History TabletopGame / DarkSun

** TheJuggernaut - So-ut, aka the Rampager. It's not a Tarrasque, but it tries as much as can be packed in 15' body. It's even better armored, semi-sentient, ChaoticEvil, got red GlowingEyesOfDoom, drips acid from claws and causes fear when charges. And until beaten really hard, prefers to destroy manmade item rather than puny creatures attacking it. Unless they were "fortunate" enough to have metal armor, in which case it's going to be torn into small corroded pieces right on the wearer.

* SeriousBusiness - Using Arcane magic

* WorldOfBadass - Athas is so harsh that just ''living here'' qualifies as TheSpartanWay. In earlier editions, the rules stated that the average human in Athas was a third-level fighter, equivalent to a decently experienced adventurer in most other settings; in most settings back then, average humans wouldn't have any levels at all.

* BanOnMagic - Openly practicing arcane magic, defiling or not, in a city-state without a license is a serious offense.

* CanonDiscontinuity - The 4E revamp follows more-or-less the original story, but sounds a lot less weird. The Primordials either kill or drive off the gods, so there's no more divine magic for the world. A powerful psion named Rajaat discovers arcane magic, now able to be found due to a flaw in the world that the lack of divine magic caused. Arcane magic, being flawed, defiles the world with each use, so Rajaat decides to teach people how to use it. Then, he and his closest disciples start a genocide on races that he considered impure.\\

* HalfHumanHybrid - The half-giants, a magically engineered race. Muls are also more or less setting-specific; they're half-dwarves. They don't occur naturally but slavers will force-breed them because muls are considered some of the best gladiators in the world. There's also half-elves, but they're not terribly different from those on other worlds.

** However, there are several other lesser "pre-dragons" around the world, including all of the Sorcerer-Kings. The dragons of Athas aren't naturally born creatures, but rather are actually super powerful Human (or possibly Half-Elven, by the rules) Defilers who take up the study of psionics after mastering the most powerful of spells (in the terms of the original AD&D 2nd Edition rules, they dual-class as Psionicists after reaching 20th level as Defilers), and once they master the highest levels of psychic power (after they reach 20th level as Psionicists) they begin to transform into Dragons. They then go through 10 stages of sometimes painful transformation (they have to gain 10 levels in the Dragon class, in which both their magical and psionic powers continue to increase) until, at last, they become full Dragons at 10th level, at which point they are fully 50th level characters. Needless to say, they are some of the most powerful characters ever presented with rules for play in ''Dungeons & Dragons'', and some of the most powerful characters in all the planes of the D&D multiverse, rivaling gods (they are, in fact, worshiped as gods on Athas.

** BigCreepyCrawlies - Lots and lots. In fact, ''most'' of the living monsters that aren't reptiles are arthropoda. Kanks are used instead of horses, Trin are related to thri-kreen more or less like apes to humans... except they're strictly carnivorous, that is.
** FlyingSeafoodSpecial - Now there is not much of ''water'' to swim in, is there? "Cloud ray" is a huge levitating manta that can devour everyone in a village if it's hungry. "Floater" is somewhat-sentient hydrogen jellyfish.

Three video games set on Athas were released by SSI in the mid-90s. The first, titled ''Dark Sun: Shattered Lands'' centered on the city-state of Draj. The player's party begin as gladiators in the city's arena, but soon escape to the surrounding wilderness. At the same time the sorcerer-king of Draj is preparing to crush the defiant settlements of free people around the city. The player takes on a central role in uniting the disparate villages and searches for ancient lost magics to help in the upcoming battle. The second game, ''Dark Sun: Wake of the Ravager'' takes place around Tyr. The player becomes entangled in the activities of the Veiled Alliance, working against the Dragon who has put into motion plans to wake and control the titular Ravager (actually a tarrasque). The third game was an early MMORPG titled ''Dark Sun: Crimson Sands'', with Tyr and its surroundings as the stage again. Plagued with technical problems, it never quite took off and closed down after three years.

