Dune Freaks: Defiler Walk With Me

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Sable Wyvern

Sable Wyvern

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Preamble and Introduction

So, this thread is to be an accounting of my Mythras Dark Sun game. As per my previous ACKS thread, this is not a story hour. I am not aiming to regale you with my amazing fiction and deep characterisations. Instead, I will talk about the events of the sessions, my thought process, the way the players reacted and other such things.

I'm not sure I should be doing this, but everyone expects an actual play, apparently. Peer pressure is a bitch. I don't know how long I'm going to keep at it and this could die on its arse after only a few sessions. Don't get too invested: you have been warned.

That said, I managed to maintain my ACKS actual play for two years which, honestly, surprised me. Maybe I can manage something similar here.

The Path to Mythras Dark Sun

So, about ten years ago (I thought it was more like 14 years, but I just checked the original publication date on RQ6, and it couldn't be more than 12 years at most) I suddenly found myself wondering why I knew nothing at all about Glorantha. How had this major game setting never intruded on my life in any meaningful fashion? I recalled Runequest, and very strangely named adventures like "Apple Tree Lane" in MilSims mail order catalogues from the late 80s and early 90s, but that was really the extent of my knowledge.

So, I started looking into it, and discovered Runequest 6. It looked really good, and Glorantha was huge. I ended up picking up Runequest 6, as well as the magnificent two-volume, system-free Guide to Glorantha, plus a few other classic RQ/Glorantha products. I was looking forward to The Design Mechanism's Runequest Glorantha.

Then, TDM lost the Runequest licence, and RQG was canned. Loz and Pete were extremely polite and professional about the whole thing, but I was not alone in feeling that Chaosium seemed to have treated them quite poorly. Their rules were really good, though. I'd come to RQ for Glorantha, but I realised I had no desire at all to chase Glorantha back to Chaosium. I stayed for Mythras.

Checking the TDM catalogue, I found Thennla, which was really cool. The coolest part, though, was Assabia. I now wanted a dark, Arabian game with genies and demons. Except, Assabian Rites did not exist yet. All good, I could wait.

So, I waited. And waited. And waited.

Eventually, it became clear there would be no Assabian Rites (I was wrong about that, but I was right enough). I started hunting around for another Persian or Arabian Nights style setting. Despite the widespread influence of stuff like Sinbad, Alladin and Ali Baba, I was surprised to discover almost no RPG settings were out there to provide an Arabian Nights experience. There were a few minor ones, and there was Al Qadim.

Fuck it, I decided to give Al Qadim a chance. Maybe there's something there I can use or adapt?

Al Qadim was, shockingly, really fucking good. I ended up hunting down copies of most of the boxed sets on eBay, and I did a reasonably comprehensive conversion to Mythras over a number of years.

Then, at some point, because working on Al Qadim had opened my eyes to the world of 2e-era AD&D settings, and the fact they might be a lot better and deeper than I had realised, I ended up deciding to take another look at Dark Sun.

I had held a Dark Sun boxed set in my hands in 1993, in a university book-store. It seemed pretty cool, and I thought seriously about buying it, grabbing a bunch of AD&D stuff, and giving it a go. I wonder how much my gaming life might have changed had I done that, instead of sticking with Rolemaster for another ten years? I didn't do that, though.

A year or two later, I had a chance to look at a friend's copy, and it still seemed cool(ish), but AD&D wasn't my thing, and I never looked deeply.

Well, it turns out Dark Sun is as at least as good as Al Qadim, and probably more suited to Mythras. Dark Sun is a bit rougher and smaller and shallower, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. A lot of what I find great about Dark Sun are vague concepts and ideas that provide an especially fertile ground for bigger ideas. (I should probably note there is a huge amount of depth in a lot of the prehistory, backstory and other material that came out after the original boxed set, but most of that is of little interest to me.)

Anyway, the point is that Dark Sun is awesome, and I again did a conversion to Mythras. Now, I don't think AD&D is a great fit for Al Qadim, but it might be arguable that Mythras isn't necessarily the best fit either. Dark Sun, though – Mythras fits it perfectly. So many ideas and concepts in the original material, that needed to be shoe-horned into AD&D, and when I go to apply them to Mythras, the perfect mechanic is already right there, ready to go.

I have wanted to run Mythras for 10 years. I have found the perfect setting for it, one I think is really damn cool, and I have a player who has wanted to play in the setting for decades. And so, here we are: Mythras Dark Sun.

We're still about four weeks away from session zero, and most of the players have just started to think in earnest about the sort of characters they want to play. I will probably have a bit more to say about my prep and thoughts for the campaign before that point.

At this stage, the expected PCs include:
  • Thri-kreen ranger/psionicist (psychometabolist/psychoporter)
  • Thri-kreen gladiator
  • Human sorcerer (preserver), focusing on plant and animal spells.
  • Human psionicist (clairsentient/telepath)
  • Mul (probably fighter?)
  • Unknown

Noteworthy links:

Mythras Dark Sun general thread.

How to Kick ACKS.
 
Out of curiosity, what is it in Al Qadim that you're not sure fits Mythras?
 
AsenRG said:
Out of curiosity, what is it in Al Qadim that you're not sure fits Mythras?
Click to expand...
Mythras defaults to fairly gritty, dangerous combat.

Al Qadim has a bit of a high action, swashbuckling feel at times.

Nothing more than that, really.

There are plenty of ways in which it does fit. Like really scary Yak Men, big and tough and wielding terrible, dark sorcery. And Animism making for vastly superior sha'irs.
 
Sable Wyvern said:
Mythras defaults to fairly gritty, dangerous combat.

Al Qadim has a bit of a high action, swashbuckling feel at times.

Nothing more than that, really.

There are plenty of ways in which it does fit. Like really scary Yak Men, big and tough and wielding terrible, dark sorcery. And Animism making for vastly superior sha'irs.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but then Luck points exist for a reason. Take a page from Classic fantasy and assign extras of those... and if you look at 1001 Nights, you should really assign them for improving Passions, but only during play
:grin:!

Love (Princess) hits 50? Take an Extra Luck Point::honkhonk:!

P.S.: Also, this ain't mean to pressure you. I was just curious, and I try to at least brainstorm solutions:shade:.
 
bleys21 said:
I mean, what can you expect from a Mythras cultist? They love that stuff, and you're going to love it too! Or else! :madgoose:
Click to expand...
...or, you know, we might want to see what issues others have spotted before they bite our asses, but sure, let's go for the least charitable option first:gooseshades:!
 
AsenRG said:
...or, you know, we might want to see what issues others have spotted before they bite our asses, but sure, let's go for the least charitable option first:gooseshades:!
Click to expand...

Look, if I don't give you shit for being a Mythras Cultist, you'll think I'd kicked the bucket or something... :grin:

Besides, it's either that, or I give you crap for emoji abuse... :trigger::argh::devil::irritated::angry::shade::shade::shade:
 
Great thread title! Though you may end up with first-time readers who think the thread is about the Dune RPG.

Are the latest version of your Dark Sun Mythras rules available for general consumption? The Google Drive link in the earlier thread seemed to imply this was not the case.
 
Lofgeornost said:
Great thread title! Though you may end up with first-time readers who think the thread is about the Dune RPG.

Are the latest version of your Dark Sun Mythras rules available for general consumption? The Google Drive link in the earlier thread seemed to imply this was not the case.
Click to expand...
The general drive folder contains all the current files. I remove old ones and replace with new ones as needed. I'll add a link below as well, for ease of finding.

Coming up with the thread title actually made me give some thought to the fact that I've somehow managed to get through life without ever watching Twin Peaks. I'm now correcting that, and watched the first two episodes today

Mythras Dark Sun Files
 
Sable Wyvern said:
The general drive folder contains all the current files. I remove old ones and replace with new ones as needed. I'll add a link below as well, for ease of finding.

Coming up with the thread title actually made me give some thought to the fact that I've somehow managed to get through life without ever watching Twin Peaks. I'm now correcting that, and watched the first two episodes today

Mythras Dark Sun Files
Click to expand...
Thanks! The link in the earlier thread was giving me the result that the latest uploads were limited to certain individuals/emails.
 
Since I've invited my players to the Pub to comment on ACKS, I should probably put a disclaimer here:

STOP! THIS THREAD IS NOT FOR YOU TO BE READING UNTIL THE CAMPAIGN IS DONE.

Go make trouble in other parts of the Pub, come back here much later.

If you are not one of my players, you may continue reading, and make trouble here as well as elsewhere.
 

Session 0

23 March 2024

The plan was to finish of the characters (players were in various states of completion), go over the rules and then run a slightly modified version of Breaking the Habit as a practice combat to familiarise everyone with the combat system.

We ended up getting off to a late start, so the practice combat has been postponed for now.

Before we get into all that, though, I should probably do a new player introduction, for anyone who hasn't been with us for How to Kick ACKS.

