GURPS - Dark Sun

The Planet Athas

Jens Skripczynski
Dirk Reubold

GURPS - Dark Sun : The Planet Athas

by Jens Skripczynski and Dirk Reubold
Copyright 2003, 2004 Jens Skripczynski

Abstract
We provide rules to play the AD&D World Dark Sun with GURPS .
For those, who do not know GURPS , might want to look at [9], a small introduction into the game system.
The planet Athas, where Dark Sun takes place, is a shattered land, mostly dessert. Resources, which are plenty
available in other Settings, are rare here. You have to search for Water. Steel is hard to find.
If you need more information about the Planet Athas, life there and the society read their novels or source
books. Take a look at http://athas.org/ the official Dark Sun homepage. Their [13] contains all rule books /
novels related to dark sun. They can be downloaded at [14].
You can also use the widely avaible ressources on the internet. Use google and search for dark sun. Some
(used) books and novels can be found at http://www.amazon.com/.
These rules are available as a chunked html files , single html file or pdf file.

Note
Various entries in the rules may be copyrighted or trademarked by various persons or companies. The use of such trademarks or copyrighted
materials is not a challenge to the owner of that copyright. I have given the originators for the ideas of others whenever I have a reference. If
you feel I have unrightfully used any material, or forgotten to give credit, please write to me, Jens Skripczynski
(dark-sun@mail2003.skripczynski.de). The same goes for any other complaint, or encouragement, for that matter.
Unless otherwise specified, all original work in this site are copyright 2003 to the current date by Jens Skripczynski. All rights reserved
worldwide. I claim no rights to the work of others presented or quoted here. Any use of Copyrighted or Trademarked material on this site is
not meant as a challenge to those rights.
Dungeon&Dragons, D&D, Advanced Dungeon & Dragons, and Dark Sun are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast Incorporated a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. Used here without permission and does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of this or other properties of Wizards of the Coast. Any use of Copyrighted or Trademarked material on this site is not meant as a challenge to those rights. This
is by no means an official Wizards of the Coast Incorporated site, nor does it profess to be.
GURPS is a registered trademark of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated Used here without permission and does not constitute a challenge
to the ownership of this or other properties of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated Any use of Copyrighted or Trademarked material on this
site is not meant as a challenge to those rights. This is by no means an official Steve Jackson Games Incorporated site, nor does it profess to
be.
I hope this site complies with the SJ Games Online Policy.
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Norman Walsh, see http://docbook.org/wiki/moin.cgi/DocBookXslStylesheets.

Table of Contents
1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1
General ....................................................................................................................... 1
Migrating the Psi System ................................................................................................ 1
Migrating the Magic System ........................................................................................... 1
Migrating the Races ....................................................................................................... 2
New Items (Rules, Advantages, Disadvantages, Skills) ......................................................... 3
etc .............................................................................................................................. 3
2. Getting Started .................................................................................................................. 4
Player Characters .......................................................................................................... 4
Wild talents ................................................................................................................. 4
Classes ........................................................................................................................ 4
Skills .......................................................................................................................... 4
3. Races .............................................................................................................................. 5
Aarakokra [6] ............................................................................................................... 5
Dwarfes [46] ................................................................................................................ 5
Elves [54 CP] ............................................................................................................... 5
Half-Elves [26] ............................................................................................................. 6
Half-Giants [XX] .......................................................................................................... 6
Halfling [56] ................................................................................................................ 6
Human ........................................................................................................................ 6
Mul [66] ...................................................................................................................... 7
4. Magic .............................................................................................................................. 8
Adapted Magic System .................................................................................................. 8
Limited College access ........................................................................................... 8
Arcane Magic ......................................................................................................10
Adapted Unlimited Mana Rules ......................................................................10
Spellcasting with Plant Energy .......................................................................10
Defiling ......................................................................................................10
Spells .................................................................................................................10
barred Spells ...............................................................................................10
New Spells .................................................................................................11
different Spell behavior .................................................................................11
Spellcaster ..................................................................................................................11
Cleric .................................................................................................................11
Air ............................................................................................................11
Earth .........................................................................................................11
Fire ...........................................................................................................11
Water .........................................................................................................11
Druid .................................................................................................................11
Templar .............................................................................................................11
Wizard ...............................................................................................................11
Avaignon ....................................................................................................11
Defiler .......................................................................................................11
Dragon King ...............................................................................................12
Preserver ....................................................................................................12
5. Psi .................................................................................................................................13
Adapted Psi System ......................................................................................................13
Wild Talents .......................................................................................................13
Encourage Psi ......................................................................................................13
6. Advantates and Disadvantages ............................................................................................14
Advantages .................................................................................................................14
Racial Advantages ................................................................................................14
Class Advantages .................................................................................................14
Disadvantage ...............................................................................................................14
Racial Disadvantages ............................................................................................14
Class Disadvantages .............................................................................................15
7. Templates .......................................................................................................................16
iv