Three video games set on Athas were released by SSI in the mid-90s. The first, titled ''Dark Sun: Shattered Lands'' centered on the city-state of Draj. The player's party begin as gladiators in the city's arena, but soon escape to the surrounding wilderness. At the same time the sorcerer-king of Draj is preparing to crush the defiant settlements of free people around the city. The player takes on a central role in uniting the disparate settlements and searches for ancient lost magics to help in the upcoming battle, as there is little choice. The second game, ''Dark Sun: Wake of the Ravager'' takes place around Tyr. Soon after entering the city for the first time, the player becomes entangled in a local covert resistance movement. This time the plot revolves around someone trying to awaken the titular Ravager, an ancient and destructive creature (specifically a tarrasque), and the player racing to prevent this. The third game was an early MMORPG titled ''Dark Sun: Crimson Sands''. Plagued with technical problems, it never quite took off and closed down after three years.

Three video games set on Athas were released by SSI in the mid-90s. The first, titled ''Dark Sun: Shattered Lands'' centered on the city-state of Draj. The player's party begin as gladiators in the city's arena, but soon escape to the surrounding wilderness. At the same time the sorcerer-king of Draj is preparing to crush the defiant settlements of free people around the city. The player takes on a central role in uniting the disparate settlements and searches for ancient lost magics to help in the upcoming battle, as there is little choice. The second game, ''Dark Sun: Wake of the Ravager'' takes place around Tyr. Soon after entering the city for the first time, the player becomes entangled in a local covert resistance movement. This time the plot revolves around someone trying to awaken the titular Ravager, an ancient and destructive creature, and the player racing to prevent this. The third game was an early MMORPG titled ''Dark Sun: Crimson Sands''. Plagued with technical problems, it never quite took off and closed down after three years.

* CrapsackWorld: The world is dying, the people responsible are in control of everything, what's left of civilisation may collapse utterly if they are removed, most people can't even believe in heroism anymore because sheer survival tends to require brutality and selfishness, and those who achieve power tend to to do so only because they are at best ruthless and more likely utter bastards. That more or less sums up the situation of Athas in a nutshell.
* {{Crossover}}: Very infrequent; back in 2nd Edition, when every other setting was crossing over left and right, it was made clear that Athas was a backwater with very limited knowledge of [[{{Planescape}} planar travel]] and ''no'' knowledge of [[{{Spelljammer}} spelljamming]]. It did cross over with ''{{Ravenloft}}'', though--the city-state of Kalidnay was drawn into the Dark Domains when its ruler attempted to become a dragon and his high templar murdered her family in his name. A bunch of the notorious Cannibal Halflings also make a quick cameo in ''[[BaldursGate Baldur's Gate 2]]'', of all places. There was also an attempted [[{{Planescape}} Githyanki]] invasion, but after discovering what Athas was like, they ''sealed the portal'' to it.

* LivingGasbag: Floaters are a species of sentient (if somewhat dumb) hydrogen jellyfish that float through the air.

* LuckManipulationMechanic: 4th edition suggests an optional rule that allows a player the choice to re-roll the D20 attack roll whenever they originally roll a "1" (indicating a "critical miss"). The new die roll must be accepted, and the character's weapon breaks. Enhanced weapons break if the result is a 5 or less.

'''Dark Sun''' is a Campaign Setting for the second and fourth editions of DungeonsAndDragons. Originally conceived as the default setting for a miniatures based wargame, the setting survived as a regular D&D world even after the minis game failed. There were two editions of Dark Sun, the second advancing the timeline a few years, inserting a bit of hope along with a whole lot of new troubles and detailing a larger portion of the world. After the end of Second Edition D&D, [[http://www.athas.org a group of fans]] kept Dark Sun alive using the Third Edition rules until the advent of an official [[http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20090814 Fourth Edition version]] in 2010.

Dark Sun is also known for its {{metaplot}}, some element of which is present in all editions of the setting. The bare bones is as follows: the Tyr region is dominated by 7 tyrannical city-states, the most powerful of which is, naturally, Tyr. Each city-state is ruled by an oppressive sorcerer-king (or, in some cases, sorcerer-queen); powerful spellcasters that are universally cruel and nigh immortal (the youngest sorcerer-king has over eight centuries under his belt). Tyr's sorcerer-king is Kalak, and on the verge of his ascension (think [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Mayor Wilkins-style]] [[ScaledUp ascension]]) the unthinkable happened: Kalak was slain at the hands of a slave revolt. Power immediately shifted hands to his former High Templar and killer, Tithian, who quickly outlawed slavery and declared Tyr to be a Free City. There are even talks of setting up a senate, giving people rights, and establishing a rudimentary justice system. However, all is not well in Tyr. Multiple factions with opposing interests are vying for both power and a place in the new government, and almost all of them need to be in agreement in order for anything to get done. On any given day, the Free City of Tyr is teetering between [[DyingLikeAnimals anarchy]] and [[DividedWeFall full-blown civil war]]. If that weren't enough, the vultures have begun to circle; with Kalak gone, the numerous bandits and raiders of Athas have declared open season on Tyr's trade roads. Worse, word of Kalak's death has begun to reach the ears of his rival sorcerer-kings, who, aside from consolidating their own power bases to ensure that they avoid Kalak's fate, have begun their machinations against a Tyr they view as hopelessly exposed. The first truly good thing in written Athasian history has happened in Tyr, but it is a meager candle in the face of the tidal wave of darkness hoping to extinguish it.