La: So, we've established that La is pretty easy to please, and he's happy just exploring and being immersed in a gameworld. He finds the concept of Dark Sun interesting. At one point he was planning on playing a mute (tongueless) telepath (which is the kind of slightly-out-there concept he's prone to playing) but ended up settling on a half-giant brute. He plans to acquire a big-arse bow suitable for giants, and make use of a portable pavise-type shield.

De: De has been a fan of the Dark Sun setting for a long time but, other than the old PC games, I don't believe he's ever plaid in the setting. He is one of the driving forces behind the group, but also a very cautious and conservative player (he becomes very attached to his characters, and while he loves overcoming danger, he is very risk averse). The concept that most interested him was a thri-kreen ranger/cleric. As it was the healing powers that he identified with cleric, he elected to build the character as a psion with the pyschometabolic discipline. He also took psychoportation to assist with the rangery scouting element of the concept.

Ag: At the start of the ACKS thread, I described Ag as a casual player, but I'm feeling now that may have been unfair to him. It's become clear that he was quite invested in Waramayl, and that character's long term goals, and he is always eager to help ground his character in the world; he enjoys having a strong sense of purpose and, as I have mentioned previously, while he isn't likely to drive the group as a whole, he is likely to push me with some strange but interesting in-game objective he establishes for his character, whether a long term plan or just some whim that catches his attention. His character is an elf with a spiked whip, and he's eager to play a defensive fighter using entangling, pinning and tripping. More on that later.

Ro: It turns out Ro was very disappointed with the end of ACKS, but wasn't particularly loud with his complaints. However, having started to think seriously about Dark Sun and having a basically complete character, he is now starting to feel eager to play some Dark Sun. He rolled fairly poorly for his Mul gladiator, although his Con is through the roof. He's also a capable psionicist, picking up psychometabolism.

Tr: Tr is the other player that tends to be a driving force for the group, and is more inclined to push the group towards interesting, fun and risky things. He is also the player in the group most likely to choose a course of action designed specifically to help other players have fun. He had to make a special effort to avoid playing a sneaky, assassinlike character in Dark Sun, as this is something he tends to gravitate towards without really trying. Despite the limitations and down-sides, he decided he wants to play a preserver, and he's also picked up some psychokinesis. In theory, this means he may qualify for Avangion transformation, although I was careful to downplay any such possibility in the introductory materials (not because I'm opposed to the idea, but because I'm not sure the campaign will run long enough for that sort of thing to be included in a satisfactory way). He has been inspired by Dune and wants a character that wants to restore Athas to a green and fertile place; he had thought that might no be entirely appropriate for Dark Sun, but I assured him it is perfectly acceptable as an objective.

Jo: Jo is a bit of an enigma. He is always up for trying something, but also seems content to just let the game flow around him and take it all in. He's playing a thri-kreen, rolled some random gladiatorial styles, and got one with a net. He was immediately intrigued and excited by the thought of net fighting, and I was pleased to be able to report that this should be an extremely viable fighting technique in Mythras. Some of his past characters haven't been quite as effective as he might have initially envisaged but an overpowered thri-kreen net fighter should enable him to get in the thick of the action and regularly fuck someone's day up.


General Thoughts on Mythras, and my Dark Sun Conversion

La appears happy with fact that the system makes his half-giant character actually big and powerful, rather than just gaining some token Strength bonus. He could quite easily cripple or kill any of the other PCs with a single blow that lands. He actually commented specifically that the races and available point allocations do allow for quite powerful characters, which I found pleasing, as Dark Sun PCs are traditionally meant to start out more powerful than the norm.

In my experience, players almost always feel they don't have enough points, no matter what the system, so any views to the contrary tell me I've definitely structured this game in a way that enables highly competent starting characters. There are some very slight concerns that maybe I've been too generous, but its not as if there is any shortage of dangerous shit rocking around on Athas, so I don't think it's going to be an issue.

De did feel a bit pressed for points, giving he had to spread what he had between psionics, combat, outdoor survival and communication. However, as I mentioned to the group a couple of times, thri-kreen are grossly overpowered, so I have no sympathy for his pain.

Ro rolled quite poorly for his Mul's stats, with the exception of Con. I think he was feeling a little underwhelmed, and he does only have 2 Action Points, which can have a pretty big impact. But between his high Con, his absurdly high Endurance and his Mul ability to resist fatigue, he can wear a complete suit of the heaviest armour and fight a protracted battle with little chance of tiring. He's not going to be the best fighter of the group, but he is tough and is going to be able to endure a lot of punishment far beyond anyone else in the group. I'm hoping that's enough to make up for his limitations elsewhere (and he's not a bad combatant, just not meting out the damage of a half-giant, or with the ridiculous 4 Action Points of both the thri-kreen). He also took full advantage of the generous psionic rules, so he won't have to rely on being the best combatant to be useful.

On the topic of psionics, it turns out I've been remarkably generous. It's relatively easy for any character to start with three or four devotions (lesser psionic powers), and be pretty capable of activating them. Additionally, with smart choices, players with less skill can choose powers that can be maintained indefinitely and, since they only have a small number of powers, there never need to drop one power to enable them to activate another. On top of all that, every character gets access to one bonus skill as part of Mythras character generation. Picking up a psionic discipline is a powerful option for a character who has already focused on picking up devotions, and Ro, Tr and La all did this.

Part of me worries I've been a bit too generous, but I think I like the outcome really pushing psionics to the fore.

I've also been really pleased that pretty much every single player has commented that there are too many good psionic devotions (or powers within the disciplines, for that matter). Individually, they're not excessively powerful, but they're relatively easy to obtain, and they're genuinely useful. I'm really happy at how I've been able to combine Mythras Folk Magic and AD&D psionic devotions into what is feeling like a really robust and interesting system (with a lot of the credit for that going to systems I'm building on).

As to the Mythras system itself, it seemed that every time a player asked me a question about the combat system, I was able to give an answer that really made it clear how dynamic and exciting the system is able to be. Everybody is responding positively, and seems excited about the potential. The difficulty of fighting from the ground; the way impaling someone with a spear is likely to be a fight ender; that you can use an effective defensive move to win a fight; that you fight defensively simply by saving your action points to defend; the fact that if a giant is swinging a tree at you, you probably want to throw yourself aside rather than trying to block it with your sword; that entangling and closing or opening range or otherwise manoeuvring someone into a position where they can't use their weapons effectively is covered by the system; importantly, the fact that all these options are available to everyone, all the time, to be used as circumstances allow.

The piecemeal armour system is also perfect for Dark Sun, especially when combined with the warding rules for shields and some houserules making it impractical to just max out your armour if you want to operate in the heat of the day (unless you're a Mul with absurd Endurance). The basic Mythras fatigue rules, combined with some heightened, heat-related penalties work magnificently. On a related note, going over my rules on water requirements seems to have had an impact on the players and helped drive home the nature of the world. Especially when I got to the survival rules: "a successful survival check in sandy wastes means you find 1d4-1 mouthfuls of water!" There were also some pointed looks and questions directed at La with his half giant, and his requirements for four times as much water as anyone else.

In summary, everyone is positive, everything is rolling along nicely and I am feeling very good about my decision to use Mythras for this game. I've been making some minor tweaks to the conversion here and there, but so far it's feeling quite solid, and has withstood a lot pesky, min-maxy questions by Tr.
 
Exactly how ridiculous is Ro's con and endurance?
 
Not to mention serious and major wound checks. Also one grade easier essentially means he's reducing the skill on any opposed rolls. Rolling against a 138 is gonna feel bad ;) impressive.
 
He could raise it a couple points in play, too...:grin:
 
In one of my very early drafts, I was giving some bonus skill points - Endurance for Dwarves and Mul, Evade for halflings, possibly a few others.

I was talked out of it, and it does turn out that simply providing access to the relevant skills during the cultural step (along with weighting the relevant stats the right way) is more than enough to enable the desired archetypes.
 

Session 0.5

6 Apr 2024

So, last weekend, I ran Breaking the Habit, which is a fairly well known and well-regarded combat module for Mythras, designed to teach players that the best way to win a fight in Mythras is often not to just try hacking through the enemy. De, Tr, Ro and La were present.

The session began with a player offering me a beer (I am usually the supplier of beers). He was not aware that the III in front of the PA meant it was a triple IPA, and was a bit shocked when I pointed out it was 11% alcohol. I nearly turned it down, because I wasn't sure I'd make it through the night if I started like that. However, I caved, and it was a pretty good beer.

After a bit of admin and finalising bits and pieces, we got into the actual module. The players weren't using their actual PCs, because a half giant and a thri-kreen would roll the opposition and defeat the purpose of the module. I did adjust the stock participants slightly, giving them appropriate weapons and armour.

In the module, the party is facing a line of guards in heavy armour with large shields and formation fighting, blocking a narrow street or alley, and the players need to get through (in my version, they were fleeting from half-giant guards, who were about 30 seconds (five combat rounds) behind.

