Hey man, have you ever played the Gothic series? If so would you like to to a retrospective of those games? Or any other series 😅 I really miss those longer videos 😉😂
@@adi6293 I bought both the first and second on launch, but need to revisit the whole series again for a more in-depth look. I remember Gothic and Arcanum releasing around the same time and innovating on day-night cycles and automated NPCs in great ways that only hit the mainstream later in games like Oblivion.
Dark Sun also had amazing novels behind them. 5 for the main story written by Troy Denning who also designed the table top of dark sun and is a hell of author having his hand in much of halo and star wars novels.
I actually helped create one of the patches for shattered lands (patch disk v1.1 on 2 IBM 3.5" floppys), I was on the phone for several hours with a dev and a while later (cant remember if it was a week or a month) i got these floppy's in the mail with patches they created and was on the phone again with him seeing if it fixed the bugs, back then playtesting and fixes where high on the list of priorities of game companies.
It's been one of those settings that I love, and have tried a few times to start TRPG games of it with friends, but every time session 1 or 2 comes around, some series of coincidences or scheduling conflicts has put it dead in the water. Drives me nuts.
Yeah, the visual disparity is funny. That image was from 4th edition D&D, where armor was allowed. In 2nd edition, Thri-Kreen got a large AC bonus, but could not wear armor on top of that.
@@Indigo_Gaming oh and they are a BEAST to play. I've never played a psionic killing machine with SO MANY ATTACKS in one round before. Christ they are fun to play in arena settings too.
Due to sizing 2nd artwork they have mantis like shape were in 4ed they have more armor. You will also notice 4ed stuff have more obsidian and insect caparece stuff going on, while the classic look is more about leather and bone
You kidding me? Dark sun is one of the first games I ever played. I was a really young child (like 4 I think?) didn't even read english yet (not from an english language country), and i just fought the arena until I died a million times. I had fun but I was like, "ok so thats a fun game". A year later I played it again and figured how to escape the arena, and it was probably the most intense moment in my gaming "career". I was playing like %0.5 of the game and had so much fun, imagine how much fun I had with the full game. Man. Such a fun fun fun feeling. I love these games and the lore of Athas so much. It's beautiful, all of it. The second game wasn't terrible either :P
Saddest thing for me. I learned about dark sun and how the world worked. Thought it a great idea for a gritty survival game, also loved the idea of hero's rising up in this dark world to show some hope to people that had none. Yet every table I have ever pitched it at, people just want to be political about it, or want to make fun of it and play some meme character. People either taking it too seriously to the point they are offended or not serious at all so they ruin the mood of the game, no one willing to take a middle ground and enjoy the setting.
dang straight, I just want to raid some dungeons of remnant civilizations for what matter of fancy trinkets to trade back at the major cities for a decent meal! Bloody California Culture wrecked not only D&D, but also MtG.
To me, a more hopeful story us actually perfect for Dark Sun. It's not a grim dark setting, where the bad guys have achieved total victory and there is no hope. In fact, I think hope is one of the setting's main themes. The Sorcerer Kings are not omnipotent. They're petty, greedy, paranoid megalomaniacs, powerful yes, but still mortal. To me, the ideal campaign would follow a ragtag group of slaves, Preservers, and other outcasts forge a grand army of free peoples to cast down the tyranny of the Sorcerer Kings, and return Athas to the people. That's an uplifting story, of how even when things seem hopeless, there's always a light, a chance to make things better.
Dark Sun Shattered Lands is one of the least covered SSI products and I see no reason as to why it's not considered on the same level as the Gold Box games, just as the Dark Sun setting lives in the shadows of Planescape when it can be just as evocative. Glad to see it getting some attention.
I'm going to leave you a weird comment (positive though, promise!) on this one. I have been having a rough time, feeling apthetic and a bit lost. Then I catch this documentary and suddenly I'm feeling intrigued and immersed in this game world I previously knew nothing about... I'm not even that far into the video yet! I just felt compelled I suppose. If there were a better way than a TH-cam comment to articulate the sense of ease that your work gave me the ability to feel today, well I wish I knew what that was because words dont seem to suffice. You've heard comments like this before though: "Thank you this video got me through a rough patch". Maybe you see it, you give it one of those little hearts, maybe comment back, then we go our separate ways and the humble, but no less profound impact your video had on my day sort of fades into the noise. Things like this really matter though and I just hope you will remember that, even though I'm just one in a million, this very feeling of ease could be being felt on a daily basis by the people who watch your content. There's some beautiful magic going on there. If you ever get imposter syndrome as a creator or have a rough day of your own, I hope you know that what you do matters.
I've heard rumors of it getting a 5e revival, but nothing solid. It's a shame they put so much effort into bringing Dark Sun to 4e, when that system was so divisive.
Oh god no, I have zero faith that WotC is capable of doing Dark Sun justice in their current iteration, they would defile (pardon the pun) the setting to the point of it being unrecognizable, removing everything from the setting that made it the iconic setting that it is.
