Dark Sun Product Description

CGR2: The Complete Gladiator's Handbook

Campaign Reference

From the dusty arenas of Athas comes The Complete Gladiator's Handbook, ready to arm the fiercest DARK SUN® campaign antagonist. Numerous new kits, details of the Tyr region's arenas, quick summaries of combat rules, a martial arts system, and suggestions on how to run arena games are within these pages. So gird your weapons - your opponents await!

Copyright ©1993 TSR, Inc.

DS1: Freedom

Official Game Adventure

For 4 to 6 beginning-level characters

by David "Zeb" Cook

Enter the ancient and corrupt city of Tyr, whose tyrannical sorcerer king has ruled for a millennium. As you wander the city, from the wreck of the elven warrens to the sanguine splendor of the arena, you realize that the citizens of Tyr thirst less for water than they do for freedom.
    Now, after a century of slave labor, sorcerer king Kalak's great ziggurat nears completion. He has promised the city a grand celebration when the monument is done, complete with the most brutal arena spectacle in Tyr's long history. Rumors abound as to the nature of the spectacle: some believe it will bring with it the longed-for manumisssion of countless slaves; others fear the annihilation of Tyr and her people as a sacrifice to Kalak's hunger for power; and a secret few believe it will be a day of revolution - a day of freedom!
    Designed for four to seven players of starting levels, the DM's Book and Player's Book inside this pack provide the DARK SUN™ game DMs with a campaign base in Tyr, and give PCs a brutal introduction to Athas.

Copyright ©1991 TSR, Inc.

DSE1: Dragon's Crown

Official Game Adventure

For 4 to 6 high-level characters

by L. Richard Baker III, Lisa Smedman, Kirk Botula, and Geoff Pass & Alex Bund

Hail, heroes of Tyr!

Bravely you have served your adopted city since the day of King Kalak's fall. As slaves and rebels you rose from Kalak's slave pits to claim your freedom from his ancient tyranny. Now that freedom is being threatened once again by an insidious new enemy, one who controls the use of psionics throughout the dying world of Athas!

    The Dragon's Crown™ adventure is the exciting climax of the Freedom flip-book module series. In one final journey of epic proportions, the player characters must defend everything they have worked so hard to build. Seven adventures connected by one great plot take the PCs from the volcanic islands of the Sea of Silt to an ancient wonder hidden in the forests of the Dragon Crown Mountains. The grandest and most ambitious adventure of the DARK SUN™ game world, Dragon's Crown will provide many hours of exciting play!

    Dragon's Crown is suitable for 4 to 6 characters of 10th to 13th levels. The previous flip-book modules (Freedom, Road to Urik, Arcane Shadows, and Asticlian Gambit) are helpful, but they are not necessary to enjoy Dragon's Crown.

Copyright ©1993 TSR, Inc.

DSM1: Black Flames

Official Game Adventure

by Sam Witt

    A simple trip from Urik to Raam: What could be easier? But unexpected encounters and freakish sandstorms conspire to make this journey more dangerous than imagined. Lost and dying of thirst, your characters unwittingly involve themselves in a strange mission - the motivation behind which lies hidden.

    On the adventurers' trail are enraged dragons, desert fiends, and a curse that threatens to drive them mad - or make them one of the walking dead. Their only hope is to enter the ancient ruins of Yaramuke, site of a great battle between sorcerer-kings of ages past.

    Yaramuke . . . City of Black Waters. The very name curdles blood.

    Designed for four to six characters of 3rd to 6th level, Black Flames is set in and around the remains of Yaramuke and the cities of Urik and Raam. Let your DARK SUN™ game characters experience new adventure among the ancient ruins of Yaramuke!

Copyright ©1993 TSR, Inc.