Formation fighting is a powerful trait that reduces the action points of the enemy while the guards maintain their formation, and also allows them to fight effectively, whiled packed more tightly, giving them both a numerical and an action point advantage.

I made it clear to the players that they would not be able to just hack their way through, and would need to make use of special effects (the big feature that makes Mythras combat so interesting).

The battle opened with the De getting one foe down on the ground with a trip using his longspear, which was a nice start. He went for a guard on the end of the line, because I had not made it clear that disrupting the middle may ruin the formation fighting (no biggee, since it's just a practice). An enemy javelineer behind the line then hurled a javelin at De's character which immediately highlighted the perils of not carrying a shield. His character dived aside, but failed to avoid the throw. We then got to highlight the potential lethality of the system, as the PC's left arm was rendered useless with this single hit.

Tr was saddled with an archer, who took a few shots, and the players learned that I'm going to be reasonably generous with allowing archers to take shots, but that bows can be quite slow.

Ro was the only player whose character had a short weapon, and he initially hung back, which was a poor tactical choice under the scenario. After a round or so, he realised he was going to have to close with the guards if he was going to have any effect on the fight -- and he was then promptly disarmed via a defensive special effect.

La had a character with only two action points, reduced to one by the guards' formation fighting. He stood back with his poleaxe, and mostly harassed the guard that had been taken down by De, ensuring he was unable to clamber back to his feet.

De's character clambered back to his feet, drew a dagger and joined Ro in close (Ro had also moved to his backup weapon). There was then a bit of a stalemate, with a few different special attempts attempted, until the Tr clambered up a giant pot plant to get a clear shot at the javelineer. Once he was there, the javelineer, of course, chose to hurl a javelin at the archer ... but fumbled, and hit a fellow guard in the back of the leg, dropping him.

Around this time, the players also discovered how punishing the fatigue rules can be (and they're a bit harsher with my wearing armour in the sun rules). Almost all the participants had to check for fatigue after two rounds. Most of the guards, and a couple PCs failed, and now all skill checks were hard. I took the opportunity to stress again the Ro has a character (his actual PC, that is, not his practice character) that laughs in the face of heat and fatigue, and I think seeing the impact of fatigue first hand definitely helped clarify how potent that ability really is.

At this point, my guards turned into incompetents, as I couldn't be bothered actually looking up the correct difficulty modifier values, and got them wrong. (This did result in me going through them again later, and I'm pretty sure the mistake has helped them sink in (a fumble gives me an automatic +1 in Lore (Mythras Rules)).

With two guards down, the PCs got their missing action points back, and the tide quickly turned. A crit against the poor guard who'd suffered friendly fire resulted in "choose location head" + "bypass armour" and he was knocked unconscious. Da's character was able to clamber over the guard who'd been knocked down earlier, and both remaining guards decided it was time to get out of there. Ro took swing at them as they left, and also had a go at a compel surrender, but failed.

By this stage, that 11% start was kicking in and the fight felt it was maybe dragging a little, so I declared a PC victory.

All told, given it's a complex and difficult fight against tough opponents and we all had no clue what we were doing, I'd say things ran very smoothly. It wasn't fast, but I refer you back to the previous sentence. Several people noted that very little damage was actually inflicted, but things were still happened. This is exactly the way Mythras is described, and it's how it happened. We have two characters (one guard, one PC) with serious wounds, while the rest are tired and bruised, and the fight naturally reaches a decisive moment without requiring wholesale slaughter.

I think it was also noted that, when damage was inflicted, it tended to be significant. I think there are going to be some very interesting and hard choices about how characters armour themselves, trying to balance protection with heat effects. The system is absolutely pushing people in a very Dark Sun-esque piecemeal armour direction.
 
Oh, De asked about wearing armour as a thri-kreen, because "in theory" there is no particular reason why a thri-kreen couldn't wear additional armour, if you could find someone to make it.

My response at the time was that yes, it's true that you could physically layer more armour on top of a carapace, but it is also true that I designed the thri-kreen stats and gave them a fairly generous 5 AP of natural armour (plus a ridiculous pile of other special abilities) on the basis that they would not also be wearing additional armour on top. No final decision was made.

Last night, some quick research confirmed my suspicion that insects breath through their carapace, so my ruling is that covering the carapace is essentially hampering an already inefficient respiratory system and I came up with some fairly punitive fatigue rules (basically, simply wearing armour counts as moderate exertion, meaning fatigue checks every CON minutes, and the armour heat penalties will all be high). This explains why you don't ever see thri-kreen wearing clothing or armour.

I am a little concerned that, now that I've made a ruling, at some point efforts will be made to use magic or psionics to circumvent the restrictions, but that's a problem for another day.
 
And, with the character all basically done, I can probably do some introductions.

While some of the details will be expressed in terms of D&D classes, note that these are only approximations -- these are Mythras characters, just with unusual races and some extra points to throw around.

(Jo) Krik, Thri-kreen Gladiator

Krik is a pretty standard gladiator. Jo is happy to have a net, trident and gythka combat style, and is looking forward to doing some netting -- something that Mythras seems especially suited to. Krik's fairly stealthy and fast, but a bit on the fragile side if any blows get through his carapace. He is the least psionically proficient character, with access to the Combat Mind devotion (a possible initiative bonus) and no other powers. Jo hasn't come up with any passions yet. He does have a somewhat absurd 3 + 1 action points (the +1 being a bonus for being four-limbed).

(La) Mortan, Half-Giant Brute

Passion: Do as others do.
La was originally planning to play a mute telepath, but at the last minute indicated we was interested in playing a half-giant instead. He wants to acquire a gaint-sized bow, and carry around a pavise for use as a shield, which aren't unreasonable ambitions for a half-giant. In addition to being able to smash things good, Mortan has a smattering if eclectic skills, including mechanisms, playing the flute, and some outdoor skills. He's a fairly capable wild talent, with mental barrier to cover for his atrocious willpower, the ability to stabilise injuries and, because apparently too much damage isn't enough, bladesharp as well. I believe La plans to add a passion (the one listed is a default for half-giants), but hasn't settled on one yet. He only has two action points, but if he's landing blows, more than that is not necessary.

(Ro) Malchus, Mul Gladiator/Psionicist

Passion: Down with the nobility.
Malchus has obscene Endurance, as previously discussed. If he is able to acquire it he can deck himself out head to toe in chitin laminar (the best in non-metal, non-magical armour), and have little reason to worry about fatiguing. In fact, he could actually get away with wearing some metal armour, which I had thought was extremely unlikely to happen. Unfortunately, the massive CON is contrasted by low SIZ, DEX and INT, so he's stuck with only 2 action points, and his hit points are merely good, not awesome. I was a bit concerned that the 2AP might turn into a problem (and it still might), but the Mul fatigue resistance looks like it will be pretty powerful, and he has other non-combat abilities to fall back on as well. His psionic area of expertise is psychometabolism, and he also knows some engineering, survival, and a yet-to-be-determined craft.

(Tr) Kynes, Human Preserver/Psionicist

Passion: Make Athas Green Again
I was a bit surprised to see someone choose a sorcerer, as I made it pretty clear that they are going to take quite a while to come into their power -- they start with limited mana (under normal Mythras rules, Kynes would have 18 MP; as a Preserver he has 9) and the recovery rate is 1 point per day, with no way to speed the process. Of course, he can always choose to defile, in which case there are free mana points everywhere ...

Although he doesn't have access to any source of magical knowledge at the games start, we've agreed in consultation which spells he will gain access to once he finds a teacher -- he's focused on nature-type spells, domination and summoning animals and plants, and the ability to detect water. He begins play knowing Dowsing, Animate Plants, Draw Insects and Dominate Insects.

His area of psionic expertise is psychokinesis and he also has a large and fairly varied range of devotions.

Tr was somewhat inspired by Dune, and thus Kynes wants to restore Athas, making it green and verdant, just like the Fremen. He is a talented botanist, who was a freeman gardener in Nibenay. So obsessed was he with learning about the secrets of the Sorcerer King Nibenay's secret and private gardens, he sold himself into slavery, hoping he would be admitted to work in the palace. Unfortunately, things did not work out as poor Kynes had hoped, and he is being shipped off to Raam with the other PCs, instead.

(Ag) Whip the Massive, Elven Warrior

Passions: Hatred of Merchant House Stel and an as yet unnamed elven tribe.
Ag's had wanted his original ACKS character to be able to be a defensive fighter who could trip and hinder foes. He got some opportunities to do that, but not as many as he would have liked. This is a new chance and, as with Krik and his net, Mythras should provide us with the tools we need to make this concept really shine. As a side-gig, Whip has some basic skills in knapping, bonesmithing, bowmaking and fletching.

