insect type character and the way the Goliath was restricted by her size and kept banging her head on the cave ceiling.

The maps were interesting although I missed having little monster figures,

Until then though, we take a mid Epic break…and play something different for a few sessions…now, where were those worlds I had planned?

One thing to be said about high level traps from the DM’s Guide – they rock and can present a real challenge. Even with two fairly low level creatures as the only mobile confrontation in the room the players came close to losing a character permanently, all down to my slight spin on an already particularly nasty trap.

So they will have to wait until next game to have the confrontation that was on the cards from the day one of the players decided that their twin sister had been seduced by evil. This wes decided before the game even started, before they were a lvl one adventurer embarking on a long quest…

There is also the matter of the small surprise concerning two of the NPCs, the players are curious as to what it is, though the clues have been there for some time…

The last one before they left for the Astral Sea…

And a small clue when they returned…