DSM2: Merchant House of Amketch

Official Game Adventure

For 4-6 characters of levels 4-7

by L. Richard Baker III

In the city of Balic, an insidious new threat to the Tyr region has arisen in the shape of a humble beetle. Magically altered to deliver a psionic malady via their bite, the beetles have been used by templars, slavers, raiders, and worse to neutralize the psionic abilities of their captives and render them docile. In desperation, the Veiled Alliance has called upon your characters to track down the source of the sinister beetles and put an end to them. There's only one problem - the most powerful merchant house of the Tyr region is growing even wealthier from the parasitic trade!

Merchant House of Amketch is designed for four to six characters of 4th to 7th levels. Explore the trade routes and intrigues south of the Estuary of the Forked Tongue, in the heart of the Tyr region! Merchant House of Amketch can be played as a stand-alone adventure or as the sequel to Black Flames.

Copyright ©1993 TSR Inc.

DSM3: Marauders of Nibenay

Official Game Adventure

by William W. Connors

When the brides of death
become the marauders of Nibenay,
When the dead must die
and the unsleeping must wake,
Then the Dragon shall be born anew.

For centuries the Veiled Alliance has been a thorn in the side of the mighty sorcerer-king Nibenay. Now the stars are right and the mysterious Shadow King has decided to rid himself of his unremitting rivals. But the Veiled Alliance is not easily defeated. They too have been watching the stars, and they know that the history of the great city has reached a crucial juncture. Both sides stand ready for a great battle, but neither is prepared for the disaster that looms over them. By the time the sun rises again, the city will be in ruins and the task of rebuilding it will fall squarely on the shoulders of a small band of adventurers. The future is theirs to decide, for good or evil.

©1993 TSR Inc.

DSQ1: Road to Urik

Official Game Adventure

For 4 to 6 mid-level characters

by David "Zeb" Cook

"Tyr is free! Tyr is free!" Such is the heady cry that echoes from the darkest warrens to the gleaming chambers of the Council in that ancient city. Now is your chance to savor life released from the oppresive gloom of the sorcerer-kings - but for how long?
    New forces threaten the newly-born independence of Tyr, as outside forces march upon the city. King Tithian is determined to resist, but there are others on the Council of Advisors less eager to risk their wealth and lives for the cause of independence. It falls upon you to help mobilize and lead the citizen-army of Tyr on the road to Urik.
    Designed for four to six characters of 4th to 7th level, Road to Urik is set in and around Tyr, the campaign base for your DARK SUN™ game. A stand-alone adventure, Road to Urik can also be played as the sequel to Freedom.

Copyright ©1992 TSR Inc.

DSQ2: Arcane Shadows

Official Game Adventure

For 4 to 6 mid-level characters

by Bill Slavicsek

Tyr has been freed, and the mighty army of Urik has been turned back. These are new and strange times, indeed. Now Urik has become home - at least for a while - and there are new markets to shop, new streets to explore, and, oh yes, preservers to meet.
    Preservers, the keepers of good magic, have sent a mysterious summons. They are ready to embark on a new and dangerous plot to thwart sorcerer-kings and bring new life to Athas. To associate with preservers is dangerous to say the least, but when the king's templars uncover the schemes, a death mark falls upon all involved.
Will a desperate journey across the wastelands, with the templars in hot pursuit, end in victory or chaos? The answers lie in the hearts of mighty heroes and the recesses of Arcane Shadows.
    Designed for four to six characters of 5th to 8th level, Arcane Shadows is set in Urik. A stand-alone adventure, Arcane Shadows can also be played as the sequel to Freedom and Road to Urik.

Copyright ©1992 TSR Inc.