GURPS - Dark Sun

Character Templates .....................................................................................................16

Cleric .................................................................................................................16
Druid .................................................................................................................16
Gladiator ............................................................................................................16
Psionic ...............................................................................................................16
Templar .............................................................................................................16
Wizard ...............................................................................................................16
Example Characters ......................................................................................................16
Gladiator: Hunk ...................................................................................................16
Bodyguard: Ohmandu ...........................................................................................16
8. Equipment .......................................................................................................................18
Currency ....................................................................................................................18
Things to Buy ..............................................................................................................18
My New Entry .....................................................................................................18
Index .................................................................................................................................19
References ..........................................................................................................................20

List of Tables
3.1. Aarakokra Template ........................................................................................................ 5
3.2. Dwarf Template .............................................................................................................. 5
3.3. Elf Template .................................................................................................................. 5
3.4. Half-Elf Template ........................................................................................................... 6
3.5. Halfling Template ........................................................................................................... 6
3.6. Mul Template ................................................................................................................. 7
4.1. College Access by Class ................................................................................................... 8
4.2. Base Recovery Rate by landscape ......................................................................................10
8.1. Food ............................................................................................................................18
8.2. Weapons ......................................................................................................................18

vi

Chapter 1. Introduction
We have been playing Dark Sun sometime ago. The systems AD&D, D&D v.3.0 mainly focus
on battle and fighting. Other things are mainly described and left to the imagination of the GM and
its players..
Some years ago a friend of mine mentioned GURPS (Generic Universal RolePlaying System), to
be a very realistic roleplaying game, that he believed to be really universal. Especially the generic
approach, that you can have different sets of rules (easy to complex) without getting loosing game
balance. The second thing is that it is the only game system we know, that has a psi system included
in the core rules as an opposing force to the standard Magic.

General

done

Set a starting point values for characters.

Migrating the Psi System

review

Psi is quiet common and the use of Psi should be encouraged

the section called Encourage Psi

Wild Talents are available for Character points, but not for free.
the section called Wild Talents

Migrating the Magic System

done

Split magic in 4 different class categories (wizards, druids, clerics and Templar)

review

Defiler should be a bit more powerful that the preserver.

Defiler receive two levels of Increased Power. see the section called Defiling [20 CP].

Wizards are supposed to be the most powerful spell casters, but have to have weaknesses.
This is achieved by the [10] and the additional the section called Spellcasting with Plant
Energy. They do give a Wizard large Powers, but it will take sometime for the wizard to recover his powers.

Create water / ice spells have to be less powerful, since water is and should be very rare.
the section called different Spell behavior tries to cope with that.

Defiler and Preserver use plant energy to cast their spells. For both there is only a limited
amount of energy available.
1

Introduction

the section called Spellcasting with Plant Energy tries to cope with that.

How much vegetation is by destroyed a defiler ?

the section called Defiling

todo

How do lifetrees work ? (Creation, spell points, regeneration, growth, death because of excessive energy drawing)

Migrating the Races

done

review

Aarakokra
the section called Aarakokra [6]. Race is too cheap, either missing advantages or to many
disadvantages. Halfing the expected lifetime seems hard to me (Jens).