Whip's tribe was all but destroyed by a rival elven tribe, who slaughtered many and sold others (including poor, young whip) to House Stel as slave.

(De) Alnak-Tul, Thri-kreen Ranger/Psionicist

Passions: Hatred of slavers, loyalty to the tribe, protect free villages of the wastes
As mentioned earlier, De has been a long-time fan of Dark Sun, but has only played in the setting via the old PC games. He was very eager to play a thri-kreen ranger/cleric and, as such, I expected him to be playing an elemental pries. However, it turns out that the defining trait of a D&D cleric to De is the healing. Since the most powerful and versatile healing option available is via psychometabolism, he went with a psionicist. He added psychoportation as a second area of expertise, thinking that the ability to teleport will assist with the sneaky/scouty elements of the ranger side of things.

Focusing on strong psionics means Alnak-tul's combat and outdoorsy abilities are merely good, rather than excellent (although, like Krik, he has a ridiculous 3 + 1 action points).

Never really knowing his parents and original tribe, Alnak-Tul was adopted by a village in the wastes just as he reached maturity, and became one of the protectors of the village. Unfortunately, a raid by Nibenese slavers saw the entire population rounded up and taken into slavery.
 
3+1 action points is crazy good. I look forward to watching this pair of Thri-Keen in action!
 
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So, it appears I haven't actually said anything about what this particular campaign is going to be about.

My Dark Sun "canon" is primarily based on material from the Original Box Set (henceforth OBS) and The Ivory Triangle Box Set. You could also include Earth, Air, Fire & Water inasmuch as it adds it's own paraelements and says something about the ethics of elemental priests, but I am disregarding anything it has to say about wider cosmology. This gives me a lot of room to do whatever the fuck I want, while still being unambiguously Dark Sun.

My Dark Sun is not part of a wider D&D cosmology. Athas is not cut off from the rest of the multiverse, that D&D multiverse simply doesn't exist. There did not used to be a bunch of standard D&D races, who were killed off (ie, no Cleansing Wars). For lack of anything better to say about the most ancient of history, there once was an advanced psionic/lifeshaping halfling society, but I doubt it will have any relevance. The Sorcerer Kings aren't Champions of Rajat. The Dragon isn't keeping anyone imprisoned. There are probably more Sorcerer Kings in distant cities.

The general plan, in very broad strokes, is that the players are going to be members of community of escaped slaves, working to keep the place safe, with the assumption that they will eventually end up in positions of power. As I mentioned in my ACKS thread, and possibly earlier in this one, my players have asked for something less sandboxy than my recent games -- I don't think they want to just ride the rails enjoying the view (although some of them might be mostly OK with that), but they do want to avoid having to work out for themselves "What do we do next?"

I think it should be easy enough for me to arrange something that is still reasonably open, and gives them plenty of opportunities to tackle problems however they want, and deal with the consequences of their actions, while also having a fairly clear and obvious hook for them to latch onto at any given time. I have a rough idea of events, schemes and intrigue that they are likely to be exposed to, but there is only really one "plot point" where I already have a resolution in mind -- and that is, at some point, I fully expect the PCs to decide it's time for them to take over their little enclave and run it properly. That said, if they come up with some alternative path forward, I'm sure I'll be able to run with it.

Anyway, after deciding on "village of escaped slaves" as what the game is going to revolve around, at least for the early- and mid-game parts, I was still left to determine how to get everything rolling. As it turns out, the adventure included in the OBS has the PCs escaping from slavery, and puts them in contact with members of a an enclave of escaped slaves. Nifty.

At this point, I will segue a little into a discussion that I saw on reddit recently, where a GM wanted his players to go explore the wilderness, but they were having more fun exploring the city. The GM was looking for advice on having an interesting and memorable city while also ensuring that the characters didn't want to spend all their time there.

Of course, one stock answer to this is for the GM to just roll with it and have fun in the city. However, if the GM really wants wilderness exploration from a civilised base, the simplest and best way to arrange for this to happen is -- wait for it -- to tell the players they want to run a game about exploring the wilderness from a civilised base. Trying to use tricks and subtle techniques to secretly guide your players to do something they're not otherwise interested in is likely to end in failure and frustration for the GM, or end up reducing the player's agency. If you're running a sandbox, run a sand box. If you want to restrict or limit the scope of the game, just say so and get everyone on the same page.

To this end, when thinking about the opening adventure, I had to consider the possibility the players go off the rails right from the start, and don't actually find their way to or join an enclave of escaped slaves. How to fix this? I didn't tell my players, "You start the game as slaves," or even, "You start the game as slaves, although you will be able to escape slavery fairly quickly."

Instead, I said, "The early and middle parts of the game are going to revolve around the PCs as members of enclave of escaped slaves. You will start as slaves, but will escape very early on, and will soon have an opportunity to join a village."

Now we get to run the escape and I get to run a sink-or-swim, "you're in the desert with nothing, what is your plan for not dying?" opening that drives home many aspects of the setting, and I also get quickly to segue in to the game I ultimately want (and which I've planned for), about a village in the wastes, without worrying about having to be heavy handed. And, of course, the players are able to build characters knowing that skills that help them support a village in the wastes will be useful.

Given the Pub's propensity for lauding the sandbox, some people reading this are probably very offended by this starting point, but the critical factor here is that the players are all clear what's happening, and have bought in. It's amazing what a bit of clear communication can do.

As to the adventure itself, I read through A Little Knowledge, initially thought it was OK and then, the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. I mentioned in a couple places that it's a great intro to Dark Sun. I've since been convinced I'm wrong about that. As an experienced GM, who is not afraid to chop and change, disregarding things I don't like, taking and using the things I do like, modifying bits that I feel need modification, ALK gave me a really handy framework that I was able to mould into what I wanted it to be, with very little effort. It probably also helped that my entirely mentality was already set to "adaption" given that I'm converting an AD&D adventure to Mythras.

Taking a step back and reassessing the adventure with a more critical and objective eye, after some discussion in the Dark Sun discord, I can see it being a brutal and arbitrary adventure if you run it exactly as written -- in modern parlance, it would probably be termed a funnel. I still think it's awesome, and I expect it will serve me well, but I probably don't count as a typical use case.

"Building on a really useful framework" is pretty much what my entire Dark Sun experience has been. There was a conversation on another forum where someone was questioning why everyone talks about how amazing Dark Sun is, when the information in the OBS is so brief and lacking in detail. For myself, there is just something about the detail that is there, that sparks my creativity. I read these relatively simple passages and descriptions, and I'm immediately filling in details and thinking about possibilities.

What really kicked things into high gear and made the setting click for me, though, was the Ivory Triangle. Despite the fact that Kalak was promptly killed and Tyr thrown into disarray via the metaplot, I feel the Kalak the moustache-twirling villain and his Babylonian-Conanesque Desert City of Great Oppression is the default, standard idea people have of Dark Sun. It is certainly what I came into the setting with as my starting understanding.

Reading about Nibenay and Gulg in the Ivory Triangle not only challenged that imagery, it completely upended it. I'm reading about Nibenay (the city) and I'm thinking, "This sounds like a pretty decent place to live, all told. That Nibenay fellow seems like a reasonable guy; he at least has a solid grasp of enlightened self-interest."

Then, I had to think to myself, "But this is Dark Sun. What's really going on?" And so now my Nibenay is, on the surface, a place of enlightenment, with a public health system (the Khmer Empire Nibenay is loosely based on actually had this, I learned in my studies) and where people have some rights and protections. But this is just a veneer, over the dark and cruel and depraved things that happen behind closed doors, or within the Sorcerer King's sealed palace. Three quarters of my Nibenay is entirely of my own invention, but it springs directly out of the questions and thoughts I had while reading the (again, quite short and only lightly detailed) official Nibenay sourcebook.

Anyway, that's enough rambling thoughts for now, I think.

TLDR: Dark Sun is awesome. Communicate with your players.
 
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Sable Wyvern said:
So, it appears I haven't actually said anything about what this particular campaign is going to be about.

My Dark Sun "canon" is primarily based on material from the Original Box Set (henceforth OBS) and The Ivory Triangle Box Set. You could also include Earth, Air, Fire & Water inasmuch as it adds it's own paraelements and says something about the ethics of elemental priests, but I am disregarding anything it has to say about wider cosmology. This gives me a lot of room to do whatever the fuck I want, while still being unambiguously Dark Sun.