No, actually. I don't want current day WotC to have anything to do with Dark Sun. They've proven they don't want anything to do with any "scary" hardcore mechanics or lore. They'd mess it up. I actually used Dark Sun for a 5e campaign recently. If you're creative it really isn't hard to convert specific rules and go from there.
Shattered lands is one of my favorite games of all time. Team creation, spells, portals, loot, everything seemed to be ahead of it's time. Still have the manual. Maybe do Lands of Lore next
Dark Sun and Ravenloft were always my favorite D&D settings. 2nd edition had its issues but there was so much good stuff out there with all the splat books TSR put out.
I'm glad you covered these. I love Dark Sun. Some additional points: -Even the "basic" races of Athas are different from their normal fantasy counterparts. For example, elves tend to be very tall, around 7' tall. -I recommend SL over WOTR. It's far more polished and stable than it's sequel. It also has superior graphics.
I played and DM’d this setting from ‘93 to ‘98 and it was an absolute favorite among all our friends. The first setting where death was likely, life was brutal, and to survive was a thrill
I'm a huge Brom fan and love the Dark Suns art. It's super evocative and implies so much history and context in each piece. Much like the best Warhammer 40k art. I've never played either the AD&D or the PC RPGs so I really appreciate this overview! It really seems like the Fallout games weren't quite as groundbreaking as some games journalists and fans (myself included) like to imply.
This is cool, my friends and I were definitely all living that "D&D lifestyle". Each of us took turns DM'ing a campaign, we had one for Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance and Dark Sun. Those were epic times.
Gosh, I'm envious of you. Real life ensued and my old group broke apart. I'll be moving to DUNGEONS & DELVERS as my better, non-woke D&D substitute. Once I learn the system, I'll have to find a new gaming community in my town to accept me and my suggestion that they try that game.
Still to this day I mourn the loss of the Dark Sun MMORPG made by SSI using the same engine as their games. It is lost to time and further entrenched the NEED to archive and preserve that genre of game.
@@Indigo_Gaming I was happy to see the client link which you shared. I really hope someone is able to reverse engineer it and get it running again... some day. It means the world that light shines on this game in some way so thank you.
If it is mostly client logic, maybe there is also not much need for the original server code. There are even some free 2d engines, yes it will take time, but it can be recreated or what is even better ... improved.
What a waste, if they had put the effort in to another single player title it would still be played today along with the two others instead of on the pile of forgotten mmos.
Oh man, this is super nostalgia for me. Gold box games helped me get through the long, cold northern Michigan winters back in the day. I loved these games as a kid.
@@Carnefice that kind of sucks if it's one of the main reasons. It's not like they're depicting slavery in a positive light. I never got that impression from either the P&P or video games.
@@solblackguy apparently now slavery can only be mentioned in the context of the Atlantic slave trade. Or something. I don't understand it either, but that was the reason I read
@@Carnefice yeah, I think I found the article you're referring to about how slavery in Dark Sun's context is problematic. I don't see Conan the Barbarian being cancelled. Hell, there's been like 3 movies about slavery put out in the past couple years and another one around the corner. And all this time I thought it was because of Spelljammer
Hey, I only just came across your channel after your insanely high effort Diablo 3 video and now you manage to hit on a major nostalgia nerve with Dark Sun! Knocking it out of the park my dude.
I wish art and media was as metal as it was in the 90s and 2000s. I miss it so much seeing how much it influenced culture like movies, video games, and table tops, etc. most notably for me though, Blizzard games and warhammer
I couldn't tell you how many hours I spent playing AD&D 2nd Edition. I've been in to computer based RPG's since some of the first PC's as well. Thanks for bringing back some of those great memories I had playing them. Your work is as legendary as the subjects you cover, Sir! o7
Good timing on having a Dark Sun video out. Zee Bashew mentioned the setting in his latest animated spellbook on Hold Person, so there will be alot of traffic interested in the setting.
Whoa man I **LOVED** Dark Sun: Wake of The Ravager! As a die-hard D&D fanatic and role-player, played this game to death (pun intended) but could never finish it, due to the numerous bugs preventing me from getting/doing the necessary requirements. Then the various PC(s) I had died at various timing(s)... Might wanna dig this up again, one day. Keep up the fantastic work, love these vids, keep them coming!
SL was my first foray into D&D as a kid. I ended up tracking down all the books and tearing through them. What a great world. I have sat in a few D&D campaigns, but seeing the battles animated, even in the pixel jank, was always so much better for me. I wish more games like these two existed, or that content mods for other CRPGs could be used for Athas. Thanks for the vid!
I played and finished both games recently and they're still great in 2022. I even managed to get my characters from Shattered Lands transferred over to Wake of the Ravager.
I’ve played every version of D&D from the Red Box all the up until 4th edition (didn’t care for 4th) and man seeing Pool of Radiance again. That was my first D&D video game. Played the hell out of it on my Commodore 64 as a teenager lol. I also played in Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, and Ravenloft campaigns. Great video.
I remember playing in a Dark Sun campaign all those years ago. Played my very favorite character -- a Thri-kreen named Chryyyx. One of the things I loved about him was that he could grapple someone with 2 arms while shredding them with fist blades on 2 other arms and _still_ get a bite attack. Unfortunately, he died due to a poison trap and my party carved him up to give each of them better armor. Ah, well...
