The original Dark Sun Boxed Set is an accessory for the 2nd edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, published in 1991. It introduces the Dark Sun campaign setting for the game. Contents The package includes two thick campaign guides, a booklet titled A Little Knowledge (featuring a short story and a couple of Monstrous Compendium entries), a pair of colorful maps, and a set of spiral-bound flip books featuring an introductory adventure. One of the campaign guides, called The Wanderer's Journal, explains the background of the Dark Sun world and is written in the style of a first-person memoir. The other campaign guide details the new rules for the setting. The flip books are made of cardstock pages bound by metal spirals, and the back covers have accordion folds so that the books can stand upright on a table. The Dungeon Master's Book details a simple adventure, complete with encounter descriptions, game statistics, and role-playing notes. The Player Aid Cards contain pictures and diagrams to be shown to the players during key points of the adventure. Athas has been devastated as the result of magic run amok, leaving most of Athas as an empty desert, interrupted by a handful of corrupt city states controlled by power-mad sorcerer-kings and their spell-wielding lackeys. Slavery is commonplace, gladiatorial duels provide entertainment for the elite, and treachery and death permeate the culture. As rain falls only once per decade in some areas, water is more precious than gold. Travelers risk dehydration from the scorching heat, ambushes from brutal elven raiders, and attacks from giant tentacles lurking in the dust-filled Sea of Silt. Owing to the scarcity of natural resources, few wizards have access to books made of paper pages and hard covers; instead, they record their spells with string patterns and complex knots. Metal is also rare, affecting both the economy and the quality of equipment. The ceramic coin, made from clay and glazed in various colors, is the primary medium of exchange, worth about a hundredth of a gold piece. Weapons typically consist of obsidian, bone, and wood, and are prone to break. Only a single dragon exists in all of Athas, a monstrosity with supra-genius intelligence whose appearance heralds disasters of catastrophic proportions. Dark Sun characters are considerably tougher than their counterparts in other AD&D settings. All characters begin at 3rd level, and ability scores may be raised