DSQ3: Asticlian Gambit

Official Game Adventure

For 4 to 6 high-level characters

by Anthony Pryor

    The palace of the Forest Queen contains treasures unimaginable. To the sons and daughters of Athas's harsher climes, Gulg and the Crescent Forest seem almost perversely lush, a jumble of green and growing things hording precious water for the benefit of the few. But while basking in the glow of Lalali-Puy's gratitude, your characters have the richness of the forest at your beck and call.
    Of course, the Oba's sensibilities are easily bruised, and her nature is notoriously unforgiving. Gulg's dank dungeons are only a staging area to a deadly ceremony, where the young nobles of the city chase prisoners through the forest to earn their places as lords of their city - the Red Moon Hunt.
    Designed for four to six characters of 7th to 10th level, Asticlian Gambit makes them pawns in a dangerous game between the Oba of Gulg, the Shadow King of Nibenay, and mysterious representatives of the Asticles family of Tyr. A stand-alone adventure, Asticlian Gambit can also be played as the sequel to Freedom, Road to Urik, and Arcane Shadows.

Copyright ©1992 TSR Inc.

DSR1: Slave Tribes

Official Game Accessory

by Bill Slavicsek

Out of the swirling, bone-dry sands of Athas come hordes of raiders. They overrun caravans, strip them bare, then vanish into the untracked wastes once more. Who are these ghosts of the desert? Where do they live? How do they survive far from the high walls of the city-states? Slave Tribes answers these and many more questions about the ex-slaves who escape into the desert.
    The DARK SUN™ game world is now open to campaigns in
realms beyond the reach of the sorcerer-kings. The most prominent and successful slave tribes of the Tyr region are presented in great detail in this accessory. Slave Tribes enables the DM to create entirely new tribes to roam his DARK SUN campaign. It also shows players how to form their own tribes when their characters escape the clutches of the sorcerer-kings. The deadly world of Athas shows no mercy to those who are unprepared for its dangers!

Copyright ©1992 TSR, Inc.

DSR2: Dune Trader

Official Game Accessory

For All Character Levels

by Anthony Pryor

    In the harsh lands of Athas, even the bare necessities of life are hard to come by. The caravans of the traders ply the shifting sands, daring raiders and the elements to bring goods and hope to both the teeming hordes of the city-states and the isolated villagers in the trackless wastelands. Without the traders, life on Athas would be impossible.
    Dune Trader explores the lives of the people who are the lifeblood of Athas. The major merchant houses of the Tyr region are described, as well as minor houses, elven merchant
and raiding tribes, and the mercantile tendencies of all the races of Athas. The personalities who drive these houses and tribes are detailed fully within these pages.
    A new character class is introduced here - the trader class. The DM receives complete instructions on how to run a trader-based campaign, and the players are shown how to play trader characters and start their own merchant houses. The most vital and exciting challenges on Athas await within this book!

©1992 TSR, Inc.

DSR3: Veiled Alliance

Official Game Accessory

by Allen Varney

    Few safe havens exist oon Athas, and fewer still for preservers. In the hidden places of the cities - a potter's shop, a crematoria, even under the very palace of a sorcerer-king - the Veiled Alliance abides, aiding and protecting preservers and auxiliaries, and standing against defilers. In Tyr, Balic, Draj, Gulg, Nibenay, Raam, and Urik, protection from the dark forces of Athas endures.

    Secret recognition signals preserve their identities. For those seeking membership comes a testing: after true intentions are proven, tests are administered and, if failed, lead to a terrible death. If successful, the candidate looks forward to years of perilous work and strife - the results of which may never see the pages of a journal. And no one quits the Alliance without facing requital.

    Veiled Alliance presents the DM™ with all the information required to create Alliance-centered campaigns on Athas - detailed information about the five aims, adventure hooks for each Alliance, recognition signals, and maps of various headquarters. All the features you need to create thrilling, fundamental challenges to the Alliance on the ruthless world of Athas are now revealed.

©1992 TSR, Inc.

DSR4: Valley of Dust and Fire

Official Game Accessory

by L. Richard Baker III

For thousands of years a great and terrible secret has lain hidden in the depths of the Sea of Silt. In the heart of this vast dust basin, an endless storm of ash and shrieking wind guards the deadliest concentration of evil and power found on the dying world of Athas - the Valley of Dust and Fire.