Coinciding with the 5e Expanded Psionics Handbook release. Yes. (Psions receiving subclasses like Seer, Telepath structured like other 5e subclasses? Yes please.)
Good grief I love everything about these old school computer rpgs. The gritty and beautiful shrink-wrapped big box art, those glossy little user manuals with their inevitable campaign short story, beautifully illustrated bestiaries and meticulously detailed mechanics guides. The chemical memory of their unboxing....ah! How I miss that. My first ever such memory was 'Times of Lore' - not an SSI product but a very powerful gateway to their games over the course of my childhood. I was otherwise a happy and socially well-adjusted child but my gaming geekhood was forged in that moment.
Ah, Dark Sun. This is the only DnD worlds I could get my hands on, but I love it so much. I've unfortunately never got the chance to play it, but I loved reading through all the lore.
DArk Sun was absolutely brutal. outside of the major cities that you were not always able to get into it was harsh, always thirsty, land was sparse, hot and would eat at you from your first step outside. Plus there were introductions of psionics which if not kept in check would make campaigns go ape crazy. But thats all assuming you made it through day 1. Most games its a game of hard quests, Dark sun on the other hand was a place where you had major struggles just to get to where you could find work amid all the desert survival, evil defilers, bandits, water conservation to survive. It was awesome.
Fascinating video and topic! I’ve never been super into D&D-related media but I liked how you approached things here. Looking forward to the big project!
A pretty interesting setting for a similiar D&D campaign of what one could expect in Dark Sun, could be based on a video game "Kenshi". I plan on making custom races and minicampaign based on it.
Classic games may have a simple, sometimes boring gameplay compared to today, but the vibe, setting, music is something that remain unreplaceable. They have more heart and soul put into them. Now indie games can deliver similar experinces. Becouse they are a experince, instead a dopamine dispensers like all AAA products.
I'd argue the gameplay was better, now in most cases we have just "realistic" graphics, physics and sounds. And actually in many of these older games, the non realistic graphics are better because devs had less resources and they used them to only show the important stuff, not the density of the shadow of the player's dagger if he faces East at 5PM.
I have very foggy memories of seeing my neighbour's older brother playing Wake of the Ravager on his PC and of being entranced by the cover. My dad was big heavy metal buff, so remember loving everything about the game, despite knowing nothing about it. But I've completely forgotten about it over the years, until finding your video. Great stuff, you got yourself a new subscriber.
I still have the original disks from an SSI collection that contained Shattered lands ... it's such a shame I can't install them from the disks any more. Shattered Lands was the craziest game from that set I had played. This vid really made me miss those days and all the stuff TSR had dropped in book stores.
I actually just finished Shattered Lands. Amazing setting and style, but it's seriously hampered by bugs and an inconsistent difficulty curve (i.e. it's extremely easy right up until it's nearly impossible).
Yeah I definitely came across that difficulty increase in my many playthroughs. A lot of ot stems from my party makeup and using their tools properly. The game gets super easy when you have spell casters that are using their spells properly. It is a tough game! As for the bugs... oh yeah... there are a lot of bugs. Moreso in wake of the ravager.
I remember Shattered Lands, tons of fun back in the day. I remember my brother would grind human gladiators in the slavepens up to level 7, so they'd get 2 melee attacks and a bunch of health. Then he'd split-class them into more traditionally squishy types, like thieves, clerics, and wizards. Sadly Wake of the Ravager was so buggy as to be unplayable back then.
I love dark sun so much I wish it was an open world game like fallout and elder scrolls but I feared today some of the games developers wouldn't do it justice but I continue to make dark Sun figures out of Legos and collected all the tabletop books because I love the lore and it's the history
When I first played the first Dark Sun game, I never really understood the rules. I learned the symbols and tried them on enemies to see what happened. Never underestimate the D&D rules for beginners. It takes time to learn them.
I love your vids so much. Your narration, and the epic, legendary worlds you talk about just transport me to that world and make me wanna go on some epic adventure lol I need to play more rpg's I just really suck at them I feel like most "rpg's" nowadays suck there's just nothing like that magical feeling of those old school rpg's
A correction about 12:19 "It's difficult to tell how many spells per day you have remaining, right until you can't cast them anymore" It's actually easy to know how many spells you have left per level. On the spellcasting screen, If you move the cursor over a spell, and then move it out (but still inside the spellcasting screen) you will see the available spells for that level at the bottom.
It's a shame Dark Sun and Ravenloft never got the infinity engine treatment. I think it would've done a lot more to preserve the settings if they got in on the golden age of crpgs.
Do you edit yourself, because that was an incredible introduction, loved the way it was cut. Glad to see the Not Forgotten series making a return, my favorite!!!! Always so illuminating!