Dwarf
the section called Dwarfes [46]

Elf
the section called Elves [54 CP]

Half-Elf
the section called Half-Elves [26]

Halfling
the section called Halfling [56]

Human
the section called Human

Mul
the section called Mul [66] Shall Muls really have Slave Mentality ?

review

todo

Maybe give races skill bonuses for their special skills ? E.g. Elfs bow+1 (at least for tribal
bows), running +1, Dwarfs stonework / craft skill +1, Half-Elf animal handling, Halfling
hunting, stealth, poison, Mul labor (?)

Create the section called Half-Giants [XX]

New Items (Rules, Advantages, Disadvant2

Introduction

ages, Skills)

done

review

review

todo

the section called Elf Run [5 CP] should give rules related to DX. How long can / fast can
elves run. What are appropriate modifiers. (Bonuses and Mali). Bonus: run as pack (>10,
>20), leader,...

etc

done

review

review

todo

Weapons of different Quality (Steel, Obsidian, wood)

Breaking rules

Adjusted damage

pricing

New skills, advantages and disadvantages for the planet have to be found.

New monsters need to be converted.

New adventures written, since the GURPS combat system is more deadlier than the Dungeon&Dragons system.

All the FIXME: tokens

Chapter 2. Getting Started

The Books we use to play are listed in the bibliography

Player Characters
Since Dark Sun generally starts with higher level characters we decided to set the starting character
points to 150 points, 40 points in disadvantages and 5 quirks. The world has many psi's. To reflect
this circumstance all PC'S & NPC's receive all Psionic Skill at 1 (TP 1 [5], PK 1 [5]. Teleport 1 [5],
ESP 1 [3], Healing 1 [3], Antipsi 1 [3]. = 24 CP). So they can later increase their psionic abilities.

Wild talents
Randomly chosen Psionic Talents are great for the fun, but will unsettle the game balance, that
GURPS wants to create. So iff a character wants to have a special ability, he has to pay the appropriate CP.

Classes
The only case, where we saw need to split characters into classes, was the magic system. So here we
have 4 different kinds of magic (actually five with the Dragon Kings and Avignon's). The other
classes do not need this restriction.

Skills
Poison use is not longer restricted to Bards (as this class does not exist). We felt that this restriction
was just created to give the Bards a feature because they lost spellcasting.

Chapter 3. Races
We wanted to make races very different. The should have good advantages and high limitations that
we thought were special for this race. We did stress the attribute advantages a bit (sometimes up to
+6 for the half giants, other have +4 rather than the recommended total of +3).

Aarakokra [6]
Table 3.1. Aarakokra Template
Attributes
Advantages
Disadvantages

Skills
Total

ST-2 [-15], DX+4 [45], HT-1 [-10]

Acute Vision +2 [4], Flight (Winged) [30], Claws [25],
Toughness (Feathers, DR +1) [10]
Short Life Span 2 [-20], Fragile [-20], Phobia: Enclosed Spaces (severe) [-30], Phobia: on the ground
(mild) [-5]
Flight DX+1 [2]
Attributes [20], Advantages[59], Disadvantages[-75],
Skills [2] = 6

Dwarfes [46]
Table 3.2. Dwarf Template
Attributes
Advantages
Disadvantages
Skills
Total

ST+1 [10], HT+3 [30]

Infravision [15], Magic Resistance +1 [2], Single
Minded [5], Toughness +1 [10]
Attentive [-1], Obsession: Focus[-10], Reduced Move 2 [-10], Stubborn [-5]
Attributes [40], Advantages[32], Disadvantages[-26],
Skills [0] = 46

Elves [54 CP]

The elves are nomads on Planet. They FIXME: more description of the race
Template. todo: Write Template

Table 3.3. Elf Template

Attributes
Advantages
Disadvantages
Skills
Total

DX+3 [30], IQ+1 [10], HT-1 [-10]

Alertness +1 [5], Elf Run [5], Increased Speed +1 [25],
Infravision [15], Temperature Tolerance [10]
Distrustful [-7], Now [-7] , Phobia: Enclosed Spaces
(mild) [-15], Social Stigma: Outsider / Outlaw [-15]
Bow DX [4], Broadsword DX[2], Stealth DX[2]
Attributes [30], Advantages[60], Disadvantages[-44],
5

