It's been far too long since I played Dark Sun and I'm getting the itch. The greatest AD&D setting has been on my mind a lot lately and I realized I made some mistakes when explaining villages. I always pictured them as a medieval looking village, just with less plants. Individual homes with hide roofs, maybe a common building and a small wall around it.
While I am sure some villages appear this way, ancient desert peoples in the Middle East built villages with many homes and buildings touching each other. The buildings would make up the wall, just by having thick walls and small windows toward the outside, or no windows on the outside.
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| Cramped = Defensible |
Usually, the villages would have a courtyard in the middle for public gatherings or trade markets. Also, there were no direct routes to the courtyard, for defensible reasons. Attackers would have to fight down a hallway with at least three sharp corners, which are easy to defend. Or, they would have to fight room to room to get into the heart of the village. With all the threats on Athas, I have to assume that defense strength is taken very seriously.
Hopefully, I will be able to start another AD&D Dark Sun game soon. Wish me luck.
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