D&D 5E WotC: Why Dark Sun Hasn't Been Revived

In an interview with YouTuber 'Bob the Worldbuilder', WotC's Kyle Brink explained why the classic Dark Sun setting has not yet seen light of day in the D&D 5E era.

I’ll be frank here, the Dark Sun setting is problematic in a lot of ways. And that’s the main reason we haven’t come back to it. We know it’s got a huge fan following and we have standards today that make it extraordinarily hard to be true to the source material and also meet our ethical and inclusion standards... We know there’s love out there for it and god we would love to make those people happy, and also we gotta be responsible.

You can listen to the clip here.

 

[Reynard]

I remember this lore. Athas used to have Gnomes, for example.

See, some good can come out of worldwide calamity.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I remember this lore. Athas used to have Gnomes, for example.

Every setting has gnomes. It's just that most of them are smart enough to stay out of sight or pretend to be halflings.

 

[Zardnaar]

I remember this lore. Athas used to have Gnomes, for example.

Though early in Dark Sun's production history, the origins of the world were a bit murky. One early adventure has players encounter evidence that Athas had skyscrapers and modern-Earth-style cities and technology!

Yeah it's hinted the Green Age may gave reached an early 20th century level of development using psionics instead of industrialization.

 

[Faolyn]

It's not the mechanics I fear for, it's the setting.
The mechanics of Ravenloft were okay (I didn't like the changes to Power Checks), but they destroyed the Core as a coherent setting that White Wolf (and WotC before them) had brought together.

Sure. What I meant was, if you don't buy 5e Planescape, you can still run it quite easily--there's only one thing that needs to be updated. You don't need updated lore for that.

(Personally, if I were to run Planescape, I'd run it using Cypher System, which I feel works better for the setting's feel.)

I like the updated Ravenloft lore, personally, and I say that as someone who has loved the setting since the first black box. I prefer the new "power checks," because that should be a conversation between the DM and player anyway, not the result of a random roll.

 

[Reynard]

Every setting has gnomes. It's just that most of them are smart enough to stay out of sight or pretend to be halflings.

They can't hide forever.

 

[tetrasodium]

Yeah it's hinted the Gree Ave may gave reached an early 20th century level of development using picnics instead of industrialization.

I don't remember the age but think either thrikeen of athas or blackspine(?) mountain mentions a flying city or similar

 

[Gubber Bittencourt]

What a weird stance. The slavers are the bad guys. You are supposed to stab them in the face. That feels almost shockingly non-controversial.

I have a hard time imagining what else about Dark Sun might be an issue.

As a setting about the perils and consequences of climate change, it feels extremely modern.

hun, genocide is kind of controversial

 

[Lord_Blacksteel]

That 100% makes sense.

Probably the only way to do Dark Sun would be with a big time jump. But change enough things that way, and the question is whether the Dark Sun brand will appeal to anyone at that point.

Better to just plow those energies into a new sand & sandals setting, I guess.

Well we have at least one example with 4e Forgotten Realms ...

• Time jump
• Big changes to setting
• Lots of prior fans unhappy and pretty vocal about it

I think that's a good reason you're not seeing a release for this one - once you make enough changes who would it please?

 

[Minigiant]

I don’t really know Dark Sun lore so I was wondering: Is there a singular ‘moment’ where the world went to crap or was it a slow descent? I feel like they could make a ‘Dark Sun Origin’ book set before the current nations and factions are properly established. Really sell it as a post-apocalyptic setting and challenge the players to build a better tomorrow than the canon one? You could include enough 5e versions of rules to let fans of the older version build their own perfect Dark Sun without selling the problematic content?

I think it was multiple big events events that marked new Ages that wrecked the planet further down the slope of doom. And each age contained small events that slid setting down the course.

Like I mentioned before, it's very Warhammer like.

 

[Staffan]

Joking aside, this makes me sad. Dark Sun was one of the truly distinct and flavorful settings. I find it difficult to believe that the material can't be dealt with appropriately while still preserving the dark themes that made the setting so flavorful. Just like you can have scary PG-13 movies, you can have a great 5e (or OneD&D now?) Dark Sun setting if there is the will for it.

I believe it can be done. I also believe Wizards of the Coast are not the ones who can do it, and it would definitely not be in the interests of them to do it.

Rebooting Dark Sun in a manner that both keeps the brutal nature of the setting and appeals to more modern sensibilities would be like walking through a minefield. Sure, there's probably a way through, but there are potentially disastrous consequences. Is that risk worth taking, or is there something that's easier to do that would bring in just as much if not more money?