My Dark Sun is not part of a wider D&D cosmology. Athas is not cut off from the rest of the multiverse, that D&D multiverse simply doesn't exist. There did not used to be a bunch of standard D&D races, who were killed off (ie, no Cleansing Wars). For lack of anything better to say about the most ancient of history, there once was an advanced psionic/lifeshaping halfling society, but I doubt it will have any relevance. The Sorcerer Kings aren't Champions of Rajat. The Dragon isn't keeping anyone imprisoned. There are probably more Sorcerer Kings in distant cities.
Click to expand...
:thumbsup:
Sable Wyvern said:
As I mentioned in my ACKS thread, and possibly earlier in this one, my players have asked for something less sandboxy than my recent games -- I don't think they want to just ride the rails enjoying the view (although some of them might be mostly OK with that), but they do want to avoid having to work out for themselves "What do we do next?"
Click to expand...
:shock:::honkhonk::shock:
Sable Wyvern said:
At this point, I will segue a little into a discussion that I saw on reddit recently, where a GM wanted his players to go explore the wilderness, but they were having more fun exploring the city. The GM was looking for advice on having an interesting and memorable city while also ensuring that the characters didn't want to spend all their time there.
Click to expand...
Personally, I approach this as chirine ba kal said succinctly in a different thread.
Usually, the social networks works and resolves conflicts. The need for adventurers (i.e. people acting as PCs) arises when the social wheels encounter an issue, or when you (or someone else...) want something that the social system wouldn't provide. Then adventurers become necessary.
The more interesting the city is, the more reasons there could be to explore the wilderness, not less.

Sable Wyvern said:
Of course, one stock answer to this is for the GM to just roll with it and have fun in the city. However, if the GM really wants wilderness exploration from a civilised base, the simplest and best way to arrange for this to happen is -- wait for it -- to tell the players they want to run a game about exploring the wilderness from a civilised base.
Click to expand...
Also, this. Make your OOC intentions clear OOC, and let the players come up with characters that would make the suitable decisions IC.

If you get players to join and they come with a bard, a historian, and a diplomat, maybe it isn't their fault they're not looking to investigate your wilderness...:shade:
Sable Wyvern said:
Given the Pub's propensity for lauding the sandbox, some people reading this are probably very offended by this starting point, but the critical factor here is that the players are all clear what's happening, and have bought in. It's amazing what a bit of clear communication can do.
Click to expand...
...offended, us?
Even as a heavy *proponent of sandbox play, it really doesn't offend me that you choose to play differently. Especially since you ain't telling me this approach is in any way superior to a sandbox.
It's just what your group wants. If it makes you happy, I can only be happy for you:gooselove:.


*"I am trying to lose weight, I swear":grin:!

Sable Wyvern said:
Taking a step back and reassessing the adventure with a more critical and objective eye, after some discussion in the Dark Sun discord, I can see it being a brutal and arbitrary adventure if you run it exactly as written -- in modern parlance, it would probably be termed a funnel.

"Building on a really useful framework" is pretty much what my entire Dark Sun experience has been. There was a conversation on another forum where someone was questioning why everyone talks about how amazing Dark Sun is, when the information in the OBS is so brief and lacking in detail. For myself, there is just something about the detail that is there, that sparks my creativity. I read these relatively simple passages and descriptions, and I'm immediately filling in details and thinking about possibilities.
Click to expand...
IMO, that's how we approach all settings. It's just more obvious with Dark Sun and other tersely-written settings:gooseshades:.
 

Session 1

20 April 2024

Pre-session Discussion and Random Musings

So, I was looking at the PCs and thinking about Hatred Nobles, Hatred Slavers, Hatred a Major Merchant House, Hatred Some Elf Tribe ...

Then I was imagining every single critical interaction being sabotaged by a PC who can't stand to do business with the other party. My concerns were exacerbated by issues our group has had in the past where the group would struggle to arrive at a sufficient consensus in order for the game to move forward (this is something we addressed and have improved upon dramatically since then).

To be fair, part of the reason for my concern was also that I had probably presented the passions as being a bit more absolute than I should have.

But, of course, having a hatred of nobles doesn't mean that you have to insult said noble to his face so that he has no choice but to tell his four half-giant guards to cut you down. Instead, it can mean you skulk in the background, scowling and muttering to yourself, and plotting ways you're going to bring the bastard down after this damned deal is done with.

I was glad I said something, because it turns out one of the reasons Jo hadn't selected any passions yet was because he was worried they would lock him into foolish behaviour, exactly as I've just described. I've also found out he may pick Fear of Telepaths, which is a bold choice clearly designed to make for an interesting character rather than raw mechanical advantage.

Other than that, everything has been pretty much set for a little while now.

The Actual Session
  • De: Alnak-Tul, Thri-Kreen Ranger/Psionicist
  • La: Mortan, Half-Giant Brute
  • Ro: Malchus, Mul Gladiator/Psionicist
  • Tr: Kynes, Human Preserver/Psionicist
  • Ag: Whip the Massive, Elf Warrior
I was hoping we would have a full group for the first session but, unfortunately, Jo was sick.

As mentioned, I am opening the campaign with the adventure from the original boxed set, A Little Knowledge.

This has the group in the back of a fortified, house-sized wagon, being hauled across the wastes by two gargantuan mekillots. The PCs are in a slave hold, wrists and ankles manacled with heavy leather bands held closed with giant-hair rope, that also runs through the wall to fix them in place. They have just enough room to reach the chamber pot in the centre of the dark, hot room.

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The party is fed gruel and water in the mornings, and some more water in the evenings. Other than, that they are left alone. The discuss a range of plans, sharing knowledge of their individual skills and talents. Both Alnak-Tul and Malchus are capable of teleporting themselves out of bondage using their Psychoportive powers, but they can't actually get far. Alnuk-Tul is more competent teleporter, and could get people from the hold to somewhere nearby outside the wagon – but only if he can see the new location.

If they simply escape their bonds, then they are unarmed and unarmoured, with what they guess to be twenty or more guards to deal with. If they teleport outside, then they are in the wastes with nothing.

Kynes casts dowsing, and is able to detect the wagon's primary water supply – about 2,000 litres, with some smaller containers nearby as well. As it had been obvious this spell would be used, I had already prepared a water map (although, for some reason, I didn't expect it to be cast until the party was off the wagon, so the centrepoint is a couple days journey away). I also mistakenly thought Kynes had a 180km range on the spell, but it is in fact only 90km, so Tr was advised to disregard things further out.

Water Map Session 1.jpg
We began the session three days out of Nibenay. After two days of travel, the party had arrived at a plan – the next day, Alnak-Tul would use his body weaponry devotion to manifest a chisel and begin working at opening a section of the cell wall that they believe would give the mantis warrior a view of the outside. He can then teleport the group outside. There is talk of securing water first, but no one can see a practical way of doing so – they will have to rely on Kyne's water-finding ability once they are out.

Making my life easier, the party's timing (and, specifically, their decision to wait to begin work on the rear wall during the day, when the wagon is moving) means they haven't made their escape before the ambush scheduled for the next morning.

Mid-morning, the group hears shouting and alarms sounding. There is a huge CRACK! sound, and the wagon shudders violently before coming to a halt. Deciding it's time to take action, both Kynes and Alnak-Tul manifest weapons (the mantis warrior using body weaponry, the sorcerer calling on his kinetic arsenal).

Guards come down to the hold, and offer the PCs their freedom, if they are willing to fight for the defence of the wagon. They are all eager to serve their captors to win their freedom, and are led to the wagon's rear firing platform, where they are armed with some crossbows and obsidian-tipped arrows.

The PCs see that they are facing literally hundreds of elves, who have been advising the wagon that the Jura Dai elves are not slaves, and that the King (Nibenay) will see his trade disrupted and merchant wagons destroyed until he relents. The elves also indicate that anyone who leaves now will be spared, while those who remain will surely die.

The party doesn't hesitate to take the leave and be spared option. Alnak-Tul teleports to the ground, while the other head back a short way to an exterior door, where a rope-and-bone exit stair has already deployed by some less-than-valorous guards.

The PCs are inspected by the elves, who clearly don't like the thri-kreen, and threaten to use him as target practice, but don't actually do anything beyond throwing some insults and threats. Alnak-Tul takes it humbly The party is allowed to keep their two crossbows, as well as the improvised club Mortan has picked up.

As the group passes through into the wastes, one of the elves congratulates the party on this opportunity to die as free men instead of slaves.

They are in the stony barrens, a rocky desert with small, scattered, wiry shrubs and the odd cactus. Looking about, the immense, steep Windbreak Mountains can be seen stretching from horizon to horizon in the south, and the string of water Kynes detected in that direction is clearly high up in the peaks.

It is decided to head north, towards a large body of water Kynes is able to detect, about 40km away. There is a smaller, but still seemingly reasonably substantial water source along the way, which should help. I do my best to drive home the nature of the brutal, oppressive heat and burning sun, as temperatures climb towards the midday peak in excess of 50°C.