Races

Skills [8] = 54
Elves are very dexterous (DX+3, manual dexterity) and intelligent (INT+1). Even though they are
not too healthy (HT-1).
Their speed is represented through increased speed and the new advantage Elf Run. As elves have
lived a long time in the dessert, they got used great temperature variations (Temperature Tolerance)
and developed Infravision. Being hunters elves learn to be very alert (Alertness).
But living in the dessert is not always good. The Elves got so used to living outdoors, they feel very
uncomfortable in closed spaces (Phobia: Enclosed Spaces). As food is not available in large
amounts, some tribes started raiding caravans, that gave the whole race the Outside/outlaw stigma.
In the tribe everybody has to rely on each other, and [...] (Sense of Duty (Tribe)). As catastrophes are
quiet common in the dessert, elves refuse to make plans that extend far into the future (Now). Elves
do not trust people, that do not belong the the tribe - even other elves, unless they did test them very
thoroughly (distrustful).

Half-Elves [26]
Table 3.4. Half-Elf Template
Attributes
Advantages
Disadvantages
Skills
Total

DX+2 [20], HT-1 [-10]

Animal Empathy [5], Infravision [15]
Social Stigma (Minority Group)[-5]
Animal Handling IQ+2 [1]
Attributes [10], Advantages[20], Disadvantages[-5],
Skills [1] = 26

Half-Giants [XX]
todo...

Halfling [56]
Table 3.5. Halfling Template
Attributes
Advantages
Disadvantages

Skills
Total

DX+2 [20], IQ+1 [10], HT+1 [10]

Luck (Standard) [15], Perfect Balance [15], Pious [5],
Silence +2 [10]
Primitive (TL -1) [-5], Reduced Hit Points -2 [-10],
Reduced Move -2 [-10], Social Stigma (Minority
Group)[-10]
Stealth DX [2], Throwing DX [4]
Attributes [40], Advantages[45], Disadvantages[-35
xx], Skills [6] = 56

Human
Humans are pretty normal and veratile as in every Game World / System. Nothing special about
them.

Races

Mul [66]
Table 3.6. Mul Template
Attributes
Advantages
Disadvantages

Skills
Total

ST+3 [30], HT+1 [10]

Extra Fatigue 5 [15], High Pain Threshold [10], Infravision [15], Toughness +1 [10], Very Fit [15]
Slave Mentality [-40], Social Stigma (Minority
Group)[-10], Sterile [-3], Stubborn [-5], Uneducated
[-5]
Naturalist IQ [4], Throwing DX+1 [8], Tracking IQ [2]
Attributes [40], Advantages[65], Disadvantages[-63],
Skills [14] = 66

Chapter 4. Magic
Adapted Magic System
Limited College access
To reflect the different kinds of Magic on the planet, the spell access is limited by magic type. For
example wizards cannot magically heal, but since the are the most powerful spellcaster walking on
the planet, they can access most colleges. Clerics, with theirs spells powered by their former elementals, have their focus there. Table 4.1, College Access by Class illustrates which group has access to which college.
To find out, if a character has access to a certain spell, look up the appropriate Magery level in the
prerequisites and compare it with the value listed in the table below and his own Magery level
(whichever is less).

Table 4.1. College Access by Class

Cleric
Acid

Air

Earth

Fire

Water

Druid

Templar

Wizard

Air

Animal

Body Control

Communic- 3
ation / Empathy

Earth

?a

3b

3b

Fire

Electricity

0
c

Food

Healing

-d

Gate

Ice

3e

Illusion

Knowledge

Light

Making /
Breaking

Meta

Mind Control

Movement

Necromancy 3

Earth

Fire

Water

Druid

Templar

Wizard

Cleric

Enchantment

Air

Magic

Cleric

Druid

Templar

Wizard

Air

Earth

Fire

Water

Plant

Protection /
Warning

Sound

Weather

Water

3
b

3e

Air

Earth

Fire

Water

Druid

Templar

Wizard

Cleric
a
Access depends on the area the Druid guards.
b
Templars cannot use Elemental spells (Summon Elemental, Control Elemental, Create Elemental).
c
On Athas, there is no (widely known) way to store energy to power spells. So Powerstone spell cannot
d
Wizards may learn Recover Strength.
e

be learned.