* BlackAndGrayMorality - an intentional part of the setting is the concept of "what will you do if the circumstances are bleak enough?" The inherent concept of Dark Sun is that the villains are terrible, but the heroes themselves are often forced to commit terrible acts to complete their goal, or simply to survive. One of the first adventures for the setting opens with the party being part of a band of slaves whose slavers have been slain, but there isn't enough water to sustain everyone. The party is thusly given a choice: do they kill the other slaves to spare them the agonies of death by thirst, abandon them to the wild and steal all the water themselves, or insist on sharing the water and risk none of them surviving? Depending on a particular campaign, though, this could be darkened to [[EvilVersusEvil Black and Black Morality]], or lightened to GreyAndGrayMorality.

* CanonDiscontinuity - The 4E revamp follows more-or-less the original story , but sounds a lot less weird. The Primordials either kill or drive off the gods, so there's no more divine magic for the world. A powerful psion named Rajaat discovers arcane magic, now able to be found due to a flaw in the world that the lack of divine magic caused. Arcane magic, being flawed, defiles the world with each use, so Rajaat decides to teach people how to use it. Then, he and his closest disciples start a genocide on races that he considered impure.\\

* CrapsackWorld: The world is dying, the people responsible are in control of everything, what's left of civilisation may collapse utterly if they are removed, most people can't even believe in heroism any more because sheer survival tends to require brutality and selfishness, and those who achieve power tend to to do so only because they are at best ruthless and more likely utter bastards. That more or less sums up the situation of Athas in a nutshell.

* CulturalTranslation - InUniverse. Urik government got a clue about Kreen pack mentality long ago and established a simple policy: gate guards explain to every entering thri-kreen that the city is a large pack and the newcomer is welcome to join any of its many clutches, but must obey laws of the pack. Humanoids in the city has little to no problems with local thri-kreen as a result.

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs - Pterrans, Humanoid Pterodactyl, are a player race.
* {{Expy}} - The Draxan minions of the Dragon of Tyr have quite a lot in common with their [[TheDraka almost-namesakes from Stirling's novels]]: Being outnumbered ten to one by their slaves, which they make up for by treating them worse than any other slaveholding society that ever existed on their planet, being fond of genocide, and having a warrior society where martial (ok, and magical/technical) prowess trumps everything.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture - Many of the city-states fall under this trope. This includes Balic (ancient Rome, complete with Patricians and Praetors), Draj (very obviously the Aztecs), Raam (either Egypt or India — there's evidence for both), Gulg (DarkestAfrica), Tyr (the Phoenician city of Tyre, presumably), Urik (Sumer), and Nibenay (probably a mix of China and Tibet). The halflings of the Forest Ridge seem vaguely Amazonian.

* HorseOfADifferentColor - The local equivalent of a horse/camel is the kank, a mostly docile and mildly social large insect, that [[ExtremeOmnivore eats almost anything]], nearly tireless and thus fastest in the long run -- they're used as riding-, pack- and even chariot- beasts, or as herd animals, because they give "honey" and though their meat is inedible, chitinous carapace is useful. Erdlu is a flightless bird which can be mounted and is a good sprinter, but mostly get used as a herd animal for eggs, meat and a few byproducts. The inix is a large lizard which can do both sprint and sustained run, but needs to eat too much of vegetation to be practical in the desert. Mekillot is a six-ton lizard and the local equivalent of an elephant -- used for a howdah or wagon and is never really "tame" -- they are a bit infamous for eating their handlers, suddenly sitting on anyone who tries to walk under one and randomly deciding to wander off the road and ignore commands not given via direct MindControl.
* HumansAreBastards - The humans, led by a pyreen, conducted a genocidal campaign against the other races, driving many (including orcs, goblins, and gnomes) to extinction. His human lieutenants turned against him and gave him AFateWorseThanDeath after, though, but more becuase he intended to wipe out the humans after the war and give the place back to the halflings than because they weren't bastards.