As they travel, Alnak-Tul spots some rare plants that indicate there is a supply of water not far under the surface. The group digs, and water begins to well up but, with no means of carrying it, they must drink now. They players are aware this source will provide them with 1d4 litres, but I don't tell them how much. Alnak-Tul doesn't hesitate to drink the first litre, which is enough to leave him mostly satiated for a week. Now it's time to decide who else drinks, how much, and in which order. There are some initial thoughts about playing the numbers and not letting Mortan have more than a mouthful, because whatever more the huge half-giant takes is unlikely to make any mechanical difference. I'm not going to stop them if this is what they want to do, but I do point out that, in character, this is some brutally cold triage where they are basically writing their fellow-escapee off as dead already. They quickly agree this isn't the way they would want to handle it (La, especially, makes it clear it's not the way Mortan wants to handle it). Malchus, Kynes and Whip each drink half a litre, and the water continues to flow long enough for Mortan to also manage half a litre.

Dirty ground water, and they're lapping it up desperately. Certainly nowhere near ready to fall upon each other in a mad fight for survival yet, but I get the feeling they understand the stakes here. I am pleased.

Later that day, the group finds themselves on high ground overlooking a road that runs away to the north. On a nearby escarpment overlooking the road, the group sees some other individuals. They assume they have been seen, and feel like they have no choice but to try their luck approaching these people and begging for, if not water, at least some directions as to where they might find some.

As they approach, one member of the trio of strangers breaks away from the others, and starts gesturing sharply for the group to move down lower. Mortan responds with eager and happy waving. Malchus attempts to get Mortan to stop and move away from the ridgeline, while the stranger starts to move towards the group faster, calling out for the party to "get your giant under control".

The stranger introduces himself as To-gahl, and Kynes speaks for the group. Kyne's, however, is very wary of being sold back into slavery, and is extremely cagey about how the party came to be here. Fortunately, the sorcerer realises that he's making Tohr-gal very suspicious, and changes tack, admitting they are escaped slaves (and not, as his original story was making it sound, slavers who fled rather than fight when their wagon was attacked).

To-gahl then speaks very slowly and in simple words to Mortan and, once convinced that the half-giant (who is not actually stupid) understands not to make himself visible to anyone and everyone anywhere remotely nearby, leads the group back up to where his companions have their eye on a merchant caravan approaching from the north.

To-gahl and his companions (Kollus and Marista) explain that they expect the approaching caravan to make camp soon, and intend to steal some of their water. It is suggested that, if the PCs do the stealing, the trio will allow them to keep half the haul.

When thinking about this while planning the session, I expected this to go really badly. At best, I thought there would be some kind of argument, with some serious resistance to the idea that they do all the work and just give away half the spoil. Who do these guys think they are, anyway.

However, being near the end of the day, I had called for dehydration checks, and even the hardy Mul had failed. The mantis warrior was fine, but the rest of the group was suffering the effects of being out in the blasted desert for a whole day with little water. They were desperate, wearing no armour, carrying hardly any weapons, and weakened by thirst and exposure.

While they players did seek clarification that yes, the expectation was that if they put themselves at risk, they get half of the water. The alternative was that the trio do the job themselves, and keep everything. The third option – the PCs attempt some kind of violent or underhanded method of seizing the water all for themselves – was not given any serious consideration. The PCs might defeat these three in a fight, but not without casualties.

So, in the end, my arrogant, recalcitrant players, who do not typically take well to being pushed around, reacted not with anger, but with gratitude for this opportunity to earn themselves some water. I didn't even notice any undercurrent of bitterness about the way they were being used.

The merchant caravan consisted of a number of three inixes (giant lizards) with howdahs, and a number of large wagons being hauled by inix pairs. The group watched them form up for the night not far from their position, forming a wagon circle with the inixes, guards watching out from the howdahs while everyone else set up for the night within. The camp area was partially lit by a few fires, and the guards inside the perimeter did not seem particularly attentive. Portable water skins were piled up at the centre of the group, well away from anywhere they could easily be stolen.

(Any decent military commander would have made some effort to clear the ridge before settling down, but apparently this mob travels with a false sense of security.)

A fairly simple plan was hatched. Once the caravan was properly settled in for the night, Alnak-Tul would teleport in, grab some water skins and use his inertial navigation devotion to rapidly teleport right back to the ridge. Two trips were made, with the mantis warrior managing to grab 64 litres of water in eight skins, of which half went to the party's new friends without complaint.

Everyone drank their fill, and simply enjoyed the sweet relief for a while.

Kynes decided he should take the opportunity to further improve the group's lot, and used his psychokinetic abilities to levitate an unattended shield out of the encampment. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to pick out any other useful items in the dark, and he had to make do with the shield, which was passed onto Whip.

It was decided it was time to move on, before the theft was noticed, but Alnak-Tul decided to make one more trip, and was able to grab some more waterskins.

To-gahl and his friends were impressed with the party's ingenuity, and advise they would likely be welcome additions to the community from where they hailed, which is made up of escaped slaves. Unfortunately, they are not currently able to take on any new members, as the oasis they rely upon to keep their water supplies topped up has been poisoned by the Jura Dai elves.

The reason for this is that, apparently, the elves believe the dwarves of the nearby community of Keld were the ones that sold them out to slavers from Nibenay. If something can be done about restoring the oasis, then To-gahl promises that someone will meet them in Keld to discuss the possibility of initiating them into membership of their enclave.

The two groups then part ways, To-gahl and co heading south, with clear instructions to the party that they are not be followed.

The PCs move a kilometre or so away from the caravan to camp for the night, before moving on the next day.

More to come soon...
 
Oh, I forgot to mention that the ex-slaves suggested that the large water source to the north is probably Fort Wedervil, which is a merchant outpost, and unlikely to provide the PCs with water out of the goodness of their hearts. Out of character, we also discussed that, if the party turned up at an actual city in their present state, the most likely outcome was almost certainly being sold straight back into slavery, as they have nothing to their name and no reason for any authorities to give a shit about them.

The group decided to head for Keld and see what can be done there. On quarter-rations for everyone other than Mortan, the group has enough water to last three days it is expected to take to reach Keld if all goes well. Whip decides there is no point stretching the water out to last three days – if they don't find water on the third day, they're likely to be fucked anyway. He decides he will consume his water on half-rations for two days, and give his spare water to Mortan.

I am asked by the players if they are able to wait until the end of the day and then drink all their water at once. This, of course, would enable to them to make adjustments on the go if they find water. Technically, the falls within the strict reading of the rules I created, but feels very gamey. I advised it would be expected that you make a decision about your intake, and then you sip away at it over the course of the day – going all day without water and then drinking at the end is not the way anyone would actually operate if they had any choice in the matter. Everyone was perfectly OK with this as a commonsense ruling. (If they happen to find a water windfall, they can still gain the full benefit; there will be no sort of penalty or reduction in value because they haven't been drinking it all day.)

I am very, very pleased with how the water and dehydration rules are working. I was worried they might be too complicated, but the numbers are actually very easy to work with, the checks easy to make and the implementation of effects straightforward. It's really setting the tone and driving play, in a way that is far more effective than I had dared to hope. It helps that Mythras has a very solid fatigue system to build on (and I'm now more confident than ever that my tweaks to combat fatigue around the use of heavy armour are also going to function really well).

The whole game is further enhanced by slight variations in requirements. The half-giant's huge water requirements help make Mortan feel big. The mul's endurance and fatigue-resisting abilities make Malchus feel hardy and resilient as he handles a limited water intake much better than most. The thri-kreen's completely different water requirements (and the fact it happily eats some horrid little things the group occasionally finds) really help make it feel unique and insectoid and genuinely acclimated to the environment.

As to eating horrid little things, one of Mortan's survival checks enable him to snatch up some little creature that he was aware had an internal reservoir of horrid tasting water – just a mouthful. Mortan didn't need water badly enough, but Alnak-Tul was more than happy to gobble the little thing down. Nom nom nom.

On that note, the players themselves raised the fact that they hadn't had anything to eat, since their escape. I agreed, but I'm happy to assume you can handle a few days of hunger without significant effect (especially if you're tough enough to qualify as a Dark Sun PC). Tracking water and slowly dying of thirst is more than enough hardship for now; I'm glad the players are thinking about food, but I'm not in a rush to penalise them for lack of food as well (if it becomes necessary, I'll probably just use the water rules, stretched out to weekly instead of daily periods).

Anyway, the next day the group spots the glint of what may be water to the north. Alnak-Tul scoffs and says it's a mirage. Whip believes in the power of positive thinking, and believes it's water. It's decided to at least head that way and test the mirage theory; the sighting remains stationary, so they decide they should definitely check it out.

As they grow closer, they discover a patch of dense, thorny scrub about 30 metres across, with some kind of shallow pool in the centre. However, Kynes believes it is a dangerous and deceptive timiris bush. Approaching, he snaps off a thin thorn, and confirms it is a hollow tube. There are number of low, narrow passages through the bush to the water, but Kynes lets the group know that, should the attempt be made, the bush will attack, plunging thorns into the prey and sucking out blood. A number of small bones and hollow chitin can be seen inside the area, confirming the pronouncement. Further, Kynes assures his companions that the pool is just a thin membrane covered in sap – there is no water here. Moral of the story: always bring a botanist when you travel the wastes of Athas.