Please have a look at the section called different Spell behavior

Using
College
Access
by
ClassClericDruidTemplarWizardAirEarthFireWaterAirEarthFireWaterDruidTemplarWizard
Access depends on the area the Druid guards. 3Templars cannot use
Elemental spells (Summon Elemental, Control Elemental, Create
Elemental).3Animal----3-3Body
Control0000003Communication
/
Empathy3000003Earth-3--?3
3Fire--3-?3
3Electricity0---0-3Enchantment2 On Athas, there is no (widely known)
way to store energy to power spells. So Powerstone spell cannot be
learned.2 2 2 2 2 3Food3333333Healing333333-Wizards may learn
Recover
Strength.Gate------3Ice---0-03Illusion1000003Knowledge3333333Light----3-3Making
/
Breaking------3Meta3333333Mind
Control3333333Movement------3Necromancy3333-33Plant-3-03-3Protection
/ Warning3333333Sound3-----3Weather----3-3Water---3?3 3Please have a
look at Table 4.1, College Access by ClassCollege Access by
ClassClericDruidTemplarWizardAirEarthFireWaterAirEarthFireWaterDruidTemplarWizard
Access depends on the area the Druid guards. 3Templars cannot use
Elemental spells (Summon Elemental, Control Elemental, Create
Elemental).3Animal----3-3Body
Control0000003Communication
/
Empathy3000003Earth-3--?3
3Fire--3-?3
3Electricity0---0-3Enchantment2 On Athas, there is no (widely known)
way to store energy to power spells. So Powerstone spell cannot be
learned.2 2 2 2 2 3Food3333333Healing333333-Wizards may learn
Recover
Strength.Gate------3Ice---0-03Illusion1000003Knowledge3333333Light----3-3Making
/
Breaking------3Meta3333333Mind
Control3333333Movement------3Necromancy3333-33Plant-3-03-3Protection
/ Warning3333333Sound3-----3Weather----3-3Water---3?3 3Please have a
look at
E.g. Druid Live-with-Trees would like to learn a Create Plant spell. He has a Magery level of
2. Looking at the table below we find a listed value of 3. So the lower value of 2 and 3 is 2.
The prerequisite for Create Plant is Magery 1. So Live-with-Trees can learn this spell.
If Live-with-Trees had chosen Teleport from the Movement college, he could not learn that
spell, since Movement is barred for druids.

Magic

Arcane Magic
Adapted Unlimited Mana Rules
For a start we use the standard values given in the [10]. Tally : 30, RR : see Table 4.2, Base Recovery Rate by landscape and recovery Time : every day 08:00.

Spellcasting with Plant Energy

Preserver and Defiler draw their powers from the surrounding plant life force. In the novels this happens during spell casting. We have been thinking a lot, but trying to limit the amount of available
spellpoint to the available vegetation becomes very complicated in game-terms.
Instead we have (currently) decided that the Wizard draws this plant energy during the Recovery
time. The amount he can draw is limited by the available energy amount at that time.

Table 4.2. Base Recovery Rate by landscape

RR

Base Radius

Silt Sea

10 feet

Stone Dessert

4 feet

Stone Dessert

1 foot

normal vegetation

0.5 foot

Jungle

1"

Life Tree

special a

See: FIXME: Rules for lifetrees.

Defiling
Defiling happens during spell casting. (If not no one would notice the caster and take away on of the
major disadvantages). The defiled area is a circular area centered at the caster. The radius is the total
amount of unmodified spellpoints spent multiplied by the Base Radius (Table 4.2, Base Recovery
Rate by landscape).
The earth in a defiled radius is ripped of every life. Nothing will grow there, unless special care is
take. FIXME: Rules for defiled areas ? Can plant spells recover this area ?

Example: Defiling Radius

Hamanu is in on a field in the city Balik. This is normal vegetation, so his base radius is 0.5
foot. He casts a Terror Spell costing 28 Spellpoints, to see the slaves run away. He leave a
total circular area of 14 feet rendered totally useless.
After enjoying the scenery he teleports home. This costs him 8 spellpoints and he increases
the area by additional 4 feet, leaving a circle of 18 feet of total dead vegetation.