I wish we got a dark sun game in the style of the ravenloft games and menzoberranzan. Don’t get me wrong these games were great but it would’ve been so cool to see Athas through the eyes of your party
Shattered Lands was my first SSI game. A friend gifted me an official cd-rom (with an Al-Qadim, and Ravenloft game on disc too) but no manual... for the "drm" he just told me not to enter anything until I get to the one asking for the word that starts with the letter "a" (on page 54 I think heh) and reply "armor" good times. Thanks for the GOG affiliate link.
Dark Sun is one of the best fantasy settings ever created - and not just for gaming. Some of the books and later supplements could be ignored but the initial setting and lore was simply amazing.
Awesome. I played a little Dark Sun, but was unaware of the video games, not having a computer in the house back then. Brom has such a unique style, although people have borrowed from it since then, some of his color blending, but he is still unique in design and originality.
I loved, LOVED these books when I was a kid back in the early 90's. It was such a unique setting. I could never get my computer to play the games though at the time. I loved the setting though. I loved the idea that magic was ultimately sapping the entire world of its life energy and the outcomes from that.
I loved this game series so much when I was younger, I still have the original two copies on an MS-DOS CD ROM, and in my opinion the games still hold up as enjoyable far more better than several AAA titles released in current year.
I played Dark Sun in 1998 for 3 years and since then, standard D&D just feels lame. The world is so rich and brutal, it's never boring. Just the fact that you need to find water every day or simply DIE makes the game feel urgent. Not to mention the brilliant story line around the liberation of Tyr and the dragon kings.
I played Dark Sun: Shattered Lands before I even knew what dungeons and dragons was. I still play the game at least once every other year. I absolutely love it and the lore never gets old to me
*Get Dark Sun DRM-free* through my GOG affiliate link ► indigogaming.link/DarkSun
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Hey man, have you ever played the Gothic series? If so would you like to to a retrospective of those games? Or any other series 😅 I really miss those longer videos 😉😂
@@adi6293 I bought both the first and second on launch, but need to revisit the whole series again for a more in-depth look. I remember Gothic and Arcanum releasing around the same time and innovating on day-night cycles and automated NPCs in great ways that only hit the mainstream later in games like Oblivion.
Dark Sun also had amazing novels behind them. 5 for the main story written by Troy Denning who also designed the table top of dark sun and is a hell of author having his hand in much of halo and star wars novels.
I actually helped create one of the patches for shattered lands (patch disk v1.1 on 2 IBM 3.5" floppys), I was on the phone for several hours with a dev and a while later (cant remember if it was a week or a month) i got these floppy's in the mail with patches they created and was on the phone again with him seeing if it fixed the bugs, back then playtesting and fixes where high on the list of priorities of game companies.
come to think of it i also did a phone in bug crushing run with a dev on ravager too, a bug or 2 concerning the meeting the giants for the first time.
I just love the world and lore of Dark Sun.
Best setting ever
It's been one of those settings that I love, and have tried a few times to start TRPG games of it with friends, but every time session 1 or 2 comes around, some series of coincidences or scheduling conflicts has put it dead in the water. Drives me nuts.
Darksun and Shadowrunner. Toril is a close third.
very based setting
I think there is a D&D 5th edition Campaign Guid, 50 pages of a free PDF that Wizards of The Coast publlished so not quite forgotten.
“A mantis-like race that could not use armor.” Said over a picture of one using armor. I love it.
Yeah, the visual disparity is funny. That image was from 4th edition D&D, where armor was allowed. In 2nd edition, Thri-Kreen got a large AC bonus, but could not wear armor on top of that.
@@Indigo_Gaming oh and they are a BEAST to play. I've never played a psionic killing machine with SO MANY ATTACKS in one round before. Christ they are fun to play in arena settings too.
Due to sizing 2nd artwork they have mantis like shape were in 4ed they have more armor. You will also notice 4ed stuff have more obsidian and insect caparece stuff going on, while the classic look is more about leather and bone
I mean if you wear clothes that counts as armour
You kidding me? Dark sun is one of the first games I ever played. I was a really young child (like 4 I think?) didn't even read english yet (not from an english language country), and i just fought the arena until I died a million times. I had fun but I was like, "ok so thats a fun game".
A year later I played it again and figured how to escape the arena, and it was probably the most intense moment in my gaming "career".
I was playing like %0.5 of the game and had so much fun, imagine how much fun I had with the full game. Man. Such a fun fun fun feeling.
I love these games and the lore of Athas so much. It's beautiful, all of it.
The second game wasn't terrible either :P
Saddest thing for me. I learned about dark sun and how the world worked. Thought it a great idea for a gritty survival game, also loved the idea of hero's rising up in this dark world to show some hope to people that had none. Yet every table I have ever pitched it at, people just want to be political about it, or want to make fun of it and play some meme character. People either taking it too seriously to the point they are offended or not serious at all so they ruin the mood of the game, no one willing to take a middle ground and enjoy the setting.
It's sad when people can't accept a fantasy world as escapism, and have to drag real-life baggage into it...
dang straight, I just want to raid some dungeons of remnant civilizations for what matter of fancy trinkets to trade back at the major cities for a decent meal!
Bloody California Culture wrecked not only D&D, but also MtG.