Later that day, the group sees a giant wasp being pursued and attacked by two aarakocras. All the modern art seems show aarakocras as noble, eagle-headed, winged men. Dark Sun aarakocras a vulture headed, with clawed hands on their wings, and no arms. The party notices that the wasp creature has some large spherical object clutched to or growing from just under it's mouthparts. During the flying skirmish, this falls. Thinking quickly, and imagining it may be an egg, Kynes reaching out telekinetically to slow its fall, and guides it down into a shrubby patch.

The vulture-men cry out angrily and stab at the wasp, before breaking off and swooping around in the vicinity of where the egg fell, but they fail to spot it and fly off. As Ro points out, they are assuming it broke in the fall.

The party heads over and recovers the item, which is a large, greyish, waxy sphere about 20cm in diameter. Mortan picked it up, and it has a sloshy feel, so the party assumes it contains water. Meanwhile, the aarakocras were actually watching the party from a distance, and are now diving in aggressively. One is coming right for Malchus, who sets his spear. Alnak-Tul takes a shot with his crossbow, and the vulture-man is unable to evade. De chooses the impale special effect, which seems an obvious choice, and the bird ends up with a crossbow bolt lodged in its wing. That was quick and easy. And flavourful. Another win for Mythras.

The aarakocras aren't interested in an actual fight, and pull away without engaging. With one of them winged, they decide against more harassment for now, and pull back to recover instead.

The rest of the day is most uneventful, but that evening Kynes is shocked awake, bleeding with a gash in his arm. Alnak-Tul, who was on watch, saw nothing. As the group assesses the situation and tries to work out what's going on, Kynes realise he's not actually bleeding, just covered in ichor, and there is a very large, insectoid head lying nearby. The PCs start looking for cover, assuming someone is throwing things at them, when Whip gets a sudden sense of danger and manages his Formidable Evade check, diving aside at the last moment as an insect thorax crashes into the ground near where he was standing a moment ago.

Shrieking and angry cawing leads to the realisation that they are being bombed by aarakokras. Fortunately, nothing further drops and, after some mocking cries, the birds fly off gain.

Later in the night, a rain of small lizards (some whole, some torn in half) again disturbs their rest. In this case, despite the annoyance, the party looks on the bright side, and gathers up some lizards, making plans to bake them in the sun come midday tomorrow.

The following day, the group sees the aarakokras in the distance stalking them. Kynes is angry, and decides it's time for a curse. He's already used quite a bit of mana checking for water, but enough is enough. As soon as one of the vulture-men gets close enough, he casts Attract Insect on it, and feels the invocation stick. He is quite pleased with himself, especially when the group sees some small swarms of buzzing creatures heading that way, and an unusual number of ground insects passing them in the next hour.

Over the day, the group spots a few more of the giant wasps, and see one landing to the south. There is some consideration given to the possibility of looking for a nest, and possible water, but they aren't desperate enough to fight a hive of giant wasps.

We call it a night at that point. I call it a very successful night, I had a lot of fun. De does say he hopes the game isn't always going to be about the desperate hunt for water, and I have no intention of it being such – once they're operating from a secure base, the expectation would be they head out with enough water to get the job done.

* ** *** **** *** ** *

​
Thinking about things after the session, I realised this is the most unique roleplaying experience I've had in a long time.

Over the last ten years-or-so, the games I've run have been (from most to least recent):

  • ACKS – I'm familiar with early D&D as well as dungeoncrawling. The hexcrawling late in the campaign was new, but the starting conditions were quite familiar.
  • Traveller – I've run numerous short campaigns in the Imperium of Man, using various rules systems, over the years.
  • Rolemaster – The game of my formative first decade, nothing particularly special about the world we were playing in.
  • Hackmaster – A somewhat original ruleset, but still heavily D&Dish. Kalamar is a cool setting, but nothing especially unique about it.
  • GURPS X-Com – This was a bit of a stand-out in uniqueness.
Mythras is a unique and interesting rule system (to me, at least – I've played a little Call of Cthulhu and Pendragon, but I'm otherwise unfamiliar with BRP). Dark Sun, of course, is a long way from standard fantasy. I think one of the biggest factors, though, is that I don't recall ever running a game where the PCs were so truly without access to aid or resources.

While I don't expect or want every (or even many) sessions to be about the desperate need to find water, the danger of dehydration is going to be a spectre hanging over much of what they do. If they're out on an expedition, opportunities to rest and recover are not going to be nearly as easy to come by unless they are carting absurd amounts of water with them, because just sitting in place is draining a critical resource.

The need for water has also enabled me to implement a fairly simple outdoor exploration process. Becoming lost is extremely hard, with failed navigation checks simply resulting in lost time. In previous games, losing half a day or so of effective travel time every now and again often wouldn't have mattered much but, when every drop of water is important, I suspect that such situations are going to be felt as a real concern, even in situations where it doesn't end up mattering. Because it might end up mattering a lot. It's streamlined, it doesn't require a lot of careful plotting on a map and tracking progress, yet I'm feeling confident it's going to be effective.

Just the little things were also great. "I'll pick up anything that can be used as a club!" "Awesome, we have 18 obsidian crossbow bolts!" "Nice, we have a light shield!" "A bunch of dead lizards! Do they look edible?"

While, as I mentioned, I do not expect those kinds of things to be an ongoing focus, it was a fun and new experience, and I think it also did an excellent job of setting a tone.

I do not think things could have got off to a much better start than they did. I am very pleased.
 

Session 2

4 May 2024

Pre-session Discussion and Random Musings

Very little happened between sessions. I did no prep, the players didn't really chat about anything.

The Actual Session
  • De: Alnak-Tul, Thri-Kreen Ranger/Psionicist
  • Jo: Krik, Thri-Kreen Gladiator
  • Ro: Malchus, Mul Gladiator/Psionicist
  • Tr: Kynes, Human Preserver/Psionicist
There was some relief that with the half-giant missing, there was less pressure on the group to find water. We had a brief discussion about how we would handle the water issue, as the group did all their planning last session based around the characters who were actually there.

In general, if players come and go while we are in the middle of something, they just fade in and out of existence with no effort made to explain what happened. However, in resource critical situation like the present one, it is necessary to work out how resources are affected.

I didn't lock in any hard, formal process, but we agreed that the guideline will be that the appearing characters will be presumed to have been drinking about what the other characters have been, and will typically be carrying/allocated additional water in keeping with the current group norms.

When setting out on an expedition where the group is able to start with any reasonable amount of water, they will be expected to account for the entire party, as if everyone is actually present when setting their initial distribution, just for the ease of integration later.

The bottom line for me is I don't want player absences (and returns) to cause too many problems, and I'm happy to mostly handwave things away rather than implement complex or punitive solutions.

In this case, the group was mostly out of water, although Alnak-Tul still had plenty. Krik had not drunk his fill recently, but also carried a bit. The party was within about half a day of the oasis, but it was known to be poisoned, so Kynes did some dowsing, and led the group to some cacti that offered a small amount of water. With no other major sources in the immediate vicinity, there was some discussion about Kynes attempting some more dowsing, until it the rest of the party discovered the spell was costing him two or three mana per attempt, he was down to three mana, and he only recovers a single point per day.

Both Malchus and Alnak-Tul are able to cure poisoning with their metabolic purification ability, and Ro had already felt the best option was just to make use of the poisoned water. Everyone now agreed this was a much better course of action than burning mana to hunt down a few mouthfuls.

Heading to the oasis, the group find large stands of coniferous trees and hardy grasses growing in the midst of the stony barrens. They see a group of around twenty elves with some kanks (antlike mounts) gathered near the oasis, and decide to approach them.

The elves don't see in any danger in this rag-tag group and, although they are wary, when it becomes clear the PCs aren't a threat, they are quite pleasant and upbeat, although they also have a sarcastic and aloof arrogance about them.

The elves are busy filling large leather containers from the oasis and packing them on their kanks. When Kynes lets the elves know that the party also plans to fill here, one of the elves warns them that the water is poisoned, and should they wish to make use if it, they will require some medilonoc, which will counteract the poison.

When asked who poisoned the oasis, one of the elves says he couldn't possibly know, making it clear enough with his chuckle and false tone that he surely does know. The elves offer to sell some medilonic, although the PCs appear to have little to offer. Some efforts to appeal to the elves' better natures are met with a mix of amusement and scorn. Eventually, the elves accept a crossbow and six bolts in return for a pouch of dry, purple flowers.

While this conversation is going on, the party notices some elves on a tall arch some distance across the water, who appear to be pouring something into the water. This is, apparently, part of their noble efforts to purify the water supply.

Malchus drinks deeply from tainted water, then sits down to meditate and cleanse himself of any possible poison. He is watched closely by the elves, some of whom appear upset that he does not become ill or die, while others congratulate him on his hardy constitution.