Spells
barred Spells

Power StoneOn Athas there are currently only three knows sources of Energy: the Dragon
Kings, Plant life force and the Elements. So Powerstones do not actually exist, so this spell does
not exist

10

Magic

New Spells

Create Lifetree FIXME: rules / stats

different Spell behavior

Water and Ice created by spells, that are cast by a cleric or druid, are only of temporary Nature. This
means that the water created will fade after a certain time. These spells cannot be used to e.g. escape
dying because of dehydration.

Spellcaster
Cleric
There are no gods / goddesses on this planet. But Clerics. They do not, as in other Settings, worship
a god but the simple elementals (Air, Earth, Fire, Water).

Air
Earth
Fire
Water

Druid
Templar
Templars server the Dragon King. They are the city state authority. The dragon king supplies them
with the needed spells. FIXME: New Rules? Because the dragon king can give his minions any
spells, and the templars have to request them by their employer. Mixed ? Like you must learn your
spells, but in an emergency gain additional spells for Character points.

Wizard
Avaignon
FIXME: Description
We leave Details to the GM.

Defiler
Defiler go for pure Power. They suck every little bit of Energy out of the surrounding environment.
Every Defiler gains the defiling advantage, in order to show, that he is a more powerful spellcaster
than the others. But because he is also a wizard he must keep this secret (Defiler) or suffer. This allows a Defiler to have a total of 60 points in disadvantages.
11

Magic

Dragon King
FIXME: Description
We leave Details to the GM.

Preserver
A preserver is conservationist. He is able to cast spells as the Defiler but has learned to leave enough
energy for the plants to live.
Wizards are known and hated for destroying plants. A Preserver cannot hope to be saved by the
dragon king. A mob finding out that one is a Wizard will be likely to kill him. So all Preservers have
to take the Secret (Preserver). This allows a Preserver to have a total of 70 points in disadvantages.
But a Preserver is not alone. He can (!) join the The Veiled Alliance, that will offer him shelter, but
also will request certain tasks from him.

12

Chapter 5. Psi
[11] These guys got it made - power without duty or hassle - not from the use of Psionics itself
anyhow. And that's one of the most appealing points of Psionics - no one have any special
problems with these powers. There's no persecution, it manifests in nearly everyone and is
thus understood and accepted. Of course, powerful individuals attract political attention. Always dangerous when Sorcerer-Kings are around. And training by masters is expensive, thus
entrenching the true pursuit of the Way mostly in the noble ranks - but still, Psionics is the
"freest" form of magical power available.

Adapted Psi System

Wild Talents
One of GURPS main intentions is to have balanced characters. Arbitrary chosen Wild Talents
would easily break this balance. Another reason is, why should the GM decide for the player which
advantage the player has, if the player can choose one, which he thinks suits him best. The GM is always the final rules, so he can always forbid to powerfull abilities.

Encourage Psi
Psi is wildly known on Athas, so we thought, one should encourage the psi use.
Either all charakter have to take all avaible PSI powers at 1. (Telepathy, Psychokinesis, Teleport,
Extra-Sensory-Perception, Healing and Antipsi for approximate 30 SP. This gives the advantage,
that PC's can later increase their skills. (Or get guddies by the gm).
Or all Characters have to put at least 30 SP in Psi Skills and Powers. If a player does not want these
he can use unusual background. Thus having 20 points to spent elsewhere.

13

Chapter
6.
Disadvantages

Advantates

and

Advantages
Racial Advantages
Elf Run [5 CP]
Enables the elves to travel very long distances in short time.

Important
restricted to elves

Class Advantages
Defiling [20 CP]
A Defiler gains a 2 levels of increased power. Meaning +40% Tally and an 50% increased Recovery
Rate.
A starting character has a 42 points Tally and a Recovery Rate of 12 instead of 30 and 8.
A major draw back is, that a defiler makes the area, he got his energy from, totally useless. 1/2 foot
per total Spell point spent.