To me, a more hopeful story us actually perfect for Dark Sun. It's not a grim dark setting, where the bad guys have achieved total victory and there is no hope. In fact, I think hope is one of the setting's main themes. The Sorcerer Kings are not omnipotent. They're petty, greedy, paranoid megalomaniacs, powerful yes, but still mortal. To me, the ideal campaign would follow a ragtag group of slaves, Preservers, and other outcasts forge a grand army of free peoples to cast down the tyranny of the Sorcerer Kings, and return Athas to the people. That's an uplifting story, of how even when things seem hopeless, there's always a light, a chance to make things better.
oh man, the subject of your videos is always a good surprise, my only gripe is that this one is not 12 hours long. cheers.
Next one will be longer! 😄
@@Indigo_Gaming Than 12 hours? Awww yiss
Okay we have your word that next one is longer than 12 hours thank you so much
Dark Sun Shattered Lands is one of the least covered SSI products and I see no reason as to why it's not considered on the same level as the Gold Box games, just as the Dark Sun setting lives in the shadows of Planescape when it can be just as evocative.
Glad to see it getting some attention.
Planescape is a scattered mess....tieflings are the lamest ass race I've ever seen
The psionics component was ahead of its time in both mechanics and code.
I remember playing a late 90s version using the BG engine. I am not sure if it was official.
I'm going to leave you a weird comment (positive though, promise!) on this one. I have been having a rough time, feeling apthetic and a bit lost. Then I catch this documentary and suddenly I'm feeling intrigued and immersed in this game world I previously knew nothing about... I'm not even that far into the video yet! I just felt compelled I suppose.
If there were a better way than a TH-cam comment to articulate the sense of ease that your work gave me the ability to feel today, well I wish I knew what that was because words dont seem to suffice. You've heard comments like this before though: "Thank you this video got me through a rough patch". Maybe you see it, you give it one of those little hearts, maybe comment back, then we go our separate ways and the humble, but no less profound impact your video had on my day sort of fades into the noise. Things like this really matter though and I just hope you will remember that, even though I'm just one in a million, this very feeling of ease could be being felt on a daily basis by the people who watch your content. There's some beautiful magic going on there.
If you ever get imposter syndrome as a creator or have a rough day of your own, I hope you know that what you do matters.
Sometimes we find comfort in the most unexpected places. Glad to have helped make your day better!
One of the best settings of D&D in my opinion. They should revive it in the 5th edition.
I've heard rumors of it getting a 5e revival, but nothing solid. It's a shame they put so much effort into bringing Dark Sun to 4e, when that system was so divisive.
Oh god no, I have zero faith that WotC is capable of doing Dark Sun justice in their current iteration, they would defile (pardon the pun) the setting to the point of it being unrecognizable, removing everything from the setting that made it the iconic setting that it is.
No, actually. I don't want current day WotC to have anything to do with Dark Sun. They've proven they don't want anything to do with any "scary" hardcore mechanics or lore. They'd mess it up. I actually used Dark Sun for a 5e campaign recently. If you're creative it really isn't hard to convert specific rules and go from there.
wotc shoudn't be allowed to touch any setting that is not derived from a cartoon.
@@Daredhnu Mules and cannibal hobbits.. I wonder how much of this will survive.
Shattered lands is one of my favorite games of all time. Team creation, spells, portals, loot, everything seemed to be ahead of it's time. Still have the manual. Maybe do Lands of Lore next
Nothing's impossible. Maybe one day!
Bags stored in bags is one of the things I remember most :D
That final battle too was so epic, that massive battle
Was the game that made me beg my parents for a PC
Dark Sun and Ravenloft were always my favorite D&D settings. 2nd edition had its issues but there was so much good stuff out there with all the splat books TSR put out.
I'm glad you covered these. I love Dark Sun. Some additional points:
-Even the "basic" races of Athas are different from their normal fantasy counterparts. For example, elves tend to be very tall, around 7' tall.
-I recommend SL over WOTR. It's far more polished and stable than it's sequel. It also has superior graphics.
how are tall elves abnormal? arent elves tall in most fiction?
In "normal" D&D settings, elves ranges from 5-6', whereas on Athas they reach 7'. That's the point I was trying to make.
I played and DM’d this setting from ‘93 to ‘98 and it was an absolute favorite among all our friends. The first setting where death was likely, life was brutal, and to survive was a thrill
The triumphant return of Not Forgotten! Missed this mate, and what a great subject to return with.
Eyy! I know you. Nice new brand, and thanks for watching.
Dark Sun is STILL a great RPG! For my Birthday today, I just got it on GOG!
Happy birthday!
@@Indigo_Gaming Thanks!
Happy Closer to Death day!!! ❤
@@gamingtonight1526 hell yeah dude it was my bday too
You set what should be the standard for games journalism. Been a fan for a long time. Proud to see your work thriving.
Dark Sun is and will always be one of my favorite settings I have ever had the pressure of playing in.
I'm a huge Brom fan and love the Dark Suns art. It's super evocative and implies so much history and context in each piece. Much like the best Warhammer 40k art.