* LuckManipulationMechanic: 4th edition suggests an optional rule that allows a player the choice to re-roll the D20 attack roll whenever they originally roll a "1" (indicating a "critical miss"). The new die roll must be accepted, however the character's weapon breaks.
** Enhanced weapons break if the result is a 5 or less.

** Magic isn't necessarily inherently evil, it's just destructive to the environment if used irresponsibly. It does have a tendency, however, to seduce weaker-willed and Evil wizards into using the quicker and easier Defiler method of spell-casting, which damages the environment, instead of the slower and harder, but more responsible, path of the Preserver, which DOESN'T harm the environment. The world has actually been reduced to a barren, almost lifeless desert full of mutated monsters (even a lot of PLANTS will try to eat you, and it's common-place for people to have minor random mutations) because of thousands of years of irresponsible use of Defiling magic, and in-universe the world's inhabitants certainly CONSIDER magic to be evil.
* MassiveRaceSelection - In addition to the usual humans, elves, half elves, halflings, and dwarves, players could play half-giants, thri-kreen (MultiArmedAndDangerous mantis people), pterrans (flightless pteranodon people), aarakokra (bird people), and muls (half-dwarves). The 3.5 ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' update added Maenads (sparkly screaming people).\\
\\
Official 4e races: Humans, Elves, Eladrin (the rulers of "The Land Within the Wind", the almost destroyed Feywild), Goliaths (reflavored as Half-Giants), Dwarves, Half-Elves, Mul, Dragonborn (reflavored as Dray), Halflings, Thri-Kreen, Tieflings (humans with demonic ancestry), Genasi (elementally-imbued humans), Kalashtar (psionically adept humans first introduced in {{Eberron}}), and Minotaurs ("Half-Beast Giants"). Suggestions for including other races, at DM's discretion, includes time travellers, planewalkers, and mutations spawned from the Pristine Tower and Sunwarped Flats.

** It is entirely possible for a high-level adventuring party to die without ever having made it within ''thirty miles'' of the place, just from the ''weather''. Not to mention the ''surrounding sea of lava''. Which can only be crossed by a series of jumpgates ''directly linked to the Dragon's mind''. Then you reach the outer walls. Which are 720 feet high ''and a quarter mile thick''. And have no gates, but instead require you to win a psionic power contest with a ginormously powerful psionic construct before the passwall portal will temporarily dematerialize for you. Did we mention that the gate sends out a mental alarm whenever unauthorized psionic contact is initiated? Assuming you've gone through all this, congratulations, you're now past the introduction and actually get to try and survive in the city. Good luck!
** And no, it ''doesn't'' let up once you get past the outer defenses. *shudder*

** Actually, while there is only one FULL dragon on Athas, there are several other lesser "pre-dragons" around the world, including all of the Sorcerer-Kings. The dragons of Athas aren't naturally born creatures, but rather are actually super powerful Human (or possibly Half-Elven, by the rules) Defilers who take up the study of psioinics after mastering the most powerful of spells (in the terms of the original AD&D 2nd Edition rules, they dual-class as Psionicists after reaching 20th level as Defilers), and once they master the highest levels of psychic power (after they reach 20th level as Psionicists) they begin to transform into Dragons. They then go through 10 stages of sometimes painful transformation (they have to gain 10 levels in the Dragon class, in which both their magical and psionic powers continue to increase) until, at last, they become full Dragons at 10th level, at which point they are fully 50th level characters. 20th level Defiler (Wizard), 20th level Psionicist, AND 10th level Dragon characters (which effectively gives them the powers of 30 levels in both other classes.) Needless to say, they are some of the most powerful characters ever presented with rules for play in Dungeons & Dragons, and some of the most powerful characters in all the planes of the D&D multiverse, rivaling gods (they are, in fact, worshiped as gods on Athas.
* OurElvesAreDifferent - They are quick, sneaky desert raiders who no one else fully trusts. For very good reasons. Oh, and they're seven feet tall.