Important
Restricted to and mandatory for Defilers

Clerical Magical Attitude 1-3 [12, 20, 28 CP]

Same as Magical Attitude, but reflect the limited spell access

Important
Restricted to Clerics

The Veiled Alliance [5 CP]

[11] The Veiled Alliance try to be a haven for these characters, and offer, at the price of a
small Duty (6-) (-2 points), a Claim to Hospitality advantage worth 5 points. This means that
Preservers can be called upon to aid fellows in need, but have access to shelter and information from the local Alliance, and possibly aid if it will not threaten the life of the local alliance. This _is_ optional, though! A Preserver doesn't have to be an alliance member. But if
discovered by the alliance, they will demand membership - or see to it that such a character
cannot go on for long.

Important
Restricted to Preservers

Disadvantage
Racial Disadvantages
14

Advantates and Disadvantages

Distrustful [-7 CP]

You do not trust other people, unless they proved trustworthy.

Important
Restricted to elves.

Now [-7 CP]

Elves have to fight a lot. Through battles, FIXME: more content] and hunger they feel, that nothing
lasts forever, so they never make any plans that do extend far into the future.

Important
Restricted to elves

Obsession: Focus [-10 CP]

[11] -5 minimum base, reprogrammable, severe death effects +100%: -10 minimum, more
possible

Important
Restricted to and mandatory for Dwarfs.

Class Disadvantages
Secret(Defiler) [-20 CP]
Mages are hated on Athas. Defilers have the slight advantage, that the Dragonkings sometimes employ them. So they are not killed outright. Refer to the section called Secret(Preserver) [-30 CP].
So a possible outcome might be [11] Explain possible death, exile or bonded servitude .

Important
restricted to and mandatory for Defilers

Secret(Preserver) [-30 CP]

Mages are hated on Athas. Preserver identified as arcane spellcaster have to fear for their lives, as
the public fears them, believing they are defilers and the authority see's them as rebellions. So a possible outcome might be possible death. See the section called Secret(Defiler) [-20 CP]

Important
Restricted to and mandatory for Preservers

15

Chapter 7. Templates
Character Templates
Cleric

Sense of Duty

Vow

Skill +2, if large amounts of their elemental are present skill -2, if none at all.

Bonus Fatigue (Elemental) ???

Druid
todo

Gladiator
todo

Psionic
todo

Templar
todo

Wizard
todo

Example Characters
Gladiator: Hunk
Age 30; 2m, 200 lbs; a half-giant wearing two huge Hammers.

Advantages
Full Coordination [], RACE: Half-Giant[XX]

Disadvantages

Bodyguard: Ohmandu
(115,5 points)
Age 25; 2,4m, 200 lbs; a elfen Bodyguard wearing a huge Metal Broadsword.
ST:

12]

[20] DX:

16

[20] IQ:

11

[0] HT:

11

[20]

Fatigue: 12, HT Points: 11, Thrust: 1d-1, Swing: 1d+2, Dodge: 9, Parry: 9, Block: 9, Hear: 13,
16

Templates

Smell/Taste: 13, Vision: 13

Advantages
Alertness +2(+3) [10], Combat Reflexes[15], Patron Essmene [10], RACE: Elf [54], Elf Run [R],
Increased Speed +1 [R], Infravision [R]

Disadvantages
Berserk [-15], Impulsiveness [-10], Phobia (Undead, Severe) [-20], Reputation (small group (his
tribe), -2) [-5], Sense of Duty (Patron Essmene) [-5], Distrustful [R], Now [R], Phobia: Enclosed
Spaces (mild) [R]. Sense of Duty (Tribe) [R], Social Stigma: Outsider / Outlaw [R], Temperature
Tolerance (Supers) [R]

Quirks
Loves A Good Brawl, Spits Before Combat, Cracks His Knuckles, Night Owl, Doesn't Easily Give
Trust

Languages
Elfish (native) 10[0], Common 10[0]

Skills
Bow-17 [4], Brawling-16 [1], Broadsword-16 [0], Carousing-12 [4], Fast-Draw (Longsword)-17 [1],
Fast-Draw (Arrow)-17 [1], First Aid/TL3-11 [1], Survival-13 [6], Parry Missile Weapons-16 [4],
Power Blow (FIXME: Rules, Weapon Master or Psi Ability)-9 [1], Running-8 [0,5], Shield-17 [2],
Singing-11 [1], Stealth-16 [0]