Valley of Dust and Fire more than doubles the known portions of the world of Athas. Intrepid explorers will discover new wonders and perils within the deadly Sea of Silt, from the beautiful island of Shault to the savage Mountains of the Sun. New rules for traveling the dust basin and surviving its many dangers are included.

With luck and determination, a skillful and well-prepared party just might pass through the Great Ash Storm and enter the Valley of Dust and Fire. But this realm of shattered badlands and awful monsters is so deadly that only one man has ever reached the valley and returned to tell the tale.

© 1992 TSR, Inc.

DSS1: City-State of Tyr

Official Game Accessory

by Walter M. Baas

    Tyr has battled and bled for its freedom, throwing off the yokes of an insane sorcerer-king and slavery. The city stands poised on the brink of democracy, but has Tyr the strength to seize the future and shape it in the image of that freedom, or has the city merely traded one form of slavery for another?

    City-State of Tyr addresses these matters and more. Within this 96-page booklet is the most complete, detailed description of Tyr's peoples, places, and plots ever. The premier city of the DARK SUN® campaign setting now lies complete for an Athasian campaign's player characters. Learn the city's history, attend a Council meeting, wander the city's business districts, and explore the mysterious Under Tyr - the ancient ruins of the forgotten city upon which Tyr was built.

© 1993 TSR, Inc.

DSS2: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water

Official Game Accessory

by Shane Lacy Hensley

On a world with no gods, what do priests serve? The priest class on Athas is unique and distinct from the priest classes of any other AD&D® campaign world. Athasian priests worship no gods, collect no followers, and carry edged weapons.

Earth, Air, Fire, and Water answers all your questions about this singular class of clerics. Here are the elemental priests who serve the elementals and Athas. They strive to return their barren and battered world to its former state of lush green valleys, forested mountains, and cool waterfalls.

Here are the paraelemental priests who oppose the restoration of

Athas, serving the paraelements whose power and might is growing as defiler magic continues to plunge Athas further into decay and ruin.

New priest kits allow PCs to become an Athasian elemental priest of Earth, of Air, of Fire, or of Water - but they can only serve one, for the elements are jealous masters. Each kit contains unique powers, limitations, and proficiencies. Each offers four different ways in which to bring about the regeneration of Athas: as a Wanderer, as a Guardian of a shrine, as a City Cleric, or as a Shaman of a tribe. But beware the paraelemental priests - their success depends upon the failure of the elemental clerics!

© 1993 TSR, Inc.

DSS3: Elves of Athas

Official Game Accessory

by Bill Slavicsek

They run across the burning plains where others fear to walk. They live for the moment, these savages of a dying world. The elves of Athas are wild, dangerous, and unlike any other elves. Forget the frail forest dwellers of other campaign worlds. Athas's elves stand tall and lean, with long limbs and fearsome faces. They are thieves and raiders, swift warriors and terrible foes.

Elves of Athas explores the passions that drive them, the abilities that make them different from other races, and the outlook that lets them survive beneath the crimson sun. This accessory includes savage encounters with the better known tribes and an updated map of the Tablelands region. For players, there are new rules for character creation and new Athasian elf kits - offered to DARK SUN® game characters for the first time.

The elves of Athas are forged in the endless desert - burned dark by the sun, toughened by the swirling sand, and given strength and swiftness by the constant wind. Come run with them - if you dare!

© 1993 TSR, Inc.

Dragon Kings hardback

Game Accessory

by Timothy B. Brown

This incredible addition to the DARK SUN™ campaign setting presents the most powerful characters, magic, and psionics ever!

For intermediate through advanced players, ages 10 and up.


EXPLORE THE 10TH LEVEL OF MAGIC.