* OurFairiesAreDifferent - In 4e, the inherent haughtiness and xenophobia of Eladrin has been ramped up to the point that the majority of Athasians don't even believe they exist. With rampant defiling rapidly shrinking the Land Within the Winds (read: [[{{CrystalSpiresAndTogas}} the Feywild]]), most Eladrin that people encounter are wandering assassins charged with slaughtering any and all arcane spellcasters they meet in hopes of saving their homeland.

** BigCreepyCrawlies - Lots and lots. In fact, ''most'' of the living monsters that aren't reptiles are arthropoda. Kanks are used instead of horses, Trin are related to thri-kreen more or less like apes to humans... except they're strictly carnivore, that is.

** TheJuggernaut - So-ut, aka Rampager. It's not a Tarrasque, but it tries as much as can be packed in 15' body. It's even better armored, semi-sentient, ChaoticEvil, got red GlowingEyesOfDoom, drips acid from claws and causes fear when charges. And until beaten really hard, prefers to crush-tear-destroy manmade item rather than puny creatures attacking it. Unless they were "fortunate" enough to have metal armor, in which case it's going to be torn into small corroded pieces right on the wearer.
** OurDragonsAreDifferent - Drakes are semisentient wingless dragon-ish elemental-ish (so there are 4 varieties) reptiles.

* EverythingTryingToKillYou - Those three backup characters? You'll probably need them -- even if you'll find a high-level priest friendly enough to resurrect, it's not likely that there's going to be the body left. Athas got huge elemental creatures, sentient (and evil) walking worms and so on. But encountering a normal-sized beetle, small tortoise, [[AllDesertsHaveCacti cactus]], field of flowers, patch of grass can be just as fatal, and in even more unpleasant ways. Simply having a little seed blown by the wind off a [[ManEatingPlant seemingly inert tree]] onto open skin can end up in taking a walk when companions don't look and feeding oneself to it.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture - Many of the city-states fall under this trope. This includes Balic (ancient Rome, complete with Patricians and Praetors), Draj (very obviously the Aztecs), Raam (either Egypt or India—there's evidence for both), Gulg (DarkestAfrica), Tyr (the Phoenician city of Tyre, presumably), Urik (Sumer), and Nibenay (probably a mix of China and Tibet). The halflings of the Forest Ridge seem vaguely Amazonian.

* HorseOfADifferentColor - The local equivalent of a horse/camel is Kank, mostly docile and mildly social large insect, that [[ExtremeOmnivore eats almost anything]], nearly tireless and thus fastest in the long run -- they're used as riding-, pack- and even chariot- beasts, or as herd animals, because they give "honey" and though their meat is inedible, chitinous carapace is useful. Erdlu is a flightless bird which can be mounted and is a good sprinter, but mostly get used as a herd animal for eggs, meat and a few byproducts. The inix is a large lizard which can do both sprint and sustained run, but needs to eat too much of vegetation to be practical in the desert. Mekillot is a six-ton lizard and the local equivalent of an elephant -- used for a howdah or wagon and is never really "tame" -- they are a bit infamous for eating their handlers, suddenly sitting on anyone who tries to walk under one and randomly deciding to wander off the road and ignore commands not given via direct MindControl.

* ScaledUp - The goal of pretty much every sorcerer-king
* SeriousBusiness - using Arcane magic

Dark Sun is also known for its {{metaplot}}, some element of which is present in all editions of the setting. The bare bones is as follows: the Tyr region is dominated by 7 tyrannical city-states, the most powerful of which is, naturally, Tyr. Each city-state is ruled by an oppressive sorcerer-king (or, in some cases, sorcerer-queen); powerful spellcasters that are universally cruel and nigh immortal (the youngest sorcerer-king has over eight centuries under his belt). Tyr's sorcerer-king is Kalak, and on the verge of his ascension (think [[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Mayor Wilkins-style]] [[ScaledUp ascension]]) the unthinkable happened: Kalak was slain at the hands of a slave revolt. Power immediately shifted hands to his former High Templar and killer, Tithian, who quickly outlawed slavery and declared Tyr to be a Free City. There are even talks of setting up a senate, giving people rights, and establishing a rudimentary justice system. However, all is not well in Tyr. Multiple factions with opposing interests are vying for both power and a place in the new government, and almost all of them need to be in agreement in order for anything to get done. On any given day, the Free City of Tyr is teetering between [[DyingLikeAnimals anarchy]] and [[DividedWeFall full-blown civil war]]. If that weren't enough, the vultures have begun to circle; with Kalak gone, the numerous bandits and raiders of Athas have declared open season on Tyr's trade roads. Worse, word of Kalak's death has begun to reach the ears of his rival sorcerer-kings, who, aside from consolidating their own power bases to ensure that they avoid Kalak's fate, have begun their machinations against a Tyr they view as hopelessly exposed. The first truly good thing in written Athasian history has happened in Tyr, but it is a meager candle in the face of the tidal wave of darkness hoping to extinguish it.