Equipment
Broadsword (Steel) [10 GP], Buckler Shield [] Dagger (Steel) [5 GP], Light Leather Armor (PD 1,
DR 1)[1 SP], Longbow [5 GP], Small Shield []

Reaction

All: -2 (Minority Group)

Tribe: 0 (Minority Group +2, -2 Reputation)

Description
Ohmandu is a member of the Windrider Clan, a clan with approximately 200 members. They do
earn their living by trading and smuggling. He guards Essmene, the young daughter of the clan
chief, since 10 years.
Ohmandu is known as a good fighter, but also as an aggressive guy, that loves to brawl and ticks out
in combat.

17

Chapter 8. Equipment
Currency
Gold pieces (GP), Silver pieces (SP), Ceramic Pieces (CP), Ceramic bits (CT), glass bead (GB)
1 GP

10 SP

100 CP

1000 CB

10000 GB

Things to Buy
Table 8.1. Food
Weight

Price

Traveler's Rations (one meal of

dried meat and cheese)

1/2 lb.

1 CP

My New Entry

1/2 lb.

1 CP

Weight

Price

Table 8.2. Weapons

Reference

Weight

Price

Longbow

p. B207

4 lb.

1 GP

Broadsword (Steel)

p. B206

3 lb.

15 GP

Reference

Weight

Price

My New Entry
The new description from my content.

18

Index
A
Advantage, 14
Class, 14
Clerical Magical Attitude, 14
Defiling, 14
Veiled Alliance, 14
Race, 14
Elf Run, 14

D
Disadvantage, 14
Class, 15
Secret (Defiler), 15
Secret (Preserver), 15
Race, 14
Distrustful, 15
Now, 15
Obsession: Focus, 15

19

References
Here you will find all references. I have linked all ressources, where I was aware of some Web ressource / catalog. Some Books we use are out of print and I could not find a valid URL.

GURPS Books
Books we use for gameplay.
[1] Steve Jackson. Copyright 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996 Steve Jackson Games
Incorporated. 1-55634-127-X. Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. GURPS Basic Set. third edition, revised.
[2] Steve Jackson. Copyright 1989, 1990, 1994 Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. 1-55634-286-1. Steve
Jackson Games Incorporated. GURPS Magic. second edition.
[3] Daniel U. Thiebault and S. John Ross. Copyright 1994, 1998 Steve Jackson Games Incorporated.
1-55634-243-8. Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. GURPS Grimoire.
[4] Sean Punch. Copyright 1996 Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. 1-55634-290-X. Steve Jackson Games
Incorporated. GURPS Compendium I: Character Creation.
[5] Sean Punch. Copyright 1996 Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. 1-55634-372-2. Steve Jackson Games
Incorporated. GURPS Compendium II: Campaigns and Combat.

Advanced Dungeon & Dragons and Dark

Sun books
Books we use for gameplay and as background information.
[6] Dark Sun Boxed Set. TSR 2400. Copyright 1991 TSR Inc.. 1-56076-104-0. URL: http://svgames.com/ds2400esd.html.
[7] Steve Winter. Copyright 1991 TSR Inc.. 1-56076-054-0. Complete Psionics Handbook.

WWW Ressources and Articles

[8] SJ Games Inc. GURPS homepage. URL: http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/.
[9] GURPS light. URL: http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/lite/.
[10] S. John Ross. Copyright 1994 Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. January 1999. Unlimited Mana. An
Alternate Approach to GURPS Magic. Second Revised Version (v3.0). URL: http://www.io.com/~sjohn/unlimited-mana.htm.
[11]

wrathchild@hippie.dk.
GURPS
Athas
tp://www.secretmasters.net/wrathchild/darksun/.

(GURPS

Dark

Sun).

URL:

ht-

format.

URL:

ht-

[12] The Burnt world of Athas. URL: http://www.athas.org.

[13] athas.org: Dark Sun Product List. URL: http://www.athas.org/products.php.
[14]

Dark
Sun
Ressources
for
purchase
tp://svgames.com/downloads-wotc-adnddksun.html.

in

ESP

[15] D&D v3.0 homepage. URL: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/. FIXME: did we use v3.0 at all ?.

20