Hope you can take the heat. It's Dark Sun, baby!

Saturday was the Dark Sun World Wide Game Day. I have to be honest and say I almost didn't go in for it. Between Gen Con, con crud, writing a ton, my podcasts, not to mention my real life, I was a bit worn down. But my friend Jason ( @neldar ) told me they could use players and so I signed up for the noon slot and I'm so glad I did.

I knew it was the right choice as soon as Jason placed the pre-gens down on the table. Expecting the normal 1 or 2 female characters, I had decided to let the other woman at the table pick her character first. However, when I saw that there were 3 female characters (out of 6) and that one of them was a goliath barbarian gladiator, I had to claim that one. Fortunately the rest of the table was ok with the grab and I spent the next 5 minutes determining who she was.

It was obvious right away that she was strong, both in body (20 strength) and internal fortitude (16 constitution). She was trained in athletics, endurance and the ability to intimidate. My guess is that she makes quite the opponent in the arena.

Not only did she have the skills to survive in the arena, she was a bit of a showman (14 charisma) which translated to her scoffing at her enemies when they missed and her declaring herself king of the mountain after she caused the perched bowman to flee.

Beyond that, the rest of the ability scores told me she was decent at dodging and moving (12 Dex) but wasn't great at matters of wisdom and intellect (8 and 10). I did decide that she must have some knowledge of tactics given that she lived long enough to see level 4.

The adventure itself was very challenging, just the way a Dark Sun adventure should be. Luck played a big role in our survival as did our tactics. My poor barbarian went unconscious once and was brought back to life by a very tasty piece of fruit. And the tembo didn't have much of a chance when I rolled a crit on my Avalanche Strike power (6d6+11 damage which came after a decent use of my daily for a total of 66 points of damage in one round). When we finally killed the beast, my barbarian claimed the hide for her own.

In the end, everyone at my table survived and our poor DM looked a little sad that we had brutalized his monsters. I had so much fun playing that when I came home, I announced to my husband that I had won at D&D. This amused him greatly. But the truth is, I did feel as though I had won, at least against Athas.

Some of my tweets from the game:

• Yes I provoked a marked target just to watch him die. :)
• This archer is pissing me off. Time to climb the rocks and make him cry. At least it would have been if I didn't roll 2 twice :)
• Archer thought he was clever and tried to launch into an awesome jump attack. I am king of the mountain now!
• Ok dice, I hope the 1s and 2s are out of your system now. Time to kick some ass!
• Looks like an arena to me. http://yfrog.com/18snwj then again everything looks like one to me
• Stupid hobbler pinned me to the ground with his javelin. Pulled it out and returned it. Missed but damn did that feel good
• Barbarian just ravaged the tembo for 66 points of damage. AP & Crit on avalanche strike 6d6+11. But I've let my guard down a bit as a result
• OH: Player: oh I'm no longer bloodied DM: yeah hold that thought
• Got ravaged by that tembo in return. But the leather will make a nice addition to my wardrobe.
• OMG is the barbarian really going to try to be the diplomat?
• Well my hammer says me own this now! Take it if you dare!
• Ha your weak attacks are meaningless against me. Taste my hammer and then eat earth! (hammer fall)
• Our ardent gave me a free melee basic. Killed that challenger and charged the Templar. Hammer struck a ringing blow (21 dmg)
• Harried the templar (go with the flow) and made him spend his action point to shift again. That sucker is mine!