I've never played either the AD&D or the PC RPGs so I really appreciate this overview! It really seems like the Fallout games weren't quite as groundbreaking as some games journalists and fans (myself included) like to imply.
Looks like a 1:1 copy of Frank Frazetta artwork
This is cool, my friends and I were definitely all living that "D&D lifestyle". Each of us took turns DM'ing a campaign, we had one for Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance and Dark Sun. Those were epic times.
Lucky for me still have the same table of knuckleheads to play with. We are currently in a Dark Sun campaign now and I am loving it.
"DnD lifestyle " aka not showering or getting laid and nerding out in your mamas basement
@@douggaudiosi14 WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM?
Gosh, I'm envious of you. Real life ensued and my old group broke apart. I'll be moving to DUNGEONS & DELVERS as my better, non-woke D&D substitute. Once I learn the system, I'll have to find a new gaming community in my town to accept me and my suggestion that they try that game.
@@ForeverYoungKickboxergood for you all I wish I had that bond still
Still to this day I mourn the loss of the Dark Sun MMORPG made by SSI using the same engine as their games. It is lost to time and further entrenched the NEED to archive and preserve that genre of game.
You can still download the client, but as far as I know, the server-side code was lost in time.
@@Indigo_Gaming I was happy to see the client link which you shared. I really hope someone is able to reverse engineer it and get it running again... some day. It means the world that light shines on this game in some way so thank you.
If it is mostly client logic, maybe there is also not much need for the original server code.
There are even some free 2d engines, yes it will take time, but it can be recreated or what is even better ... improved.
What a waste, if they had put the effort in to another single player title it would still be played today along with the two others instead of on the pile of forgotten mmos.
I was on Dark Sun Online when it went down. RIP :(
Oh man, this is super nostalgia for me. Gold box games helped me get through the long, cold northern Michigan winters back in the day. I loved these games as a kid.
If Baldur's Gate 3 winds up being a massive success, I'd love to see Larian try their hands at Dark Sun
That would be epic!
WOTC said they're never making any Dark Sun stuff again because slaves or something.
@@Carnefice that kind of sucks if it's one of the main reasons. It's not like they're depicting slavery in a positive light. I never got that impression from either the P&P or video games.
@@solblackguy apparently now slavery can only be mentioned in the context of the Atlantic slave trade. Or something. I don't understand it either, but that was the reason I read
@@Carnefice yeah, I think I found the article you're referring to about how slavery in Dark Sun's context is problematic. I don't see Conan the Barbarian being cancelled. Hell, there's been like 3 movies about slavery put out in the past couple years and another one around the corner.
And all this time I thought it was because of Spelljammer
Hey, I only just came across your channel after your insanely high effort Diablo 3 video and now you manage to hit on a major nostalgia nerve with Dark Sun! Knocking it out of the park my dude.
I wish art and media was as metal as it was in the 90s and 2000s. I miss it so much seeing how much it influenced culture like movies, video games, and table tops, etc. most notably for me though, Blizzard games and warhammer
I couldn't tell you how many hours I spent playing AD&D 2nd Edition. I've been in to computer based RPG's since some of the first PC's as well. Thanks for bringing back some of those great memories I had playing them. Your work is as legendary as the subjects you cover, Sir! o7
Good timing on having a Dark Sun video out. Zee Bashew mentioned the setting in his latest animated spellbook on Hold Person, so there will be alot of traffic interested in the setting.
Whoa man I **LOVED** Dark Sun: Wake of The Ravager! As a die-hard D&D fanatic and role-player, played this game to death (pun intended) but could never finish it, due to the numerous bugs preventing me from getting/doing the necessary requirements. Then the various PC(s) I had died at various timing(s)... Might wanna dig this up again, one day. Keep up the fantastic work, love these vids, keep them coming!
I love the dark sun setting, from all the dnd games and settings dark sun always had the best artwork
SL was my first foray into D&D as a kid. I ended up tracking down all the books and tearing through them. What a great world. I have sat in a few D&D campaigns, but seeing the battles animated, even in the pixel jank, was always so much better for me. I wish more games like these two existed, or that content mods for other CRPGs could be used for Athas.
Thanks for the vid!
I played and finished both games recently and they're still great in 2022. I even managed to get my characters from Shattered Lands transferred over to Wake of the Ravager.
Wow just as I was lamenting how I'd just about reached the end of my "new content" road on your channel. Very excited to jump in!!
Thanks again!!
I’ve played every version of D&D from the Red Box all the up until 4th edition (didn’t care for 4th) and man seeing Pool of Radiance again. That was my first D&D video game. Played the hell out of it on my Commodore 64 as a teenager lol. I also played in Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, and Ravenloft campaigns. Great video.
Clearly one of the greatest settings created, so much imagination! Where are those kind of creation nowadays? Great video, thanks!
I remember playing in a Dark Sun campaign all those years ago. Played my very favorite character -- a Thri-kreen named Chryyyx. One of the things I loved about him was that he could grapple someone with 2 arms while shredding them with fist blades on 2 other arms and _still_ get a bite attack. Unfortunately, he died due to a poison trap and my party carved him up to give each of them better armor. Ah, well...