Only the most powerful characters are destined to rule Athas. Warriors with vast armies of followers campaign for glory; rogues become masters of illusory magic to further their deadly schemes; spellcasters who can also master psionics open whole new tomes of magic available only to them - the most powerful spells ever! And not only do they gain greater magic, the spellcasters take on entirely new forms when they advance beyond 20th level - clerics can attain elemental form; preservers mutate into magnificent avangions; defilers can actually transform into dragons themselves! Learn of these advanced beings, the new magical spells available to them, plus new psionic devotions and organizations, military vehicles and army lists, and more, all within the pages of Dragon Kings!

©1992 TSR, Inc.

Black Spine

Official Game Adventure

For 4 to 6 high-level characters

by Walter Baas, Dustin Browder, Tom Prusa, and Jonathan Tweet

Unknown to even the mightiest of the great sorcerer-kings, a fire is stirring deep beneath the barren soil of Athas. Sheltered by the titanic bulk of the Black Spine mountains, a terrible force has ripped open the very fabric of time and space. Now a shimmering portal stands open and a long-forgotten enemy assembles its sinister forces to invade the kingdoms under the dark sun.

The only thing that stands in the way of this terrible fate is a band of heroes. Assembled from the four corners of this tortured world and bound together by the tangled cords of fate, they must face an enemy the likes of which they have never seen before. The odds are against them, but they dare not fail. The fate of the world is in their hands.

Black Spine is an adventure for 4 to 6 characters of 10th through 13th level. The previous flip-book modules (Black Flames, Merchant House of Amketch, and Marauders of Nibenay) precede this adventure, but they are not necessary to enjoy Black Spine.

Copyright ©1994 TSR, Inc.

Forest Maker

Official Game Adventure

For 4-6 characters of levels 11-13

by John J. Terra

Most adventurers know better than to listen to rumors. But when the rumors speak of a magical forest blooming deep in the burning stretch of the Alluvial Sand Wastes, even the most battle-hardened gladiator takes notice. A mysterious summons has gone out to the humans and demihumans of the Tyr region, luring them to the new forest and promising Athas's salvation. Now your characters have heard the call - but will they heed the Forest Maker, or seek to destroy her?

Designed for four to six characters of 11th to 13th level, Forest Maker brings player characters from the sun-baked streets of Tyr to the walled fortress of Altaruk and beyond. Forest Maker is a stand-alone adventure.

This latest in the DARK SUN® series of adventures has been redesigned with standard-size booklets, one for the DUNGEON MASTER™ and one for the players. A third booklet provides a descriptive short story to set the tone of your adventure.

Copyright ©1994 TSR, Inc.

The Will and the Way

Official Game Accessory

by L. Richard Baker III

In the deserts and cities of Athas, the most dangerous weapon is the mind. With a thought, deadly mindbenders can shatter stone, bend steel, or break opponents. Thousands of Athasians possess wild psionic talents, but only a select few can master the Way and call themselves psionicists.

The Will and the Way provides more details on psionics and psionicist characters. It introduces new character kits and special psionicist proficiencies for the first time. It expands the rules for psionic combat, adding a level of virtual reality to psychic

battles. With guidelines and examples it offers rules for creating new psionic powers and crafting psionic items. Plus, it features over 60 new psionic powers for both wild talents and true psionicists.

The Will and the Way is not just for DARK SUN® campaigns. As a companion volume to The Complete Psionics Handbook, the new powers and rules expansions contained in this book can be used in any AD&D® campaign. The Way stretches before you. Do you have the Will to take the nest step?

©1994 TSR, Inc.

Thri-Kreen of Athas

Official Game Accessory

by Tim Beach and Dori Hein

They tower above mere human warriors and adventurers. In a savage world, they hunt - and all else is prey. Wandering the sandy wastes and stony barrens under the crimson sun, thri-kreen are the most skilled trackers, the most barbaric gladiators, the most implacable of foes. Mysterious and savage, the mantis people have been a closed book. Until now. . .