The elves advise that the dwarves of Kled, the west, but they cannot be trusted and will sell anyone into slavery. There are also some escaped slaves living in a community somewhere in the mountains to the south. Then, having finished restocking and "purifying", they take their leave and head of eastward.

Exploring the area, the oasis is hospitable only in contrast to the surrounding wastes. The water gives of an acrid scent, which is assumed to be its natural state, and not the result of any poisoning. It is surrounded on two sides by bubbling mudflats giving off strange gasses, with beetles and worms crawling through it.

However, Kynes does note that the needles from the local trees can be brewed into a refreshing tea (no effort is made to do so).

The arch rises from the mudflats and spans a narrow area of clear water. It is wide and flat-topped, and has a stone ramp leading from firm ground up to the summit. Ascending, Malchus and Krik find a number of bowls containing an assortment of dried foods and random fetishes and knick-knacks. It is assumed these are some kind of offerings. There is also sign of lots of medilonoc floating on the water below the arch, clearly what the elves were pouring into the water. The party has concluded that the medilonoc is poison, and not an antidote.

As they are looking around, Krik and Malchus spot some small figures – they look to be children – entering the mudflats towards the water. The general consensus is they can't actually be children. Malchus stays low on the arch, while Krik heads down to move into a position to ambush.

However, the carefree conversation suggests these are, in fact, children. Malchus hails the six young dwarves as they pick their way across the mud to the waters edge, calling out to warn them that water is poisoned. The children call back that this isn't possible, because the druid would never allow it to happen.

The conversation is ended when a giant snake-like creature suddenly emerges from the mud and lashes out at one of the children. They scream and attempt to disperse, while Krik starts rushing around and Malchus isn't really sure what to do.

Moments later, one of the children is engulfed, with just some legs left poking from the snakes mouth. Alnak-Tul has crept down to a position where he can see the snake across the water, and releases a crossbow bolt, to little effect. I was a little generous with ranges and modifiers, because I had to make a spot ruling, and have since studied up for next time.

Kynes starts running around the oasis, but has a long way to go. Malchus begins to descend the ramp, but is also a long way from the action.

Krik leaps across the mud directly to the snake, and swings a claw at the creature. However, the snake dodges aside and actually ends up getting it's mouth around the thri-kreen's arm. Defensive special effects in action, and Jo is now very worried that charging in may not have been the wisest course of action.

Alnak-Tul teleports across to the fray, but elects to appear safely behind Krik and out of harm's way. Far more courageous, one of the dwarven children chooses to pull a dagger, and whales uselessly at the snake, screaming for it to let his friend go. Krik is able to get in some blows, even as he is trapped and unable to disengage, and finally the dwarf child lands a lucky blow that causes the creature to flop down.

Alnak-Tul was unable to engage, as he was busy manifesting psionic weapons and I'm not sure what else (it's generally agreed among the group that what was really going on was that De was quite happy to let Krik and a child take all the risks while A-T stayed out of harm's way).

Once the snake was down, A-T happily joined with Krik in tearing the thing to shred to release the child, who had a seriously injury to his arm, but was otherwise mostly OK.

The group works out that the druid is a thri-kreen, and Kynes is eventually able to convince the kids that they are friends with the druid, that the water really isn't safe, and they should allow the party to escort them back home.

At Kled, the villagers are very pleased with the return of their younglings. It is explained that a company of troops from Nibenay sent to capture Jura Dai elves and drive them away watered at the oasis and made themselves welcome in Kled, and the elves have blamed the dwarves for this, even though they had no choice in the matter. The elves boasted that they captured the druid, rather than killing him, so it is possible he is still alive. If so, he should be able to purify the water, if he can be returned safely.

The leader of the town, Baranus, has formed the township as part of his quest to uncover the lost ruins of Kemalok. There is a large excavation just outside town, where he seeks access to this fabled lost city, and believe that, if it is found, it will herald a new age of prosperity for Athas, a rebirth of dwarven society, and access to unlimited water hidden deep below the ground. Kynes was quite moved by this, and finds it a noble goal. I'm not sure whether or not anyone else caught on to the futility, but I think this is something I would like to build on, if I get the chance. If Baranus doesn't find his lost city (and I'm pretty sure he won't) he is doomed to become a banshee on his eventual death.

The PCs, of course, agree to go try and find and rescue Ki-klick-chik the druid. They are able to acquire some weapons and even a bit of armour from the dwarves, and also a decent amount of clean water.

Plans are made to supplement the clean water with poisoned water from the oasis. Again, I am extremely pleased at how well the psionic rules are working. So far, the various numbers I settled on seem to just be working – suriving on poisonous water and metabolic purification is feasible, but requires some caution in maintaining sufficient power points. Not long before the game started, I made a decision to halve the rate of PP recovery, and at the moment it feels like I got pretty luck and hit a sweet spot.

Before the party departs, Baranus also presents the party with the Sword of Kemalok, a steel blade with the power to cure a serious wound once per day. According to the module, the PCs just get this, but there is no way I would have it handed over just because they claim they're going to go rescue the druid – the dwarves may be desperate, but they're not stupid. As such, Baranus is making it clear that he is giving them the sword because of their selfless decision to risk their lives to aid the town's children.

Someone commented that this is a sign that good deeds are rewarded, and I'm glad that's been established as something that can happen, as it means they won't all become completely cynical the first time they're punished for doing the right thing (which I think has to happen at least some of the time in any good Dark Sun game).

Heading to the rough area where they believe the Jura Dai to be held up takes a bit longer than expected due to some less than perfect navigation, but a few days later the party is crossing a narrow band of sandy wastes towards badlands and mountains.

Alnak-Tul spots an elf ahead of them, loping away and clearly trying to stay in some cover. They correctly assume this is a scout, and the two thri-kreen immediately set off in pursuit. Realising he is unable to outpace the mantis warriors, the elf stops and uses his psionic defences. Just as he is closing with the elf, Krik pulls up, unable to remember why he chasing the elf, and unable to work out what he should be doing next. A-T pulls up for a second, then carries on, but he too ends up befuddled, and by the time they snap out of it a few minutes later, the elf is long gone. Yay for my first psionic attacks on the PCs!

After this event, I asked Jo to check his Fear of Telepaths passion. If he had passed, I was going to randomly assign him either a bonus or a penalty (based on the augment value of the passion) to further interactions with these elves in any proceeding encounters. He failed the check, so nothing further happened, but he was happy just to be called to roll it and see it coming into play.

Meanwhile, Malchus the stout has been travelling on half-water rations and relying on his incredible endurance to avoid any deterioration, but fails a check. We're now back in the position where he can theoretically just top up and suffer no ill effects. I have to think about this. Ro wasn't attempting to game the system, so I don't want to make a punitive ruling, but I also don't like the idea that he (or anyone) can always just go on half rations and then drink a bit extra any day where they fail a check. After a few moments, I advised him to make a Willpower check and, when he fails, Malchus tops up, allowing him to recover his lost fatigue within fifteen minutes, but then he keeps drinking, and has a whole day's fill, even though he'd already had half over the course of the day. He's still ahead on water consumption over the course of a few days, and I think that's a fairly reasonable compromise; Ro also thought it was entirely fair. I also like anything that results in characters that aren't always making entirely rational decisions about water based on mechanical breakpoints, so it's win-win-win to my mind.

The party camps for the night and then, the next morning, Kynes and A-T elect to do some levitation scouting, trying to see what paths they can pick out in the badlands. While up there, A-T spots what he thinks are three elves picking their way cautiously along a path high up a rocky hill. Kynes casts Dowsing, and detects numerous water sources, including the elves the kreen as seen, another moving source near those three, a large cluster much deeper into the badlands, and some other scattered points, at least some of which they assume to be guard posts.

Alnak-Tul tries to identify a clear path through the gullies and re-entrants to the large cluster, but is unable to follow the terrain clearly for the required distance.

It's decided the party will head for the three elves they've seen, as that seems the most likely path to the main encampment, but that will have to wait for next session.

* ** **** ** *

​
So, we're still getting comfortable with Mythras. I tend to not call for a lot of rolls, and basic skill checks are pretty easy to understand, so no issues there. The psionic attacks were both opposed checks, and at least De and possible Jo as well were a bit surprised when they passed their checks, but still failed to resist the attack (because the psion passed "better").

The combat was a bit ugly, but that's in large part because the party was spread all over the place and mostly running around trying to get involved. Jo found it very exciting – as mentioned, when the snake got a hold of him, he was really worried, and then he managed to come out on top with his little dwarf friend at his side.

Overall, I'm very happy with both Mythras itself and the things I've done in my Dark Sun conversion, and it should only get easier and smoother as we go.
 
I love the fact that you are using the 1 magic point/day rule along with the water scarcity. That makes resource management much more of an issue. No using magic to just get yourself out of every jam!
 
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