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.

 

[AnotherGuy]

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.

Slap a mature label on the game it is what we do with movies right?

 

[AnotherGuy]

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

That's even weirder IMO

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Edit - There is a demand for harder rules, tougher monsters as there is one for cruel settings.

LevelUp and Flee, Mortals are filling both needs, as are other products.

 

[mangamuscle]

Let me see if I understand, they fear angering does in the left due to slavery and those on the right due to climate change, but they couldn't care less aboutr people on the center who think slavery in preindustrial societies is par for the course and that climate change at this point is a proven fact that should be addressed? That is not being inclusive, it is being oddly selective if you ask me.

 

[humble minion]

What's that based on? DS wasn't a particularly successful setting even back in the day. It has its adherents, but it didn't break any records

Of course you can never predict how successful a future product will be, but WotC is on record as saying that their surveys make it clear that Dark Sun is one of the more popular of their older settings. I’m pretty sure they said that they said in the voting it came in roughly the same level as Ravenloft, and notably higher than either Dragonlance or Spelljammer.

 

[Reynard]

So you're saying an old setting with a fan base (however small one perceives it to be) is likely to be less successful than an entirely new setting?

Are we at the stage of hurling completely unfounded assertions at one another?

Edit - There is a demand for harder rules, tougher monsters as there is one for cruel settings.

I am sure there is "a" demand. The question is whether it is a WotC worthy level of demand.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I think the core issue is the design team can't relate to the 5e audience anymore.

The Druid redesign in the latest playtest packet certainly supports that! It's all about balancing shapeshifting for combat, at the cost of anything fun, clever, interesting or cool happening with it. It seems like what someone who had never played D&D, but had played a ton of MMORPGs might come up with.

 

[Minigiant]

So you're saying an old setting with a fan base (however small one perceives it to be) is likely to be less successful than an entirely new setting?

Edit - There is a demand for harder rules, tougher monsters as there is one for cruel settings.

I'll definitely say that.

A setting design FOR the demographics of the majority of 5e players would sell more and have better press than a setting designed for the demographics of players from 25 30 years ago that was specifically design to break the traditions of 25 30 years ago.

 

[Mortus]

I’ve used the older DarkSun material on DMSGuild as-is with D&D 5E and it works fine in a non-balanced-encounters play style. The old Complete Psionics Handbook can be used pretty much as-is with D&D 5E - it was already it own sub-system in AD&D 2E.

 

[Faolyn]

Modern culture has neutered evil in fiction and too many people cannot grasp the idea that fiction is not real.

Or maybe people have realized that black-and-white morality is neither realistic nor actually all that interesting.