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence - Any sufficiently powerful wizard/psionicist can try this in 2e, though it is a long, painful, multistage process in which a single mistake will kill you dead. Evil characters turn into dragons while good ones turn into angelic energy beings. All of the big bads are in the process of becoming dragons. Did we mention that becoming a dragon is a process that requires life energy as a catalyst, meaning that every single dragon is the product of an act of genocide? This is why there are no orcs on Athas.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces - In addition to the usual humans, elves, half elves, halflings, and dwarves, players could play half-giants, thri-kreen (MultiArmedAndDangerous mantis people), pterrans (flightless pteranodon people), aarakokra (bird people), and muls (half-dwarves). The 3.5 ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' update added Maenads (sparkly screaming people).
** Official 4e races: Humans, Elves, Eladrin (the rulers of "The Land Within the Wind", the almost destroyed Feywild), Goliaths (reflavored as Half-Giants), Dwarves, Half-Elves, Mul, Dragonborn (reflavored as Dray), Halflings, Thri-Kreen, Tieflings (humans with demonic ancestry), Genasi (elementally-imbued humans), Kalashtar (psionically adept humans first introduced in {{Eberron}}), and Minotaurs ("Half-Beast Giants"). Suggestions for including other races, at DM's discretion, includes time travellers, planewalkers, and mutations spawned from the Pristine Tower and Sunwarped Flats.

** Magic isn't actually inherently evil, it's just inherently destructive to the environment. And that's only if it's used irresponsibly. It does have a tendency, however, to seduce weaker-willed and Evil wizards into using the quicker and easier Defiler method of spell-casting, which damages the environment, instead of the slower and harder, but more responsible, path of the Preserver, which DOESN'T harm the environment. The world has actually been reduced to a barren, almost lifeless desert full of mutated monsters (even a lot of PLANTS will try to eat you, and it's common-place for people to have minor random mutations) because of thousands of years of irresponsible use of Defiling magic, and in-universe the world's inhabitants certainly CONSIDER magic to be evil.

* Expy - The Draxan minions of the Dragon of Tyr have quite a lot in common with their [[TheDraka almost-namesakes from Stirling's novels]]: Being outnumbered ten to one by their slaves, which they make up for by treating them worse than any other slaveholding society that ever existed on their planet, being fond of genocide, and having a warrior society where martial (ok, and magical/technical) prowess trumps everything.

* HorseOfADifferentColor - In a world with no horses, people ride anything from camels to large dragonflies to even larger beetles.

** HorseOfADifferentColor - The local equivalent of a horse/camel is Kank, mostly docile and mildly social large insect, that [[ExtremeOmnivore eats almost anything]], nearly tireless and thus fastest in the long run -- they're used as riding-, pack- and even chariot- beasts, or as herd animals, because they give "honey" and though their meat is inedible, chitinous carapace is useful. Erdlu is a flightless bird which can be mounted and is a good sprinter, but mostly get used as a herd animal for eggs, meat and a few byproducts. The inix is a large lizard which can do both, but eats too much. The local equivalent of an elephant -- used for a howdah or wagon -- is Mekillot, six-ton lizard; they are a bit infamous for eating their handlers, suddenly sitting on any unfortunate who walks under one, or wandering off the road and ignoring commands not given via direct MindControl.

** BigCreepyCrawlies - Lots and lots. In fact, ''most'' of the living monsters that aren't reptiles are arthropoda. And the local equivalent of a cow is Kank -- large mildly social insect. Trin are related to thri-kreen more or less like apes to humans... except they're strictly carnivore, that is.

* EverythingTryingToKillYou - There are huge elemental creatures, sentient walking worms and so on. But encountering with a normal-sized beetle, small tortoise, patch of flowers, [[AllDesertsHaveCacti cactus]], or simply having a small seed blown by the wind onto open skin can be just as fatal, and in impressively unpleasant ways, too.