Literally just got off a 2 hour lore binge about adnd 2e darksun, so happy to see a vid about the games!
Thank you! For being the only channel I've ever seen to do a video about Dark Sun.
We need a modern Dark Sun game. Great video.
Coinciding with the 5e Expanded Psionics Handbook release. Yes. (Psions receiving subclasses like Seer, Telepath structured like other 5e subclasses? Yes please.)
It's always an occasion when Indi drops a video. Fantastic as always.
Good grief I love everything about these old school computer rpgs. The gritty and beautiful shrink-wrapped big box art, those glossy little user manuals with their inevitable campaign short story, beautifully illustrated bestiaries and meticulously detailed mechanics guides. The chemical memory of their unboxing....ah! How I miss that. My first ever such memory was 'Times of Lore' - not an SSI product but a very powerful gateway to their games over the course of my childhood. I was otherwise a happy and socially well-adjusted child but my gaming geekhood was forged in that moment.
My favorite D&D setting there is a pretty good game called Vargrus that kind of scratches that Darksun itch
Hmm, I've heard of Vagrus. I'll have to check it out someday.
FINALLY someone talks about Shattered Lands! Subbed.
Played Wake of the Ravager so much in my younger days ❤️
Ah, Dark Sun. This is the only DnD worlds I could get my hands on, but I love it so much. I've unfortunately never got the chance to play it, but I loved reading through all the lore.
DArk Sun was absolutely brutal. outside of the major cities that you were not always able to get into it was harsh, always thirsty, land was sparse, hot and would eat at you from your first step outside. Plus there were introductions of psionics which if not kept in check would make campaigns go ape crazy. But thats all assuming you made it through day 1. Most games its a game of hard quests, Dark sun on the other hand was a place where you had major struggles just to get to where you could find work amid all the desert survival, evil defilers, bandits, water conservation to survive. It was awesome.
Fascinating video and topic! I’ve never been super into D&D-related media but I liked how you approached things here. Looking forward to the big project!
A pretty interesting setting for a similiar D&D campaign of what one could expect in Dark Sun, could be based on a video game "Kenshi". I plan on making custom races and minicampaign based on it.
Classic games may have a simple, sometimes boring gameplay compared to today, but the vibe, setting, music is something that remain unreplaceable. They have more heart and soul put into them.
Now indie games can deliver similar experinces. Becouse they are a experince, instead a dopamine dispensers like all AAA products.
I'd argue the gameplay was better, now in most cases we have just "realistic" graphics, physics and sounds.
And actually in many of these older games, the non realistic graphics are better because devs had less resources and they used them to only show the important stuff, not the density of the shadow of the player's dagger if he faces East at 5PM.
There are still plenty of simple, boring 'AAA' games being released today
@@davidmuldowney yes, that what i said.
I have very foggy memories of seeing my neighbour's older brother playing Wake of the Ravager on his PC and of being entranced by the cover. My dad was big heavy metal buff, so remember loving everything about the game, despite knowing nothing about it. But I've completely forgotten about it over the years, until finding your video. Great stuff, you got yourself a new subscriber.
Again, amazing video and a topic my friend!
Thank you!
I still have the original disks from an SSI collection that contained Shattered lands ... it's such a shame I can't install them from the disks any more. Shattered Lands was the craziest game from that set I had played. This vid really made me miss those days and all the stuff TSR had dropped in book stores.
I bought it in 1994 on cd-rom with ravenloft- strahds possession, and al-qadim the genies curse, all 3 games on one cd
I actually just finished Shattered Lands. Amazing setting and style, but it's seriously hampered by bugs and an inconsistent difficulty curve (i.e. it's extremely easy right up until it's nearly impossible).
Yeah I definitely came across that difficulty increase in my many playthroughs. A lot of ot stems from my party makeup and using their tools properly. The game gets super easy when you have spell casters that are using their spells properly. It is a tough game! As for the bugs... oh yeah... there are a lot of bugs. Moreso in wake of the ravager.
Please, at the end my enemies were just drowned in area effect spells :)
Took me a few times to get the right team to beat it.
There’s something really charming about those 90’s CRPG’s with pixel graphics and an insane barrier to entry. I need to play more of them.
I just love Dark Sun setting and i still run AD&D2e campaigns set in Athas. Great video
This game looks lightyears ahead of its time for 1993.
I remember Shattered Lands, tons of fun back in the day. I remember my brother would grind human gladiators in the slavepens up to level 7, so they'd get 2 melee attacks and a bunch of health. Then he'd split-class them into more traditionally squishy types, like thieves, clerics, and wizards. Sadly Wake of the Ravager was so buggy as to be unplayable back then.
Thank you for this. So many great memories. Would love to see a reboot of darksun!
Darksun brought me and my friends so much joy over the years.
How nostalgic! Thank you very much for making this video. I played the first Dark Sun game when I was a kid and I loved it.
I played a little bit of SHattered Lands recently. 4 giants! Just bashing everything!
What a treat, this setting is brutal and cool.