Thri-Kreen of Athas enters the world of the nomadic thri-kreen - a world governed by tokchak, the clutchmind, and tikchak, the hunt-mind. From hatching to hunting, to coming of age, the secrets of the thri-kreen are at last revealed. From their formidable combat abilities to the subtleties of their psionic powers, this accessory explores every aspect of thri-kreen life. For players, there are new rules and new character kits - offered to DARK SUN® game characters for the first time!

A special adventure for thri-kreen characters, The Taste of Fear, is included. Dire events in the unknown North trigger ancient racial memories. What terrors lie in the lost secrets of their past?

©1995 TSR, Inc.

Windriders of the Jagged Cliffs

Official Game Accessory

The Wanderer's Chronicle

by Monte Cook

And so I found myself learning about a folk that I had never heard described even in rumors. These halflings are an ancient people - in fact, they gave me a new definition of "ancient." Their race is older than any other on Athas. They remember times before the Warbringer, before magic, and before the advent of the Way.

- The Wanderer's Journal

To the west of Tyr, the proud strongholds of the Jagged Cliffs defy everything that is known about Athas. The history of the halflings who live there is as old as Athas itself. Their origins lie with the rhulisti, who were masters of the world during the Blue Age - and who caused the end of an age when a simple experiment went horribly awry.

Windriders of the Jagged Cliffs details the lives of the rhul-thaun - the descendants of the rhulisti and the keepers of ancient knowledge who practice the most unusual and arcane art under the crimson sun: the shaping of life itself.

This 128-page accessory for players and Dungeon Masters alike is the first in the "Wanderer's Chronicle" series that explores new areas of Athas. It features:

©1995 TSR, Inc.

Beyond the Prism Pentad

Official Game Accessory

by Bill Slavicsek

The relentless passage of time sweeps across the burning plains, and the world beneath the crimson sun changes in its wake. . .
    The Dragon of Tyr is gone, his evil scattered on the scalding winds. Torrential rains fall over the Sea of Silt, spinning off deadly storms that can strike anywhere in the Tablelands with only a moment's notice. Violent upheaval rocks the city-states of Raam, Draj, and Balic after the deaths of their sorcerer-kings. A new age has dawned on Athas, but will it be an age of restoration - or of destruction?
    Beyond the Prism Pentad summarizes the key events from the Prism Pentad novel series and role-playing game products and updates all DARK SUN campaigns in anticipation of the revised campaign setting, DARK SUN: A New Age, featuring:

    What forces have seized control of Raam and Balic? Who is the real power behind Draj? How are the citizens of Tyr handling their second decade of freedom? The answers to these questions - and many more - are awaiting you.

© 1995 TSR, Inc.

Defilers and Preservers: The Wizards of Athas

Official Game Accessory

By Nicky Rea

Reviled and hunted, hated and feared, they live in secrecy, hiding who and what they are from the rest of the world. They are criminals whose crime calls for swift execution. They are outcasts, with no place to call home. They are wizards, and their crime is the practice of magic. . . .

Beneath the crimson sun, the life of a wizard is hard and dangerous. Blamed for the conditions of the world, feared for the mysterious power they wield, and hated for crimes both real and imagined, Athasian wizards walk in the shadows of civilization and in the barren wastes of the wilderness. For to reveal their nature is to admit their crime - and risk their very lives.

Defilers and Preservers: The Wizards of Athas details the two paths of magic in the DARK SUN® campaign and the strange way magic works there. It demonstrates how Athasian wizards power their magic and describes both types of wizards - defilers and preservers.

Defilers leech energy from the land, stealing life away with every spell they cast and leaving only dead ash behind. Preservers also gather energy from the land, but they take only what they need and work to keep the world healthy and alive. These two mortal enemies stand locked in a never-ending battle - with the survival of Athas at stake.

This accessory presents everything needed to create and play preserver and defiler wizards. It features:

Which path of magic will you choose?

©1996 TSR, Inc.