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.

 

[nevin]

If WotC is concerned about the maturity of the content because it may not be fitting for younger generations, then we’re just back to the moral panic of the 80s and 90s all over again. It’s painfully ironic that D&D gets a push in popularity due to properties like Game of Thrones and Stranger Things, settings which heavily rely on many concepts in Dark Sun now viewed as too mature for D&D.

People want fiction that explores these kinds of worlds - we have proof of that. To me this is less WotC caring about being sensitive and about corporate interests muddying the creative process. It’s deemed too risky because of the possible outcry, so it’s not worth the investment. It makes sense on paper but not in practice - again see Game of Thrones’ success. Or even properties like Mortal Kombat and other mature video games in the 90s. Mature themes may cause public outcry among some people, but it will still sell specifically because fiction is about the only safe way we have to be explore many mature themes.

You have some valid points but it's a publicly held company that is currently flying high due to unexpected success which has it dead in the sights of any whiner on the internet. One of the problems with being the biggest cash cow in the room is that no one wants to mess that up. And publicly held companies are so risk averse in these kinds of situations they often lose lots of money hanging on to that cash cow. Big players rarely innovate or risk. They don't have to until they have to.

 

[DarkCrisis]

If WotC is concerned about the maturity of the content because it may not be fitting for younger generations, then we’re just back to the moral panic of the 80s and 90s all over again. It’s painfully ironic that D&D gets a push in popularity due to properties like Game of Thrones and Stranger Things, settings which heavily rely on many concepts in Dark Sun now viewed as too mature for D&D.

People want fiction that explores these kinds of worlds - we have proof of that. To me this is less WotC caring about being sensitive and about corporate interests muddying the creative process. It’s deemed too risky because of the possible outcry, so it’s not worth the investment. It makes sense on paper but not in practice - again see Game of Thrones’ success. Or even properties like Mortal Kombat and other mature video games in the 90s. Mature themes may cause public outcry among some people, but it will still sell specifically because fiction is about the only safe way we have to be explore many mature themes.

Difference is, its not the parents policing the content, its the players themselves.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If WotC is concerned about the maturity of the content because it may not be fitting for younger generations, then we’re just back to the moral panic of the 80s and 90s all over again.

Hasbro is a TOY company. Their primary market are CHILDREN. There isn't a moral panic at the moment, but I'm sure there could be.

People want fiction that explores these kinds of worlds - we have proof of that.

People want fiction of all kinds. You name it, there is a demand for it somewhere. But is the demand for X bigger than the demand for Y? I'm certain that if the demand for Dark Sun was bigger than the demand for any other product, I'm sure WotC would find a way around the problems. But if it's just a matter of choosing between projects that will sell equally well, then the logical decision is to choose whichever is easiest.

 

[OldOwlbear]

Difference is, its not the parents policing the content, its the players themselves.

True, but that difference is hard to parse when it’s still one section of the players policing the others’ content consumption. Customers pressuring companies to not make X because it offends oneself is never going to go over well with other customers who want to buy X. It’s even harder to digest when the former can just choose not to buy it rather than making X a risk to reputation as opposed to just a low selling niche item so that at least some consumers can enjoy it. Its also not healthy for the industry when the producer of that item is viciously antagonistic towards any willing company making anything remotely like that product.

Hasbro is a TOY company. Their primary market are CHILDREN. There isn't a moral panic at the moment, but I'm sure there could be.

People want fiction of all kinds. You name it, there is a demand for it somewhere. But is the demand for X bigger than the demand for Y? I'm certain that if the demand for Dark Sun was bigger than the demand for any other product, I'm sure WotC would find a way around the problems. But if it's just a matter of choosing between projects that will sell equally well, then the logical decision is to choose whichever is easiest.

Hasbro was also well aware of what it was buying when it acquired WotC, when Dark Sun was much fresher in people’s minds. They likely wanted to diversify by appealing to older audiences. Now it’s deemed too risky, but the customers end up suffering by having variety of choice in the TTRPG space limited to what’s deemed safe rather than what a variety of customers want.

Homogenization is not a long term business plan. Hasbro has the money and I believe the need to pursue a variety of customers with a variety of settings and products. Yet they don’t see it because they are more concerned with revenue over the next year as opposed to the next decade.

 

[Scribe]

it was a criticism, slavery is not even the worst theme addressed in dark sun and is less central than genocide.

You can get off your moral horse, knight of the obvious.

Sarcasm is not always obvious via the format of text. Apologies for not catching it.

If it was obvious that genocide is not controversial (as well as the other topics of the setting) to more people, maybe we could have nice things instead of more bland WotC products?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Once they are in high school I agree but not everyone wants thier 13 year olds playing those kinds of games. And not all teens are grown up enough to deal with that stuff by 13 everyone develops at thier own pace.

Then how about those parents not allow their 13 year olds to play those kinds of games?

 

[Scribe]

Then how about those parents not allow their 13 year olds to play those kinds of games?

No doubt.

The funny thing is that this IS all just (multiple now) brands of moral panic, and anything interesting, or thought provoking, is cast to the wayside as just too 'controversial' to mention or include.

We peaked as a society in the 90's.

 

[Umbran]

You can get off your moral horse, knight of the obvious.

Mod Note:
Please follow your own advice.

Sarcasm is generally failed communication - it only seems funny to people who already are on board with it, especially in plain text, which loses nuance of delivery. Sarcasm seems funny when it comes from a comedian or a friend you understand, but in this venue, it sets yourself up to b misunderstood.

Please don't accuse others of being on a high horse when you use sarcasm, and it fails.

 

[Umbran]

Then how about those parents not allow their 13 year olds to play those kinds of games?

Raise your hand if your parents had 100% control over what content you got at when you were 13.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Raise your hand if your parents had 100% control over what content you got at when you were 13.

Still not an issue that should be resolved by a corporation.