It's the artistry of BROM that really made Dark Sun come alive.
Thank you SO MUCH for this video. Really took me back. Youre right....D and D WAS a lifestyle back then. You got a new subscriber.
I just loved Dark Suns Shattered Lands as a kid. The atmosphere was just awesome!
The ATMOSPHERE of the first few minutes of this video is chillng. Well done. ART.
Not only you make great videos, but I LOVE your voice in them! You have a great control of it! Congrats! ;)
Much appreciated! Thanks for watching.
Production value is above and beyond. This is DUNE medieval metal. I want this shit in modern Video Game Awesomeness.
This came out just as I was learning about the series for the first time. Sweet!
I love dark sun so much I wish it was an open world game like fallout and elder scrolls but I feared today some of the games developers wouldn't do it justice but I continue to make dark Sun figures out of Legos and collected all the tabletop books because I love the lore and it's the history
nice dude i was just thinking i wanted to play this game again, and there's a new video on it. boom.
Everyone simply has to thank Brom for his masterpieces he has thrown into the mix to make this world possible!
it’s a shame we’ll probably never get another Dark Sun game
When I first played the first Dark Sun game, I never really understood the rules.
I learned the symbols and tried them on enemies to see what happened.
Never underestimate the D&D rules for beginners.
It takes time to learn them.
Dark sun has by far one of the best & compelling lore for AD&D. Esp the psionics combat!
I love your vids so much. Your narration, and the epic, legendary worlds you talk about just transport me to that world and make me wanna go on some epic adventure lol I need to play more rpg's I just really suck at them I feel like most "rpg's" nowadays suck there's just nothing like that magical feeling of those old school rpg's
These games sparked my love for Dark Sun and d&d in general. Love them!
A correction about 12:19
"It's difficult to tell how many spells per day you have remaining, right until you can't cast them anymore"
It's actually easy to know how many spells you have left per level. On the spellcasting screen, If you move the cursor over a spell, and then move it out (but still inside the spellcasting screen) you will see the available spells for that level at the bottom.
It's a shame Dark Sun and Ravenloft never got the infinity engine treatment. I think it would've done a lot more to preserve the settings if they got in on the golden age of crpgs.
Multi class was covered, but dont forget humans can dual class, this is the true min/max route if you stagger levels and class changes properly.
Ranger mages.
Cast in full plate once your second class rose above your first.
love the production quality on this
Thank you, and thanks for watching!
Do you edit yourself, because that was an incredible introduction, loved the way it was cut. Glad to see the Not Forgotten series making a return, my favorite!!!! Always so illuminating!
I wish we got a dark sun game in the style of the ravenloft games and menzoberranzan. Don’t get me wrong these games were great but it would’ve been so cool to see Athas through the eyes of your party
Loved it, man! More like this, please!
Glad the series is back !!!!
Man, thank you so much. Great voice, great script and video. Support from Italy
Grazie!
So many fond memories of playing these games. Thanks for helping me re-live these classics!
Not forgotten is my favorite series from you guys! Thank you for your amazing work!
Grandiose Video!
Shattered Lands was my first SSI game. A friend gifted me an official cd-rom (with an Al-Qadim, and Ravenloft game on disc too) but no manual... for the "drm" he just told me not to enter anything until I get to the one asking for the word that starts with the letter "a" (on page 54 I think heh) and reply "armor" good times.
Thanks for the GOG affiliate link.
Dark Sun is one of the best fantasy settings ever created - and not just for gaming. Some of the books and later supplements could be ignored but the initial setting and lore was simply amazing.
Awesome. I played a little Dark Sun, but was unaware of the video games, not having a computer in the house back then. Brom has such a unique style, although people have borrowed from it since then, some of his color blending, but he is still unique in design and originality.
Thanks for introducing me to this setting. I love it.
I loved, LOVED these books when I was a kid back in the early 90's. It was such a unique setting. I could never get my computer to play the games though at the time. I loved the setting though. I loved the idea that magic was ultimately sapping the entire world of its life energy and the outcomes from that.
10:18: Like a what now? What's that?
Maybe you can check the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom, whatever that is...
I remember reading the Prism pendad books, really capture the magic of the Dark Sun setting
It's available since march/2022 on Steam as well as all the SSI games.
I loved this game series so much when I was younger, I still have the original two copies on an MS-DOS CD ROM, and in my opinion the games still hold up as enjoyable far more better than several AAA titles released in current year.
Mad Max Meets Dungeons & Dragons sounds very intriguing
Great video. Dark Sun was my favorite AD&D setting as a kid, and these two games were my first two PC games. XD Great times.
Oh lord.. Please do tabletop system reviews like this. It is AMAZING
I played Dark Sun in 1998 for 3 years and since then, standard D&D just feels lame. The world is so rich and brutal, it's never boring. Just the fact that you need to find water every day or simply DIE makes the game feel urgent. Not to mention the brilliant story line around the liberation of Tyr and the dragon kings.
I played Dark Sun: Shattered Lands before I even knew what dungeons and dragons was. I still play the game at least once every other year. I absolutely love it and the lore never gets old to me