** BigCreepyCrawlies - Lots and lots. In fact, ''most'' of the living monsters that aren't reptiles are arthropoda. And the local equivalent of a cow is Kank -- large mildly social insect.

DarkSun is a Campaign Setting for the second and fourth editions of DungeonsAndDragons. Originally conceived as the default setting for a miniatures based wargame, the setting survived as a regular D&D world even after the minis game failed. There were two editions of Dark Sun, the second advancing the timeline a few years, inserting a bit of hope along with a whole lot of new troubles and detailing a larger portion of the world. After the end of Second Edition D&D, [[http://www.athas.org a group of fans]] kept Dark Sun alive using the Third Edition rules until the advent of an official [[http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20090814 Fourth Edition version]] in 2010.

* BigCreepyCrawlies - Thri-Kreen are a playable race. Fairly decent though.

* EverythingTryingToKillYou - The only setting that gives you the CR for a [[AllDesertsHaveCacti cactus]].

* MultiArmedAndDangerous - Thri-Kreen have four arms, as do the giant-like brohgs.

* PsychicPowers - Presented as the evolutionary alternative to magic, referred to by the locals as The Way. Some people have them through training, some people spontaneously manifest them, but almost everyone has them to some degree, including most of the nonsentient monsters. With the exception of {{Planescape}}, home of the [[http://www.planewalker.com/040101/cranium-rat cranium rat]], this is the only campaign setting where you risk having your head exploded by vermin.

* TheSpartanWay - Athas is so harsh that just ''living here'' qualifies. Hilariously, an extraplanar invasion by the githyanki ended with the githyanki running away from the desert full of psionic survivalist badasses and marking the entire plane down as a 'Do not EVER try invading here again. As a matter of fact, just seal the whole damn portal!'
** For reference, in earlier editions, the rules stated that the average human in Athas was a third-level fighter, equivalent to a decently experienced adventurer in most other settings; in most settings back then, average humans wouldn't have any levels at all.

* WorldOfBadass - The average person in the setting is a 3rd level Fighter.

** [[{{Hobbits}} Halflings]] and [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwarves]] are different as well, the former being mostly savage cannibals who inhabit the few remaining jungles and the latter hairless brutes who are generally found being used as slaves due to their amazing endurance.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces - In addition to the usual humans, elves, half elves, halflings, and dwarves, players could play half-giants, thri-kreen (MultiArmedAndDangerous mantis people), pterrans (flightless pteranodon people), aarakokra (bird people), and muls (half-dwarves). The 3.5 ''{{Dragon}}'' update added Maenads (sparkly screaming people).

* TimeSkip - The 3E revamp in ''{{Dragon}}''.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces - In addition to the usual humans, elves, half elves, halflings, and dwarves, players could play half-giants, thri-kreen (MultiArmedAndDangerous mantis people), pterrans (flightless pteranodon people), aarakokra (bird people), and muls (half-dwarves). The 3.5 ''{{Dragon}}'' update added maedars (sparkly screaming people).

* LuckManipulationMechanic: 4th edition suggests an optional rule that allows a player the choice to re-roll the D20 attack roll whenever they originally roll a "1" (indicating a "critical miss"). The new die roll must be accepted, however, and if the result is a 5 or less the character's weapon breaks.

* {{Gotterdammerung}} - Very much so. Tombs and temples from the Green Age dot the Tyr region, all of them either empty or filled with stuff that is very good at killing you. Of particular mention is that since metal is so rare, the techniques for doing stuff with it (i.e. blacksmithing of any sort) have been lost for generations. This means that even a mundane iron sword is a priceless relic of a far more technologically advanced time.

** The very existence of the Mind Lords of the Last Sea is another piece of 2e Athas that many fans [[FanonDiscontinuity do not acknowledge]]. This one is [[YourMileageMayVary a little more contentious]], though, as for every person who dislikes "dolphin, Athasian" there's another one who thinks that the concept of ''ThePrisoner'' ala D&D is actually pretty keen for this setting and was certainly something new to throw at the players if they were tiring of cannibal halflings.

* StepfordSmiler - Everyone who lives around the Last Sea, where happiness is enforced by law. You had better have happy throughts, or the psychic police WILL MAKE YOU HAVE HAPPY THOUGHTS.